8:47 AM
Kevin, Courtney, and Aviah Root
We took this video the other day. She has started crawling after playing
with some other kids 2-5 years old that are amazing with her.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thy Kingdom Come
| |||||||||||
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Coffee and God.. =)
This is Kevin, and I have been doing a daily quiet time during my "30 minute breaks" at work. I have been listening to worship music and reading random places in the bible for encouragement while we are at home waiting to go back into the missions field long term. God has been revealing some AMAZING things to me during these times, and I have been dying to share everything I have learned, and couldn't think of a way to share. I definitely forgot about our blog =). So this is some of the things I have been going through the last month.
A few weeks ago, I was struggling with what God has called Courtney and I to do while home, with Courtney at home to spend time with our new daughter and for me to pass up a job working for my dad making very nice money and going to work at Starbucks instead. When Courtney and I put down onto paper our bills, and what we bring in a month...the bills outweigh the money we bring in by a LOT. But we are trusting in God that he has called us to do this, and that he will provide all of the finances we need. Well 7 months being home with this, we have been hugely blessed, and have been able to pay off every bill. One bill that we did forget about was the one that was made when our dog ate rat poison and the costs to get it out of her system...$500. It seemed like a huge mountain to climb, and I just started to feel helpless, like no matter how hard I was working, I could not get over this mountain. In my quiet time, God led me to read Phillipians 4:13 which reads "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength". For me in this moment, was the biggest thing I could read, just a great reminder that since we have been home, none of the bills have been paid through what Courtney and I do, but through God's never ending provisions. Not even two days after that, Courtney and I received a check for $400... one we never expected to receive.
He remains so faithful to you, especially when you walk in the life he has called you into. I just continue to thank God for all of his amazing blessings, and still at times think, "Am I insane, as the supporter of my family, to be working at a place that cannot financially provide for my family?" and God keeps reminding me that "Sometimes I call you to do things that to others may seem insane, but it is for my good, and I will continue to watch over you and provide when you need me". One story he really brought to me was that of Noah... When God asked him to build the Arc, he probably seemed very insane to not only his family, but to his peers. I know that if someone were to do such a thing today, most people would think they were crazy. God isn't asking us to build a literal Arc, but is asking us to build on our relationship with him and to show everyone around us that when you walk with God, he sometimes asks you to do crazy things, but when you are obedient to him...he won't leave you hanging.
This is just one day of quiet time with God. I will continue to post some more as I can.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Look What We Got!!
You may already know that last week I was trying to win a contest for a Boba carrier. I used one in Germany for the little girl I help take care of and I totally fell in love! I was dying to have one! So I entered the contest tons of amazing people came and voted for my comment. I received third place. I was bummed but I knew that God knew I wanted one and I knew He would provide one for us somehow. I received an e-mail the next day that someone wanted to GIVE us one! It is so amazing to me how personal God is. He knew we couldn't afford one of these carriers and He knew it was something we desired to have! He is such an amazing provider. Check out what we received in the mail yesterday!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
24 weeks and counting...
24 Weeks
What I am feeling: Her constantly moving and kicking, like peeing my pants ( sometimes when she kicks me in the bladder), excited, tired, anxious for what God has for us in the next few months, happy, in love with my daughter,
What I am thinking: What her name will be! I can't understand how all these pregnant women I know already have names picked out before they even find out the baby's sex. I am so not like that. I have known now for 6 weeks and we are still praying about a first name that we both like. We haven't even begun to think of a middle name. Part of the reason is because we really want the name that God has for her. We also want a name that means something but sounds good at the same time. So, for now our name search for this active little girl continues.
What I am seeing: Less and less of my feet and more and more of my stomach. I know I will get much bigger but I am already losing sight of my feet. I noticed it the other day really and I was showing Kevin and laughing. Also, I am seeing my belly move! Especially at night when I lay down. I just love laying there watching my stomach pop and move all over the place. I get the feeling we have a dance lover on our hands!
What I am craving: Chick-Fil-A stip salad with Lite Italian dressing and an ice cold lemonade, tuna fish sandwich with extra pickles and cheese, and a decaf coconut mocha Frappucino from Starbucks.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Back Tracking...
