Thursday, March 31, 2011
Some Happenings
Here are a few pics of our recent weeks. We have spent time with family, been out and about, visited friends, and been really blessed with some great times. Keri and I had a long weekend in Chicago. The kids loved spending time with their grandparents. We have uploaded a few pics and pictures are worth a thousand words. We will let them speak for themselves. You can click through to some pics here.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Missing in Action!
The kids are with Grandpa and Grandma and we are off on a long overdue vacation. Praise the Lord! We we get back to reality, we will give a little update of a few of the happenings. After we get back from our little getaway, we hope to spend a couple of more days with family and then move out to Leo, IN. We will see how it all comes together. Give Thanks!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Hand of God
We are excited to announce the engagement of Blake Widmer to Tashi Bent!
Blake is our teammate in Jamaica, a man full of sincere love and passion. And Tashi, how do I begin, is a beautiful and amazing godly woman. Their testimony of their lives coming together truly gives witness the hand of God! You can check out their testimony and pictures through this blogs or this blog or this blog!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A piece of paradise -- Spring Days
We love the weather in Jamaica. Sunny days after sunny days are beautiful. But, there are a couple of things Jamaican weather doesnt have, and on of those is Spring days. Those first days in the spring that climb into the 60's. The sun is warm, the air is crisp, and you can sense nature ready to spring to life. It is awesome. Yesterday was definitely that day and we loved spending some time outside. We will post of a few pics of the fun a little later. What a grace!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Safe in the States
We spent the night at a hotel in Montego Bay for Wednesday night and flew to Chicago on Thursday. It was a great travel day. It was a direct flight and so it made it easy on us. With Keri 7 months pregnant and a 1 1/2 year old, it seemed imperative to not try to do the full trip in one day. Blessed!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
February Update
Plattner Family February Jamaica Update
It wasn’t anything big or extravagant, just a simple lunch date. For Valentines Day, Keri and I got out to our favorite little jerk joint in Mandeville. A casual place where we could sit outside, enjoy some time together, and celebrate the gift of love. While we were stuffing our face with the spicy goodness that is jerk pork, a rough looking lady sauntered up to our table and asked for $20 JA. This is not uncommon and it is only about the equivalence of a quarter and so we obliged. The lady then walked just a few feet away and sat on a little ledge surrounding the dining area. She continued asking a few people for money and watching the patrons eat. Then, in a move that suddenly brought a new dimension to our little celebration of love, she walked back a bit closer to us where she began going through a garbage can looking for leftover scraps. Its not supposed to go like this, in celebrating love you are not supposed to get confronted with decisions that cause you to question the depth of the love in your hearts. What does love look like in that situation? Let that settle on your heart as you consider what it means to celebrate love in extravagance in the face of such poverty. I am not even going to explain to you our response because I don’t want to give you a mental escape. This is not a guilt trip, it’s a reality that we ignore only at our own loss because as we know, it is more blessed to give than receive.
You know the thought, “boy, I think I have seen it all.” There comes a time that we have done something with enough repetition that we think we have seen it all. Well, we were shocked out of that foolishness as we welcomed our first work team from England. This was a great group of people who are from a very different context than our normal team. All of a sudden, we were looking at what we do and how we do it in new ways. The team was a part of an English government cultural experience program. They helped out in the mornings and played with the kids in the afternoon. It was good to gain a new perspective from the relationships we gained through that experience. The rest of February was filled with the activities of a normal month. We had opportunity to teach several times on the weekends at the school and at church. During the last week of February, we welcomed a team from Florida and were blessed by their visit. We continue to experience His faithfulness.
Last month, we alluded to the possibility of a change of plans regarding our return to the states. Lord Willing, we will be flying out of Jamaica on March 10th. This is about a month earlier than we expected, but we were asked to come represent Jamaica at an informational meeting for our sending organization on March 12th. So, rather than flying up and then back for 4 weeks and then back up, we have decided to stay in the states for a slightly extended time. We hope to use this time working for Apostolic Christian World Relief with some support work as well as using it for more time with family. Lord willing, we will be moving to the Leo, IN area for the birth of the baby around the beginning of April. We trust that this timing is of Him and that it is His chosen path for the sake of His name.
