Andrew and Megan's Mentionables

December Newsletter!

2009-12-03T00:42:00.002-05:00

Hey, check out our latest newsletter! Our updated contact info. is on it as well, and we'd love to hear from you! If you'd like to sign up to receive our newsletters, give us your contact info. by sending it to megksmith@hotmail.com.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Kaden's 2nd Birthday Bananza with Diego!!

2009-11-30T20:06:00.015-05:00

We had a blast spending Kaden's birthday with the Wilde side- my mom and dad, Matt, Natalie, Noah, Chloe, Jack and Chris!! The kiddos got to play outside, eat tons of "toddler" food for dinner (chicken strips, mac & cheese, fruit, and peas and carrots), and had a yummy Diego cake for dessert. My highlight was Kaden asking to play with his balloon instead of wanting to open his presents... until he saw what he got! :) So now one b-day party down, Smith side of the family b-day party to go! What more can a kid ask for?!

Birthday breakfast- muffins and cream of wheat compliments of nana- "thanks!"

Scoopin'

sloppin'

Chewin'

"What?"

Checkin' out the airplanes in the sky

Chloe and Noah ready for dinner

Kaden's cousin Jackon- 18 months

Chowin' down on the chicken strips

opening presents

Blowing out the candles- I ended up having to do it after Kaden exclaimed, "FIRE, HOT!!"

Blue, green and orange Diego cake with ice cream

Diggin' in!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T01:56:00.003-04:00

Genie in a Bottle

The highly anticipated "halloween outfit" is up for you all to see. After some rather "interesting" ideas that we tossed around for kaden to dress up as, we decided to put him in his cute silky pants that his Aunt Aileen got him in India, and have him be a "genie." FYI Megan dressed up as a water polo player, and Andrew was an army ninja!

Official Bizz

2009-10-10T23:54:00.007-04:00

Ever get tired of seeing picture after picture of Kaden on this blog...? Well, maybe you don't =) BUT, Andrew and I have been given a website by New Tribes Mission where we will be publishing articles about our ministry, specifically what God is doing in and through our lives here, and what He is doing in the Philippines.

This website will also offer you the choice to view pictures, check out how to support our ministry and give online, and has a link to the official New Tribes Mission website that has all sorts of cool information about the organization and how to be involved from praying for missions around the world, to joining New Tribes Mission for a career!

We plan to update weekly, so type in the given link and check out what we are up to. And of course, we want you to keep checking out this blog, which will have more stories about day to day life- mainly Kaden (I know family- we're giving you what you want!)

www.ntm.org/andy_smith

September News

2009-09-25T01:50:00.003-04:00

Hey, just wanted to put up our latest newsletter. Click on it to check out what we are up to and where God is leading us right now, and if you want to receive a newsletter and don't already e-mail us at andy_smith@ntm.org or megksmith@hotmail.com

Love,

Andrew, Megan and Kaden Smith

Waiting

2009-09-17T16:47:00.002-04:00

This is a picture of Kaden waiting in the airport to go through the scanner on our way to California... Life definitely has its moments of waiting!
We just wanted to give an update on things with our housing. We have been waiting... trying to figure out what a good place would be, and seeing if that place would come along. But the more we thought about it, the more we feel that we are not in a rush to get into a place since we have a place to live until we're ready to move.
So we will be looking more avidly for a place for the 1st of November. We are still hoping for an above ground basement suite, and something close to North Shore Alliance Church where Andrew interns. Maybe close enough to bike there. So we appreciate your prayers for us as we seek where God would have us right now, and are thankful to see how through this He has taught us to find our contentment in Him.

YA Campout!

2009-09-13T01:02:00.003-04:00

Alice Lake

"YA" stands for Young Adult, and particularly the group of people we are going to be spending a lot of time with this year as we are in pre-field ministry here in North Vancouver. We started off the year with the annual Alice Lake camping trip, and we were blessed with an AMAZING weekend of gorgeous and warm weather!
The whole family went, so it was our first real "camping" trip since jungle camp (although that wasn't really camping... long story!). We had lots of fun catching up with the people we've known since before we went to Ontario, and getting to know the people that have recently joined the young adults group.
One thing we will take away from the trip... the loud group at a campground somehow always finds their way to where the babies are! Long story short, Kaden and myself (Megan) had to cut the trip short because Kaden couldn't get any sleep next to the loud group beside us keeping him up, so we came home a day early.
But we did have a fun time anyway and got to go swimming, and are excited for the year ahead as we get to know the young adults in the community better, and really to serve them and challenge each other into deeper relationship with Christ!

The one and only picture taken of the fam this weekend-I couldn't get over how much Kaden looks like Andrew in this picture!

Location, Location, Location

2009-09-08T13:05:00.003-04:00

House hunting, or more like basement suite hunting, is in full swing for us now that we have arrived in North Vancouver! We are hoping to find something that is walking distance to North Shore Alliance Church so Andrew can walk to work (since we only have one car), and we would like a basement suite so that we can have a back yard for Kaden as well.
We appreciate your prayers as we try to find a place that is reasonably priced and close to what we want, and that we will be patient and flexible during this process!

