Team from the East

The Team from the East left after a great week on the MoBay campus. The team consists of people from 3+ churches. Perry Hall Baptist from Maryland, High Tide from Delaware, and Glenview Missionary from Pennsylvania. We have hosted a few of the people 3 different times. We knew most everyone on the team from last year and we thoroughly enjoyed their fellowship. There are parts of the team that have been coming to this campus for 19 years. The team was full of wonderful individuals who made up a united team. I would love to tell you their stories, but it would certainly get boring. But, the message from the week is the power of people's stories and that we must take time to stop, listen, and learn from fellowship. The power of community is evident in teams such as these and it feels like a message that I need to learn a hundred times over. You can see pics of the team through the pictures link.

Volition

I am not generally one who recommends alot of things to people, especially movies. But, I was recommended this short film and I liked it. As an art, film has been manipulated and twisted in horrible ways. The reason that I recommend this video is because it seems to be a positive use of the art of film that points us to more passion and compassion. It is not light, so please watch with care.

VOLITION

Happy Birthday Montego

Ok, Its actually Happy Birthday Truitt and we moved to Montego Bay. So, in the confusion of two different blog ideas I combined two different titles, sorry.

Happy Birthday Truitt!
Truitt James Plattner is 2 years old. It is shocking. On January 22, 2007, I received a call from my wife at about 7:30 while I was in town and I got a slightly rattled message that I should come home. For all who know Keri, a slightly rattled message is rather urgent. The steely Keri was home alone with the kids, going into labor, and I was not due home until 9:30. But, I did make it home, we did get the kids in good hands, and we made it to the hospital. They approached us as they always do, with the attitude that we are overzealous expectant parents that came in to early for delivery. But they dont know Keri and come to find out the laboring was mostly done and the baby was ready. And, that little Truitt has been on his own timetable ever since. The little chumly took forever to walk, he will take his own time to talk, and he lives life his own way. His own sweet, adorable way. We praise the Lord for our Truitt!



We moved to Montego Bay!
Similar to last year, we have been asked to support the ongoing work on the Montego Bay CCCD campus. This involves us moving to the campus and hosting work teams from now until the end of March. In many ways, this provides us with wonderful new opportunities to work with different kids, different staff, and new adventures. But, at the same time we miss our home in Knockpatrick, our team, and all of the people in that part of our life. Ultimately, we must believe that God has a purpose in making our exposure to the deaf of Jamaica broader rather than deeper and we pray that our breadth will find depth. We are beginning our first team in Montego Bay and we are excited as many of the teams are repeats. And, that reminds me that I never posted anything on a wonderful team from Little Rock that we had a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, material for another day.

Count your blessings!

Problem Fixed

Over the past few days, the host that holds our domain name, plattnerfamily.com, was having serious problems. So, that means that everyone that accesses our site through "www.plattnerfamily.com" could not get through. But because plattnerfamily.com is actually hosted through blogger at "www.plattnerfamily.blogspot.com," the site was still up and running and could be accessed through blogspot. So anyway, sorry for any inconvenience and if the problem would arise again, the most accurate url is www.plattnerfamily.blogspot.com. In explanation, the board at plattnerfamily.com has voted to keep the plattnerfamily.com domain name for the ease of communication, the preservation of the domain name, and the pride of owning a domain name. I am sure that makes no sense and I also apologize for having wasted 3 minutes of your time.

Podcast 19

Who But Grandma?

Who but Grandma? Grandma's give the best gifts? Show unconditional love? Persevere with unending patience? Read "one more book." etc. Having just returned from the states, we cherished the time that the boys got to spend with Grandmas. During our pre-field training, "long distance grandma's" was a topic of discussion and the title of a recommended book. This has clearly been one of our biggest struggles since leaving the states and we have to continually remind ourselves to give this struggle to the Lord. But, Drew and Truitt's grandmas are the best and due to their commitment to being great, long distance Grandmas, they never feel far from our hearts. As you can see from the pictures, these are things that could only come from Grandmas. The best toys, matching shirts, and gifts of love. Last year, Grandma Kaeb recorded some books on tape for the boys. This year, Grandma Plattner did the same as you can see from the video. As we feel the sacrifice of such vital face to face relationships, we commit these relationships to Him and trust Him to fill the gaps.

