NTM

Well our summer is off and running.  We are so glad to be home in Wisconsin and are having lots of fun with family and friends.  It is so nice to be able to shop at my old grocery stores and buy all our favorite foods that we couldn’t find in Missouri. 

We have been living with my parents since we arrived and it has been going remarkably well.  Our family shares a bedroom, so that is nice and cozy, but thankfully we’ve all been getting along with one another, so that isn’t a problem.  We did get an opportunity to house sit for the next few weeks between two different friends’ homes, so we are excited to take a little break and spend time with just our family for a while.  As nice as it is to get out, it is always difficult to continue to uproot the boys and be packing and unpacking every 2 weeks.  Pray for me, because that has been a big stress.  I really dislike packing, moving, and not having a permanent home. 

Chuck has been spending time working at our church and really enjoys it.  He has been studying for a sunday school class he is starting up with 2 other men from our church, he is prepping for Vacation Bible School (where he will be playing the role of Peter and teaching the kids one of the lessons), and he has been cutting grass.  It seems the last is a never ending job, since our church has a lot of grass to cut. 

It is hard to believe that 3 weeks have passed since we arrived, and I know summer is just going to go by in an instant.  Charlie turns 1 on July 17th and Aiden will be 3 on August 12th, so we are very excited to be home for their birthdays. 

Thank you for keeping up with our family, and for your prayers and support.  It means so much to us!  We hope to hear from you. 

Just wanted to let you know that I just posted 2 new blog entries.  just go to: http://chuckbeckyandtheboys.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers.  Aiden is doing much better.  He is acting back to normal, but is still having a hard time eating and drinking.  We discovered that cut up canned pears were easy for him to eat.  So that has been his main food for today.  Please keep praying that the wound will continue to heal and that he’ll be able to eat normally again soon.  Thanks!

UPDATE:

Aiden is pretty much back to normal now and is eating normally again. His tongue isn’t fully healed yet, but it is almost there!  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Chuck and Becky

_______________________________________________

Please pray for Aiden.  Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon he fell off our bed and when he landed he bit almost through his tongue.  We have two nurses on campus and after consulting with them we didn’t find it necessary to take him into the ER.  They said that they rarely stitch up a tongue and that it would probably be more traumatic for Aiden to go in to the hospital, when all they will do is just tell us to give him tylenol.    So please pray that the tongue would heal and that the pain would go away quickly.  He hasn’t really been able to eat or drink since it happened.  So please also pray that he’ll be able to get some nourishment in today.  Thanks so much!  Becky (for Chuck too)

Just wanted to let you know that there is a new Blog Post all about Charlie Bums.  What are Charlie Bums you ask?  Well click on the link and go see! 

chuckbeckyandtheboys.blogspot.com/

A Near Death Experience

Our God works in mysterious ways. This is a story of over one-thousand people on their knees before a Good God. It is how a bad situation was actually the best situation. It is yet just one more example of our God’s goodness.

Tuesday night I got a call from Jeremy. He wanted to come up to our house so that Jen could use our bath, a convenience we do not take for granted. She was running a high fever which is never a good thing for a woman in her final trimester. They were at our house for quite a few hours, trying to get the fever down with cool water. It seemed to subside so we went to bed with a prayer. In the morning Jeremy decided that they had better go to the hospital. The next few days I waited for the good news of recovery that is just to happen in hospitals. It seems that Jen had a kidney infection that spread toxins throughout her body and had inflamed her lungs. She was flown to a bigger and better hospital. Despite all the professional care she was receiving her condition was failing.

I drove up to Colombia, Missouri asking God for healing, wondering what I was going to say to my friend to encourage him. I didn’t go in to see Jen. I knew she was in no condition to see a visitor. I went to be with Jeremy, to give him a hug, maybe a word, and prayer. Prayer, was what I did at Colombia Regional Hospital. I stayed longer than planned. Jen was in ICU which meant Jeremy couldn’t stay in the room with her. Visiting hours were over and it was just us in the waiting room. That night was bitter. What do you say when life is on the line? The prayers were not fancy but right. That was all we could do. That was all Jeremy could do. He couldn’t save his wife only God could. Though the petition was for a miracle, “She is yours God, not mine,” was his confession. The truth ever was that our God is good.

