It’s Almost Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all! I hope this fun holiday season is treating you well and that you are full of joy and festiveness (which may or may not be a real word)!

We have been getting back into the swing of things since our super fun Montana adventure. Josh started back at work a couple weeks ago. Because we do not start prepping for our next School of Biblical Studies until Feb., Josh has been filling in with the YWAM facilities team (who maintains the hotel where the base is located), as well as assisting on the security team (making sure the all staff and students are safe and reporting any strange or suspicious activity on base property)! He is doing a fabulous job and having a great time taking a break from office and classroom work and getting the chance to work with his hands again.

Zeke and I have been busy at home an learning lots of fun things! It is never dull moment with that cute boy! Zeke is constantly moving in one way or another and is quite curious. So we spend most days chasing each other, reading ridiculous amounts of books (his favorite are picture encyclopedias), singing, dancing (he LOOOOOOVES to dance and has some very good moves), and building/demolishing towers of various blocks and toys! His favorite toys at the moment are cars and balls which were also some of his first words!

Even though School prep does not start for another couple of months, we have been praying over student applications for the past several months. We currently have 3 students accepted and several more applications being processed at the moment. Please be praying for us that we would have wisdom as we pray over each applicant and accept new students. We are so excited to see who God brings this upcoming year!!!

Last but not least, It is Christmas! Hooray! If you could not tell by now, this is my favorite time of the year! We are super excited to announce, to those of you who may not know, a very exciting Christmas present this year. Ok so the present isn’t really arriving in person until the end of June but it is still a present and a reason to celebrate! So here is a picture of the newest member of the Huffman family!

I am about 11 weeks along and almost out of the yucky feeling first trimester. The official due dater is June 24th and we are sooooooo excited!

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this new little one! The 2012 SBS will still be in full swing when baby arrives so we are praying for a smooth transition and a very easy going baby, as well as an easy and uncomplicated pregnancy/labor/delivery/recovery.

Please also be praying for our finances. God has been so faithful and we are so thankful for the support that we receive and all of you amazing and awesome supporters. We have been living on an income of about $800/mo and with #2 on the way, we would love to see God provide more so our budget will no longer be stretched to the max!

Thank you all again for your prayers and support! And have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Montana Pics and God Story!

Well God is good and you guys are amazing! Within one day, we received all the funds we need to get home from MT! Hooray and thank you Jesus!!!

And as promised, here are the Montana Pictures I said I would post! Enjoy!!!

Bundled up and wearing shoes like a big boy!

Playing with Mamaw’s puppies through the door!

Cheesy grin of doom!!! Enjoying the undivided attention of Mamaw, Papaw and Gram!

Real men wear their babies!

The Huffman clan . . . please excuse my pale skin and Zeke’s scowl, I am fighting a cold and he just cut at least 2 molars = eek!!!

We will update again soon!

Emily, Josh and Zeke

Beautiful Montana

Hello wonderful friends and family!

By now, you all should have received our fall newsletter telling you all sorts of cool stuff about what we are up to! If you did not receive one and would like one, send me an email at emmysmoo @ yahoo . com and I will send you one ASAP!

We have been in Montana now for 2 relaxing weeks! Our first week we spent debriefing as a team. We were able to process some of the challenges we faced with the SBS that just ended. It was such a cool thing to be able to hear some of the struggles and triumphs that the other staff people experienced and to be able to pray for each other as well!

This week we spent some time catching up with friends at the base as we enjoyed the amazing new hospitality rooms they allowed us to stay in! We were soooooooooooooo blessed by the welcome we received and all the tasty goodies that were set out for us to eat!

Then yesterday, we moved in with Josh’s parents and Grandmother to spend the rest of our time at their lovely rural home in Marion, MT (about an hour outside of Lakeside)! They have ridiculous amounts of wide open spaces for Zeke to run around in . . . and Josh too!

