Celebrating Milestones…
SMC turns 11…
The Sarobidy Maternity Center celebrated it’s 11th anniversary in May. The Lord has lavished this ministry with His goodness, His protection and care, His grace and His love. It was fitting that the 11th anniversary fell on a Monday-prenatal day at the Sarobidy Maternity Center. The day was celebrated with singing, fetal heart beats echoing out the exam rooms and down the halls, praying with pregnant mamas for continued health in their pregnancies and the Lord’s protection in their impending deliveries. The day was filled with joy and connection and celebrating the blessing of the Lord’s faithful Hand over this ministry.
There is much to be thankful for as we look back with hearts of joy and gratitude and as we look forward with prayers and anticipation!
prenatal zumba!
welcome baby!
the depth of a mother’s love
weekly postpartum education class
advanced midwifery education
the joy of raising our own kids in and around the Sarobidy Maternity Center
We praise God for 11 years of the Sarobidy Maternity Center! We praise Him for His love and compassion for the women, babies and staff. We praise Him for His protection and care over each and every birth. We praise Him for His faithfulness and provision in meeting the financial needs each month. We praise Him for the ways He is drawing hearts and lives to Himself as women and families seek Him and choose to abide in Him! We praise Him for the ways that you, our partners, have a heart for this ministry!
Moving On…
Boarding students at Rift Valley Academy stay in the same dorm for two years. This provides consistency and the opportunity for building deeper relationships between students and with dorm parents.
Late last week, we said goodbye to our first group of dorm guys after caring for them and walking alongside them for the last two years. There is something really special about two years together– the ability to watch growth (in stature, academics, socially, spiritually and emotionally), the opportunity to lean into hard but necessary conversations, to be a sounding board for advice when it comes to all sorts of matters, to cry with them when they’re walking through hard transitions, to pray with them when life itself feels too overwhelming and hopeless. These last two years have been all of this and so much more. It has been late nights and early mornings, buying, cooking and serving hundreds of pounds of food, countless games of soccer and cards, dorm shenanigans, early morning Bible Studies and weekly devotions, weekly updates and countless pictures and videos to parents, hours of laughter and inside jokes, celebrating birthdays, and cheering guys on from the sidelines during their sports events. It has been an intentional time of discipleship and relationship building with these 20 guys and pointing them towards Jesus over the last two years. We’re so thankful for all the ways the Lord uniquely showed Himself to each of these guys and the way they have grown tremendously in their walks towards Him and with Him!
We will miss them living under the same roof with us! When they return at the end of August for the upcoming school year, they’ll be moving into upper classmen dorms. At the same time, we’ll be receiving a new group of 9th grade guys.
We ask that you join us in praying for these young men– the 20 that will be moving on, mostly to new dorms, but a few as they return to the USA, Tanzania and move to Lebanon. We pray that they continue in chasing after Christ and being men of integrity that love the Lord. Would you also pray for the guys that will be coming into our home at the start of the upcoming school year. This will be the guys in Gavin’s class. We’re looking forward to having them and pray that the Lord would bring exactly who He wants into the dorm.
High School Graduation…
Isabella, our oldest daughter, graduated from Rift Valley Academy last weekend. I’m not really sure what other high school graduations feel like. I remember my own… I was thrilled to be done with high school. I was also in the USA, born and raised in the same city, with the same friends, playing on the same sports teams and with the knowledge that we would all be back together at some time in time because our roots were in the same city.
For third culture kids and missionary kids around the world, it often looks different. The day was somber and it was joyful. There were tears of happiness and sadness. It was an ampersand kind of day. We talk about the ampersand (&) symbol frequently when we talk with missionary kids. It’s a symbol that reflects the beauty and complexity that something/some feeling/some experience can be two opposing things at the same time.
On this graduation day, it was the celebration of the hard work, the dedication, the long hours and the accomplishment of finishing high school AND the deep grief and sadness and loss of finishing high school, her tribe of friends scattering– literally around the world, the uncertainty of what is to come, the knowledge that she will be on one side of the globe while we’re on the other. We’re exquisitely feeling the richness and fullness of overseas life while at the same time, the heartbreak of it.
We are thankful for the peace in knowing that Isabella loves and follows a mighty God who loves her, is faithful to lead her, and will not forsake her! We praise the Lord for His hand in her life. Will you join us in praying for our sweet girl as she embarks on the journey that the Lord has set before her– that she would continue to focus her eyes on Him, love Him and serve Him.
Thank you for partnering in this ampersand overseas ministry life! We’re so thankful for you! ❤️
Alissa, Jamie, Isabella, Eliana and Gavin
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