We have returned safe and sound back in the U.S. I'm only posting this six weeks after we got
home (sad, I know). But, Kevin and I really feel like we have been able to come back and get into life back here in the States. So the six weeks we have been home have been restful and good for us to recuperate.
home (sad, I know). But, Kevin and I really feel like we have been able to come back and get into life back here in the States. So the six weeks we have been home have been restful and good for us to recuperate. Since we have returned to the U.S. I realized how badly I need to update our blog. I will be backtracking and posting about week by week details of our time overseas. I am excited to finally have the time to share with you all what God has done in us and through us! Since there is already a post on our first week of Lecture Phase in Herrnhut (Click Here to be taken directly to that post), I will start with our second week.
Week two of Lecture phase was about the Character and Nature of God. I had been looking forward to this week. When I had the miscarriage I really struggled with knowing the true character and nature of God. I felt like He was punishing me for something I had done and that I had to do things to be in God's favor. I struggled with believing that He was faithful, trustworthy, and good. Needless to say, I needed to hear truths about Him to replace all the lies I had been believing.
Our speaker was Peter Warren from the base in Denver Colorado (this is the base where the 2008 shootings happened). He was a great speaker for this week. During the first day of lectures with Peter, he went around the room asking the students questions to get to know us better. I can tell you that until I was with YWAM for a while, I hated these kinds of things. I always felt so uncomfortable being asked a random question in front of tons of other people. I was praying that God would help him pick the perfect question for me (one that wasn't embarrassing). When he finally got to me, he looked at me and said, "How many kid's do you want to have?" I cannot tell you how uncomfortable I felt. My face instantly went red and I was forcing back the tears. I answered him with, "I don't know, how ever many God gives us". I was so relieved when he moved on to the next person and the attention was off of me.
Since Kevin and I shared an apartment with Tobi and Natalia we decided to invite Peter over for dinner. Natalia and I decided to make chicken curry for dinner and so we tried to make it without any recipe... that was kind of a disaster. To fix it, we ended up throwing all kinds of stuff in the pot and praying and it would actually end up somewhat edible. We were laughing because we knew how messed up it was but Peter kept saying how much he liked it. WHEW! Haha
Anyways, after the delicious dinner, we had some great conversation with Peter. He talked with us about the question he had asked me about how many kids I wanted. He said he randomly chose that question out of the 80 he had on the paper. He told us that he felt like God wanted to use the question about the kids to ask us what we wanted Him to give us. How many kids did our hearts desire, what were we expecting from God. He said it was good to speak out what we desired from God. God was trying to show me how much I could trust Him to be faithful and give me the desires I had for children because He loves me so much.
We really got into the groove of our weekly schedule this week which consisted of:
6:45-Wake up
7:30-Breakfast down at the base
8:00-Quiet time
8:30 First lecture or on Mondays all base worship and Wednesdays nations prayer.
11:00-Coffee and tea break
11:30-Lectures
1:30-Lunch
2:15-Work Duties
4:30-Learning time (e.g. intercessory, bible reading, small groups, etc)
6:00- Dinner
The other thing we did this week on Wednesday night was a community night. The staff went
out and got snacks and we all played get to know you better games. It was so fun learning about what people liked and seeing people's personalities while playing games and snacking! It's so crazy to think back on that week since it was so early in our DTS and we were just meeting and getting to know each other. Then, I look at how we are now and it's so cool to see that we really did become a family! I love and miss my DTS family so much!!
Mobile DTS staff and students
Friday, November 26, 2010
We are still here =)
New post to be coming soon! We have a little more packed of a schedule than we thought we would once we went mobile... Tons of teachings and outreaches (ministries within the cities.) To the prostitutes in both Hamburg and Amsterdam. And the homeless in Hamburg as well as Brussels. Tomorrow we will be going out to the muslim community here in Brussels. So it looks like possibly Sunday for a blog post?
Thank you all for your patience.
Kevin and Courtney.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A night of Nepalese
Last night, Kevin and I along with Tobias and Natalia (the other couple who is living upstairs with us) were invited to our host's (Thomas and Eli) apartment for a Nepalese meal. After dinner we went to the living room to watch a video that Eli made. She is in the process of trying to open an orphanage in Eastern India. The video was of some of the children her and her husband are personally sponsoring so they will be able to go to school. These along with many others have no parents and no home.
