We are all so proud of him.

A major event in our family recently was Lee’s graduation from high school. It was so nice that Dora and Andrea and their families could be here to celebrate with us. Lee is now working at a construction job and looking forward to attending Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar Missouri this fall. He will be playing on their football team and taking courses towards becoming a coach or physical trainer. We are happy that is only going to be a little over an hour away and are expecting to see him often.

Dora and Jonathan blessed us with a beautiful new granddaughter on Jan. 31. Shaddai Hadiah was 8 lb. 9 oz. and 21 1/2 inches. Patti was there for the delivery and for some time while Dora recovered from her c-section. I can hardly wait to see her but it probably won’t happen until May. I will be uploading more pictures soon.

A proud grandma.

The whole family at Christmas '09

The last time that all of our kids and grandkids were with us was back in 2006.  It was so much fun to have them all here again and who knows when it will happen again. If you are interested, I plan to upload some more pictures soon.

Daniel - soon to be a TA

We were talking with Daniel the other day and heard some good news. He is doing very well in his 4^th and final semester at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in training to be a chef. The school approached him recently and asked him if he would like to work as a Teacher’s Assistant. What an honor! He agreed and is planning to work for NAIT for the spring semester.

Mike, Tania and Katelyn

It was almost a year ago that Katelyn came into Mike and Tania’s home. Since then, they have been working through the process and paperwork necessary for an adoption to take place. Yesterday, that happened! Katelyn is now officially a Labutes. We are so pleased to have this sweet little girl as our granddaughter. Thanks to each one of you who prayed that this would happen.

Katelyn Asia Labutes

Helping a student in language analysis.

One of the Linguistic students, Matt was not able to go with the rest of his classmates to Oklahoma to do his practicum. Since there are no Cherokee speakers available here, we arranged for him to do an analysis of a different language – Cantonese. Another student, Lisa speaks Cantonese and is meeting with Matt regularly to give him the information he needs. One of my responsibilities is to sit in on their sessions once a week and coach Matt as he works on the project. It is always a blessing to see the progress Matt is able to make in a week.

I only wore the patch for the first few weeks.

This summer has not turned out as we had planned. Near the end of May I noticed a new distortion in the vision in my left eye and was diagnosed with a macular hole. This was treated with a surgical procedure called a vitrectomy. Then, there were several complications and more surgery followed by numerous visits to 3 eye specialists. 

This meant that we had to cancel our trip to North Asia to visit Andrea, Ben and the Grandkids. And, since my right eye is not quite good enough to handle driving on its own I have been grounded. Thankfully, Patti has been willing to chauffeur me around. I do miss my independence but am thankful that there is hope that it will return. I have at least 2 more minor surgeries to go before I can be re-fitted for a contact lens. By the end of the year it should be all over.  

I am so thankful for the Lord’s grace and for my family and coworkers that have been such a blessing during this ordeal. Please pray that my sight will be restored to the point that I can drive again.

Ben had experienced some relatively mild allergic reaction to a certain plant in the past but this summer the symptoms became severe. He was able to get some relief when he began taking some powerful medications but the side effects were also nasty. It became clear that they had to leave the country at least until he can get some help for this problem.

Pray that the doctors that are treating him would have wisdom, that God would restore his health and that they would know God’s will about their future ministry. This could cause them to consider transferring to a ministry in a country where that plant does not grow.

One of the linguistic students was not able to go to Oklahoma because of having teenagers in school so he is doing his practicum here at the MTC. Since there are no Cherokee speakers available he is studying Cantonese. I have been assisting him in this and am enjoying learning a little about this language. The two languages start with “C” in English but that is where the similarity ends.

Thankfully, I can just walk across the campus when I need to sit in on his language sessions. Not being able to drive has been a bit of a hardship, but I am thankful that there are gaps that I can fill anyway. I am also covering a Student Teaching class and preparing for next semester. Please pray that after all the procedures are finished with my eye that I will be able to see well enough to drive again.