Dear Friends and family,
Merry Christmas! We hope you are well and enjoying the holiday season. Although this year has been extremely busy and seemed to fly by, we have enjoyed it, learned a lot, and been incredibly blessed by God’s faithfulness.
First of all, we are ever so thankful for our precious daughter, Karis. We cannot describe how much we love her and what a joy she is to be around. Karis is now a year and a half old and has such a fun, happy, and energetic personality. She wears Meagan out on a daily basis, but we would have it no other way J Learning how to train and discipline Karis though each stage of toddlerhood has really helped us to grow together as a couple. It takes a lot of work to raise an obedient child! Please pray for us as we continue to learn how to train our daughter in godliness.
For those of you who haven’t heard, we are ever so excited to be having another baby girl next month!!!! Karlie Sue DeLong is due January 24th and we simply can’t wait to meet her. Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery and that Karis will love being a big sister! Meagan continues to update our family blog several times a week, so you will soon be able to see pictures of Karlie there! (http://www.markandmeg04.blogspot.com/)
We have another addition to our family as well-- we adopted an abandoned puppy in July! We think she is part golden Lab and part Shepherd. She is a lot of work, but has a sweet personality and does really well with Karis. And she is even starting to be befriend our kitty now J
Mark completed his seminary training in August and is grateful to not have papers and deadlines to deal with.J The time at Seminary was fruitful and enjoyable, as we learned more about the ministry and the Word. We are exploring what steps God wants us to take next, and hoping to be a blessing to His family. Although we would like to move back to VA to be near family, we are still waiting for the right time and opportunity to do so. Currently, Mark is serving as a director for a child development and soccer program and he continues to work as a dispatch supervisor at UPS. We are planning to make the soccer program his sole job in the near future. There are currently more than 350 children enrolled in his program and many opportunities to bless and serve them and their parents. Most of his coaches are seminary students and they minister well together. We are interested “vocational ministry,” but do believe we have every bit of an opportunity to minister where we are in life at our church, our neighborhood, and jobs. So, where will God lead? We don’t know, but we do know that we must be faithful where we are today.
We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Love,
Mark, Meagan, Karis, and Karlie DeLong
