April Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

The last four months have been a whirlwind of activities and growth in our family! We had a very scary experience in January with Rowen in the hospital battling RSV, as many of you knew and prayed about, Christie celebrated her second birthday in March, and Rowen is now six months old! The Lord is so good to us!

Respiratory Syncytial Virus
On New Year’s Eve 2007, Rowen was admitted to the hospital in Charlotte and diagnosed with RSV, a nasty “super-virus” that can cause terrible breathing trouble for kids under the age of one. She was in the hospital for about two weeks and gave us many sleepless nights. Christie also got the bug, but was able to fight it off with the help of a nebulizer. As soon as both of the girls were well, Leah and I got sick with something similar, passed it around to friends and family, and were sick for a week! That was the story of January. Praise the Lord for our current great health!

Christie’s Birthday
We enjoyed celebrating Christie’s second birthday with family. She got a beautiful new dolly from my folks and a kids’ Bible from Leah’s folks. She was also surprised with a new swing set from “Grammy” and “Granddaddy” Anderson. She enjoys swinging and sliding, and I love to spend time with her out there in the evenings after I arrive home from work.

We all enjoyed having Leah’s family in town for Easter, and Christie and Rowen loved playing with their three cousins, Sara, Nathan, and Cody. The Easter egg hunt was a huge success! Christie’s look of surprise and joy at finding each egg was worth all the decorating, hiding, and cleanup.

Small Groups
Leah and I have both been enjoying our youth small groups, where we get the opportunity to challenge students with God’s call on their lives and encourage them with God’s Word. We are also greatly encouraged by our adult small group. We meet together each week for a meal, fellowship, Bible Study, and prayer. These are our closest friends and we greatly value the time we can spend together in community.

Taking a hint
After a year of planning and talking about our overseas plans, it’s become apparent that, while the Lord still has that in our future, it’s not going to come as soon as I’d thought. I was just sure that He would have us over in the Philippines by this time, but instead, here we are, with a huge list of opportunities to serve Him right here at home.

We began raising support last year and immediately, several of our long-time family friends offered their contributions and have been faithful each month. This, however, was the extent of the increase. Admittedly, many missionary families don’t see the greatest levels of support until they “take the show on the road,” but I didn’t feel the Lord calling us that direction.

Instead of raising our support and putting us on a plane, He gave us students to minister to, family to enjoy, friends to encourage, a church to support, fulfilling work to do, and of course, a family to raise and nurture through illnesses. I’m not sure how long this situation will last, but for now, this is where He’s planted us, so this is where we’ll flourish.

Hobbies
Speaking of flourishing, Leah and the girls have been busy planting flowers and herbs for the spring. We’re just seeing the tops of the lilies poking themselves out of the dirt! Christie loves to help with anything Mommy does and Rowen is content to watch whatever is going on.

While the girls have been planting, I’ve been pursuing outdoor activities of my own. I’ve been playing a combat sport called Airsoft for the past several years. It’s similar to paintball, but with more realistic-looking weapons and military tactics. Great fun!

Anderson Music Studio
Leah’s music studio is back open this spring! Now that Rowen is old enough, Leah has enjoyed getting back into teaching music. She has seven students this semester taking voice and piano lessons.

With as much as we have going on, we still enjoy an occasional quiet evening as a family. There’s a lot to reflect on and we are grateful for all the blessings the Lord has showered on us so far this year. Please continue to pray for our family as we follow Him on this adventure.

With love from the Andersons!

John, Leah, Christie, and Rowen

Happy Christmas!

We continue to be thankful to the Lord for blessing us so richly this year! Rowen and Christie are doing very well and are both growing so quickly! Rowen is almost 7 pounds. Christie is a big helper and loves to participate in household duties like laundry, cooking, or attending to baby Rowen. Our sleep continues to be interrupted every three to four hours during the night, but that should decrease as Rowen grows. Praise the Lord that Leah can stay home and take care of our girls!

I am really enjoying my work at the bank. The past six months have been a great time of learning and excelling in Web Development. We're doing things that have never been done before, and it's exciting to be a part of something so cutting edge!

