Ezra likes climbing on the bins

We are moving out of the apartment we have been staying in for the last four months.  The plan is to live with family and enjoy some quality time with them for the next month before we leave for Senegal.  As we move out of our apartment we are trying to fit our life into seven bags.  We ask for you to pray with us during this time of transition for our little family.  Let us know how we can be in prayer for you too!  We know life is not easy and we all have ways God is teaching us to trust and grow in Him.

The view from our apartment

The Family: Del, Arielle, Ezra, and Silas

Do you ever wake up in the morning and wonder, what on earth am I here for?  Recently, I woke up in the morning and wonder what am I doing taking my family to West Africa?    Why would God want to pull me away from my family?  Why would God want to take my kids away from their grandparents?  Why would God want me to take my family into the unknown?  This last week, I was reminded of a passage that realigned my thinking.

Arielle and the boys

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

I can rest with confidence in the fact that we are accomplishing the purposes of God by taking the gospel to West Africa.  Are these my thoughts?  No way!  If deciding what I want is better for me than what God wants, then I’m saying that my thoughts are higher than Gods thoughts,

Arielle reading a book to Ezra

making God subject to me.  My friends this is NOT right!  Even when God does things that make no sense to my worldly mind, I am still called to humble myself before God.  Each day we must wrestle with this question:  Are you going to humble yourself to God’s thoughts and what he wants for your life today?

Silas is looking cute these days!

Here we go, taking our little guys with us to Africa!

WE PURCHASED TICKETS TO AFRICA!!!  The feelings that are rushing through our minds as we look at our ONE WAY tickets to Africa are excitement, feeling overwhelmed, and long term plans finally coming to fruition.  Over the last year of raising a team of partners to reach the unreached with the gospel we have been hit by the fact that we are only playing a small part in God’s master plan to reach the world for Christ.  We praise God that we have reached 80% pledged support and are trusting God to raise the rest before we leave.  Thank you to all who have been supporting, praying and encouraging us on our journey.

Our little family!

Silas at 8 weeks. We were trying to take a passport picture : )

After the holidays, we made a few contacts in Senegal and confirmed that we can proceed with a March departure date.  Wow, that is only about two months away!  We promptly realized that there is a COLOSSAL mountain of tasks to accomplish before we leave.  Monday rolled around and we hit the ground running, looking into plane tickets, picked up Silas’ birth certificate, applied for our boys’ passports, and crossed off a slew of other things on our “to do list.”  Every day our pages of “to do list” seems to grow, but we are making head way.  There are days of feeling overwhelmed (to say the least) and days of progress and extreme excitement to what lies ahead.  Right now we cannot do all of this on our own strength or time (especially with two little boys keeping us very busy).  God sure has a way of reminding us of our continual need for him in every stage of life!

Ezra and Silas

Celebrated the birth of Jesus as our little family of four

Opening "stockings" from our shoes, a tradition originating from Europe

Attended a Christmas Eve service. Spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the Weinberger's house

Ezra's excited smile on Christmas day!

We traveled to Sacramento on the 26th to celebrate Christmas with the Griffith side of the family

Ezra helping Del put the lights on the Christmas tree

for next year?”  Sounds pretty ridiculous!  It would be even more ridiculous if the perfect, most magnificent, biggest, and anticipated gift was left under the tree.  However, it happens every Christmas season, without fail.  You may be thinking, “That would never happen.”  But every year, the perfect, most magnificent, largest, and anticipated gift in the history of the world is left under the tree, the Promised Redeemer, Jesus the gift of salvation.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9  Jesus is God’s gift to us this Christmas and is available to all who would receive him—all through the year.  We are all separated from God, we are all messed up, no one but God is perfect, and it is only through faith in His perfect son Jesus that we receive this gift of salvation from God.  What are you going to do with God’s gift as you celebrate

Family picture!

Christmas?

Brothers!