She really feels God has said the timing is right. She is just waiting for God to send people with the same calling to be pioneers and go over to India to get things started for these children. I (Courtney) really have been feeling God calling me to open an orphanage and I am praying that he will show me wether or not this is the place and the time. It's really amazing to me that God placed us in a home where the host has a calling to open an orphanage when I feel God has given me the same calling. We were supposed to stay in the castle and God placed us a 45 minute walk away from the castle with Thomas and Eli. I am really praying that he will speak to me and show me if this is the reason for bringing us to this home.
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful host family and. It was such a wonderful evening of fellowship and laughs. Thomas and Eli are so giving. They have truly blessed us so much since we have been here. I just wanted to post a few pictures from our evening. I hope you all enjoy them!
Eli serving everyone the wonderful meal she prepared for us.
The dinner table From left to right: Kevin, Natalia, Tobi, Thomas, Eli, and Thomas (Thomas and Eli's friend)
Our awesome Nepalese meal of beef and mushrooms with lentil sauce and curry, rice, and cucumber and onion salad.
All of us being lazy after stuffing ourselves
Hanging out in the living rom after watching the movie
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Hearing God's voice
What an amazing and BUSY week this past week has been! I can't believe this is only the beginning of it all! I can safely say that we are now settling into this new life of ours, and that we are excited to grow and learn all that we can.
We have spent the whole week getting to know all 50 or so of the people in our DTS, AND we have had an amazing speaker this week talking about "Hearing the voice of God."
We have learned a lot about what we will be doing these next three months, and i am so excited about what will be happening. What can beat 3 months of traveling across Europe spreading God's love, and visiting some amazing countries with an amazing group of people. Europe is in some real need of help right now if you CLICK HERE you can watch a video that explains what is currently going on in our world. We hope that God can use us in helping stop this in any way that he can.
We were lucky to have an amazing guest speaker this week explaining to us what it means to hear the voice of God. She used a lot of past experiences, and bible verses to help us better understand God in our lives, and that it may not always be AUDIBLE, though since God has created all around us... therefore he can use all around us to help guide and talk to us.
This time of talking to God has for me (Kevin) brought to light a lot that is still inside of me that, I have refused to let go, and that the time will soon come when I will be ready to let God heal me. This month of learning is a good one for Courtney and I as this was to be the month that our lives were going to change forever. This was the month that we were to bring a new life into the world, but God had other plans for us in the meantime, which we are now really seeing.
It has only been a week and I feel that Courtney and I are both growing in our relationship with each other, and GOD. I am so excited for these next 6 months and hope that we can keep you guys as up to date as possible on all that is going on in our lives.
Please pray for:
- Healing in our hearts.
- That we have the focus to take God's word and use it in our lives, to help better those around us.
- For our families back home, that us being so far away gets easier for them.
- That God opens the hearts of the muslims as we prepare to go out and show them God's love for them.
- That the american dollar stops losing it's value, though it's value has no value to God.
- That God helps us as we try and communicate with the locals, as a lot of them speak German as their primary language.
Thank you all for your time, it means a lot to us to see people interested in what God is doing over here in Europe through Courtney and I.
Thank you!
Kevin
(Financial update: At the current moment, I will need to see what our final number for outreach will be for us to know exactly the numbers.)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hallo aus Herrnhut, Deutschland! (Hello from Herrnhut, Germany!)
Wow! We have been in Germany for a little over 2 days now, and we love it here! We had a very hectic fast-paced first day here. When we first landed, it was easy to get through customs and everything, it was the trying to get on the correct train to Löbau that we were having trouble with.
Once we FINALLY arrived in Löbau, we met with a few of the YWAM staff as they were waiting outside the station for us (it was all rainy and cold..haha). From there, they took us to where we will be staying, which won't be the castle sadly, BUT they had some room available at one of the staff leaders houses in town, and we love it here! We got to meet the very nice couple that will allow us to live with them for the next month or so, their names are Eli (pronounced Ellie) and Thomas, they have a son named Johnathan.
Yesterday (Thursday) we slept for a total of 19 hours (on accident) and when we woke up at 3:00 P.M. Eli made us a fresh pot of coffee, hard boiled eggs, and fresh bread and had it waiting on us. We enjoyed a 1 ½ to 2 hours talking with her and she is such a sweet woman. She is from Nepal and her husband is from Germany. I was telling her of the desire God has placed in my heart to open an orphanage in India. She then told me that she had been praying for God to send people with that desire to help her in opening an orphanage in India. What a huge God thing. There is a reason that God did not place us in the castle but instead with Eli and Thomas.