Please be praying with us as we end our time here:

1. That we would get the rest we need to recharge before heading back to CO/logistical duties at the base!

2. That we would get enough money to be able to drive back to CO – The Colorado base was so kind in sending us up to Montana for our debriefing but were unable to pay our way back. We made a step of faith in coming and know God will provide but we need about $200 by next week to make it back home! If you would like to help us on our journey home, send me an email and I will get details to you ASAP!

3. Our fearless leader Rachael and her husband Scott will be heading to Asia in a few weeks to teach in the SBS’ there and are still in need of some funds for their trip. If you would like to help them out financially too, shoot me an email and I will give you their info!

Thank you all again for your prayers and support! We are so thankful for each and every one of you!!! I will post some pictures of the Montana men that are my husband and baby, soon!!!

Emily, Josh and Zeke

It’s August already?

Hello all!!!

I am finally getting the chance to sit down again and update you all on our lives these days! Hooray!

SBS -

We are in the last stretch of our amazing SBS! We started out with 18 amazing students, 14 of which still remain and will hopefully decide to stick around to graduate in only 6 short weeks! It has been a VERY challenging year for all of us SBS staff as we pray and feel our way through some tough decisions and some difficult situations with our students! We have GREATLY appreciated your prayers during this season and I know our students have too!

Our students and staff

So far this quarter, Josh has taught Zephaniah and the biggy, Isaiah! He has done tremendously well as a teacher and as a father to these growing individuals studying the word! I am so proud of him and how much he has grown as a teacher and mentor! And he is very handsome if I may say so!!!!

Josh will be teaching Zechariah in just a week so please be keeping him in your prayers as he studies and prepares!

Family -

Family is fun!!! This has been the year of family reunions for my side of the family! In May and June, our amazing relatives from New Zealand came for a few weeks at a time! It was so much fun reconnecting with aunts, uncles, and cousins that I haven’t seen in years and who Josh and Zeke had never met before!

Then in July, the Terbush clan had a get together and talent show! Josh did invisible juggling, I helped out in a magic show and Josh and I did a little dance which was ridiculous and highly amusing! We enjoyed seeing all of our amazing family and had a splendid time!

Me and Zeke -

My days are wonderfully full of a cute toddler!

At about 8 or 9 months, Zeke decided he had had enough of crawling and that walking was the thing all the cool kids were doing! At 10 months he was running around on his own and getting into EVERYTHING! And just last week, we celebrated his 1st Birthday!

Cute b-day boy!

Oh my goodness, my baby is growing up so fast!!!! He is such a good boy and so full of joy!

He is ridiculously smart and his favorite new toy (and word to say) is a ball! I am enjoying every minute of my cute big boy!

In my life, I am praying lots for the school, getting tons of exercise chasing Zeke and enjoying the adventure that every day brings! I will be celebrating my 28th b-day on the 28th of this month and I am super excited for such a once in a lifetime, well numbered event of happiness!

September and beyond -

Some of you may be wondering what will be coming up after the school ends! Well, let me fill you in on our fall/winter season! September 24th we will be heading up to Montana to do some debriefing as a staff at the YWAM base in Lakeside! We will be meeting for a week and a half to work through some things that we walked through this past year and to plan out our next school which will be starting in March of 2012!

After our time of debriefing, we will be spending 2 and a half weeks with Our amazing Huffman side of the family in MT! Josh’s parents have not seen Zeke in almost a year so it will be super fun to be able to spend time with them and for our cute boy to get to know his Mamaw and Papaw and well as other cousins, uncles, aunts and great grandmothers! This is going to be a time of rest hopefully that is much needed!

After October, we will be doing some logistic tasks on base and some itineration in CO until February, when we will start our planning and preparations for our next school!

Please be keeping us in your prayers as we close this season out and head into the next! We would love to finish this school strong and head into the next one refreshed and full of the cool stuff God has for us!

Please also continue to keep our finances in prayer! As always God has been faithful to provide but we will be losing some support in the near future and would love to see God bring in more!

As always we are so thankful for each and every one of you! We would be unable to do these awesome things without your prayers and support! Hopefully next month I will have a bit more time to update more frequently!

