Greetings to all from Atlanta!
This Christmas, I can only say how blessed we feel. Not only do we have a great little girl to love on, but this Christmas we have definitely been reminded of the overwhelming support and love of our family and friends.
Becca finished her ten week German class at Siemens and thoroughly enjoyed it. She is in discussions to do another class or two starting early next year. We’ll see how that pans out. It was a great opportunity for Becca to use one of her many gifts, her fluency in German and great teaching ability, and the money sure didn’t hurt, either. She also loved teaching adults … less detentions, I guess.
I still love my job at Faith Academy. Not only are they great people to work with, the company is severely generous, and everyone was super understanding and supportive of Becca and I as Elisha made her way into the world. Faith Academy is very family focused for their staff (and others), so I was told to just take as much time as I needed. Elisha was born the last week of work, and since I had busted my tail to get all my grading done, it was easier for me to just be gone.
Our housemates, Eric and Heather, and my sister, Gina, and her husband, Ben, are all in Pakistan right now. They spent some time in Germany with my other sister, Shane, and her husband, Jason, before making their way to a wedding. Hence, the Mooney family Christmas was a little sparse this year. But everyone will be back in a couple weeks, including Shane and Jason for a week visit, so we will do Christmas again in January.
The Schneider family Christmas, however, was bigger than its ever been, which was a blessing for everyone. The living room could barely hold all the presents! Becca’s brother, Matt, and his wife, Kim, drove in from Dallas to spend Christmas with us. And since Becca and I have been in Korea for four years, this is the first Christmas in a while where everyone is together. Kim is also expecting, which everyone is very excited about. Micah loved playing with his uncle Matt and we all loved holding the little baby.
Speaking of Eric and Heather, it has been going extremely well living with them. While they might have a different perspective, we get along pretty well and have enjoyed the fellowship and family atmosphere. There are some changes on the horizon, though. We’ll see how a new little one, Elisha, adds to the mix, and the Friday night house church meeting will soon be held here at our house, which will be good but a stretch for our household as well. We all want more community and fellowship, but even that desire can be tested at times of frustration or moodiness, which is natural and important to get beyond to true community.
Personally, I’ve been concentrating on a couple major creative projects. First of all, I will be self-publishing my book, The Better Way: A Case for Love, at the start of the new year. I haven’t aggressively looked into publishing (a few rejection letters are only the beginning, I feel), but feel that some people will be blessed if able to read it. Look for more info on that in a couple months.
Second of all, I’ve endeavored to record many of the songs that I’ve written over the last twenty years. A quick count gives me close to 70 songs. Yes, that’s right, 70 songs. I’ve got about 25 acoustic/pop rock type songs, another 25 heavy Christian material, and another 15 praise songs that I would like to get down. The goal here is not to have the most professional version of every song, but a good demo of each to hear the basic form, melody, and hook to eventually sell a few of them. And I just would like to have a recording of what I feel are some great songs. I’ll probably find a way to post them all as mp3s somewhere for people to download for free … or possibly for a donation to a charity or something.
Which also leads me to the next thing, my own personal website. I’ve enjoyed my time at blogger, here, but over the next couple months (along with publishing the book and recording music), I will be transferring my blog over to another website where I can do more than just blog. Look for that as soon as I get some cool graphics and stuff set up.
House church meetings have been going extremely well. While the changes on Friday night will shake up the group, I feel it will free us up to do more and, more importantly, be more with each other. It will be different, but good, I think, and God is really doing some cool things. Sunday night is even more encouraging. Its growth will lead to some splitting and extension pretty soon, I think. God is moving, and I really just feel like I’m only sitting back and watching it unfold.
As a short testimony, let me share that Becca and I have given more than we ever have this year, to those in need. As God more shares His heart with me in this area, I’ve tried to be faithful and give as much as I can, if not more. The result has been that God continues to bless us financially. I’m waiting for a time when I feel like I’ve really given something away, to feel some sort of material loss. It hasn’t happened yet. We’ve been blessed more this year than any other so far, which only means we have to keep giving it away. It’s not a formula, only a testimony that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
Also coming up is a visit from Kenny and Nicole who have moved back to the states from Korea. What a blessing it will be to see them and little Faith! I am also going to go visit my great aunt Bea in Florida with my dad (this is his aunt, his mother’s sister). I am hoping to interview her about my Grandma and her life as a young girl. It might take a few years, but I hope to get enough info and interviews to put together a book about my Grandma’s life. Believe me, you’ll want to read it.
I love you all. Pray for us as you feel led. As blessed as we are, God has so much ahead of us to do and be, that many times I hardly feel up to the challenge. We need His help more than ever.
Britt, Becca, Micah, and Elisha, missionaries to the world!