We have been able to call both of our families and let them know that we are here safe. The DTS starts tomorrow, and we are excited to see what God has in store for us for these next 6 months. We miss you all and hope to have many stories to share with you guys. We love you all! (BY THE WAY.. Germany has amazing bakeries.. and Coffee!)
Financial Update: We are still currently $2,500 away from paying for our outreach phase. We have received all of our lecture phase money (YAY God!) and know that God is going to provide the rest for our outreach. If you feel led to give, please click on the donate button under the picture to the right. Or you can mail cash or a check to
David and Julie Todd
134 Sally Circle
Ellijay, GA 30536
Please Pray:
For easy communication between us and the locals (since we are in the east most of them speak Russian and German instead of English and German)
Our safety and health
Against any forces that seek to keep us from doing what God has for us
Against homesickness ( It's very hard to be so far from our families)
That God would stretch us and use us in many different ways and that he would bring us out of our comfort zones for him
For safety for our families (and that they wouldn't miss us too much ; - )
(Kevin and all of our bags.. Minus one)
(Front door to the CASTLE)
(We are guessing that this sign means"When the trees grow, and if you drive a big truck,you will hit them.")
(My beautiful wife on our way back to our abode)
(Our room and where we will be sleeping for thenext month or so.)
Thank you everyone for your support!
Kevin and Courtney
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Blog post I wrote on the nice long plane ride =)
So we are now sitting on the plane, it is about 9:00 PM EST (3:00 AM in Germany) with no internet, but I decided to go ahead and type everything that is going on and has happened so far while it is fresh on my mind and we have time.
It still hasn't sunk in that Courtney and I are actually starting this journey that we have been given the opportunity to take for the next 6 months. We had the long sad goodbye to our families today as it really started to hit them that they would not get to see us for the next 6 months in person, though over Skype.
Last nights raffle at Jilly's went awesome! We got to see a lot of our friends and family for one last time before we left. We wound up selling a total of 50 tickets for the raffle, and with the time alloted for it, that was amazing! I got to talk to one man who said that he spent over 5 years doing missions with YWAM and that he loved the experience that they allowed him to have, and that life will never be the same after we get home.... AWESOME!
We are now over the Atlantic Ocean just south east of Greenland, and I keep losing Courtney to a nice deep sleep, haha. We should be arriving in Germany in a little over 3 and a half hours which will actually put us there about an hour or so earlier than we had expected, at 6:30 AM in Germany (12:30 AM EST).
We are so blessed to have been given this opportunity and thank you all for helping us make this happen. We will be uploading a ton of pictures tomorrow (our today) if we can sign on to the internet. Battery is about to die on the laptop so I will go ahead and try to get some sleep. Thank you all for everything, and we love you all.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin and Courtney
(Finances: Initial fee to get us there: MET! Outreach fee: about $2,000-$2,500 ~ Hope to have a more definite number tomorrow when we can see the exact amount in our account.)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
3 days and counting!
Wow, I cannot believe we have three days until we leave to go to Germany! We are very excited to go but also very sad to leave our friends and family back here in the states. I know it has been forever since we have written. Our lives have been crazy these past few weeks.
We moved in with Kevin's parents on Thursday the 16th and then that Friday after my last day at work we went to both of my grandmothers house's to say goodbye. We got home late on Sunday evening and then started Kevin's last week of work and my week of craziness!
We mostly have everything done which is a great feeling. The next few days are packed full! Today, we are spending family time at Kevin's house. Tomorrow, we are going to have brunch with our friends and say goodbye and then later on we are spending family time with my family. Monday is packed full of all the last minute details that have to be completed. And Tuesday is the day that we head out.
Our flight takes off at 4:30 P.M.(our time) and arrives at 7:45 A.M. (their time). In total from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany it is 9.5 hours. After we arrive in Frankfurt we have a 7 hour train ride to Lobau Sachs (the train station near Herrnhut). Once we arrive at Lobau Sachs someone from our base will come and pick us up and take us back to the base.
Financially, we have reached our goal of money to have by Tuesday!! Hooray God! We are still $3500 away from our total goal for the whole trip! We know God is going to provide in his perfect timing.
