Blog on Christmas Break

Merry Christmas from the Plattners

We have begun our family Christmas gatherings and have a busy couple of weeks ahead. So, the blog will be on break and we will be back online on January 6, 2011. Until then, have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a Blessed remembrance of our Savior.

Sucker Store

Truitt is always good for quotes and he has had a couple of dandies this past week. He loves to go "up town" to the bank with Grandma Plattner. So, every time he goes to the bank he knows that they give out suckers to the kids. After going up to the bank last week, he woke up the next morning and asked Grandma Plattner if they were going back to the "sucker store" today? It took a little while to figure out what he was talking, but if you think about it just the right way, it makes sense. You give them money, they give you suckers, sounds like a sucker store to me. Then, this week we get back to Grandma Plattners and he overhears a conversation about a piggybank and he quickly asks if he gets to go the piggybank today to get a sucker. Unbelievable! What a kid!

Picture Update

We uploaded a summary of some December pics. The kids are loving the snow and being at Grandma's. The boys have been soaking up the Christmas traditions with Drew making a ginger bread house and I am guessing the boys will soon be venturing out to check out the "parade of lights."

National Deaf Sports Day

On November 27th, the first National Deaf Sports day was held in Mandeville, Jamaica. It was a really cool event and exciting to see such a large representation of the Jamaican deaf community in one location. Below is the news story of the event. Kirk makes about a .1 second cameo in the video and so you can play "where's waldo" as you check out the newscast.

They are just not getting it!

Its been 2 years since we have seen snow and been back for winter as we stayed on our tropical island for last years Christmas. So, in preparation for our return we have been processing with the boys the idea that it will not be like the other times we have gone to Grandma's house. It will be cold and they will not be going to the playground, riding bikes, and playing outside. We thought we got this idea across to our little munchkins. But, we failed. As you can see from the pics, we have them convinced that they need to dress for the cold, but once they get outside they gravitate right back to "mowing the snow" and "riding bikes." Unbelievable!

Great Trip!

We had a great trip! The kids did good and we even got in to the airport an hour early. What a blessing! We are so thankful. As you can see from the pic, the kids got up this morning and had a great time playing in the snow. Praise the Lord!

Flying

Lord and weather willing, we hope to be getting on an airplane today at around 2:30 and landing in Chicago around 6:30. Please join us in saying a little prayer for safety and for a reasonable Daisha. We think the boys should be excited enough to fly and to get to Grandma's that they will manage it well. But, you can never be sure about how a beautiful little spunkins of an 18 month old will take to being held in a seat for 4 hours. By Grace!

Tremor

They say there was a little earthquake near us this afternoon. While some people around us felt it, we did not. They said it was 3.8 on the Richter and maybe about 10 miles from us. We have never felt an earthquake and I think I am content not having that experience.

New Life Church of the Deaf

I am going to steal another blog post from our friend/neighbor/teammate, Erin. I dont want to "thief" another post, but there is really no reason to recreate the same post. She did a good job of introducing people through her blog to our church family. Please click on over to her blog and meet all of our friends at New Life Church of the Deaf.

November Update

Because Jamaica does not celebrate Thanksgiving, the Christmas season begins around the middle of November. This allows me the freedom to make the Christmas transition early and talk about the Good News of Great Joy! As people on mission, this is our rallying cry in the face of a world with big problems. I recently read an article that put a nice bow around this issue of Good News in the face of big problems. The author posed the question of whether we are the Church of God with a mission in the world or whether we serve a God of mission that has a Church in the world. Yeah, take a few minutes, ruminate on that idea. The first perspective puts us in the center of the issue; the second perspective puts Him in the center of the issue. Does this little word play really matter? We have seen the relevance of the difference played out in our lives as we have taken the first perspective only to become overwhelmed by the task that faces us. Quickly, as the author pointed out, we end up with “I bring you bad news of sad problems” This perspective “betrays with the sense that what is yet to be done is greater than what Christ has already done.” The God-centered perspective points us “to our privileged participation in the life-giving action of the triune God.” Motivation comes not only from our compassion, but from our pursuit of God and joining in that privileged participation. With this understanding, we can proclaim the Good News of Great Joy in a work that has already been done and a victory already won. Because the work has been done and the victory won, we have the necessary foundation with which to face the bad news of sad problems boldly with the Good News of Great Joy.

Ahh November, poor November. November seems stuck ruthlessly between the beauty of the October autumn and the anticipation of December’s Christmas. While we missed October’s beautiful autumn, we have been anxiously awaiting December’s Christmas. But, life carries on and we never want to waste days anticipating tomorrow. The beginning of November found us fellowshipping with a team from our sending church. They came down to see the projects, evaluate the work, and plan for the future. This time was very beneficial in that the fellowship was sweet and the discussions were profitable. We had been anticipating these meetings and they fully met our expectations. After they left, we ended up going through a small case of the blues as we came off of the high we experienced with their fellowship. We praise the Lord for answered prayers during this time.

