Merry Christmas! As I am writing this letter, I am praying that each of you are enjoying special times of reflection on the birth of our Savior so many years ago and fun times of celebration with friends and family! We have had a great week, prior to Christmas, celebrating! Today we spent some time in God’s Word and peacefully listened to uplifting music that spoke to our hearts of the incredible plan of God that sent Jesus as a baby to grow, live a sinless life, and die on the cross to provide redemption for you and me! Praise the Lord!

We wanted to take the time to say thank you for your continued support of our ministry. We are so blessed to have each one of you on our ministry team. Some of you pray, others give of their time and talents by coming to work alongside of us, still others support us financially with regular or one time gifts. Each one of you are a vital part of helping us do what we do and we give God the glory for the way He meets our needs through you.

At the end of 2022, I had a conversation with Brent. In anticipation of turning 50 years old in 2023, I told him that I didn’t want him to throw me a big party, but that I thought it would be fun if we could go 50 different places. I was thinking that we could have some creative dates… but God had bigger plans in mind for our 2023.  This truly has been a year of much travel for us. We have enjoyed renewing friendships and making new friends along the way. If you receive our prayer letter regularly, you have followed along with our travels of the past year.  So I won’t bore you with specifics, but here is a list of the bigger trips:

January: Alexis, NC (Brent’s brother and sister in law) and Leesburg, Florida (Michele’s dad and his wife)
February: Las Vegas, Nevada (breakfast)Hurricane, Utah (visit friends- Bill + Amy Vair)
March: Baptist Church Planters in Grafton, OH (council meetings)
April: First Baptist Church in Niles, OH (ministry presentation)  Canton, OH (purchase our new fifth wheel)
May: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Normantown, WV (ministry presentation) and First Baptist Church in Elyria, OH (ministry presentation to 1^st and 2^nd grade Sunday school class)
June: Galilean Baptist Church in Fairmont, WV (replace roof), Harvest Baptist Church in Bath, New York (ministry presentation), Letchworth State Park New York (overnight camping and hiking), Findley State Park Ohio (Carroll family camping)
July: First Baptist Church in Lagrange, OH (ministry Presentation), Lagrange, OH (birth of our grandson, Marcus), First Baptist Church in Elbridge, NY (ministry presentation), Standfordville Baptist Church in Hallstead, PA (visit church we worked on), and Dayton, OH (visit supporter)
August: Heritage Baptist Church in Canastota, NY (ministry presentation), Open Door Baptist Church in New Woodstock, NY, (ministry presentation), People’s Baptist Church in Newfield, NY (ministry presentation), Grace Baptist Church in Canton, OH (marriage retreat in Berlin, OH), and First Baptist Church in Lagrange, OH (carpet replacement, painting)
September: Dryden Baptist Church in Dryden, NY (ministry presentation), Peaches and Cream in Randolph, NY (yummy ice cream LOL), Baptist Church Planters in Grafton, OH (council meetings), West Virginia (concrete work for a friend), Hillside Baptist Church in Hornell, NY (ministry presentation), Unity Baptist Church in Wayland, MI (ministry presentation), Saugatauk State Park, Holland State Park, and Silver Lake sand dunes (sand dune exploration), Harvest Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Iowa (visit supporting church)
October: Temple Baptist Church in Lincoln, NE (current large remodel project), Woodland Park, Colorado (mule deer hunt),
November: Spanish Church Plant in Plainfield, WI (window replacement), rest stop in Minnesota (lunch – 1^st time in MN), Grafton, OH (home for thanksgiving)
December: Grafton, OH (home for Christmas)

By far, the personal highlight of this year was the birth of our grand baby, Marcus, on July 14^th.  Daniel and Ryanne are off to a great start as new parents. We praise God for the way He answered our prayers for safe delivery and healthy growth for Marcus.

Ministry highlights would include the days we have enjoyed working together, the way we have been able to connect and reconnect with so many people from the body of Christ this year, and God’s provision of our new trailer home.