Please pray:
- For safe travels (protection over the plane, train, car, and us)
- That God would continue to bring in the money in his perfect timing
- Protection against sickness
- Protection against the enemy
- For our minds and hearts to be focused on Him constantly
Here are a few pictures of our time with Kevin's family!
Kevin's mom and dad in the kitchen with the awesome appetizers
My beautiful Mother-In-Law, Sydney, and I
My beautiful Sister-In-Law in between her double shift at work!
Kevin helping his dad make our favorite Root household meal... sticky chicken
Sydney with her cute bottom teeth sticking out
That's all I have for now! More to come! Thank you all for your prayers and support
we love you guys!
Kevin and Courtney
Monday, September 13, 2010
2 weeks to go!!
We only have two weeks left, and I will keep you guys updated these next two weeks and try to post a blog the next two Mondays.
I was able to get the web address for the condo that is being raffled off. If you click HERE you can see more information. If you would like to use your donation on the right towards the raffle, please email me at kandcroot@gmail.com and let me know so that I can make sure you receive your ticket. I will need your phone number in the email address as the winner will be contacted via phone if they aren't present at the drawing.
There are 70 tickets still left, and we would love for you to help spread the word about this raffle, as it is an awesome opportunity while helping send us on this journey.
We have moved everything into storage this past weekend, and are planning on moving out of the apartment on Thursday of this week, to help save on the cost of rent. We are lucky to be able to move in with family for the last week and a half.
This will be Courtney's last week as next week she will spend the rest of her time helping us get prepared for the trip. So please pray for a nice relaxing and easy week for her on her last week working.
Thank you for your time everyone, and thank you for all of the support! This means so much to us to see all of the visitors to our blog! Thank you guys for everything.
Kevin
(Financial update as of tonight, Monday September 13, is $6,000.00 until our final goal. Which is less than half of the initial amount.)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Coming down the home stretch...
Wow... Only 20 days until Courtney and I are on a plane on our way to Germany, to start our long 6 month journey spreading the word of God throughout Europe and somewhere within the 10/40 window.
Courtney only has less that 2 weeks left at work (only 6 work days left), and I will be working until the 24th of September (Only 12 work days left). It is now becoming more real to her and I that we have less than 3 weeks left to spend with our friends and family before we leave for six months.
I would love to invite everybody to come see us off the night of the 27th at Jilly's Pub in downtown Ellijay. We will be there around 7 that night doing the raffle for the one week for four in Cocoa Beach, Florida (I will be hopefully be posting pictures soon). We have only sold 30 of the tickets and will be selling them up to the moment of the drawing. I would recommend purchasing them sooner than later, as we only have 70 left (All proceeds will be going towards our missions trip).
We would love to invite all of you who have SKYPE on your computers, to add us (Our name on there is mr.kroot), as we will be on there from time to time to talk to friends and family. You won't need to purchase any credit to talk to us on there, as it is free to talk SKYPE to SKYPE.
We have loved our journey so far, and are excited to see what else God has in store for us. Thank you all for your time. Have a great weekend!!
Thank you,
Kevin
(Financial Update: We are now currently $6,500.00 from our final goal.)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
SEPTEMBER IS HERE!!!
It's hard to believe that September is already here. That means that at the end of this month Courtney and I will be over in Europe starting our 6 month missions trip!
It seems so far away, yet so close when we think about everything we need to accomplish before the 28th. As of right now, we have purchased our plane tickets, traveler's insurance (needed for our visas), our visas, required immunizations, and Courtney's new passport with the corrected last name.
Before we leave, we need to:
- Move everything out of the apartment we are currently living in, into storage that my (Kevin) dad has awesomely allowed us to use while we are away, instead of having to PAY for the storage.
- Get all of the gear we are going to need for this trip. (jackets/pants/shoes that can withstand severe cold/wet weather, as we will be in europe throughout the winter, and will be doing street ministry on a regular/daily basis.)
- Raise the rest of the support for our trip. We are now only about $7,000.00 from our FINAL goal. ( We are currently doing the raffle which as of today, September 1st, we have sold 20 tickets out of the 100 we have available! They are $50 a piece and all of the proceeds go to help pay for our trip. See previous blog for more information.)
- Get our last set of required immunizations for our trip.
