Ceremonies abound

This last weekend Sharon, Eliana, and I got to be a part of some very cool events....

First, was Jason and Julie's wedding.
We had the pleasure of serving with Jason in Lithuania for 2 years and got to know, love, and appreciate him very much. We've also known, loved, and respected Julie for a number of years. But we always knew them separately and from different circles. It all changed when Julie came over on a short term summer team to Lithuania and met Jason. Their story began a year and a half ago and it has been so fun to watch it develop to this day.
This couple is very special to us because Sharon has been a mentor to Julie over the last 4 years while I have had the pleasure of being a mentor to Jason. We had a blast as we did their premarital counseling over the last few months and I also had the honor of marrying them on Saturday. It is so cool to see God bring such a amazing people together and create such a solid couple.




Second, Sharon and I had the privilege of dedicating our little girl to the Lord. We got to stand in front of our church on Sunday and give our word that we would try and raise her in a way that would please God and encourage her in the faith. We feel so blessed to have her and can't wait to see how God uses her to impact not only our lives but her world too. She's gonna be a sweet MK (missionary kid) who will rock it up in Slovenia!

Baby Girl

So the big news is that Sharon and I are the very proud parents of a beautiful baby girl !!!
Her name is Eliana Grace Mormance. And just because there is already confusion about the pronunciation its (el-ee-AH-nah). She was born at 10:30 pm on the 20th. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs. 2 oz. with a length of 18 inches.

The Story:
It was a little bit of a surprise when Sharon's water broke Thursday night just before midnight. And though she was 2 weeks early and we didn't "feel ready," God thought it was time. We raced to the hospital and started the long 22 hour process of meeting our daughter. Things started out slow and continued that way until 9:30 Friday night. We had a few scares with our little girl's heart rate dropping and Sharon's body not cooperating like we had wished. So after some wise counsel and careful consideration we decided the way to go forward was a C-section. Everything went smoothly and we got to meet our baby girl at 10:30pm.
Eliana is healthy and Sharon is recovering well as we all figure out this parent thing.

By the way... her name not only is beautiful, like my little girl, but the meaning is important too. Its Hebrew origin means, "my God has answered." And that's just what He has done. He has answered our long time prayers to be parents and brought joy to our hearts where confusion and pain used to mingle as we tried for years to have this little girl.

Thanks for your prayers

And speaking of Bob & Anita . . .

. . . we moved over the weekend to our new home: we are now living with Bob & Anita Bailey in Gresham so we'll be a lot closer to so many of the people we know in the Portland area. Bob and Anita led the summer team over to Lithuania in '07 to help us kick off the new school year in Kaunas. Even though they're not family, living here kinda feels like living with an aunt and uncle :-)
We had been living with my sister Lynn in Wilsonville. She graciously opened up her home to us when we first moved back to the States in June. We really couldn't have asked for a better roomie - in fact in more ways than I can record here, I think the Lord knew that I needed a good dose of "sister time" as I adjusted back to life in the States. For those of you who know Lynn, you know what I mean. For those of you who don't know Lynn, it is uncanny just how much she and Matt are alike! :-) You'd better come visit me sis!
This is Lynn and me lookin' pretty cool in the hooptie that Matt and I borrowed from a friend when we were first back in the States. In fact, I think this was taken on our ride back from the airport.

Workin' on "team"

A few weeks ago we had the chance to hang out with some of our future JV teammates: Brad & Laurel Jenkins and Hondo & Trisha Wynn. (These were the two couples that were also at our language training back in November.) It was great to start feeling like team even before we get to Europe. Support raising has been pretty slow lately - this was an encouragement to hang in there and to keep working towards our goal of working and living in Slovenia!!
We got together with Bob & Anita Bailey (who have HUGE hearts for the work God is doing in Slovenia). They're kinda like honorary team members :-)

Time with friends

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with three wonderful women. We had such a good time together that we hardly noticed the SIX hourse went by! From left to right: Anna Stepanian, Christina Stanton, me and Laurel Jenkins.


A few weeks ago I introduced you to Christina. She is back from Slovenia and was spending some time in the Portland area. Anna also lived and worked with Josiah Venture in Slovenia - in fact she and Christina were roommates over there for 4 1/2 years. She moved home at the end of the summer and just recently moved to the Portland area. You might recognize Laurel from our photos taken in Colorado. She and her husband were at the language training we went to there.

I first met all three of these ladies while they were students at Multnomah. They were all RA's while I worked as a Residence Director there. Anna and Laurel were both Head RA's and Christina served as a Head RA the year after I left Multnomah. So, we go way back and have spent a lot of time together over the years. So many stories I could tell. :-) While I'm sad that Anna and Christina won't be in Slovenia when we go over, I'm so excited for the doors that the Lord is opening for them here.

I thought about posting some photos from long ago . . . but unfortunately, those were the days before I owned a digital camera and most of my photos are in storage. Might have to save that post for another day. :-)