We trust all is good in your household this year- we are doing well.   2012 has been quite a year in our lives and in the life of our nation, and we are grateful to God for His blessings as well as the fact that HE is in control and that HE STILL SITS on the throne.   May we each remember that God is GOOD and that His GRACE is sufficient for ALL things!   Let us rejoice together at this season of celebrating the birth of His Son JESUS!

We wanted to share an update of our lives with you:

2012 has been a year of change in my life (Vickie).   My mom went Home to be with the Lord in August of this year- she passed peacefully at her home.   This will be our first Christmas without her and our entire family could certainly use your prayers.   I know that God is the Healer of broken hearts.   As we spent those final hours with her, I was reminded that life is brief and how important it is to make each day count.   Heaven has become a more real place and I am thankful for God’s gift of Jesus and eternal life.

I made the decision to resign my position as Abstinence Educator for the Laurel County Life Center on November 1, 2011 (after six rewarding years), in order to return to my HIGHEST calling: being a WIFE and a MOM, which I LOVE!   These are precious times to be together as a family and I’m thankful for every day!   I also love being “Aunt Vickie” to my eight-year-old nephew Evan.   He’s in the 2nd Grade now- how time flies!   Please keep him in your prayers: he not only lost my mom, but his mom’s dad also passed away in October (two grandparents in less than two months).   He is a wonderful little boy, and we love spending time with him.   Evan has always been a joy to our lives; he certainly makes Christmastime fun- but then, he makes every day fun.  🙂

God’s mercies are new every morning and as life rolls along I think I realize that wonderful promise more and more each day!   Don will be 63 in the spring and next August I will hit the big 60!   Can you believe that?   But you know, neither of us would “go back”: we are VERY GRATEFUL for ALL the years together- almost 40 now!   AND we are LOOKING FORWARD to those ahead; we’re still waiting for that wonderful thing called “Grand-parenting”, so I suppose the BEST IS YET TO COME! 🙂

We have been very BLESSED to have Joel back with us for the past year and a half (he spent two years in Plymouth, MA and may possibly go back there- he loved it and they loved him).   Just having his presence in our home again has added SO much to all of our lives!   Though we know it is temporary, we are grateful for whatever time we can have him so close to us.   His technical ability has been a HUGE benefit to his Dad and the work of Heritage Ministries of Kentucky.   He has also been developing his own successful business building websites (whateverwebworks.com).   However, his heartbeat is to follow God’s call on his life in the areas of teaching and leading worship; please pray for him as he seeks God’s direction (if you would like to visit his ministry website it is 924s3.com).

Our beautiful Christis Joy is still at home with us, too (what a double blessing for this Mom to still have our two wonderful children as part of our household!).   She has been teaching art classes for several years now and this fall has added a Film-making Class, which is truly her heartbeat!   She also has produced two film projects with 1620 Films: one for a Christian School in Harlan County (entitled “We Will Stand”) and the other for Heritage Ministries to tell the true story of the Pilgrims (called “The Pilgrim Story”).   I’m sure you would love to see her work: you can check them out at 1620films.com.   At the moment she is diligently working on a book, which she hopes to have published by the first of 2014 (if not before).   I know she would definitely appreciate your prayers for the successful completion of this project!

And yes, for those of you wondering, they are both still unmarried and waiting on God, knowing that HE IS FAITHFUL!   Don and I are grateful indeed to look at our two adult children and see how God is using them to advance His Kingdom on the earth.   They are BOTH a great help to us in many ways- and to Heritage Ministries of Kentucky.

Speaking of Heritage Ministries: God’s blessing on this ministry is TRULY AMAZING!   It keeps Don “on the road” a lot, traveling in several states; however, every trip means new opportunities to share the TRUTH of God’s Word.   He works to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Biblical foundations of our nation with the hope of keeping America free to teach that TRUTH to the generations to come.   There has never been a more CRITICAL time than now to understand the TRUE history of our Founding Fathers and the documents they produced to govern our nation!   Please keep Don and this important ministry in your prayers.   If you would like to learn more or become involved you can go to heritageministriesky.com.

As we all move together into 2013 let us be reminded that JESUS is LORD and one day HE WILL RETURN; however, UNTIL that day we are here for His purposes!   So let’s CHOOSE to face the NEW YEAR with THANKSGIVING and PRAISE- with WORSHIP to the GOD of ALL CREATION and to HIS SON: THE TRUE KING OF KINGS!   Let us continue to work and pray together, knowing that even in the darkest of times HE is still the LIGHT of the world and our HOPE is in HIM.

May the GOODNESS and GRACE of GOD guide our hearts into ALL TRUTH and may we find the JOY of the LORD to be our STRENGTH!

Because of JESUS,

Don, Vickie, Joel, and Christis Joy

ISAIAH 61: 1-4