Our new house

http://homesite.obeo.com/Viewer/Default.aspx?tourid=454447&RefURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.google.com%2furl%3fsa%3dt%26source%3dweb%26cd%3d7%26ved%3d0CDoQFjAG%26url%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fhomesite.obeo.com%2f454447%26rct%3dj%26q%3d422+Thatcher+images+Boise+ID%26ei%3dRJ0lTruqGIOcsQOKsJn1CA%26usg%3dAFQjCNEdRx_ejeZIlqlsuYgbZqYPQHyt8g

We are so excited to finally be moving to the Northend of Boise Idaho.  We have been in Nampa Idaho since March 2, 2011 and have left half of our house packed in boxes out in the garage with the faith and trust that God would open a home for us in His perfect time.  He did, and we love what He provided! The house we will be renting is owned by a couple that used to work at NNU, and God was working out all the details before we even knew that!

We will be moving to the Northend on August 1 and joining our partner family in this church plant. The Rodes family (Chris, Camille, Elijah, Gracie, and Lucy) have already settled in their home in the Northend on Harrison Blvd. and we can't wait to join them! We know God has some great days ahead!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

I can't keep up!

Wow! It's almost the end of May and there's so much that has happened!  We are finally in Idaho - we arrived with a Uhaul and a very-packed minivan on March 2.  We were blessed to have a house open up 5 days before we arrived.....a total God-thing! It's in Nampa, which is not where we want to plant the church, but the target area is now only 30 minutes away compared to 12 hours! So I'm saying that's just fine for now!

We have half-unpacked, and are going through a lot of our stuff to "de-clutter".  We want to make sure that WHEN we find a house for rent in our price range in the north end we will be able to move as simply and easily as possible.  Plus, we've begun to hear God's call to simplify and cut the "fat" from our lives.

We're still fundraising for half of our income and are at about 33% of our goal. In April God took care of the employment income that we need as well - Chris got hired at Sierra Trading Post and has enjoyed it a lot.  He's a closet gear nerd, so this is right up his alley!  He'll deny that he knows that much about stuff, but if you ask him one question about Merrell shoes, well, you've taken a very long and detailed road down that conversation!

Anyway, the kiddos are getting bigger.  Samuel is 10 months now and doing his best to crawl - he loves the army crawl, but can't quite figure out how to get on all fours yet!  Micah is finally completely potty-trained......enough said! :) Abigail is becoming quite the little 4 year old artist....she learned from daddy today how to draw a tummy on a stick figure. It was her thrill of the day! And Aloysia is moving to Pasco, WA soon to help a couple of our dear friends in their church plant.  She is excited and anxious about it!  We think it's a great decision as she follows God's call on her life!

Well, for the grandparents, here's a couple pix of the kiddos. :) We went to the Boise zoo the other day and enjoyed some fun and blessed sunshine!  Thanks for your prayers everyone - we feel them and know God continues to open doors toward this north end church plant endeavor!

Preparation, preparation, preparation

We have had a very productive last couple of days.  Thanks to our boss in Oak Harbor, we were given the chance to take some time away from our current jobs to head to Boise to do some house hunting and job hunting. We packed up all three kiddos and headed to Idaho with a list of houses for sale and for rent, and a list of jobs available. We found a cheap hotel in Nampa - only $41 a night, and booked it for 3 nights. We arrived at the hotel LATE Sunday night (1am) after driving through very thick fog for the last 3 hours of the 12 hour drive. We were very grateful to arrive unscathed.

Monday morning we awoke with excitement about being in a stage of preparation for this church plant. It always feels good to be proactive about a God-calling. So we drove to Boise, to the north end, and began our hunt. We had a couple appointments with some property managers at different rentals to check them out. We found one that we just fell in love with - it was perfect in every way imaginable. As we spoke with the manager, we shared a few comments about our faith and why we were coming. She shared about her church in the area, Calvary Chapel, and we told her we had gone to that exact church a number of times and really enjoyed it. While we shared God's calling on our lives with her, she began to ask about jobs. We told her about aquiring jobs and fundraising part of our income as well while we were in the infant stages of the church plant. We let her know that was our reason for being here - to find a home and a job. I felt her spirit sink a little and knew something was up. She sadly let us know that because we didn't have current jobs in the area, that she could not rent us that home - she said, "If my husband and I owned this, we would rent to you in a heartbeat, especially knowing what God's calling you to do.  But we don't.  My husband and I own our business together, and I'll call him to ask what he thinks, but I don't know if this will work."  So we waited. The phone call came about 20 minutes later with the disappointing news that the home would not be available to us because of our situation.

Feeling discouraged, we moved on. We found another house for rent a little bit further away from where we'd like to be, but decided to put an application in on it. We found out quickly that housing in the north end is like diamonds - everyone wants one if not two, so we knew God had to be a part of this process as well as everything else we are doing. We ran into a couple friends at REI while Chris was asking about a job there who reminded us that God knows our needs, financially and physically (home, jobs), and when we need them and where they need to be. So we choose to trust. I needed to be reminded of that.....again.

