There is a new addition to our family! Benaiah Mark Roberts was born December 14 at 14:02 on a lovely sunny Thursday. He of course is the cutest baby ever.

Hours old

Benaiah enjoyed his first Christmas with family.

Meeting Santa Claus

He was introduced to snow for the first time and had his first sledding experience.

Benaiah and his cousin Jethro are only 9 months apart and they started their relationship on the right foot.

Benaiah got to visit the ocean for the first time.

Naturally he experienced his first plane ride on his way to Ukraine. And now he has celebrated his 3 month birthday here in Ternopil!

Lance and I love, I mean LOVE the ocean. Both of our families enjoy being by the ocean so it was perfect to plan a family gathering by the ocean. We made multiple trips to the ocean, first trip was with Lance’s family in Depoe Bay for a weekend together, this has been one of Lance’s family’s favorite spots because it is perfect for watching the waves crash on the rocks.

The ocean has always been a place for Lance and I to relax and rest. We love listening to the ocean, poking at tide pools, watching sunrises and sunsets at the ocean, it is just one of our favorite places.

All together (just missing two kids though!)

Later in January, my family rented a house in Warrenton where we could all be together. We played games, watched The Goonies, went to the beach, visited Cannon Beach and just hung out.

Playing Kubb in the rain

Walking on the beach

It is crucial that we spend time with our staff to communicate plans and expectations as well as just have fun and pray together. We try to have several days a year that we can set aside for just being together. Two days before Lance and I left, we had our staff day.

We could only squeeze in one day but it was a great day for communicating our plans for the future and to hear from everyone. We communicated our plan of having three months for staff togetherness and that everyone should be ready to participate and be present during that time.

We also wanted to hear from everyone what they thought our base vision was. This might seem simple but we have wanted to rework that for years and just have not felt ready for it so we want to slowly work into it and this was one way to start that process. We gave two teams random objects and asked each team to use the items in describing what they thought the vision was. This gave us some direction and understanding of where everyone was at in regards to the vision. It was fun, simple and informative.

And to end our time, we had a team craft that involved a world map and decoupage. Since our building is still fairly new we are ever so slowly decorating and making it homey. This was one way we could all participate in decorating the base while emphasizing missions. All the kids could join in too and now it is a permanent reminder of our time together.

Lance and I have stayed in the same apartment in Ukraine for the last four years. It was our first home as a married couple so it has a special place in our lives.

Our first meal in our home

Over the last year though we have been thinking about finding a new place that would be cheaper and when we knew that we would be coming back to the states to have our baby it seemed to be the perfect time to move out.

We have had a good landlord and lots of memories in this place. We have had friends and family come stay with us, many get togethers with friends, and just time together as a couple. We hope to find a new place that is for a good price, has room for guests, and either has an elevator or is not on the fourth floor. Our ideal plan would be to rent a house that has a bit of yard but that is not as easy as finding an apartment.

First Christmas in our apartment

View from our window

Saying goodbye as we pack everything up

Ten days before we left Ternopil, we squeezed in four days of planning for the next year with our leadership team.

This is always a critical time for us as leaders to reflect on what happened in the last year, look at what worked and what didn’t and figure out how we can improve and grow as a team.

This past year was super busy and we felt we needed more time as staff together, to facilitate that we have decided to set aside March, April and May as a time to focus on the staff. We are not exactly sure how that will look but we want to have some times of teaching/training and also some times of ministry and fun together.

We look forward to seeing what will come out of this time and what God has for us next year! We already have a full calendar for next year but the Lord may change things around so we want to be ready for His will.