We would love to catch up with you while we are back. We may be slightly more limited in our mobility than in previous visits, but we would love to see if something could work out. Thanks so much for your continued love and support. Keep the Faith.
Love,
Kirk, Keri, Drew, Truitt, Daisha, and baby
It wasn’t anything big or extravagant, just a simple lunch date. For Valentines Day, Keri and I got out to our favorite little jerk joint in Mandeville. A casual place where we could sit outside, enjoy some time together, and celebrate the gift of love. While we were stuffing our face with the spicy goodness that is jerk pork, a rough looking lady sauntered up to our table and asked for $20 JA. This is not uncommon and it is only about the equivalence of a quarter and so we obliged. The lady then walked just a few feet away and sat on a little ledge surrounding the dining area. She continued asking a few people for money and watching the patrons eat. Then, in a move that suddenly brought a new dimension to our little celebration of love, she walked back a bit closer to us where she began going through a garbage can looking for leftover scraps. Its not supposed to go like this, in celebrating love you are not supposed to get confronted with decisions that cause you to question the depth of the love in your hearts. What does love look like in that situation? Let that settle on your heart as you consider what it means to celebrate love in extravagance in the face of such poverty. I am not even going to explain to you our response because I don’t want to give you a mental escape. This is not a guilt trip, it’s a reality that we ignore only at our own loss because as we know, it is more blessed to give than receive.
You know the thought, “boy, I think I have seen it all.” There comes a time that we have done something with enough repetition that we think we have seen it all. Well, we were shocked out of that foolishness as we welcomed our first work team from England. This was a great group of people who are from a very different context than our normal team. All of a sudden, we were looking at what we do and how we do it in new ways. The team was a part of an English government cultural experience program. They helped out in the mornings and played with the kids in the afternoon. It was good to gain a new perspective from the relationships we gained through that experience. The rest of February was filled with the activities of a normal month. We had opportunity to teach several times on the weekends at the school and at church. During the last week of February, we welcomed a team from Florida and were blessed by their visit. We continue to experience His faithfulness.
Last month, we alluded to the possibility of a change of plans regarding our return to the states. Lord Willing, we will be flying out of Jamaica on March 10th. This is about a month earlier than we expected, but we were asked to come represent Jamaica at an informational meeting for our sending organization on March 12th. So, rather than flying up and then back for 4 weeks and then back up, we have decided to stay in the states for a slightly extended time. We hope to use this time working for Apostolic Christian World Relief with some support work as well as using it for more time with family. Lord willing, we will be moving to the Leo, IN area for the birth of the baby around the beginning of April. We trust that this timing is of Him and that it is His chosen path for the sake of His name.
We would love to catch up with you while we are back. We may be slightly more limited in our mobility than in previous visits, but we would love to see if something could work out. Thanks so much for your continued love and support. Keep the Faith.
Love,
Kirk, Keri, Drew, Truitt, Daisha, and baby
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Try Again - Piece of Paradise - Innovative Entertainment
Thursday was a big 4H event for our parish. Most of the schools in the parish go to present their different projects. It is similar to what I have seen from 4H in the states but also very different. Anyways, every time I have been to one of these big school events, I have seen people bring in entertainment for the kids. But, the most intriguing entertainment I have seen is old fashioned carnival rides that are human powered. I couldnt believe it when I saw it, a human powered ferris wheel and a human powered swing. How innovative is that? On the swing, you can see the man in the middle cranking on a handle for the power. On the ferris wheel, it is a little harder to see, but there is a handle that the men push up and down to power the wheel. Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool and I thought I would share it with you.Ferris Wheel
Swing
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