We spent the rest of that day applying for EVERY job we could think of.  And even had a couple friends call us with options for jobs they had heard of, and we applied for those too!  We have yet to hear back from anyone of them, although its only been 24 hours, but most of the jobs have applications online that we filled out, so we're asking God to get those into the appropriate hands. Chris even turned in one more application in person this morning before we got on the road. We are hoping to hear from some of them when we arrive home, of which we are on the road as I'm typing this (about Tri-Cities area).  We should arrive home in Oak Harbor tonight around 11pm or midnight.

So here's where we stand: We are still in the process of fundraising, and have raised $160 a month so far. - we started fundraising right before Christmas. Our goal is to raise monthly support for 2 years from sponsors amounting to $2200-$2500 a month - that will be added to the income we earn from our community jobs. We are asking God as well to direct us toward jobs that will work around each other so our number 3 priorities, our children (number 1 being God, number 2 being each other and our marriage) are able to be raised by us within our home.

God is faithful to guide us, and we are aiming our sights at Him and His adventurous calling on our lives. This is where we continue on......

Be The Change

We are so excited about the coming days ahead and know that God has trained us, equipped us, and grown us in our ministry here in Oak Harbor, WA.  We will take what we've learned here and head to Boise Idaho with vision and faith that God will use us how He sees fit to minister to people in the heart of Boise.

Merry Christmas from the Reiters

Merry Christmas friends and family!  What a joyful and celebratory time of the year!  We celebrate with you from next door or across the oceans!  We love you and thank God for you!

This year has held many challenges, celebrations, and changes.  This was our first full year with Aloysia who we adopted into our family in October of 2009.  She is a freshman this year at Northwest Nazarene University studying in the Theology department and feeling a call to ministry.  We are very proud of her and her beautiful contagious spirit.  We are blessed to call her family and know God has an incredible path ahead of her!

This year also held the amazing birth of our youngest son, Samuel Christopher, born July 17th.  He is a miracle to encounter, just as all life is. I was sick during the first trimester of the pregnancy and soon found out that I had passed Fifths Disease to my baby.  From week 13 to week 30 we were faced with possible miscarriage, fetal leukemia, substantial hydrops (liquid on his body), heart failure, brain damage, Downs Syndrome, and other issues.  We were given options for inuetro transfusions, termination, amniocentesis or nothing.  We spent time weeping on our knees asking God what we should do - He responded with, "Peace be still and know that I AM GOD."  We chose not to invade the womb with transfusions and just wait and pray. Around week 18 we felt the need to name him, and Samuel, which means "God hears", was the name that was written on our hearts. Over the course of the following weeks we realized the significance of his name. 

Around week 26, we heard our first good news.  The doctor, after watching and studying our ultrasound sat us down and asked us to recount all the things we had been told and shown about Samuel and his continuing failure to thrive inutero.  We listed off all of the things that we had both seen, heard, and studied.  The doctor, with his old wrinkley smile and strong British accent, of which I will never forget said, "Well, your son is somehow becoming well.  All of these things that we have seen are reversing. Your son is getting better!" 

Samuel was born strong and healthy on July 17th at 12:13am with bilateral clubfeet - something the five doctors working his case never saw.  I had to smile when he was born.  Of all that could have gone wrong with Samuel, the only thing on the list was his feet.....a fixable and very treatable deformity.  This will be a 3 to 4 year journey in braces while he grows, but that is a small price to pay for his beautiful sweet life!

Abigail is 4 years old and loving being old enough to help mommy with baby Samuel. She loves to color and paint and create.  She plays dressup every day and would wear dresses everywhere all the time if mommy would let her.  This is a definite point of contention, since mommy is a jeans and t-shirt kid.  Both grandma's are definitely happy though. 

Micah is 2 years old and thinks that Samuel is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  He doesn't quite understand that wrestling a 5 month old is not a great idea, although Samuel usually giggles to his delight.  Micah loves to color on everything......everything (smile - sigh).

Chris and Cherie are also on a wonderful upcoming new journey.  God has called our family to start a church in Boise Idaho.  We will be moving from Oak Harbor, Washington where we are currently ministring as the youth and worship pastors at the Nazarene church, to the north end of downtown Boise in February 2011.  We will be getting jobs to work part time in the community and fundraising the other half through individual sponsors and churches.  We can't wait to see what God is going to do in the hearts of people in Boise. 

We hope this year has been a wonderful year for you. We have grown in our faith and know that the Lord goes before us in the days ahead just as He has been with us in the days past.  We love you and appreciate your role in our lives.  Blessings to you.

Grace and Peace,

Chris, Cherie, Aloysia, Abigail, Micah, and Samuel

Pictures of the family

I keep getting the grandparents asking for new pictures . . . . so here they are! Enjoy.