Life Is Noisy

God willing, Beth will be delivering our 8th child this Saturday.

Labor is scheduled to be induced at 10am.

Beth is excited, I’m nervous and the kids are happy for another baby…

We would appreciate your prayers. Thank you!

  

Happy Thanksgiving

As you may remember, we requested prayer for the provision of a van to replace our van which died in September.         

I’m writing to thank you for praying and share our joy.  By God’s grace we just received a 1998 Chevy Venture van.  150,000 miles new.

The donation was coordinated by Arizona Helping Hands .  Raintree Auto Body was the major donor which provided the vehicle to us.  In fact, they donated 2 vans.  One to our family and one to the Arizona Helping Hands organization.

ABC News 15 did a story on the van donations.  See this link for the video – 

http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=17752

Thank you again for praying for our family. 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Mark & Beth

I have started a new job, in the United States.  I am a Help Desk Technician for SupportSoft.  

I’m going through training right now to provide stellar service.  

I’m grateful for this job.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us.

– Mark

Our van has died and gone to heaven.  🙂

God blessed us with a van which was large enough to transport a family of 9 and was cheap enough for us to buy 5 years ago.  Our 1990 van traveled over 220,000 miles.  Even though it had no AC and leaked like a sieve we still felt blessed.  When we purchased that van we prayed that God would provide a new van when it died.  We are believing God is doing exactly that, right now, providing us with a new van.

Our friends have been helping Beth get around while we wait for another van.  (Thank you friends!!!!)

Beth was told that a man wanted to donate a van to us.  It’s our understanding that he is giving it to us through a charitable organization.  Beth has been in touch with this organization.  They advised Beth to write a letter, which she did yesterday.  This is what Beth understands is the process.  Obviously we need a van ASAP.  Please pray for favor with the organization.  Please pray that this goes through without any problems or delays.

Because I normally take care of things like this, Beth is feeling allot of pressure managing the family and this issue while I’m in Afghanistan.  I’m very proud of Beth!  She has done a terrific job taking care of the family while I’ve been away.  (I love you Beth!!!)  Please pray for Beth to receive God’s guidance (and favor).

I’ve attached a recent picture of our old van.  If you look closely, you will see Sarah on the roof of the van goofing off.  During the 4th of July this year and last all the kids sat on the roof and watched the fireworks. That is just one of many, many good memories.  Thank you God for our old and new van.

Thank you for praying for us.

Love and blessings,

Mark

Check out what looks like Kentucky Fried Chicken, in Kabul.  It’s actually Kabul Fried Chicken.  I’ve been told when good products/services come to Afghanistan they are quickly forged.  They ONLY look like the real thing.  We don’t each at Kabul Fried Chicken.  No thank you!

If you look closely at this photo you will see 3 people sitting in the back of this car.  I’ve seen as many as 5 kids crowded in the same spot in other cars.  This happens to be the back of a small Toyota hatchback, which normally would seat 2 in the front row, 3 in the 2nd row and the back part of the vehicle would be used for stuff  like groceries.

Most cars pack the passengers in like sardines.

• 1st row – 3 people

• 2nd row – 5 people (or more depending on how many children can squeeze in)

• Back – 5 kids

I doubt that anyone in Afghanistan wears a seat-belt.

I’m just sorry that I don’t have a photo of a car packed full.  Because I should not take photos of women, I’ve missed shots that would have been really interesting.