Ezra rolling out pizza dough

Silas and his proud mother

Silas is already a month old!  How crazy is that?  As we contemplate Ezra and Silas growing up so fast, there is one thing in life we can be sure of–time marches on, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, and year by year.  This begs the question, what are you doing with the time God has given you?  Are you using the time God has given you wisely?  Each one of us are created to be in a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ and it is only in a relationship with Him that we can truly

Silas is a month old

redeem the time.  God created us to know him and make him known to those around us.  It is easy to get lost in the decorations, gifts, and even family events during our holidays.  May we keep our eyes on what truly matters as we enter the Christmas Season–Jesus!  And yes, Jesus came as a baby like Silas.

Ezra loves bath time especially with bubbles

Del and Silas sleeping

Del with our good friends, Craig, Mary, and their daughter Clara who live in Maryland

Over the weekend I, (Del) visited a church in Maryland, to explore with the elders and pastor, the possibility of being supported by their church.  After a couple meetings with the pastor and a few elders, they decided to support us!  It is awesome to be a small part of what God is doing to reach the unreached with the gospel.  My wife and I have the privilege of seeing God work in amazing ways as He raises up a team of people to support and pray for us in our venture to West Africa.  I’m reminded of Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

Eating dinner at Craig and Mary's house

Being supported by a church in Maryland was certainly not on my radar.  But God knew and had greater plans. I love the illustration of how, as believers, we are all tools intended for use in the spread of the gospel.  It is not the tool who receives the praise, but the person using the tool.  Same with us as we and others allow God to use us, as his tools, for the furtherance of the gospel, God receives the praise because He is doing it.  As God’s tool, are you allowing him to use you as He intended?

Ezra and D'Arcy on Thanksgiving day

Whenever Ezra sees a turkey he says, “gobble, gobble.”  Ezra was thankful for turkey and delicious food this Thanksgiving.  In light of Thanksgiving we asked ourselves, what are we thankful for?

Ultimately we are thankful, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” I Cor. 15:3b-4

It is on the basis of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection that we can be thankful

Great Gandpa Frank and Silas

this season and all through the year.  We deserve death for our sins, but Christ died in our place, was buried, and rose to life.  Now we too have new life in Christ.  We give God thanks because our source of life rests in Him and not us.  We thank God for blessing us with two sons, Ezra and Silas, and both sides of our families!  We also thank God for all of you who are supporting us in what God is doing through us.

Uncle Ben and Silas

Delicious Glutten Free Thanksgiving Meal

Silas

Del, Silas, and Arielle shortly after the birth!

Silas Ezekiel Griffith

After 12 hours of labor it is 5:45 pm and Arielle, Lily (Del’s sister), and I (Del) speed up to the hospital doors in a hurry to transport Arielle into a room.  Our doula, Andrea had just arrived at the door and she helps carry our bags into the hospital.  About every minute and a half Arielle has another contraction and then we stop, work through it and continue moving slowly toward the entrance.  Finally, a hospital assistant shows up with a wheel chair and she wheels Arielle in.

Arielle and Silas

While being checked in at the waiting room she had several intense contractions, numerous disturbed looks from bystanders, and one alarmed wheel chair assistant.  Finally she is checked in and we arrived on the delivery floor.  Arielle is rolled up to a door and is told to wait in order to make sure she is in labor.  After a few minutes waiting outside this door Arielle yells, “I WANT TO PUSH!!!!”  They quickly decide she must be in labor (Ha!) and take us to a delivery room where it is pronounced she really is all ready to

Our first family of four picture

push.  After about ten minutes of waiting for the doctor and wanting to start pushing, a nurse steps in assisting her in pushing.  The doctor showed up and about five minutes later the baby is delivered: Silas Ezekiel Griffith at 6:49pm weighing 9 pounds 7 ounces and 22 ½ inches long.  What a day to rejoice and praise God for this new little life!  Arielle is recovering quickly, Silas is healthy, Ezra is enjoying his new brother, I’m a proud father of two boys, and we all have countless reasons to praise God.

Ezra checking out his little brother Silas for the first time

Silas in his second day of life enjoying a little nap at home