God bless!!!

Emily, Josh and Zeke

Playing Catch Up

Hello amazing friends and family!!!!!!!

I will attempt to update all of you on what has been going on since we relocated to lovely Colorado . . . and interspersed are a LOT of pics of my baby . . . I think he’s cute . . .

September - We moved into our beautiful condo that we were blessed with! It is a 2 bedroom home just a 10 minute drive from the base! We were truly blessed to be given such a fabulous place that is a peaceful haven for us and our friends who need to get away and relax!

October -We attended a month long Seminar on Strategic Missions which is the heart of the YWAM base here in Colorado Springs. There was a lot of class time which was sometimes a bit challenging with a new baby but Zeke did amazingly well!

November - We shifted into overdrive finishing school preparations before Christmas break hit!

December - We accepted the last of our 18 students from the US and Canada and took a holiday breather before Students arrived

January - SBS began which is awesome! God is good!!!!!!!!!! Josh taught the book of Galatians and did an amazing job I might add!

February - Josh taught Philippians which is a book near and dear to both our hearts! It got us through some tough times and encouraged us to keep on with what God has called us to regardless of our circumstances! Zeke hit the 6 month mark and started scooting and eating solids! He also got his first teeth which are very cute and very sharp!

March - Josh taught 2nd Timothy and the students finished their first quarter of SBS! Well done!!!

April - Josh and I celebrated our 4th anniversary = hooray!!!!!! I am truly blessed to have such an awesome hubby!

The 2nd quarter for SBS is fast approaching which means the Old Testament! Josh will be teaching Judges and Proverbs which he is looking forward to with great anticipation! The start of the Old Testament is such an important time for the students in their studies, being able to see man’s fall and God’s love and plan for redemption from the very beginning! This is also the time that students tend to burn out and feel like they can’t go on! So please be praying for them to be able to rely on God’s strength during this time and to see God’s love for them in a very real way!

I am at home with baby boy most days of the week! I am enjoying taking a break from the business that can come with being full time staff with a school and I am trying my darndest to keep up with this energetic little man!

Zeke is now 8 months old and a chunk of solid boy! He is crawling, talking in his own language all the time, walking with the help of anything he can hold on to, eating like crazy, and bringing ridiculous amounts of joy to me and his daddy! We are so blessed to have such a character and such a happy boy who has willingly and peacefully gone with the flow as we have carted him around to events and classes and meetings!

God has been so good to us as we have transitioned into this new season! This time has been a testimony of how God provides when he calls! When we moved down here we had no place to live and our support was not what it needed to be to cover our expenses but now we have a gorgeous home and every month God meets our needs! Every month, our bills are paid, we have food to eat, we have clothes to wear and gas in our car! Every month we have what we need and more! So thank you so much for being faithful to give when God leads you!!!

Baby Zeke

Hi friends and family,

As most of you know by now, Ezekiel Thomas Huffman has arrived! Hooray!!! He arrived on August 4th at 1:25am after 25 hours of labor. He was 9lbs. 7 oz. 21.5″ long and had a 14″ head! I thought I would share his birth story for you guys because I know God had his hand in every aspect of it!!

Throughout the last months of my pregnancy, Josh and I were praying a lot about the labor and delivery. First of all, since we were moving to CO, if Zeke showed up late at all, we would face having a very young baby on the move down, as we needed to be in CO on a certain day for our new staff orientation. So we were praying for God’s perfect timing as it seemed that God alone would be able to orchestrate that. We also prayed every night that the labor and delivery would be peaceful and that everyone involved in the birth would be able to tangibly feel God’s peace and his presence when they were in our birth room.

So, during my last trimester, every time I would go to the midwives for my regular checkups, my blood pressure was slightly elevated. In pregnancy high blood pressure can be a serious thing. So the midwives decided at 39 wks of pregnancy that I should be induced. This was a definite God thing because my midwives would not have considered induction normally. You might think it weird that high blood pressure was a God thing to me, but I knew my blood pressure issues were not a real concern and really just a result of me getting stressed about showing up to my appointments late. Early induction was also a God thing because if Zeke had been allowed to bake any longer, the chances of him arriving as easily as he did would not have been as likely.