The rest of November carried on as normal. Our school farm continues to grow slowly week by week. We have sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, pak choy, callaloo, cucumber, and some other seedlings growing. The rain of October has led us straight into a November drought, but we continue to plant in faith. We continue to have piglets born and our chickens are still cranking out eggs. Actually, our family also decided to get into the action with the first official production of Plattner Family Farms. With Drew and Truitt leading the charge, we bought 6 broiler chickens that we fed to be butchered. It was a successful project that yielded us 19 pounds of chicken, lots of laughs, and a good experience for two little boys. Daisha continues to melt our hearts as she is growing into quite the little lady. We are so thankful for God Blessing on our family.

We continue to walk forward in faith learning to trust in His goodness. We have alluded to question marks regarding the future of our work in Jamaica and we continue to have unanswered questions. But, we are encouraged as to the freedom we feel to continue to work through the process of discernment. The entire family has been counting the days until our return trip for Christmas. We look forward to seeing family and friends during the holidays. Thanks again for your love and support.

Blessings,
Kirk, Keri, Drew, Truitt, and Daisha

A Piece of Paradise - Chubbies

Sugar in Skin! The Best Banana! Chubbies! A little slice of sweetness! Fun size! I dont know what their real name is, but they are the best bananas. We dont get them all the time, but when they come around it is a real treat. Ahhh, goodness!

Confirmation of Pregnancy

We were planning on going to the Doctor to get a confirmation of our pregnancy. But, I decided we could forgo that appointment upon seeing Keri whipping up her Sunday afternoon lunch. There is something about a hot dog SMOTHERED in cheese sauce that certifies the confirmation of pregnancy.

We live on an island!

But, I promise we sometimes forget. Honestly, during this time of year, it feels easy to forget that we are on a Caribbean island. We are not out traveling as much and life just rolls on. Last Saturday, we had an open weekend and so we decided to seize the moment. We headed to the beach and enjoyed a beautiful day of sun, sand, and pizza. Praise the Lord!

But never Thanksgiving!

Jamaica, the land where it is always warm but never Thanksgiving! Not quite as harrowing as Narnia, but missing time with family can feel pretty tough. But, gratitude knows nothing of geography and a heart of thanks is often strengthened by absence. You know the sayings, "absence make the heart grow fonder," "You never know what you got till its gone" What a powerful reality and reminder as we give thanks for endless blessings this Thanksgiving. A little down, Yes, but also hopefully growing in gratitude. To God be the Glory!

Guava Juice?

Its Guava season. Guava grow like crazy in Jamaica. They grow on a tree, kind of like an apple tree, and they generally grow kind of wild. A friend has been bringing us some guava to make juice. There are better varieties that are pink inside that are good for eating, but the ones that are yellow inside are more commonly used for juice or jam. So, clearly, we have no idea how to make guava jam or juice, but we cant let them go to waste. So here is our best attempt at some juice.

First, we washed them up and cut off the parts we didnt want.

Second, we realized that we would need a blender. We dont have a blender. So, I walked over to Erin's apartment and asked if she had a blender. She said, "no, I dont have a blender, I have a "Magic Bullet." Ahh, touché, I think a "Magic Bullet" will do just fine.

While we probably didnt do it quite as gracefully as the "magic Bullet" infomercial, we loaded the bullet and cranked it up. These guava didnt have a chance as they were instantly turned into puree. Unfortunately for us, our puree eerily resembled chunky mustard.

But, with a little added sugar, we decided to stick with the puree rather than juice. Because, as a kid, my mom used to make these fruit slushies that she would freeze in little yogurt containers. They were awesome. You could just go to the freezer, get out a little slushy, let it thaw slightly, and then enjoy its cold, fruity goodness. Well, this was my idea to redeem my mustardy looking fruit puree. And, trust me, it takes me right back to my childhood as I eat the slushy goodness. Ummmm!

Sea Container

One of the aspects of our work that we dont reference as much is delivering material aid around Jamaica. ACWR, our sending organization, first started their work in Jamaica by sending material aid to various organizations. ACWR supports communities, schools, an orphanage, infirmaries, and a hospital. This is mostly done in the states at various distribution centers where a sea container is loaded with goods and sent to Jamaica. The goods generally consist of beans, soap, bleach, cooking oil, health kits, and then specifically requested items. Once it arrives in Jamaica, a whole bunch of paperwork is done combined with alot of waiting. Then, a small team goes down to the port, unloads the container, and trucks it to the various locations. On Thursday, we had the pleasure of unloading a container. We carried things to an orphanage, infirmary, a community, and a boys school. Erin, our teammate, did a good job of summarizing the day on her blog and so you can check that outhere for a more detailed story.

