Brown Family Faith Leap 2025

 2025 Faith Leap - Chapter 7: Merry Christmas! Our Christmas miracle: We found parking right outside of the door of the church building on Christmas Eve when it was pouring rain! But, more importantly, we are grateful for THE Christmas Miracle: Our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are grateful that, when we seek Him, we find Him - in all the good and bad, big and small, rough and smooth, loud and quiet, turbulent and calm. We love and adore Him. Highlights Lots of sunshine and beach time - our favorite moments have been making boats and finding a Jellyfish Christmas Eve Branch party was everything you'd hope for in an extended family holiday party The kids were not expecting us to celebrate Christmas with any gifts - they were pleasantly surprised. (And their parents are so relieved the wait for Legos is finally over. We have all missed their world of endless building possibilities). CJ is enjoying a traditional Christmas of sorts with family back at home. Thanks to all for taking hi...

 2025 Faith Leap - Chapter 6: Batumi Blessings In Church on Sunday, our inspired teacher led a discussion surrounding the question of why it was important for the Savior to come to earth into humble circumstances, rather than the fanfare of a King. She then asked us to ponder, "Is there anything in your life where you are expecting fanfare when humble simplicity is enough?" Richard and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes - knowing exactly what the other was thinking. With that question, we were directly minister to: Reporting on this blog/to people back home, constantly being asked by people here why we came, feeling accountability to our children for uprooting them, and wanting to ensure that we do not fail to do whatever we are here to do, means that Richard and I feel a lot of pressure to find purpose and be anxiously engaged - which has led to anxiousness. (What if this ends up being a let down? What if, when we go home, we are still unclear about why we came? W...

  2025 Faith Leap - Chapter 5: Our Chakvi Home away from Home The Parable of Found Treasures: A boy (Bob) asked for a wallet so that he could keep his earnings safe; his mother bemoaned not packing a lightweight/low-space ball for her children to play with while away from home. While walking on the beach, they found a wallet (nothing in it), and a well-inflated ball, and they rejoiced in their good fortune. The Parable of the Lost Watch: To protect his watch from being ruined while playing in the sea, a young boy (Kroc) removed it from his wrist and placed it in his jacket. That evening, to his dismay, he discovered the watch was missing. With little chance of finding the watch in the dark, the boy's father walked with him along the beach and, behold, there lie the watch - just above the water's edge. And the family rejoiced with the boy. While these two stories may seem rather insignificant, they are huge miracles to us: demonstrations of God's love and watchful care. Trul...