Josh, my mom and I went to the hospital in Whitefish at midnight on the 3rd to start the induction. They put me on the smallest dose of pitocin (the induction drug) possible and I reacted very well to it. So throughout the day I labored quite happily and progressed really well. That same day there were 6 other babies born and the birth center was chaos! And just as we prayed, our room was a place of peace. throughout the entire labor, nurses would come into our room to catch their breath and rest and would comment on how much they enjoyed it in our room because of how peaceful it was. Very cool!

Then came the hard part. I hit transition (hardest part of labor) around 7 or 8pm. I started having major contractions and thought the end must just be minutes away!!! But every time the midwife would check to see if I was dilated enough to push (10cm), I was only ever 8cm. So I had to labor on! By midnight on the 4th I had still not fully dilated and they discovered that Zeke was positioned improperly which was why I was not dilating. In order for him to get into the right position, my body needed to relax and I needed to lay in a certain position. But because the contractions were so strong and about 30 seconds apart, I could not lay still for that long.

So after prayer and discussion and lots of tears, I asked for some medication. I had been afraid to get medication because of some of the scary side effects that resulted from having needles stuck in the spine, but it seemed like this was the best option to be able to get Zeke where he needed to be. It ended up that they called the best anesthesiologist in the hospital. He left his home after midnight in order to come and give me the intrathecal medication (a low dose of epidural meds that takes the edge off the pain without completely numbing me). This was also a God thing because he administered the medication quickly even while I could not sit still, and he did so flawlessly!

In seconds I was able to relax and sleep in the position that was needed for Zeke’s head to shift. Within an hour of getting the meds, I had to push and Zeke was out less than 15min later. Never once in all of this did Zeke ever show signs of distress and never once did my blood pressure climb too high.

I also must say that Josh is amazing. Every second of the labor and delivery he was right there praying for me, reading me scriptures, encouraging me, making sure I stayed hydrated and supporting me in every decision! He is a gift from God!!!

I also have to say, for any of you pregnant in MT, please consider getting your maternal care from Glacier maternity and delivering at the Whitefish hospital. They are amazing people who love what they do and take the best care of their patients. If I had not been in labor, I would have thought I was on vacation at a spa or something . . . anyway . . .

Zeke is amazing! He is so adorably cute and mellow. He has been such a blessing to us! Please be praying for us that we would be directed by God in how we parent this awesome gift he has given us!

I will be updating again soon to share more God stories on our move down to CO, our new vehicle and our new home! Stay tuned . . .

And now, some pictures for your enjoyment. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!!!

Just minutes after being born!

Biggest Cheeks ever!!!

Thinking reeeeeeeal hard!

Napping with his sock monkey friends!

Realizing maybe the sock monkies aren’t so friendly?

Just being a cute baby!

Pregnancy and Fundraising!

Hello all you amazing people!!!

So I think about a decade ago I said I would post some ultrasound pics and some of you have asked for prego pics of me so I have finally gotten them on my computer for your viewing enjoyment!

The Pics of me and Josh were taken last week (32wks pregnant) and the cute pics of Ezekiel were taken in March! (The pics look giant right now but will hopefully resize in the next day or so . . . hopefully . . . please photobucket . . .)

Now that I have lived up to my promises, onto other things . . .

We sent out our most recent newsletters a couple weeks ago! Hopefully most of you got one but if I missed you for some reason, shoot me an email or leave me your email address in the comments section and I will email one to you pronto!

We only have 2 months left before we move to CO to start preparations for the School of Biblical Studies at the YWAM base down there! It is getting exciting to start thinking about all the cool things that God has for us in this new season!!! For those of you who don’t know, Josh and I are still going to be full time volunteers/ missionaries with YWAM, just in a different location! We still have to raise monthly support while at the new base!