Early Christmas Gifts

As you can see from the picture above, both of the boys just got new laptops. I know they are young for such nice gifts, but we are moving into a technological age. Believe it or not, their new pieces of technological wonder can do everything the same as my laptop. What happened to stick horses and doll houses?

Dear Sponser

Drew still goes to the CCCD school 2 mornings a week for science class. Today, Drew asked me what "sponsor" means. Our school runs due to child sponsorship and so sponsors are a common aspect of conversations around school. So, when Drew started asking what sponsor meant, I started putting two and two together. Upon further questioning, we discovered that his teacher had been talking about sponsors in his class and that the kids were supposed to write letters to their sponsors. When we asked him what sponsor meant, he said that his teacher explained to him, "the white people that come down from America." So, the idea got stuck in his head that he wanted to write to his sponsor and today he created the above picture. We wouldnt know who to send it to except that it seems appropriate enough to send it to all of you as we appreciate your support so much. From Drew and all of us, Thank you for "sponsoring" our family.

A Little Catchup

As you know, its our goal to update our blog every couple of days. Well, its been more than a couple of days and so we will explain why and give you an update.

1. Tomas flew by with hardly a breeze. The time that he was straight east of us was calmer than the next couple of days after he passed. We had hardly any rain and just a little breeze. It was also good to see Haiti mostly spared. Praise the Lord!

2. We announced last week that we are expecting baby #4. We can hardly even believe we are writing such a statement. Thanks for your kind words of love and support. Keri is doing great and we likewise pray for a full, healthy pregnancy.

3. We just finished spending 5 days with a team from our sending church. They came down to evaluate our work and the work in Jamaica. It was a great time of fellowship and discernment regarding our future in Jamaica. While no big decisions were made, some groundwork was laid for some potential changes maybe beginning next year.

A little news!

Tracking Tomas

We have been tracking Tomas for the past week. We have been praying for the storm to move but we certainly wouldnt wish it on Haiti. Our prayer has been that it will weaken and spare both Haiti and Jamaica. We pray that happens and are excited to see the possibility of it sneaking between the islands at less than a hurricane status. Here is a pic of some preparation as our windows got covered today. If the wind does come strong enough to knock out the power, we may be offline for a few days.

October Update

Plattner family Jamaica Update
Our little Truitt is the master of intimate moments. He will not always go there, but when he does, he has the sweetest things to say and will snuggle up to you in a way that will melt your heart. The last time I caught him in one of these moods, I began talking with him about how he is growing into such a big boy. He humbly agreed and then shared that he thought that Daddy and Mommy were growing smaller. My first reaction was to start inquiring into what he could mean that Daddy and Mommy were growing smaller. I think I asked the question and then let it go. But, the longer I thought about it, the more the truth of it became apparent. In every part of his world, Daddy and Mommy are growing smaller. First, physically, every inch the little lad grows, the smaller his parents seem from his perspective. But that was only the first and less insightful thought that our little philosopher bestowed upon us. The more stark reality is that from this point forward we will be growing smaller and smaller in our level of control in his life. While we do still have years left of influence in his life, he has now begun his journey towards independence. He is starting to pour his own milk, soon he will be off to school, driving a car, and then he will be making decisions as to the course of his life. Similarly, it’s our prayer that we can display a life that is characterized by growing smaller so that our God can show up bigger and bigger in our life. This is our heart for our kids that we can use our influence, ever decreasing as it may be, to display “the smaller life” to our kids in a way that will lead them towards pursuing a life that will similarly make Him big.

Ahh, just a regular month. October for us represented just a regular month. Routines, classes, church, school, laughing, crying, joy, sorrow, etc. I think we could classify it as remarkably unremarkable. And, that is not a complaint. While it leaves not much to send in a monthly update, it does provide for time to live, learn, and grow. One thing that is not worthy of the label of “average” was that we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. The blessings of marriage continue to overwhelm as and we are thankful. We know it is by grace that we have experienced the joy of marriage, and by grace that we go forward in faith. We are thankful for the grace given this month in the form of a regular month.

We continue to wait on the Lord as to His ongoing direction in our lives. At the beginning of November, a team from our sending organization is coming to asses our work and also assist us in working through some issues regarding the direction of our ministry. Please join us in praying for this time that it can be beneficial for all involved. As is always the case in this type of work, there are so many stakeholders that need consideration. Our heart is for honest discernment and wisdom with an eternal perspective. By Grace!

Love,
Kirk, Keri, Drew, Truitt, and Daisha

Upon Further Review!