I have read a passage this past week and would like to share a link for you guys to go and read it for yourselves. This passage has spoken a lot to Courtney and I. Please click HERE to read this passage (I have chosen "The Message" version, as it is easier to understand).
Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to updating you guys throughout these next few weeks.
Thank you for your time!
Kevin
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
RAFFLE!!!
This past Sunday evening Kevin's mom called us with some exciting news. Some friends of the family own a local pub here in Ellijay, GA called Jilly's Pub. The owners (Jill and Rich) have an ocean front condo in Cocoa Beach, FL. They offered to put together a raffle for us to help get us money for our trip. The tickets are $50.00 a piece and there are only 100 tickets! If you win you will get a week long vacation to their ocean front condo on any week from June 2011 through November 2011. Must be 21 or older to purchase a ticket. Please click on the picture for more details.
Please help support us by purchasing a raffle ticket (no limit to how many purchased). We will be receiving 100% of the benefits from this raffle. For more information you can call Kevin and Courtney (706) 515 5930, Jilly's Pub (706) 636 6166, or you can send us a comment on here or go to our facebook and send us a message. If you live in Ellijay, you can go into Jilly's Pub to purchase a ticket from the bartender. Please pass this along to anyone you know! Help us get to where God is calling us!
Thank so much!
Kevin and Courtney
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Catching Up
Wow... I cannot believe it has been 13 days since we have posted a new entry. I am sorry I have not been able to post anything. Right now our lives are crazy. with trying to raise support while working overtime at our jobs, and still have a personal life. It has been an insane past two weeks!
Just wanted to give everyone an update on where we are right now with our trip. We have 38 days to go! Every day that passes we get more and more excited about going! As of today we are at $ 3,400.00. We purchased our plane tickets to Germany ($1,700.00) and our travel medical insurance ($389.00) today! We have to send our visa information and money ($220.00) on Monday to the YWAM base. The next thing we have to get done is our immunizations (Courtney: Hep A & Hep B, and Kevin: Hep A, Hep B, and Typhoid)
We are so thankful to those of you who have supported us so far. We know that even though we still have a long way to go financial wise but God is going to provide. I just wanted to share an example of how God has provided for us so amazingly. We received an email a few weeks ago saying that we had to send forms for our visas and also the money to the YWAM base by Monday August 23. n order to send in our visa information we had to also send in proof of travel insurance. In order to get our travel insurance we had to know what airline we were flying on. So by August 23 we had to have $2,310.00. This past Thursday night we were going over how much money we had to raise by the deadline. We figured out we were a little under 400 dollars away from the amount we had to have. I started to post a blog entry letting everyone know what we needed by Monday. That night my mom texted me saying that they had received a check for 400 dollars that evening from some of our missionary fiends. We were both so shocked at how amazingly and perfectly God provided almost to the exact dollar for us.
We are continuing to trust him for the money. We know that even though it is a lot to all of us it is just mere pennies to God. We are more excited than ever to watch him provide for us. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives. We love you all!
Please pray:
-That God would prepare our hearts to be overseas away from all of our friends and family for over 6 months.
-That God would continue to bring in the finances that we need.
-Against all doubts or evil trying to keep us from doing what God has placed in our hearts to do.
-Health; that we would be well for our travels and during our time overseas.
In Him,
Kevin & Courtney
Sunday, August 8, 2010
...And if our God is with us, then what can stand against
Today in church we sang a song that I had heard before, but today it seemed to mean a lot more to me than any of the other times. It was Chris Tomlin's "Our God". The big issue Courtney and I are facing today, is people unknowingly discouraging us with fears of not being safe, and the fear of not having enough funds to go on this trip that God has presented us with (as crazy as this sentence might sound now after typing it).
The song states "And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us; And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?". Singing those two lines aloud, had a very comforting feel to it. I then realized, if God wants Courtney and I to go on this journey, he will make it so. This past week we raised more support than we had expected to raise. Though, overall, it is but a fraction of what we need at the moment, we know that God showed what he can do if we just trust in him to take care of our needs.
We are planning on purchasing our plane tickets for the trip this week, and that in itself is exciting! We met with Travis and Shirley Crouch (North Georgia Outfitters in Ellijay, Georgia) this week to talk about what kind of gear we will need to have in the conditions in which we will be living in, so we hope to purchase the jackets and shoes that we will need within the next few weeks.
