Smith Family Update
These past six months have given us time to think and pray about what the Lord would have for our family, and we would like to share with you, that in fellowship with our NTM leadership and sending church, we have decided to resign from New Tribes Mission in order to be most effective in meeting the needs of our family here in Canada. This has been a hard journey for us, and we have definitely felt a sense of mourning in making this decision, as we still have a heart for tribal church planting and seeing the lost reached with the Gospel.
However, as we look at our first term overseas, and how different things are when you are raising your family in the midst of this goal of church planting, we had to look at the health and well-being of our family and reassess, particularly concerning how we could effectively meet the needs of Kaden with his diagnosis of autism. We have looked hard at his needs during our time here, and have seen one of the biggest improvements in him really result from being in school and having so much interaction with peers each day. We are blessed by the amazing change this has brought in him, with the help of a great teacher, aid, speech therapist and occupational therapist who all support him at school. We sought how we could give him a good school environment in the Philippines, but we found no special education options that could work for us. We really believe that Kaden remaining in the school environment is crucial to his continued development right now, and as a family we have all become more collected and stable having Kaden’s needs met so that we can function in a healthy way together. At this point, we do not know what the future holds if we can return to the field someday, but for now we know the Lord would have us stay. Please read below to find out what our family will be doing now, when we will stop being able to receive support, and hear some other exciting family news!
What now?
Andrew has decided to go back to work as an apprentice in carpentry. This is a four year commitment, and for this time we plan to continue to live in his mom’s house, as she has graciously moved into her basement suite so we can be in her upstairs. Andrew is returning to the Philippines for 3 weeks mid-January, to sort out our belongings overseas. He’ll be selling our vehicle, motorcycle, belongings we can’t take home, and boxing up and shipping home the things we want here. This will include visiting Manila, the province, and even flying into the tribe (our stuff is pretty spread out), so please pray for safety during his time there. We will be officially resigned in March, and can therefore receive support until the end of February. We can’t say how much we have appreciated your faithful support, love and prayers, and please feel free to keep in touch, and contact us if you have any questions- we want to hear from you!
Another bun in the oven!
Yes, you read that right, Smith baby #4 is on his or her way, due June 22nd! We couldn’t be more thrilled, and thank God for the timing of this little one as we will be well situated by the time we meet our baby. We have had a very healthy pregnancy so far, and I am about 16 weeks along now and can’t believe how fast the time is flying by! The kids are very excited about their new brother or sister, and if you ask Brenna, it is definitely a sister! We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this little one, and for a healthy labor and delivery!