You will see that scratch down Daisha's cheek is healing nicely. And, if you are even slightly observant, you will notice a new shiner on her little nose.

Thought I would just show the genius of the mouse trap. There was not a chance that guy was stealing this peace of bread. If he could have cut or untied the thread and munched the bread, we would have just named him and welcomed him into our family.

Thought this was kind of funny and all too related.


Happy Reformation Day!

Hate and War

Yesterday's post was called Love and War. Today's, hate and war. No, this has nothing to do with marriage, well, not exactly. Lets begin the story with this little but very significant fact, my wife hates mice. A mouse is the worst thing. So, just last week our friends Jeff and Chelby were staying across the hall from our apartment and started noticing mice. We set out a glue trap and they ended up with 2 mice on the same trap. In the middle of trying to catch their mice, we explained to them that we had never seen a mouse in our apartment. Well, Sunday morning, our bread had been vandalized by something and the work resembled that of a mouse. I, as her hero, went straight to work and this is how the story progressed.

Sunday Night - Glue trap with peanut butter - No Mouse

Monday Night - Glue trap with peanut butter and one of Keri's fabulous pumpkin cookies - No Mouse

Tuesday Night - 1 Snap trap with cracker, 1 snap trap with macaroni (he had also opened a bag of macaroni) and 1 snap trap with bread. - bread was eaten, cracker was nibbled, and no mouse

Wednesday Night - We now know he likes bread, 3 snap traps with bread but stuck on with peanut butter as to not make it so easy to steal off the trap. - Eats the bread and no mouse

This is the part of the story where you see the hero with his back against the wall, beaten, battered, and defeated. His pride crushed, his will broken! But, then he thinks of his damsel in distress and finds anew the will for one last battle.

Thursday evening - The same bread that has now become a nightly snack for our little friend on 2 of the traps. But, now it is tied on to the snap trap with sewing thread as to not let it be so easy to steal. Now thats smart. Bring it on Jerry!

Later Thursday evening - SNAP! VICTORY!

Love and War

(a book review)
Our marriage needs help! I am guessing if you are honest, yours does too. Marriage, like life, is in a perpetual state of growth. In the scope of the Kingdom, our marriages are of the utmost importance as a tool for showing Jesus love to the world and bringing His name Glory. Because of this, we try to make a practice of continually studying and investing in our marriage. Our latest endeavor was the book "Love and War" by John and Stasi Eldredge. Over the past few months, we have been slowly reading through the book together and this is our review of the book. This does start with a fairly negative outlook on marriage, but I don't think it is necessarily inconsistent with the realities of the world. Thankfully, our marriage has not been to the depths that they used as a starting point for much of their message, but we read it with an understanding that if not for Grace, that too could be our reality.

Obviously, there is no shortage of marriage books but equally obvious is the reality that their is no end to the complexities of marriage. "Love and War" was beneficial for us in that it highlighted areas of necessary growth in our marriage that many other marriage books dont often address. Let me pull off the pages of the book the Eldredges summary of their 3 biggest pieces of advice for marriage.

1. Find life in God
2. Deal with your brokenness
3. Learn to shut down the spiritual attacks that come against your marriage.

I have seen "find life in God" appropriately dealt with in other marriage books and will therefore not address it in this review. "Deal with your brokenness" is probably also another common theme of marriage books but the Eldredges handle this topic a little differently. By differently, what I really mean is very honestly. If you have ever read anything from the Eldredges before, you know that they write in stark honesty. We have found this refreshing in the way that they "give the gift of going 2nd." We have all been in a situation in which we may have something to say but there is no chance we would say it first. Well, the person who does say it first gives everyone else the "the gift of going second." The Eldredges provided us with this gift as they honestly dealt with their brokenness in ways that gave us the comfort and freedom to begin similar discussions regarding ourselves. #3, "Learn to shut down the spiritual attacks that come against your marriage," pushed against the limits of our comfort zone. This is a topic that I have not seen commonly dealt with in other marriage materials and similarly this is a topic that is not at the forefront of our Christian tradition. Therefore, this part of the book made us uncomfortable and I hope it was in a good way. In a way that fostered discussion, in a way that caused us to question how we have ignored the realities of spiritual attack against our marriage, and hopefully in ways that pointed us back to Jesus and the realities of the advancing Kingdom. It is sometimes all too easy in our "little peaceful worlds" to forget about the spiritual realities of the war that we are living. So, would we recommend this book, well you can read this review and decide. Again, we really appreciated the honesty and openness with which the Eldredges wrote this book. We have found so much value in committing time to thinking about and processing material about growing our marriage. Often, the quality of the material has been far less important than the time we have committed to study and growth. To God be the Glory!