Thank you everybody for your support and prayers so far, and we will try to keep you guys up to date on what is going on in our lives as we prepare for this trip.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask through comments, or you can email us at kandcroot@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time,
Kevin
Saturday, July 31, 2010
YWAM Support letter
Dear Friends and Family,
We hope that you all are doing well! We wanted to send you this letter to give you an update of this past year and let you know the awesome opportunity we feel God is leading us into. As most of you know we got married on October 3, 2009. We have loved every minute of being married, and are so thankful for the friends and family God has given us.
In February of 2010 we found out we were pregnant with our first child. We, as well as our families, were very excited when we found out about the baby. Everything was going well until we went to our 12 week check up. We had been waiting to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and the day had finally arrived. When we got back into the room the doctor came in and started trying to find the baby's heartbeat. When she couldn't find it she said it was normal for a baby that small. Immediately she took us back to the ultra sound room. After a few minutes of looking around and asking us some questions, she told us that she could not see the baby and that we had had a miscarriage.
Hearing her say that was one of the saddest and most heartbreaking moments of our lives. We scheduled a D&C for the following morning. A few weeks later at our post-op visit the Dr. told us that the labs had come back positive for a partial molar pregnancy. This meant had everything gone right, we would have had twins. Unfortunately one of the babies didn't develop and therefore became a tumor because of an abnormality in the placenta. Hearing this meant that we would have to wait a year before attempting to have another child. Becoming pregnant before the year is up, could cause Courtney to get cancer.
We spent time praying about how God wanted us to use this time in our lives. We felt he was calling us overseas to do missions. We spent time researching and praying about where God wanted us to go, and we were immediately directed to Herrnhut, Germany through an organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We started the application process.
We were excited when we heard that they had accepted us for the October 2, 2010 – April 2, 2011 Mobile Discipleship Training School (DTS). This school will be a time of intense spiritual growth and learning for us. Our daily DTS schedule includes, but is not limited to: teachings from international speakers, corporate worship, intercession, devotions, small groups, work duties, community life, and preparation for outreach (the locations of which, at this point, are undetermined).
We will be starting our lecture phase in Herrrnhut, Germany, but then will be on the road to go beyond and minister in the darkest boroughs. We will feel God’s mercy for the prostitutes of Amsterdam, His broken heart for the Muslim migrants that live in the ghettos of Paris, and he drug addicts in the streets of Hamburg.
We are coming to you to ask for your support both in prayer and financially for this journey that we are about to undertake. We know that the date is approaching quickly, but believe that God will help us reach the amount required of $14,000 by September 26, 2010. Since YWAM is overseas using a Euros based currency, checks cannot be made payable to them. Therefore, checks should be made payable to Kevin & Courtney Root. They will be deposited into a designated account overseen by David & Julie Todd. We can receive support while overseas since David & Julie Todd will be overseeing our account.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach us at the email address provided below. We ask that you pray and ask God whether he is leading you in supporting us financially and/or in prayer. We plan on having a newsletter/blog that will be sent out at least once a month if not more. Our blog read at www.kandcroot.blogspot.com. Thank you in advance for your time & support, and we love you all. We can't to see where God is going to take us over the next year.
--Kevin and Courtney Root
YWAM Herrnhut, Germany DTS Website: www.mission-live.com
Learning to take a step back...
Over this past week, Courtney and I have really struggled with trying to take too much control over raising the support and getting prepared for this missions trip. We have been trying too hard to make sure that everything goes "perfect", yet to be disappointed soon after. We soon realized our main problem; not going to God and handing EVERYTHING over to him. It's almost as if we are trying to pick and choose what we go to him with, as if we can handle most of it on our own... WE WERE WRONG. It seems that in the "arena" of God, you can't just have one foot in and one foot out, you need to be all in or not at all. After praying and just asking that he take everything, and that we know that all will go the way HE wants it to go... we have lost a lot of our stress and are now getting to enjoy this whole process with our friends and family.
We have been enjoying our time with friends and family this past week, and would love to hang out with/reconnect with all of our friends. We are very thankful that we have all of the people around us to support and encourage us while we head into this great journey in our life. We love you all, and can't wait to see where God is leading us over these next few months.
Thank you for all of your time and support,
Kevin
