Dear Praying Friends,
It's been almost three months since our last update. Here's what I started writing in June:
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| Enjoying the fruit of our predecessors. <3 |
We can tell that we are being prayed for. Thank you for praying peace into our difficult circumstances. Thank you for praying grace into our daily interactions. Thank you for praying strength into our continual "race." Thank you for praying God's love down on us. We have felt Him near through family and friends, small blessings and small whisperings this month. We are so thankful.
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| ~ * Partners * ~ |
This month, on the 2nd, we celebrated three years of marriage! We are so, SO thankful to our relatives, Jennifer and Steve, for offering to babysit Nathaniel and Evangella for a few hours so we could spend the evening together. (Be sure to check out their inspiring blogs @
Treasuring Home &
Steve Hall and Family). Over our quiet and uninterrupted dinner, we were able to spend some time reflecting over the past 5 years that we have known each other. Which of us would have guessed that in five years' time from our first awkward "hello" we would have married, moved three times, completed our college educations (at least for now), worked several different jobs, volunteered in various capacities at two churches, and become the parents of two children!? It's just wild. We would never have predicted, or asked God, to be where we are today and have learned the lessons that we have. But we are certainly learning that God's plans are greater than our plans and that He works for our good and His glory. We also took this opportunity to ask ourselves (just for the fun of it!), "Where do you think we might be five years from now?" It was so exciting to share our hearts and dreams of adopting children and starting a donation-basis, home business. We do not know if these dreams will come to pass, but expressing these ideas to each other has spurred two things in us: 1) To be faithful in what God has called us to now and to appreciate the lessons He is bringing us through, knowing that there are good gifts and greater opportunities / responsibilities to come; 2) To lay our desires at God's feet and seek His guidance and direction - because we are finding that His plans are always 100% good.
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Now it is August.
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| Harvest time. |
We have spent this summer adjusting to our new baby / family, taking on new responsibilities at Benjamin's work, jumping into Bible classes at church, and putting on the brakes in pretty much all other areas in order to take some much needed rest. Let me elaborate:
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| And to laugh! |
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| Evangella learning to smile! |
Evangella is growing strong and healthy, though not quite as chubby as Nathaniel at that same age. Infancy was not an easy stage for us. At three months we seemed to be turning a corner. Now Evangella is four months old. She is falling into a more predictable sleep schedule, which is a huge blessing to us adults, and though she generally seems fussier than we remember Nathaniel being, her smiles and laughs now are very redeeming. Nathaniel is enthralled with her and enjoying all of her new motor skills and sounds. We are all getting to know her for who she is. Seemingly a more shy, nervous, observing baby than Nathaniel was, but truly a demonstration of God's "good news" every day.
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| Hello Baby. |
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| Hello leopard slug. |
Did we tell you how much Nathaniel likes bugs? He and Megan are learning quite a lot this summer about types of insects, birds, and plants. Nathaniel has upgraded to a bigger bed and out of his high chair into a booster seat, and is handling all of his new responsibilities and expectations well. We are so thankful for his cheerful, helpful personality. He is rarely out-of-sorts and when he is we know that it's time for us to check our family's temperature, so to speak.
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| Benjamin demonstrating his magnificent multitasking skills! |
Benjamin has worked so hard on house projects this year. His list of accomplishments is long since we moved here in August. His summer projects included installing a heat pump in the living room and completing the work on our second bedroom, now to be used as an office + guest room. Megan worries a lot about spending too much time / money on our house, but she is thankful that Benjamin is turning it into a safe and useable space for our family and ministry to grow. Roots must be cultivated and put down so that fruit may spring forth.
Benjamin's 12 week Sunday school class on the Jewish culture of the Gospels is complete! It was a greatly enjoyed experience for him to study hard and learn more about presenting God's truth to others. He is also continuing to enjoy and work faithfully at his job in Champaign. His responsibilities there have increased to include being "on-call" one week out of every month or so.
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Date night courtesy of our
lovely friends at church!
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Picture courtesy of Courtney C.
whose friendship is a true gift. |
Megan is learning that two children are definitely a different dynamic than just one. It is stretching her, but she is learning to enjoy keeping her focus small and growing the beautiful children that God has given us. Benjamin being on-call gives her more opportunity to connect with friends. She was also IMMENSELY BLESSED by a short visit from her sister, Autumn, and niece Makayla and nephew Caleb at the end of June. Autumn came to see her new niece and her presence was such a joy and refreshment!!
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"She opens her mouth in wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."
Proverbs 31:26 |
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"Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she smiles at the future."
Proverbs 31:25 |
With Benjamin's cessation of house projects for the summer we had high hopes of taking multiple day trips to explore the area and picnic together. Instead we have pretty much used the time to catch up with each other, cement our new rhythms as a family and rest. We are definitely enjoying the new weather, home and friends that God has provided us with here in Illinois, though, even if we aren't busy excursioning.
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Tractor Field Trip!
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| Family Day in Bloomington with Abe Lincoln - who else? |
We are often asking for repeated prayers in the same areas. We thank you for your persevering prayer and for God's persevering work in us! God is continually teaching us, connecting us with our neighbors, strengthening us as a family, and perfecting His word in us. We pray that we remain alert to His voice and faithful in what He is asking us to do each moment and season. We are looking forward all God has for us heading into our second year in Illinois and in this new Fall season. "Specific" prayers currently are:
1) Good changes are being made at Benjamin's work. Pray that the transition is smooth.
2) Pray that we will be strengthened in and be an encouragement to our new small group at church.
3) Pray that Megan grows in contentment, obedience and joy in her mothering and home-keeping.
4) Pray that we will have boldness and discernment in our interactions / dinners / meetings with our neighbors.
5) Pray that our family will be strengthened as a unit and that we will be diligent in implementing the changes we've been discussing.
Also, we are not very active on social media, but if you would like to get ahold of us our email addresses are: benjaminmcendarfer@yahoo.com and meganaardsma@gmail.com. We would be happy to share phone numbers too.
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Loving this summer weather.
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May God's wisdom and blessing be with you!
The McEndarfers ~ Benjamin, Megan, Nathaniel & Evangella
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