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!