Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Thanks 2012!

For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth
Thou art exalted far above all gods
I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, O Lord.

From the song “I Exalt Thee”
Hours after ringing in the New Year, we gathered as a family to pray and thank the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to us in 2012. We had so much to be thankful for! He is so good and blessed us abundantly. It would make a terribly long post to list them all so I thought to summarize some major points of our year in addition to our highlights and prayers which follow below:
• Gratefulness for the house we lived in in Canada.
• Our move back to Chiang Mai, Thailand (from Toronto).
• Evan and Eric at Camp of the Woods for the summer.
• My mother (and Chris Tom) had gone to be with the Lord. I made it back to Toronto for three weeks to be with family and to attend my mother’s funeral.
• Eng and I traveled to Malaysia to visit family and to celebrate Eng’s Mom’s birthday.
• Fun with friends and family while camping at Doi Inthanon.

We were all grateful that Evan and Eric could be here and celebrated Christmas and the New Year with us but Eng first mentioned it. He would like prayers to know what he should do this year as he senses the desire to do something different.

Evan’s highlight of the year was his graduation (with an English and a Writing major) from Houghton College. He’s also grateful that he was able to take care of his grandfather from August until he came here. He would like prayers to find a full-time job in Toronto but he is also willing to move to the US, if necessary. Also, he would like to meet someone special in his life.

Eric was grateful for finishing a term in his college. His continued prayer is to do well next term and to know what he’ll study next, and where. His one year Liberal Arts program will finish at the end of April. Please pray that Evan can be there for his graduation because neither Eng nor I can be. His current choices for next school year are: Houghton College, McGill University, and Redeemer University College.

Eli would like prayers to continue to do academically well in 2013 as he did in the last semester. He would also like prayers to know what he should do in the future (where to study and what to study) after he graduates from high school. Finishing in June 2014, he hopes that his brothers can attend his graduation.

Ethan’s thankful that we were able to return to Thailand. Because Evan and Eric will leave us shortly to return to Canada, his prayer is that we’ll be able to be together as a family again. =)

Still amazed, I’m so glad my friend from the Philippines came to celebrate my birthday with me when none of my family could be here in August. My prayer is to love well in 2013 in spite relational challenges. I also want prayers for help with my online Counseling courses and the provision of finances for those courses.

The Lord has been so faithful and good. We do exalt Him, thank Him, and praise Him. We are sad to have to be separated again soon (not knowing when we'll all be together again) and we still have unanswered financial needs, a job for Evan, direction guidance, etc., but we can surely trust that the Lord will be just as faithful and good to us in 2013 as he was in 2012. Amen! Thank you, Papa God! We are looking forward to what you have in store for us in this new year.

Happy New Year! =) With love and blessings from us,
Eric, Eli, Evan, Ethan, Eng, and Linda

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