Isaac is 2!!!!!

Wow! Our baby boy is 2 today! It is amazing how fast time flies. I can still remember the morning we found out miracle #3 was on the way. We were a little surprised to say the least, but wouldn't trade Isaac in for the world! As crazy as it is to think about Isaac already being 2, it is just as crazy to think about all of the other things that have happened over the last 2 years.

In the last 2 years, we:

• Switched Jon from traditional classes, to the LincUp program.
• Had a beautiful baby boy!
• Were blessed with a bigger place to live for less money.
• Were accepted to our sending organization, KontaktMissionUSA.
• Started learning Russian.
• Sent Alex to preschool.
• Started babysitting Aidan.
• Made a lot of new friends at Mt. Pulaski Christian Church.
• Jon was elected to be the Deacon of Missions at MPCC.
• Visited Germany and Ukraine. (After Jenny's passport problems!!!)
• Decided that it is definitely God's will for us to go to Ukraine.
• Have done lots of presentations.
• Have made lots of phone calls.
• Have sent out LOTS of letters and newsletters.
• Have learned how to Facebook and Blog!
• Have learned to trust and rely on God through it all.

The last 2 years have been a whirlwind, but we have learned so much about ourselves and God in the process! We are thankful for every minute, and look forward to what exciting things the next 2 years hold!

Open Doors

Throughout this whole process, we have asked God to make it very obvious what He wants us to do by opening and shutting all the right doors.

Yesterday, God definitely opened a door. We have been wondering where we might be living when we go down to Columbia, S.C. for our Russian Language School. Well, yesterday we received an e-mail from a young couple who currently rent a house, that are looking for someone to sublet it while they are gone for the summer. It is directly across the street from the Russian Language Institute, and it is completely furnished! Literally all we have to bring with us is clothes for 8 weeks, and toys for the boys! What an amazing blessing!

I think that God opens and shuts doors in all of our lives all the time. The question is, do we gladly walk through the open ones and accept the closed ones? Or do we shut the ones that are openned for us while we try to pry open the closed ones? Only God knows what He has planned for our lives. And our lives will be a lot easier if we just follow Him, and the open and shut doors.

Boring Christians

I was doing some reading this morning and came across a great quote from Howard Hendricks that I thought I would pass on to you all. Hendricks stated, "If you are going to bore people, don't bore them with the Gospel. Bore them with calculus, bore them with earth science, bore them with the world history. But is is a sin to bore people with the Gospel."

For most of my teenage years I thought the Bible was boring, and unapplicable to real life. As I've grown in my faith and matured in my walk, I've found just the opposite is true. I think it's important that we live lives that show that a relationship with Christ makes a difference. Here's a question that always gets me, if I didn't tell people I was a follower of Christ, would they know by my life? Further more, if they didn't know by my life I was a follower, what or who would they say I was a follower of? We need to be more than nice people.

-Jon

This weekend was another fun filled weekend for the Gainer family. The boys had chili dogs for the first time and floats. It was quite the gourmet meal. We also had a great Saturday night at our churches Valentine Day banquet and a encouraging presentation with a small group of friends from Jefferson Street Christian Church. We took some fun photos of our floats night.