Byrne Family News – December 2009
Back to CHM Newsletter
(Family - PDF Version)
As
another year
draws to a close, we pray that you and your loved ones will have a
blessed and
meaningful Christmas celebration. We
also hope that you will be able to take some time to send us an update
of what
has been happening in your life over the past months.
For us, this is an exciting time of changes and of welcoming new
members to our family!
Our holiday
season
began with a bang when Eric Hopkins proposed to our daughter Sara on
Thanksgiving night. Eric and Sara will both graduate from Southern
Nazarene
University next May, and they are planning a wedding a few weeks after
that. We are so happy for them, and
glad to have Eric in our family. Sara
has been student teaching this fall; she has had a great experience
teaching
junior high science and hopes to continue working with that age group
after
graduation. The coming months will be
full for her as she finishes up requirements for graduation, continues
to play
tennis for SNU, leads a children’s ministry at OKC friends, and works
with Eric
to plan their wedding. Please pray for
them as they make plans for their life together.
Just before
Christmas our daughter Andrea will arrive from Aguascalientes, Mexico,
where
she serves as a missionary with Evangelical Friends Mission. This is
the first
time in three years that she will be here for the holidays, and we’re
so
thankful that she will be with us.
Andrea’s Thanksgiving was spent hosting a group of 32 music
students in
her home. She cooked a huge traditional
Thanksgiving meal, prepared lots of fun games, and set aside time to
share her
testimony with her guests, along with giving them the opportunity to
express
thanks. It was a very moving time for
them, and of course they also enjoyed the food and the laughter. In addition to her ministry
responsibilities, Andrea continues to play trumpet on a part-time basis
with
the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, and to work on her Master’s
degree
through Fuller Theological
Seminary’s distance learning program. Her
boyfriend Aris recently graduated from
law school. At this point he is
teaching chess part-time while he looks for a legal position. We ask your prayers for God’s direction for
their lives and ministries. 
Sometime before
the end of the year we will have the joy of becoming grandparents! Jason and Laura are expecting a baby girl
right around Christmastime. After
experiencing the grief of three miscarriages, they are extremely
thankful that
Laura was able to get testing and treatment which have allowed her to
carry
this baby. Because of the high-risk
pregnancy, Jason and Laura’s mission agency (Servant’s to Asia’s Urban
Poor)
recommended that they delay their planned departure for Southeast Asia
and instead
continue to work with the Servants team in Vancouver, B.C.
So the baby will be born in Canada, and a
few months later they hope to join their team members in the slums of
urban asia. Five of us (David, Joyce,
Andrea, Sara and Eric) plan to travel to Vancouver in early January to
meet our
granddaughter and niece, and to celebrate with Jason and Laura. We can’t wait, and just wish that Aris could
be with us as well. We’d appreciate
your prayers for a safe delivery, a healthy baby, and for Jason and
Laura to
have wisdom as new parents. (News Flash: Baby born - click
here to see her)
Please take a moment to send us a letter, email, phone call, facebook message – however you like to communicate! We’d love to know how we can be praying for you! May God’s presence fill you with joy this Christmas season, may He bless you richly in the coming year, and use you mightily to build His kingdom.
Love
in
Christ,
David and Joyce Byrne
& family
15727
Bougainvilla Lane Friendswood, TX 77546
713-922-3113