SNOW in Tucson!?

We were amazed! The last time we saw snow in Tucson was Easter of 1999 - it was a freak blizzard with very little sticking. Tonight - we got 2+ inches with more on its way! Crazy! You can see our tupperware bowl collecting snow outside for snow cones!

Another cool note: This last week we were able to purchase airline & train tickets for our Vision Trip to/in France. Today we received enough funds for our hotel & food costs! God is good! I keep finding more and more ways that God is good to all of us!

Matt's 35th Birthday

When I was 17ish I had a cool 1971 VW. Susan loves to share the story about when we were enagaged and driving in San Francisco and the bus broke down in the middle of the intersection and she had to push the bus while I popped the clutch. Just one of those stories we will never forget. I love my beautiful Susan and I think she is the best cake maker! Look at the VW symbol-so cool! Peace from the old dude! -Matt

Vision trip to France

Our church did a silent auction in December and raised funds for a vision trip to France. Matt was going to go by himself in February but then we received an update on our account at IT and found that there are enough funds for Susan to go as well.

Susan & I will be leaving February 5th. We will be connecting with the teams in Paris, Grenoble, Toulouse, and maybe Strasburg.

Please pray for a safe trip, our kids, Papa & Nana as they take care of our beautiful ones and of course Katrina as she takes care of them. Also pray that we will connect with the teams well and that God will help us determine exactly where he wants us and what specifics He wants us to do.

Peace

You . . . yeah you!

God is at work. Look around you. Can you hear Him? Can you smell Him? Drink Him in. He is good ~ better than your wildest dreams of friendship, love, hope. He will excite you, romance you, provide for you, test your agility, allegiance, strength, courage, and patience. He will lead you on a great adventure ~ showing you things you have never imagined. All He asks of you is to grab a hold of Him and hang on. Are you ready? Do you think you can handle it? Your pride is screaming, "Of course!!" But you won't be able to - He promises that much. He promises to overwhelm you with challenges and dreams bigger than you just so you will not forget you need Him. Can you admit to yourself that you can't do it? Can you hang on to Him through the bumps, jerks, detours, wind & rain? Can you believe that He has you in the middle of all that? And He's not going to let you go? If anyone is going to let go ~ it will be you ~ can you resist the biggest temptation of all - giving up? Because there is an enemy out there and his only goal is to convince you that God doesn't have you and that He doesn't know what He is doing. Can you stay focused on Him? Can you tune out the enemy? Are you ready for the challenge of your lifetime?

2 Jobs

I feel spoiled. . .

My husband works 2 jobs - what a man! He gets it done! And he looks good doing it! He spends his mornings serving coffee to early risers and then spends his late mornings/afternoons/evenings taking care of youth.

My kids (without prompting from me) pray regularly thanking God that I get to be home with them!

If this is my job . . . making dinners for my husband & kids, cleaning, making sure all is taken care of for my man when he gets home . . . I can do that!

I know it may appear to be the "traditional role" and boring, but I actually like it. In fact, with a husband like Matt and kids that are always thanking me for what I do - how can I not enjoy it?

I am a pessimist at heart. So the days I actually realize life is good - I thought I better write it down.

12th Anniversary

I just have to tell you- We have the best kids in the whole world.
Yesterday was our Anniversary and these wonderful kids brought us breakfast in bed!
It was so cool because after that they sang to us and then did a puppet show for us.
It was the best part of our day. Peace-Mateo

Matt's Ordination

Many of you know that in order to be missionaries wtih the C&MA the husband needs to be ordained. So Matt had started that process years ago. International Teams does not require ordination, but Matt being the man he is followed through with the process and completed his ordination on November 7th!! I am so proud of him! There will be an ordination service held here in Tucson on February 25th at 4:30 pm. So now we can all call him Rev . . . the Reverend . . . the Revmeister . . .

Matt would never share this with anyone himself not just because he doesn't like titles but also because he wasn't sure that being ordained was necessary - he just wanted to complete what he had started.

Silent Auction

This Saturday, December 9th, our church, CrossPoint Community Church, is hosting a silent auction for our Vision Trip to France in January. Please pray that many items sell. We are very encouraged by this opportunity and blessed to have a generous church here who are so willing to help us out!

Also for those of you who look at the photos posted on the blog we have added Anna & Nathaniel's most recent birthday party photos!

Letter

So, Hopefully by now some of you have received our prayer letter and our new prayer card. By the way I need to give thanks to the rightful people. Katrina (our friend from WI) took the picture of us in front of IT's building and she did a good job! Susan took that picture and put it all together and designed the beautiful card. If by chance you didn't get one we are truly sorry and would love to send you one. Let us know by email: mattheum@yahoo.com

France

So we have been praying for God's direction in all of this and we believe that France is where He wants us to be. We will be taking a exploratory trip to France in the near future to determine which IT team we will be working with and in what city. We would llike to be in France sometime in 2007. As of October 13th our training is done and we will be driving up to Appleton, Wisconsin to do some more support raising. We are looking for people to be on our financial and prayer team. If this interests you then contact me at mattheum@yahoo.com for more information. ~Peace

Grandma & Grandpa

Today would have been Grandpa & Grandma's 64th Anniversary. The memorial service was beautiful. Four churches served and provided food. Wow! We love you Grandma thanks for showing us how to love.

Peace