". . . a child is born . . ."

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Seasonal Encouragement

Today is December 19th.

Amazon.com is telling me that today is the last day to order for shipping before Christmas.

Monday we got the dreaded "all of the gifts you sent broke in the mail" phone call.



Austin and I are making weekend plans, mostly to distract ourselves from the fact that this will be our third Christmas in a row away from home and family.

Twenty families in Connecticut are mired in grief that no family should ever have to confront, and certain "Christians" are all set up to picket the vigil in celebration of "God's judgment."

We had beautiful snow at the beginning of the month, but it has been raining for the past few days, and now it's just pretty gloomy.

(Sorry to be a downer.)

Needless to say, I needed this today:



I hope this blesses you as much as it did me. Praising the Lord that He is present in all of these circumstances, and that His love and wisdom are greater than I could ever grasp!

His,

October 2012 Newsletter

October 2012 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please click here



If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

July 2012 Newsletter

July 2012 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please click here



If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

Romania Prayer Request 10

Praise the Lord for a successful project and many lessons learned! Please pray for lasting change in the lives of all of our students and leaders as a result of this trip!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 9

Please pray for safety as we travel,
for great conversations on the way home,
and that our students may never be the same after this trip!

To God be the glory!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 8

Please pray that God is glorified through our efforts and that the Romanian people with whom we are working will be encouraged by the gift of the playground, but also that they would know the truth of God's greatest Gift, His Son!

His,

May 2012 Newsletter

May 2012 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please click here

If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

Romania Prayer Request 7

Please pray for productivity and that God would bless the work of our hands!

Please also keep our small group leaders in your prayers. Pray that they would take advantage of every opportunity to have crucial conversations with our students and that they would love well!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 6

Please pray for Danine today!
She is heading up our relational ministries - VBS and sports ministry to the local Romanian children!
Pray that she would lean on the Lord and that our students would listen well and respect her leadership!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 5

Please pray for good attitudes and perseverance today!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 4

Please pray for our contractor, Eric today!
Pray that God would give him wisdom and clarity as he directs our students in the construction of the playground!
The school where we are working has NEVER had a playground before, and our prayer is that this would be a lasting blessing for this community!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 3

Please pray for the playground construction and for the VBS with the Romanian school-aged children!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 2

Please pray for our small group leaders. We have 12 adults who will be paired with five or six students each to lead them through our time in Romania. Please pray for wisdom and that they would take advantage of opportunities to love on their students!

Please pray for good rest and preparation for work!

His,

Romania Prayer Request 1

Please pray for safety as we travel and for hearts that are open to what God wants to do in and through us!

His,

Romania Prayer Requests

My husband, Austin, and I work for Youth for Christ Military Youth Ministry through an organization called Club Beyond. (you can read my other posts about our work for more information). What that basically means is Austin is a youth pastor for the children of military personnel who are stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. We hold weekly outreach Clubs, weekly discipleship Bible Studies (like youth group), fun special events, a high school winter camp called Winter Blitz, a middle school camp over Spring Break called Adventure Camp, and a high school service project in the summer.

This year, our service project is in Romania! We leave a week from tomorrow, and we are super excited! We are taking 44 students from our community (Heidelberg), and we will be meeting up with about 300 other military teens from all over Europe (to see where Club Beyond is, click here)! It's going to be an incredible trip!!!

For ten days, I will post a specific prayer request here on the blog, and we would greatly appreciate your prayers!

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment here or shoot me an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

Happy Thursday!

March 2012 Newsletter

March 2012 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please click here

If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

He is Risen!

(I know it's long, but there's an AWESOME freestyle/poem/speech in the middle of this incredible song!)

Christ is Risen
by Matt Maher

Lyrics:

Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
But fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to Him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely You've bled for us

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven's will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown
No burden great can hold You down
In strength You reign
Forever let Your church proclaim

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the night

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead
He's alive! He's alive!
He is risen indeed!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Why Good Friday Really is Good!

Happy Good Friday everyone!

I know it seems odd that someone would say that Good Friday is "happy," but really, the only reason anyone can have true joy is because they know the truth about Good Friday!

I'm loving YouTube lately, and I thought I'd share the following video - it's a very powerful performance painting set to an amazing song! (Oh the Glory of it All by the David Crowder Band)

Here's the Video:


(If you've never seen this video before - be sure to watch the whole thing, there's a little bit of a twist!)

Here's the lyrics to the song:
Oh the Glory of it All - David Crowder Band

At the start
He was there, He was there
In the end,
He’ll be there, He’ll be there

And After all our hands have wrought
He forgives

Oh the Glory of it all is:
He came here
For the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all

All is lost
find Him there, find Him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there

After all falls apart
He repairs He repairs

Oh the Glory of it all is:
He came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

oh He is here
for redemption from the fall
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

After night
comes the light
dawn is here
dawn is here
it’s a new day
it’s a new day
everything will change
things will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same

Oh, The glory of it all is
You came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

Oh You are here
with redemption for us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

Praise the Lord! May we never be the same!

Praying that you have a blessed Easter weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ He was made for this!

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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I love getting to serve the Lord every day with my very best friend! It has been such a wild, crazy, roller coaster ride to get to this point, but I am so thankful that God has given me someone so amazing to face the ups and downs with!

This week I had a fabulous moment of "Austin is so good at his job!"

We hold Club every Monday afternoon for Middle School students and Monday evening for High School students. This week was Austin's turn to give the talk, and his topic was sin and Easter. I was able to video tape a chunk of it:



People are often very resistant to this topic, and Austin was speaking to a pretty tough crowd on Monday evening, but as I was standing there listening to him clearly communicate the Gospel message and the hope and joy of Easter, my heart was so full! It hit me, once again, that God obviously knew what He was doing (He always does) when He put us here and when He put us together!

I may be a little biased (just slightly), but I think Austin is so naturally gifted in speaking and interacting with our students! I LOVE watching him be used by God!

My husband rocks! <3

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!


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I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

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If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!