"Mark with the kids, and a pregnant daughter and daughter-in-law, at Thanksgiving"
Mark enjoyed a full year of travel here, there and everywhere, and we joined him as often as possible. In February, Mark and Renee took a vision tour of Bangkok, Thailand in preparation for many trips to come with mission groups. We celebrated our 17th anniversary there, and were able make some wonderful memories with Renee’s brother, Richard, sister-in-law, Noi, and their children. In March, Mark attended the Shepherd’s conference in CA with Brian, courtesy of his four sons. In April, Mark and Hillary joined our youth group in Baltimore, MD to assist a new church plant, and when they returned to GA, Mark left for Africa. Mark and Renee led a group to Africa in July, and Mark returned to Africa again in September/October visiting Rwanda for the first time. Mark, Renee, Hillary and John will leave December 14 for 15 days in Thailand. We will lead a group from our church over, but will remain through Christmas with Richard, Noi and the kids.
God is doing amazing things in East Africa and Thailand, and we are blessed to be able to view it all firsthand. (See the rest of our blog for the complete story).
We were pleased to have 5 out of six kids with us for Thanksgiving, along with our son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Here’s a short run-down on all the kids.
"Hillary and Renee"
Sharon and Mike are still in Boston while Mike completes his last year of seminary. They are expecting their first child on January 18. When Mike finishes in May, they will most likely accept a position with Janz Team to open the first US office…in Minnesota. Burrrrrr! Mark and Adrienne live in Woodbine, GA, and are expecting their first child on January 16. Mark is stationed at Kings Bay Naval Base. Brian is in CA, working full-time for Xerox while attending The Masters College full-time in pursuit of his Masters in Biblical Counseling. Thomas is living and working in Tampa, Florida. John is living in Atlanta, attending Georgia State, and working for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Hillary just completed her fourth year as a Georgia Force High School cheerleader, and is attending Heritage Academy on a part-time basis.
"Renee with some of her Maasai kids at Lake Jipe Orkung'u, Kenya"
After much prayer we decided to start an internet based business to supplement our income. We are still depending on God to provide, as faith missionaries, but believe that it is Biblical to work as well. The business is Safari Travel, an internet travel booking portal. It is as good as any travel engine on the net and....100% of the proceeds go to support our ministry and mission. Please take a look when you get ready to travel. www.ytbtravel.com/maynardsafaritravel
We hope that your year has been terrific as ours has been and look forward to hearing from each of you. (Send us a note right here on our blog!)
May God richly bless you in the new year,
The Maynard Family
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ..." Colossians 4: 2-3a