***DISCLOSURE NOTICE: A free copy of this book was supplied to me for the purpose of review. No monetary exchange was given. All comments and wording in this review are purely my own.

Cousins and Friends

This past week, our friends and cousins Jeff, Chelby, and Chase came for a visit. Chase is the same age as Drew. To put it mildly, they had fun. The kids had a great time together and we really enjoyed their visit. The fellowship was sweet and it was great to catch up on life. It is always encouraging to share life with those at the same place in life and with the same goals. What a blessing!

Here are a few pics of the kids!

Magnetic Beauty

We may be biased, but we think Daisha is beautiful. She has a darling face and an even more precious personality. We are starting to wonder if her beauty is magnetic. Magnetic towards hard and unforgiving objects. If you remember from a few weeks ago her little nose was red like Rudolph from taking a nosedive onto some concrete. Well, yesterday, she somehow put a massive scratch down the side of her face. Nobody saw it happen, we found her laying down on her stomach beside a broken lid of a rubbermaid container. We have no idea! She can be a little trouble maker and often finds herself banging her head, tripping over something, or dropping something on herself. We are thankful that her accident didnt catch her eye as you can see that the scratch starts on her forehead, catches her eyelid, and then proceeds down her face. I am afraid this wont be the last time her pretty little face attracts some sort of accident.

3 Years!

I think that every once in awhile we should read through Paul's descriptions of his trials in 2 Corinthians 11.
Prison - Many times
Whipped 39 times - 5 times
Beaten with rods - 3 times
Stoned - Once
Shipwrecked - 3 times
Day and night lost at sea - Once
Oh, and faced danger from rivers and robbers, jews and gentiles, deserts, hungry, thirsty, cold, and the daily burden of the churches.

Phew! I am tired just reading it. Today is our 3 Year anniversary in Jamaica and it is good for my soul to remember Brother Paul and his journey. It is in the context of the trials above that we can get some understanding of the perspective of his written words that encourage us today. The call of the gospel goes deep, but after several years, we feel like we are still just dipping our toes in the water. Now granted, there have been times that we have felt like our emotions have been whipped 40 times less one. Shipwrecked sometimes seems like a worthy description of a few of our days. Lost at sea fits at times. But, God has been faithful. Paul's trials bring perspective, maybe too much perspective, as His witness humbles us. May we continue to press towards the mark of the prize of the High Calling.

Extended Arms

God continues to amaze me.
Each morning I wake, he is there, extending his arms full of love and grace to me.
It's my choice to embrace.
With each time I shamefully recognize that I have hurt him, he again extends his arms of love and grace.
Will I choose to embrace?
He sweetly smiles upon me as I learn to serve and honor my husband, mother my children, and be his example to those around me.
And in the midst of the busy day, he extends his arms and waits for me to stop in his presence to enjoy a moment together.
Wearied and exhausted, I lay my head down at night. And he is there, ready to hear me, touch me, and calm me.
I must embrace these arms so full of love and grace.

Happy 6th Anniversary, Love. Thank you for teaching me more about God's loving arms through your own!
"My beloved is mine, and I am his." Song of Solomon 2: 16

Picture Update

Click here for a few recent pics.

Pray for the Pfisters

Please join us in praying for the Pfister family. They are serving the orphaned of Haiti through Loving Sheperd Ministries. We worked alongside Rich and Amber at Gateway Woods for a short time and really support their family. Their daughter Katelyn developed an illness in Haiti. They have since, through the mighty hand of God, transported her to a hospital in Florida. We praying for them and feel as if we walking especially close to them during this time. Please pray! They set up a "care site" which you can access through this link.

Please be advised!

Product Warning: "Cute little noses" are not designed for use as a braking device when a little girls body begins moving faster than her feet on concrete. Please see example below:

Couldnt have said it better

Erin is our neighbor and teammate. She put up a cute and so true thing about Drew on her blog. Check it out HERE.

Speaking of Paper Chains

Truitt knows we are planning on going back to the states for Christmas. So, everyday, usually even before breakfast there is some comment about him being ready for Christmas. We were sharing this with the Huber family and they said that their kids were wanting to make a paper chain awhile back when there was about 70 some days left to wait for their furlough. Now that is a long chain to have weaving around your house reminding you that its not time yet. Their parents wisely counseled them to wait and make the paper chain at a more reasonable number of days. I am guessing one of those little chains will be showing up around our house in the next couple of months.

25 days

Honestly, we have got the best problems in the world. I am guessing that 99% of the world would have loved to have had our "computerless" problem. We were without a computer for 25 days. Not a tragedy! We got it back this evening. Actually, we got a cord to fix our computer and we also got a backup just in case that doesnt work. Ridiculously blessed! We are thankful to be back in touch with the world. Our computer has become the portal through we we do alot of things. We skype our family, communicate, kids watch videos, get our news, do our paperwork, do our banking, do work related tasks, manage pictures, consume media, keep organized, etc. We are thankful!

