Need Some Help.

I need some help. I designed our website and blog by filling in templates with the appropriate information. I don't understand html or other complicated webdesigns. I would like to know how some of the people that read my blog (that have blogs of their own with cool, personalized headers) designed thier headers. What program did you use? How did you do it? I realize that the answer is probably going to be complicated...but if anybody has any suggestions on how to create a personalized header, we appreciate it. What I'm looking to do is us a pic of the family with some words and cool design. So please let me know if you have any suggestions or can help.

The Theme Of This New Year Is...New

The word “new” means, according to some dictionary that I found online, “Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent.” This word applies to our lives right now. I imagine a majority of the people that read this blog are familiar with our church, South Side Baptist Church (Springfield, MO). A couple of months ago, our pastor, Bud Everett, resigned from the pastorate and took a job with a group that will send the gospel to some countries in the world that lack much of a gospel witness (names have been withheld on purpose…not sure if it’s safe to say exactly where…so I will error on the side of caution). Anyway, that left our church without a pastor for the first time in a LONG time. Bro. Everett served the church for many fruitful years and he impacted us as a family in many ways. We will miss seeing him as much as we did. So, the church interviewed, nominated, and voted on Wayne Barron (our associate pastor) to follow as the next pastor of South Side. Wayne is a close friend of mine and a great Bible teacher. We worked closely with he and his wife April back in 2000-2001 in a high school class. The church is very fortunate to have this man in leadership. We’re excited about the future of the church!

Something else new, a little closer to our home, is a new Bible study we’ve started in a suburb of Athens called Glyfada. It is made up of women (from several countries including Greece) that are married to Greek men. This means that they do not necessarily have the opportunity to go to church faithfully. We meet on Tuesday mornings in a house located in the center of the town. It’s a great opportunity to disciple some ladies in a group setting that love God and want to grow spiritually.

The other new thing in our life right now is the new babies. The doctor today said that we’re going to look at having them on the 10th of March! Please pray that they will continue to grow and be ready at that time. If they’re not ready, then we’ll obviously wait until they’re ready…but Brandie is really hoping they will be ready by then. She grows more uncomfortable everyday. We’ve done a lot of work on our little home to prepare it for the arrival of two new little ones. It’s hard to imagine what it will take to survive the first three months, but we look forward to all the joys that parenting twins (and Emily) will bring.

The Doctor’s Specialty

When anyone considers ministry in a foreign country, he must “count the cost.” I was born with a congenital heart disease (Tetralogy of Fallot) that required open-heart-surgery when I was 17 months old. This condition has not limited my life all that much (I do have some limitations, but they are not things I’d do at this point in my life anyway). When considering foreign missions, it was something that I tried to think through. After sensing God’s call to minister in Greece (a modern country with modern medical facilities), my doctor was confident that I could find decent care here. It’s been difficult to find a doctor that is qualified to treat an adult with a congenital heart defect here in Greece (there is a big difference in a pediatric cardiologist treating children and a cardiologist that treats adults with congential diseases). This is where the story begins. A couple of Wednesday’s ago, Emily and I were out on our weekly “Daddy Date Day.” We went to a Greek fast food restaurant that has an indoor play place. After some time passed, a little boy and his parents joined us in the play place. The father explained that he was a cardiologist (are you paying attention yet?) that deals with adults with congenital heart diseases. He then went on to explain that one of his specialties was Tetralogy of Fallot! I couldn’t believe how God was working…one that specific day, at that specific time, I met a doctor that has a specialty in MY heart disease (the chance of being born with this condition is 0.0003%. I’ve not had any problems with my heart for several years and nothing major since my operation…but it’s nice to have a doctor close in case of any emergencies. Think God is not interested in our concerns? I’m now convinced more than ever!!!!

2008 Is Off To A Shaky Start

Literally! At 7:20 am, we were jolted from our sleep by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was approximately 75 miles to the southeast of Athens. It lasted for about 40 seconds. Our apartment literally shook back and forth giving us quite an adrenaline rush to say the least. Thankfully, we suffered no damage to the house. The news reports that there was only little damage in Kalamata (the epicenter) and no fatalities. We’ll let you know if anything else develops.

Kalanda

There is a Greek tradition that takes place every Christmas Eve and New Years Eve called kalanda. Kalanda (κάλαντα) is the Greek word for carols. It’s a time that kids go around to the houses in their neighborhood singing Christmas carols in return for money (small change), sweets, and/or cookies. As we prepared to move here, we tried to learn about the different traditions, but there is only so much you can know without experience. So, it’s Christmas Eve 2004 and we’ve only been in Greece for 3 months. Emily was just a week old and we get a knock on the door early Christmas Eve morning. I answer it and find three Greek kids with small musical triangles standing at my door. After an awkward moment of silence they start singing a Greek Christmas carol! At the time, I didn’t understand the words of the song and I thought to myself, “How could anybody be so low as to send their children to beg?” You see, there are a lot of beggars on the streets of Athens and I thought they were trying a new tactic to get money (because it was known throughout the neighborhood that we’re Americans and all Americans are rich beyond belief). So, I sternly command the kids to “Get out of here” after they sing. Then I closed the door amazed at how low some will go for money. About 10 minutes later we get another knock at the door and my mind starts to wonder why all the beggars are sending their children to our door on the same day. To my amazement and shame (for telling the kids to leave me alone) I learned that this is a tradition that happens every Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Man did I feel like an idiot!!! Oh well, sometimes you learn a new culture by making mistakes!