Innocence

It's been pretty comical seeing Drew's excitement and growing understanding about a new baby on the way. Multiple times a day he want's to see my "As The Baby Grows" magazine filled with pictures of the baby inside the uterus from conception to birth. He giggles with delight as he relates that this baby is in Mommy's tummy. Here's a few of the quotes from Drew's innocent mind:

"I have a baby in my belly and Mommy has an animal in her belly."

"There's a frog in the baby in Mommy's belly."

"I don't want you to have the baby. It's mine." ... "Yes, I will change his stinky diaper."

"Why is it in your belly?"

"Did God make the baby in your belly?"

"I think it's going to be a girl. We'll name her Drew."

California State University - Northridge

Now that we are beginning our 2nd year at CCCD, we are beginning to get repeat teams. This can be either good or bad, but mostly good. This week, we welcomed back California State University Northridge Deaf Studies group. We loved this team last year and we loved them again. About half of the team was deaf and they all signed. Not only did they all sign, but they approach sign differently than what we learned in Jamaica. Appropriately, the hearing team members will sign all of the time when in the presence of the deaf. Not only do they always sign, but they do not use their voice. Understandably, this creates a more respectful atmosphere for the deaf and it allows the signer to sign more "deaf" as they are less likely to use the common speaking word order. Anyway, suffice it to say that we did alot of signing this week. It feels weird to say that because we do alot of signing every week, we work with the deaf. But, this week takes it to a whole other level. It was great for our signing progress and we loved the interaction. The leaders of the team do a great job of planning and are very interested in the experience as well as the work. This type of attitude makes for a team that is much more flexible. The team did lots of extracurricular activities to expose themselves to more deaf on the island. We were blessed by there presence and their alternative perspective to deafness and deaf culture. Our limited knowledge regarding the deaf is clearly exposed by a group like this and we love to soak up the information and perspectives on different issues. Anyways, we thank CSUN for their efforts. We also pray for the group that they may take a piece of Jamaica back with them in their hearts and more importantly, for those who were not Christians, that they may have seen the gospel in Jamaica. We ultimately pray for the seeds that were planted to grow by His grace. Praise the Lord! You can see some pictures of the week HERE.

Going Green!

As you can see, the board of directors at Plattnerfamily.com have decided to go green. Not wanting to be left out of the craze coupled with a moderate amount of conviction as an environmentalist, the decision was made. Along with our new green motif, the Plattner Family will also make the commitment to go the rest of the winter without turning on their heat in an effort to save electricity and "fossil fuels." In conjunction with the Plattners commitment, the board wanted to similarly invite you to do the same. Who is with us?

Restitution

Restitution is a matter of the heart and we are thankful for that as we witnessed out little Truitt restituting his "2 year old" behavior. He cleaned to no avail, but it was good to see his heart. While our first words after seeing his art were "Truitt, what are you doing," our first thoughts were "You little stinker, how can you do something like that, look so cute doing it, and make us want to laugh instead of discipline you." We had been "write on the wall" free through Drew but I guess everyones time comes and lets just say its nice to get the first time out of the way.

Transitions

We were welcomed back to our Jamaica life with bugs, mold, must, and dirt (thankfully no rodents)! All this makes for days of cleaning up and tears. ( I'll blame part of the emotions on pregnancy). While the overwhelming feeling come of adjusting once again to this foreign culture and language, we were warmed as our dear friends have showed up at our door welcoming us back. The boys are enjoying being outside most of their day again in the warm Jamaican sun. Kirk drove back to Montego Bay early this morning to pick up our first work team, and I continue to get things upacked and cleaned up and prepare for the work team. It does feel good to be back home again. We will enjoy this feeling for the coming 2 weeks and then prepare for our next transition as we will move to Montego Bay. God is good as He continually shows Himself faithful!

Back in Jamaica

We are back and sooooo thankful for traveling mercies. Driving the other day, Keri and I recounted our travels and marveled at God's provision over us. The fact that we can get to the store and back in Jamaica is a marvel. The fact that we can fly back and forth to the states is a marvel. The fact that we were able to traverse the snowy roads in Illinois is a marvel. We marvel at His Faithfulness. We praise him for it and pray that through His provision in giving mercy in travel that we could have used that blessing to bless another. You can see some pictures of our time in the states HERE.