While all of this was happening churches and people all over the world had heard of Jen’s condition. Thousands were praying to our God. God’s children were turned to Him, looking to Him, petitioning Him for a miracle. It is amazing what God will use to get our attention. One girl in a critical condition and thousands gather before the throne of grace.

In the midst of all things our God is good. He chose to heal our friend. While we don’t always understand what He is doing, we can always proclaim that He is good. God is good all the time, all the time he is good.

I can wholeheartedly say that we are enjoying our time in Florida. We’ve been enjoying beautiful 80 degree weather and lots of sunshine. It makes it hard to believe that Christmas has come and we are just about to enter January, but we aren’t complaining.
We made it to Florida last Friday and have been enjoying seeing Chuck’s family and celebrating Christmas. This was Charlie’s first Christmas and it was exciting for Aiden since he got his first bike!   It has been such a nice Christmas since all of Chuck’s family were able to be here in Florida. Aiden and Charlie have 6 cousins (all boys) and Aiden has been having fun playing with them. Another perk of our trip was going to see our dog Bob, who is now living with Chuck’s sister and brother-in-law down here. We weren’t allowed to take him to school with us (since only “flushable” pets are allowed at school), so were very excited to be reunited with Bob on this trip!
We will be leaving Florida on Friday January 2nd and will begin our drive up to Wisconsin. We plan to drive to Nashville, TN on Friday and then continue up to Wisconsin on Saturday morning. We are excited to spend time with my family and our church (Woodridge Community Church) while we are there for a week.
After lots of family fun, we will be returning to the Missionary Training Center in Roach, Missouri to begin our 2nd semester. We are excited to return a week early and move into a new apartment. There was an opening in the new housing units and we were asked if we’d be interested in moving. We cannot wait, as we will now have a shower in our apartment and much more room! Our current apartment is only 480 square feet and only has a half bath. So I’m sure you can imagine our excitement to move into more space.
Thank you for all your prayers and support as we continue our training with New Tribes Mission. We are looking forward to moving forward in our training and seeking the Lord’s direction in our future ministry.
Becky (for Chuck too)

We are asking prayer for safe travel and for traveling with the boys.

Today (Wed. 12/17/08) we will be beginning our travels for Christmas break.  Today we head off for Nashville, TN and will spend 1 day there.  After that we leave for Florida to spend Christmas and New Years with Chuck’s family.  Then on January 3rd we will be leaving for Wisconsin to spend a week before returning for our 2nd semester at the Missionary Training Center.

Well, life is begining to feel normal now and we have our daily schedule pretty well set.  We have been very suprised at how life just doesn’t seem to stop down here.  We are continually trying to get a grasp on  the day in order to get everything done.  This is one reason why, we must appologize that we haven’t yet gotten our first prayer/newsletter out in the mail yet.  But don’t worry it is coming!

Everyday seems to be packed with different things we need to do and with somethings that are just fun to do! 

Every morning we get the family up between 6:30 and 7 a.m. (sometimes Aiden decides it is time for the family to get up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. though!)  We are then gone at class until noon everyday.  3 afternoons a week Chuck is gone at work detail until 5 p.m.   Then 1 day a week we go and spend an hour with our E-LINC couple.  That is a staff couple that we have been assigned to and we get together and talk about how classes and life are going here.  Our other days are filled with laundry, grocery shopping, homework, fishing (for Chuck), off campus ministry, raising the boys, housework, and building relationships with others on campus. 

It’s funny, everyday we can’t seem to figure out where our days have gone!  I’m afraid next thing we know it will be two yeras later we’ll be leaving here and our little boys won’t be so little anymore.

I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit about what life is like down here for us.  We will try to be better from now on and post updates more regularily.  I am about to add pictures to our blog so if you are interested in more family story related news check there.  http://chuckbeckyandtheboys.blogspot.com

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support we truly appreciate it so much!  We love to hear from everyone so please feel free to drop us an email or give a call! 

God Bless,

           Becky (and all the Marshall boys too)

Please be sure to check out our blog.  We just recently posted our video house tour and Aiden’s very 1st song!    Hope you all enjoy.