Merry Christmas from SD

Merry Christmas! We pray this season finds you surrounded by joy as we take time to focus on the One who is the reason for both joy and hope!

These past couple days especially have been busy. We have a team here from Kentucky helping us organize blankets and hoodies/coats for a Christmas giveaway.  While they were working in the church building, one of our church families came over to the pantry and helped me (Jess) get some boxes organized. I can’t even describe how blessed I feel by the families in our church and community.  They pitch in to help out when we need it and so many have helped me start to figure out life here.  This past week I took the girls with me when I was visiting one of the ladies in our church and they were delighted by some puppies while this woman spent some time telling me about her family and some special Lakota events that were coming up. She often tries to teach me some Lakota words too. I say tries, because despite her being an excellent teacher and my background in language, I am having a harder time retaining what I hear. The Lakota language is very unique, and beautiful when spoken!  I am really hoping that I will improve with time.

The girls have greatly enjoyed going to their homeschool community group once a week and have made some good friends there. We are currently on a break from our weekly meetings, and they have commented on how much they miss going and are looking forward to resuming in January. They have been using a little of the extra free time to enjoy the snow, however, so a break isn’t really a bad thing and they are excited about all that white stuff.

An “attitude of gratitude” is something that we have been talking about with the girls a lot lately. Not just thankfulness for the things they have, but a gratefulness for the people and experiences that God has brought into our lives. It’s good to take a few moments each day to reflect on things you are thankful for. Every good and perfect gift is our Father, and I don’t believe in coincidences. I know I have discovered thankfulness for the unexpected: a phone call or text from a friend that has encouraged me, a conversation with a new acquaintance, the sun setting a beautiful pink across the snowy hills, my kids giggling together while simultaneously not getting into trouble, a surprise piece of mail (that’s not a bill), and a bit of excitement over finding a restaurant in Rapid that offers gluten free burger buns. In November, Y.E.S. was able to raise the money needed to pay off the camp property. We are all very excited and thankful about that!

Something I am hoping to report thankfulness on in the near future is our water situation. There is a discussion of being able to use a nearby well for the church and parsonage, and for that we would have to dig a trench to the well and install the proper piping, and then the owner of the well has requested that we pay the small monthly bill on it. The use of this well would enable us to have drinkable water at our home and at the church. The girls would be able to take baths (instead of showers, which is not so fun for an 18 month old).  We would be able to use the baptistry at the church, the showers for when we have teams stay there, and be able to wash dishes in the kitchen there after meals!  Right now the pipes over there are so clogged with sediment that the water barely comes through. This would be a HUGE answer to prayer, so please join us as we ask God to smooth this path for us.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!

With Love, The Homer Family