We both are leading student small groups this semester and really love to watch the Lord challenge and grow our students towards Him. I'm studying the book, "Every Young Man, God's Man" with my guys and they're digging right into it. I have anywhere from 8-15 students on a weekly basis. Leah and her close friend Tiffany are leading a group for the girls and are studying godly answers to life's tough questions. Please pray for us both as we serve in these vital roles!

Thank you all for your prayers and support this year. May the Lord richly bless you in 2008!

Rowen is home!

Rowen is finally home and is doing very well. Just in time for Thanksgiving! She's up to 4 pounds 10 ounces and is eating well. Praise the Lord!

Christie enjoyed meeting her little sister for the first time today. She was very interested in her and wanted to see her up close. She really wanted to give Rowen back her pacifier, which had fallen out. How cute!

May Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

The month of May was a great time for us, as we enjoyed a camping trip with friends and the pleasure of announcing a new baby on the way! Yes, that’s right; we’re expecting again and enjoyed seeing the first pictures of the new baby last week in our first ultrasound. The projected due date is December 19th.

What we’ve been doing
In the past six weeks or so, I have had the privilege of leading a series of training courses in Web Development with ASP.NET 2.0 at a mission organization's Charlotte headquarters. The time we spent together has been profitable in helping them develop a strategy for software development using the power of the Web.

Leah and Christie enjoyed having me around the house, as I was working from home as a freelance Web Developer. I treasure the extra time I was able to spend with them these past weeks.

Leah is feeling well and her first trimester has gone smoothly, without undue amounts of discomfort. Of course, if you ask her, she might tell you differently! The new baby is growing well, and we pray that the Lord will continue to make it strong and healthy.

Making plans with an eye for the future
The expected arrival of a new little one will necessarily postpone our departure for the Philippines, and we have moved our hoped-for departure to sometime next summer. During the extra time, I have been blessed with the opportunity to begin a three-month contract next week at one of the major banks in Charlotte. I'll be working as a Web Developer in their e-commerce division, and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that will present. I praise God for continuing to provide generously for our needs each day.

Partners in the Adventure
We have also been blessed with several financial partners who have already begun donating towards our monthly support needs! We praise the Lord for these folks and thank them for their willingness to share with us and to follow God obediently as He leads them to give. I would ask any of you who have considered supporting us to let us know about it! I imagine that there may be many of you who plan to do so, either presently or in the future, and we'd love to hear from you.

Summer Missions Trips
I plan to participate in both of our church’s summer mission trips this summer: first to New York City, June 30 to July 8, to be trained in and perform urban street evangelism, then to Norfolk, VA, July 21-28, to do construction work. Please pray for me, as I’ll be traveling with large groups of adults and students and helping to oversee the ministry during these weeks. Please pray also for Leah and Christie, since we’ll be apart.

With love from the Andersons!

John, Leah, and Christie

Personal Correspondence:
John and Leah Anderson
7015 Davis Road
Waxhaw, NC 28173

Financial Support:
Interlink Ministries
P.O. Box 460
Apple Creek , Ohio 44606
Include a separate note stating: “For John and Leah Anderson”

Camping at Panther Creek Falls

In May, Leah, Christie, and I, along with several friends from Waxhaw, traveled to Toccoa, Georgia, where we met up with another friend for a great weekend of camping at Panther Creek Falls!

We came prepared for what you might call "car camping", with two big tents, a large cooler, lots of camp chairs, a baby bassinet, etc. What we found out was the trail down to Panther Creek Falls is more suitable for hikers with very light gear, as it's a half-mile almost straight down! We lugged all of our gear down the ridge, making two trips on the way down, and two more trips on the way back up, but what a view! The waterfall was beautiful, and we had the camping spot all to ourselves, since there was intermittent rain.

Several day-hiking groups did come down to see the waterfall and to swim in the pool at its base. When they saw our first-class accommodations, they shook their heads in amazement that we'd carried all that stuff way out here. See, not many know about the half-mile trail that we took. They were only familiar with the four-mile trail along the side of the ridge. We just smiled, sat in our comfy chairs, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

Check out the rest of the pictures from the weekend!

Family Photo Session

Our friend Dustin Ledo was kind enough to shoot a whole session of photos of Christie and me while we were visiting his family recently. His photography business, Bella Loren, shoots weddings, events, and portrait sessions, and he's very good. What a nice gift! Click here to see the whole photo session on Flickr.