We desperately need your prayers in our support raising endeavors!!! The Colorado Springs base has different requirements for support raising and requires us to have a much larger support base than we have ever had! As always, Josh and I are confident that God will provide for us but it is sometimes a very difficult and overwhelming thing to see as reality when in that place of having to trust that that much money has to come in, in less than 2 months!

I do however want to recognize and share with you all that God has always been amazingly faithful to us in our support! Josh and I have never had more than $600/month to live on, but we have always had enough food, enough clothing, all toiletries and necessities that we have needed, and we have never been in debt or missed a payment to our landlords or to the base!!! God is good!

So please continue to pray for us as we fundraise! We still need at least $600/month more for support as well as a couple thousand dollars for our move down to CO! I know a lot of you have already contributed to our fund and we are very grateful for that as well!!!

If you would like to send us a one time monetary gift to help us get to CO, you can send your checks to:

Josh and Emily Huffman

501 Blacktail Rd.

Lakeside, MT 59922

If you would like your checks to be tax deductible, please make the checks out to YWAM and please do not put our name anywhere on the check.

If you are interested in supporting us full time as missionaries as we teach the Bible in Colorado Springs, please send us an email at emmysmoo @ yahoo . com and we will give you details on how to do so monthly. For those of you who already support us monthly, thank you so much and we will be sending you info on how and where to send your support very soon!

Thanks again to all of you!!!! You are amazing!!!

Emily, Josh and Ezekiel (who we get to meet in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

4.5 Months and Counting

Hello all you amazing friends and family!

So, Josh and I were officially informed last week that we have been accepted as new staff at the YWAM Base in Colorado Springs! HOORAY!!! I love officialness! So in 4.5 months, we will be CO residents and starting our new staff training to prepare for the first Colorado SBS, starting January 2011!!!! Exciting!

So now that we have all sorts of officialness, we have started packing and started our hunt for a place to live! If any of you in the CO region hear of any good deals on housing, please send them our way!!!

In baby news, we have about 15-19 weeks left before we get to meet our cute Ezekiel! We are getting excited as we are preparing to become new parents! I know I promised to post pics, but I have yet to get them onto the computer yet! I will be doing this soon so do not despair!

As we prepare for these upcoming transitions, we are still enjoying our everyday YWAM life here in MT! SBS just started their final quarter! Josh is preparing to teach Zephaniah followed by Haggai and Malachi, in the next couple f weeks! He continues to enjoy life as a teacher and is doing an amazing job at it, if I may say so myself!!!

As for me, the theatre is about to open the last show that I will be a part of! Next weekend we will be presenting “A Bible Tableau” which is a compilation of short pieces focused on different books of the Bible as well as Christian living! It should be oodles of fun! I am also praying about handing off my duties as campus librarian as life has been getting increasingly more uncomfortable as I grow bigger!

Prayer Requests:

Please be praying for our cute Baby boy that he continues to stay healthy and happy in utero and that he would continue to be so after he is out of utero!

Please pray for my pregnancy that it would continue to go smoothly! I have also not been sleeping well as I am very uncomfortable in my rib and back region! So I would love prayers for healing for these areas as well as the ability to sleep again!!! Please also be praying for a replacement librarian if God leads me to pass the baton!

Please pray for our transition to CO! We need a nice and affordable  place to live as well as more finances to move all of our stuff down there! We also still need to raise an extra $600/month support to be able to be on staff in the Springs!

We will be mailing out newsletters telling more about our upcoming adventures as well as to raise funds! If you are not on our mailing list and would like to be, please shoot me an email (emmysmoo @ yahoo. com) and I will be sure to mail you one!

As always we are VERY thankful for your prayers and support!!! You are seriously one of the major reasons that we can continue to do the things that God is calling us to!!!

Emily, Josh and Zeke in Utero

The New Plans

Hello lovely friends and family!!!

So the time has come to reveal what we have been praying and planning on doing after the summer! Hooray!!!