September Update

September Plattner Family Update

For Drew’s 5th Birthday, we bought him his own little CD player. Since then, he has become quite the little DJ. I don’t think we can even count how many times we hear “Bullfrogs and Butteflies” blasting out of the boys’ room. They wait anxiously for the chorus and then shout, “Bullfrogs and Butterflies, have both been born again.” It’s hilarious. This past weekend, during our weekend chapel duties, I tried to explain this concept to the students. Not using the Bullfrogs and Butterflies example, but just trying to explain the reality of being born new in Christ. Not simply accepting Jesus and then going on with life, but understanding that saving faith in Jesus means new life. It is not a simple mental exercise, but a commitment of your whole life, every part, no part is left unchanged. The butterfly can’t be who the creator intended him to be if he tries to stay half caterpillar and half butterfly. I don’t know if I got the message across, but that message continues to be critical in light of the fact that we see so many around us that seem so content to remain caterpillars.

As we mentioned in our last update, we were ready for September. It has been good having the students back in school and life back around our campus. The farm program has started slowly as our little plot of land was neglected over the summer and the rain has kept us from working much these first few weeks. Our seeds are not in the ground and so we are missing lots of good rain, oh the life of a farmer. The students are almost fully back into routine and we are hoping that everything really starts rolling in October and November. Keri and I have been doing a lot of teaching. We are on a rotation for Wednesday night chapel duties as well as Sunday chapel duties at the school. We also recently began a rotation for teaching at the new deaf church plant in Savanna-La-Mar (SAV). We enjoy these opportunities to teach but they are also very humbling. We pray that our signs are clear and that the message of the cross rings true across our language barrier.

Speaking of the church in SAV, I think we have mentioned this before as something we have been praying about for a long time. Quickly in review, there are currently 3 deaf churches in Jamaica that are serving only a portion of the deaf population. There is a need for Christian fellowship among the deaf across Jamaica. This has been a burden to the leadership at the local deaf church in our area. Therefore, an effort has been made to begin a new deaf church inside of a large deaf population in western Jamaica. The first weekly services started at the beginning of September. There were 11 people that showed up the first week and 8 the second. We pray that this is the beginning of a foundation of faith that will remain to serve the community of SAV.

Our family continues to experience abundant blessing. I know we say that every month, but it is something we cant get over and it is always before us. Again, that is not to say we are not having our struggles, but we have sensed His blessing in the midst of the chaos. Keri began formally teaching Drew at the beginning of September. This has been going very well as it has brought out her passion for teaching which as been meeting Drew’s passion for learning. They are doing great. Truitt is usually saddled up to the table next to them soaking in all that he can. It remains to be seen if he is just standing in as the class clown or whether he is ready to start his own academic journey. Daisha continues to grow faster than we can believe. She is becoming quite a little signer in her own right. She is cared for in the mornings by Claudine, a young deaf lady that helps our family. We are beginning to worry that maybe she thinks she is deaf as her signing vocabulary is much larger than her verbal vocabulary. She becomes quite the sight as she acts as if she is taking charge in a conversation as her arms and hands move every which direction. Our family appreciates so much your support and prayers. We have been asking the Lord for His continued guidance in our ministry. Thanks again so much!

Love,

Plattners

Homeschool Update

Because Kirk previously said I would, I must.
To be honest, I'm having more fun than I would have imagined as the teacher at the Plattner family school house. Possibly even a bit more excited than my 2 faithful students. But that's how a teacher should be, right? I have 2 precious little boys attending my school, though one of them tends to come and go as he pleases. And a 3rd little girl often will jump in insisting to be the teacher for the moment, or at least the center of attention! (I am blessed with Claudine, my house help, who's priority in the morning is to keep Daisha away!)
I have definitely found a passion in teaching, especially Bible time and Science. I'm ever so grateful for our school principal and the head of our household who is a bit more educated in education! We make a wonderful team!
Kirk and I see values in both public education and homeschooling, and so for the time being we are taking this opportunity and giving it our best, and praying that God will bless it.
Let us know if you have any helps for us, whether you're a teacher of a homeschooler yourself.

Gluing Paper Chains

Can you imagine the sorrow? Picture this scenario, you make a paper chain to count the number of days to your highly anticipated event. Day by day you get the joy of tearing off one little link. You watch as the Boa Constrictor slowly turns into a Gardner snake and then into a worm. Excitement builds as you are tearing off the last ones. And then, everything changes. Bad News! The courier for our computer just informed us that that it will arrive one week later than expected. So, here we are with sticky fingers, gluing our paper chain back together. But, in spite of the fact that our little worm just morphed back into a Gardner snake, we will keep our heads held high. I wish I would have waited to write that previous post about the blessings of going without a computer. It was easy to write when we thought we were 3 days from getting our computer. Now, I have to really try to be thankful for those hidden blessings I was referring to. Oh well, by Grace. By Grace!

