Better Now

Wow, since we had those shots, our kids have been sick. Julia ended up with bronchitis and the boys with bad colds. We seem to be close to the end now, though, and we're thankful. Some nights were a bit scary with the uncontrollable coughing. We had Julia in the shower to steam her a number of nights in a row and I even went as far as a mustard plaster a few nights! We're thankful for nights we can sleep through now. Guess you don't really appreciate your health (or your kids' health) until you don't have it. Good reminder.

Things are still hopping here. We continue to go through stuff and the Goodwill pile is getting larger again. We also just sent out a letter to all the people on our mailing list, so that was a big job.

We continue to wait to hear good news from the Supreme Court in Venezuela. There was a resolution printed in the newspaper there on November 14th, 2005 that said that NTM had to have all of their missionaries out of the tribal locations by February 14, 2006 and we were hoping for a stay of that resolution by this week. The way it works is that the resolution is printed in the newspaper and then if after 90 days it is not contested or repealed then it becomes law. We have heard that NTM Venezuela will begin to evacuate their tribal stations on Monday or Tuesday if a stay has not been granted. The mission's Venezuelan lawyer has submitted a petition saying that this resolution is unconstitutional, as there is freedom of religion allowed in the constitution. So we continue to wait and pray.

If for some reason the Supreme Court does not agree that the resolution is unconstitutional, then NTM will no longer be able to work in the tribal locations and will need to be more creative (where they can be) to work with their tribal contacts by bringing them out to urban locations or something like that. If that ends up being the case, we won't be needed in Venezuela as much anymore, as the missionaries will each be able to handle their own finances.

Thanks for praying with us about this verdict.