I think I mentioned in our last post that Josh and I were planning on moving after this current SBS that he is staffing! These plans seem to be coming together beautifully which is why I think we can safely tell you what they are, and ask for your prayers in our upcoming endeavors!

So the new YWAM base that Josh and I are tentatively planning on joining is . . . drum roll please . . . Colorado Springs!!!!!!!! Hooray!

We had been praying and talking to one of Josh’s amazing bosses up here who had decided she was going to help plant an SBS in CO! As we prayed, it became clear that this looked like what God had for us next! Since then, we have contacted the base down there, talked to them about coming on staff, and we are now in the midst of the application process! Things are looking good and if all goes well, CO will be our new home!

So it looks like after the SBS graduation at the end of June this year, Josh and I will take some vacation time to pack up our amazing apartment (a very sad loss). Then after our cute Hufflet arrives (hopefully at the end of July or the very beginning of August . . . we could use your prayers there too  ) we will be heading down to CO to be a part of the new staff training period, starting the last day of August! WOW!!!

SO, we could definitely use your prayers!!! If you are looking for some guidance in how to pray for us, here are some key things that you can keep in mind:

~ Baby – we definitely need a complication free birth and an amazingly healthy, laid back and punctual child !

~ Housing – base housing in the Springs is a bit on the pricey side of things so we will be looking for housing off base! If you guys hear of any good deals, let us know!!!

~ Moving – moving can be stressful at the best of times and it seems to cost quite a bit! We would love prayer for smooth sailing as we pack and head down and also amazing deals on moving trucks, etc.

~ Guidance – We will be helping pioneer this SBS from nothing! We all have amazing vision for this awesome school God is asking us to start, but we would like to be wise on all the details and hear from him on how we should progress and what the SBS should look like!

~ Support – this is the big one!!! The base in the Springs asks their staff to raise quite a bit more support than we have been living off of up here! It looks like we will need to raise at least another $600/month on top of what you amazing friends and family already give to us! As daunting as this looks right now though, we do know that when God calls he provides! So we know he already has the support that we need whether we can see it or not! So please pray for strategies and favor as we start sending out newsletters, etc.!

Thanks again for your amazing support and prayers! We appreciate them more than we could ever express!!!

Josh, Emily and the Hufflet

2010 . . . Plans . . .YAY!

Hello all!

For once I am not tardy in updating all of you wonderful people! Josh and I just wanted to let you in on plans for the next year of our life! Hooray!

We have been praying a lot about our next step! We always just assumed we would stay in Montana forever but it seems that things may be taking a different turn than we had thought! About a month ago we heard that someone was going to be pioneering a School of Biblical Studies in another state! When we heard this, our ears perked up and we started praying . . . a lot! We met with this person a week ago and talked to them about their vision! As we heard their vision, we started to get even more excited!!! After praying even more and having more discussions, it looks like we will be joining this amazing person to start a new School of Biblical studies sometime summer of 2010! We will be releasing more details and the amazing location, probably in January when it is announced here and at the base! So stay tuned! Hooray! For those of you who know where we are going . . . shhhh until January!

In other news we will be having other fun things awaiting us in the summer of 2010! Some of you may already know but for the rest of you, we would like to announce the impending arrival of a Hufflet! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, we are finally going to have a cute baby! Our due date is on or around August 6th and we are very excited! Here is a preview of what our child could look like:

Your guess is as good as mine why the internet assumes our child will be Middle Eastern . . . or a duck for that matter . . . WHO KNEW?!?!?!?!?

ANYWAY . . .

We just thought we would share the good news and ask for prayers as we are facing all sorts of transitions! Please be praying for me that I remain healthy in the -20 weather! And please pray that the Hufflet would stay happy, healthy, growing, and blessed!

Please also be praying for our transition to another base! It looks like we will be needing almost twice the support that we currently have! We know this is not a problem for God at all and we are trusting that he will provide for us! Hooray!!!

That’s all for now!

Thanks again for the continued prayers and support!!!

Josh, Emily and the Hufflet