Both/And

Every time one of our little computerless purgatories end, we find ourselves processing the blessings we experienced by being unplugged. (Our computer purgatory has not ended, but we hope that by early next week it will.) Each time, and it has happened too many times, we think about the extra family time that we experienced, the books we got read, the extra hours of sleep, and the benefit to relationships we experienced. If I offered you that list of guaranteed blessings added to your life through one simple life change I bet you would take me up on that offer. But, when the computer comes back, we are not going to stuff it in the closet to continue experiencing these blessings. Why? Because we think we can have both. We think we are smart enough, efficient enough, and balanced enough to enjoy the added benefits of the computer as well as avoiding its negative effects. I dont want to believe that we cant find a balance and so we have to unplug. I dont think it has to be an either/or, but we must not kid ourselves that both/and is very hard. By Grace!

All Things!

Keri started homeschooling Drew last week. Up on the wall in their little "school corner" she had their verse for the week from the second part of Colossians 1:16. ".....all things were created by Him, and for Him." What an amazing verse to start off the school year! Can you imagine having a school year framed by that thought? An education whose foundation is built on an understanding of "all things by and for." The building on our kids worldview that it is not about them, but by Him and for Him. What a blessing! I am sure Keri will be putting an update on here soon about her new role as teacher as she is diving headlong into this new school year.

Do I have to answer?

These questions were posed in a sermon the other week. They come from Richard Stearns, President of World Vision. Obviously we could add alot of issues to question #3, so many issues that we would feel justified to throw up our hands. But, when you focus down on one issue, I think the question demands an answer. Honestly, it makes my knees shake. I would recommend Richard Stearns book, "The hole in our Gospel" for further investigation into the the role of the Church in our world.

1. Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?

2. Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?

3. When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?

Bored?

This was relevant back when our computer was functioning. But, if a little stretch of boredom happens to catch you at a time you are feeling slightly silly, pull out the photo program on the computer for some genuine fun. If you have a mac, there is a program called photobooth. I am guessing there is a similar type program for a PC. The kids loved it and we laughed and laughed. There were a few of Keri and I as well, but they will stay hidden away in some top secret vault. What a hoot!

August Plattner Family Update

This month this was not sent via e-mail due to our computer being down and our "update email group" being hidden away in the dead computer.

August Jamaica Update
Who through worry can add one hour to his life? We spent some time pondering this verse in August. Worry can be so easy and it reared its ugly head in August. Worry that things wouldnt go our way, worry about health, worry about this and worry about that. I just read last week that "Do Not Fear" is the most often repeated phrase in the Bible. I have not verified that nor have I given it much critical thought, but no matter what it is a critical theme to consider in our relationship with God. God, as all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, all-loving, all-just Father considers our trust in His goodness as a paramount foundation in our relationship. Wow, when life feels to be unraveling a bit, this reality becomes the anchor which we so often dont even throw into the water. Waiting on the Lord, throwing out the anchor, waiting for the jerk that assures you that the anchor has caught something firm is that act of faith in which our relationship is built. Wow, I feel like these things should have been learned in my first year of faith, "Faith 101," but these lessons just keep coming and by His grace we keep walking.


School is back in session. Ok, that actually applies to September, but that is what we spent the majority of August doing, waiting for September. CCCD is here for the kids, we are here for the kids, and so when the kids are not here, things get hard. We had some visitors in August which were certainly highlights. Kirk's brother and family came which was great, but there was still alot of August that felt long and dry. The campus turns into a ghost town and life slows down. It is good that life slows down, but there were times that it felt as if it rolled to a stop. We spent August doing a few things to get ready for school and doing odds and ends.

Our family continues to experience rich blessings. Drew is growing up way to fast and he spent most of his August counting down the days until his September 1st birthday. Truitt continues to play the role of "Robin," or "Tonto as well as anyone. His days are consumed with playing with his "bruffer" and his "Daisha." Daisha is herself becoming quite the litte queen of our house as she is now marching around her little kingdom. She is doing great and daily trying to find new ways to achieve her life's ambition, getting through the front door to the great outdoors. We continue to experience the Lord's blessing on our marriage as we navigate this journey together. We continue to want to thank you for your love and support. We are thankful for God's continued provision in our lives and we walk on learning daily how to trust.

Love,
Kirk, Keri, Drew, Truitt, and Daisha

Honestly? Again?

