HoveyServinGod

Well, our first days with Gunner have been an adventure.....and a deLIGHTful one at that!  We showed you in our last post some pics from Day One --Gunner's first moments--now it is time to catch you up on his first few days!  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so we will try to keep our captions brief and hope you enjoy our new blessing! Day Two Gunner hanging out with Mom and Dad on his first morning in the world! A proud mama showing off her brand new baby boy!  An equally proud papa smiling at the joy of holding his little guy!    Day Three Gunner testing out his smile muscles....he is doing great!  Gunner hanging out in Daddy's arms and learning how to look at the camera......he's still a little nervous at this point, so he's only peeking out!  Gunner enjoying Dad snuggles!  Gunner's first attempt at smiling for "Say CHEESE!"  (He's going to be a natural.....FOR SURE!!!)  Gunner and mama hanging ou

We would like to introduce you to our son,  Gunner Elliot Hovey !!!! He was born at 8:45pm Chile time, weighing just under 8 lbs and just over 20" long.  Both Gunner and Phyllis are doing great!  We were greatly blessed through the delivery process and give God the glory for the baby boy He has entrusted to us! This was right after birth so Gunner's color did not even out yet. We want to thank Pam and John Sharp!  They are fellow ABWE missionaries and Pam spent the day with us in the hospital.  We are SO grateful for her as she translated some very important stuff in critical moments! We will be in the hospital for a few days and they Lord willing we will get to share much more....with lots more pictures!!!

We hope this message finds each of you well as you read along.   It is a busy time of life for the Hovey’s as we are in full swing with school and numerous projects going.   The weather here in Chile is beginning to change, the leaves are falling and the cooler weather is slowly moving in.   As we make the shift into a new season, we are doing that on multiple fronts as we are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first addition to the family.   The official due date is April 22, but that is only an educated guess and it is approaching rapidly…. We want to take some time to also inform you of yet another change that has been brought to the front of our minds.   There is no doubt that God’s timing is perfect and it is often interesting to see how little it actually aligns with “our timing”.   At this time in our lives, God has brought us to the conclusion that we are to pursue full time missions.   Phyllis will explain down a little farther how we were brought to this conclu

Easter is all about celebrating new life and Christ's resurrection......sure, there are family gatherings and good food, but those are not the MAIN things.   This Easter, we had the opportunity to help portray the new life Christ offers using Brian's welding skills.....sounds interesting, right?  While Christ's death is significant to our sin problem, EVEN MORE crucial is His Life--His RESURRECTION!!!  Brian and another man from our church, Alvaro, were able to help this truth be SEEN by putting up a cross in our church's front fence.  What I personally love about this cross is the color.....GOLD.  To me?  That represents Christ GLORIFIED and victorious over death and sin.  The cross in and of itself is not necessarily a pretty image--it was used as an instrument of death.  HOWEVER, Christ glorified and gaining victory over death and sin for us brings a golden glow to the once stark image. Here are some other pics of the process... The gate BEFORE any work was

For those of you who knew me WAY back when, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in High School about a year after my Dad passed away.  Anyways, at that time, I was put on a medication to control the condition and advised that I not have children.  When the medicine worked well, I settled into the idea that I would be childless..... And then?  TEN years after HS, I got married...... Brian and I agreed and were unified in the vision to shine our little light in whatEVER corner of the world we ended up in....and now?  Here we are in Chile, and God has called us to be parents.  I wanted to share a little bit about my journey into this new direction. When Brian had his gall bladder surgery, I was scared and it was pretty stressful.  We came home from the hospital after seeing our God work and provide in HUGE ways, and we jumped into the school semester.  It was shortly after celebrating our second anniversary that I noticed things "weren't quite right."  When I ment