Christmas and Reconciliation

Well, we made it through our 3rd Christmas here in Brazil. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 90’s and the humidity was worse than in Georgia. For real, it was. So, to say the least, it didn’t feel like Christmas at all (because it was so hot). MJ had all of her Christmas decorations up (which looked awesome) but when it’s 89 degrees ‘inside’ your house and you’re drenched in sweat- it’s hard to make your mind think it’s christmastime. We’re used to cold temps at Christmas or even the occasional snow: ) But there’s no chance for that here on the other side of the equator. Oh well...

But one great thing happened for us this year for Christmas. Our oldest adopted son, Marlon, came home for the first time in over a year and a half! 

If you didn't know he was gone and you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a couple of blogs for you HERE and HERE.

MJ, Samanta, Marlon and Me after dinner Christmas Eve.

We hadn’t heard from him since he left home in July of 2012’. We had heard stories about where he was and what he was doing (and they weren’t good ones) and the kids would occasionally see him in town, but none of us had any real contact with him at all. Then, out of nowhere, I got a Facebook message from his girlfriend back in October and they wanted to meet me. I went and met with them and it went really well. He was living in a house on the same property as his girlfriend and her parents. He was also going to school at night and working for his girlfriend’s dad during the day. So, even though he wasn’t home with us, I was happy that he wasn’t out running the streets anymore and that he was trying to finish his education. 

Anyway, after that initial meeting, Me and MJ went the next week and met with them for lunch. It was good getting to get reacquainted with our son. We’ve been praying for a year and a half for Marlon. He’s made some bad choices but we believe that he isn’t beyond God’s reach, no matter what he does. So our prayer is that God will continue to pursue him and save him. 

The week before Christmas we received another message from Marlon’s girlfriend (Samanta) saying that he wanted to spend Christmas with us. We weren’t really sure how to respond because Marlon hasn’t seen any of his siblings up close in such a long time and we didn’t know if the holidays was the best time to do it for the first time. But after thinking about it and talking to all the kids we all decided to invite them over for Christmas Eve dinner. So Marlon and Samanta came and had dinner with the whole family. It was actually very nice having all us together again. We looked at old pictures and videos, we laughed and visited for a few hours... it was good.

Marlon and Samanta with Ana, Robert, Gabriel and Diogo- acting crazy (normal) before they went home.

But more important than Marlon being reconciled to us, his family, we want him to be reconciled to God. That’s our main prayer for all of our kids. Sure it’s great that we’re all together and that we all love each other but our kids making Jesus lord of their lives and following Him is by far the most important thing to us as parents. Just because they’re growing up in a ‘ministry family’ doesn’t mean jack. They’ve all got to make the decision on their own. And we’ve got to continually point them to the cross and pray that the Spirit of God pursues them and that He draws them to God. And we as parents have to keep praying until they give their lives to Him.   

Samanta, Marlon, Kevin (Maryssa's 'friend', haha) and Maryssa at a camp
we just held this past weekend for an orphanage from Curitiuba. 

We’re thankful for all of you who have been praying for Marlon. Please continue to do it and we’ll continue to update you on what’s going on his life: )

Passionately Following Jesus,

Jim