Yep, our computer is down again. Actually, the computer itself is fine, but the power cord to give it juice is defunct. It is depressing. In reality, the computer itself has served us well. It is probably over 5 years old and has been fairly reliable. But, when we are here, when something goes wrong there are no quick fixes. So, we will be blessed with another opportunity to break our addictions and live mostly unplugged for a few weeks. We are already working on contingency plans and ways to get our situation resolved and we will see how things play out. Until then, we will be begging time on other peoples computers. Praise the Lord!

Christmas in August!

Last week, a friend named Janice came down from our church, but she did not come alone. No, she brought with her many suitcases of stuff. While it was not all for us, lets just say we were blessed! Definitely Christmas in August! We have been blessed from so many people who send care packages from the states. Its ridiculous but we are thankful!

Tortillas for Keri
Fruit snacks for the kids
Doritos for Kirk
Books for the kids
A shirt for Keri
Nuts for Kirk
Diapers for the kids
Toys for the kids
Applesauce for the kids
Books for the kids
CD's for the kids
School Supplies
and so much more

Little Entrepreneur?

A couple of weeks ago Drew came up with this idea, selling rocks. While not a wonderful product with obviously low demand, I think he was thinking that his marketing would make up for the low demand. And, he was right. As you can imagine, almost every customer that passed by bought at least one rock. It was adorable. There is no doubt that the nature of how things are bought and sold in Jamaica has rubbed off on our kids. It is not uncommon for the kids to put a box up on their head walking around saying "banana's for sale." And, his little rock stand very closely resembles many of the roadside stands that dot our highways. Little budding businessmen!

5 Years?

I often lament the passing of time. I know I am not supposed to as this world is not our home, but Drew's 5th birthday was another one of those "wake up calls." Its amazing! Some evenings we sit around the table in shock wondering, "How did this happen?" 3 kids? In Jamaica? We feel abundantly blessed and cant even put into words the reality. Anyways, all that to say, here are a few pics from Drew's birthday gathering. We had a few people over for pizza and a cake. The cake was definitely the thing Drew was anticipating the most. He was guessing for weeks whether it would be a truck or something different. Keri ended up making an adorable "farm" or "garden" as that is one of Drew's favorite things. He loved his little party and getting gifts from Grandpas and Grandmas. Drew ended the night with this little line, "I never dreamed I would be this blessed!"

Happy Birthday Drew!!!

Gone 4G!

The Plattner's have gone 4G. 4G is broadband internet. Simply put, it is hopefully an internet upgrade from our ultra finicky internet. I dont know the extent that 4G is advertised in the states, but I am sure you are familiar with 3G. Well, 4G is just the next generation of that technology. This means that we are getting our internet wirelessly. Actually, we are just giving it a try, but so far it is working. This is supposed to have the potential to increase our internet speeds by 5x. We hope it works. When it comes to mobile technology, Jamaica is "on the ball." I think mobile coverage here may be better than it is in the states and the newest technologies are generally available. Digicel, Jamaicas largest mobile carrier, has done a great job of getting mobile technology to the masses. If you are interested, here is an interesting article from Forbes.com on Digicel's takeover of the mobile phone market.

Weeble-Wobble

Daisha is officially using walking as her primary mode of transportation! She is still about as steady as a weeble-wobble (do you remember weeble-wobbles?). She is very much like a weeble-wobble, but she does fall down (weeble-wobbles never fell down). Actually, she is the earliest walker of all of our kids. We think back and cant imagine. Truitt did not start crawling until he was 15 months and wasnt walking until 18 months. Daisha is 14 months old. She is beautiful. In the video, she is very sober and doing her little trademark sucking of her middle two fingers. Actually, in the context of sign language, she is doing the perfect, "I Love You" handshape to herself. Its adorable! She has a fun-loving personality with an electric smile. Congratulations Daisha on your successful passing of the crawling stage.

Normal Life

I can remember towards the end of our honeymoon coming home with the thought, "I am ready for normal life." Dont get me wrong, our honeymoon was sweet and we would take advantage of that type of trip again and again if we were able, but there is something sweet about doing normal life. Family time, work, routine, little things, etc. I thought that again the other day as we had to say goodbye to Kirk's brother's family. We thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly enjoyed our time with Kirk's brothers family, but you can only live that kind of life for so long. You can't live life on vacation, vacation has its place, but then it is time to get back to life. We were so thankful to have them visit and share a bit of our lives with them. We really feel like our time was blessed and now we give thanks!

Week in Review

Here is a little picture review of our week with the Clint Plattner family. As you can see, the kids loved hanging out and playing. No matter the activity, Tyler jumping off a water fall, Abrey swinging off the rope swing, playing at the hotel, just laughing together, we had a blessed time together.