Let us know if you hear of anything! =)

Heading to Canada!

2009-09-02T17:31:00.004-04:00

Don't you hate it when you lose something that you are not allowed to lose... it's OK to not know where a pair of socks went or a book you know you have- but losing your permanent residency card (A.K.A. proof I can be in Canada with my family), you can't lose that!
I (Megan) had a bit of a scare when I couldn't find my permanent residency card (which is basically what lets me into the country) for the life of me today, but found it after an hour of frantic searching and was really relieved! All of this traveling has made it hard to keep track of things, but you'd think it would also make you better at keeping track of things! Oh well, it's a learning process!
So we are finally heading back north!!! We will be back in North Vancouver by this weekend, and Andrew will be starting his new job at North Shore Alliance Church!
We are excited to be coming home, and would love to catch up with everyone, so give us a call at 604.987-2511 or e-mail us at andy_smith@ntm.org if you want to get together! And remember we have been in the States for a while now, so if we forget to take off our shoes in your house, please forgive us! ;)

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you all!

P.S. If you think of it, please pray for us as we continue to look for a place to move into October 1st.

The Car is Fixed!

2009-08-20T01:33:00.005-04:00

If only I could go back in time and post this last Wednesday... the car is fixed!! Thanks for all the help that we received from so many people while we were waiting for our car to get fixed, from having a car to borrow and people having us over- we appreciate you all and your prayers! I wanted to wait to have a cool picture to post with the car, so that's why I took so long to post this- and sure enough there is no picture anyway!! But after waiting about a week and half, the car was fixed by August 12th and we left to go to my (Megan) parents' house in Washington that day. We had a safe trip and are having a great time in Washington! Will definitely be updating more soon, so stay tuned! =)

An Oasis

2009-08-06T15:08:00.009-04:00

So with all the droughts, fires and dry climate of southern California we seek water. A couple of days ago we took Kaden to the Casitas water park, which is a little water park by a local lake- all pretty small town. We had fun going around in the "lazy river," which as Andrew said wasn't so lazy with all the kids racing around the river and getting kicked here and there by passing swimmers. But Kaden was in awe of these kids swimming all over the place, so he had fun watching them. We also put Kaden in the shallow pool for toddlers to play, and he really liked it. It was nice being able to get out and get wet- now that it's August the heat will really be setting in! So hopefully the car will be done soon so we can get out of here before it stays in the 100's =)

Kaden liked being swung around in the water

showing daddy the water

A successful swim day!

A Look Under the Hood

2009-08-04T13:23:00.002-04:00

So I wanted to give a quick update on the car if any of you read the last post about it. We have a mechanic taking care of it right now, and he said that he will be calling us toward the end of the week to let us know where things are at. When they take apart the engine to replace the head gasket they usually replace everything else that is hard to get in there. So we are praying that will be the extent of things, and they won't find anything else wrong (i.e. cracked head, etc.) But more than any of that we are praying that we will just be content no matter what the outcome is, because the well being of our car does not dictate the well being of our family. We are learning a lot through this experience, and although it is challenging, we are thankful that God has put this in our life to cause us to depend on Him more. We definitely have seen our tendency to let "bad news" wreck our day, and thankfully God is patient in teaching us!

A Bump in the Road

2009-07-30T11:33:00.003-04:00

With just getting the news that we need to replace our head gasket or our car is a "ticking time bomb" when we drive, we have felt like this is more than a bump in the road, and feels like we have the hazard lights on, smoke coming out of the hood, and are pushing the car to the shoulder. Now we didn't physically have to do this, and thankfully that's because from having a friend look at our car after describing what's wrong with it, we found that the problems we have been having with the car point pretty undoubtedly to the head gasket needing to be replaced. We've had problems with the cooling system of the car for a while now, and this summer alone have added about two gallons of coolant to our car- so there is obviously something going wrong, and we are thankful we had someone look at the car before it died on us on the road!

In ways that it would take too much room to fully describe, the Lord has worked things out that we can get our car worked on next week, and we have a car to drive in the meantime while we are waiting for it to get fixed. We are praying that everything will go smoothly, especially since we have a wedding we need to go to in Washington a week from Saturday, and hope the car is done in time for us to make it to that. This will be a huge expense for us, and we know that the Lord knows our needs, and are praying that we will just rest and trust Him to provide. As we are trying to move into a place September 1st this poses it's challenges since there are certain expenses that go along with this, but we again are just trusting God to provide, and are thankful for how He has so far.

So we would appreciate it if you could be praying for us during this. Not to feel discouraged, but thankful that it is getting sorted out now, and for how people have helped us out. This is really the best time for us to get this done since Andrew isn't working and we don't have anywhere to be right at the moment.

We will keep you updated on the status of the Smith car, and are hoping it will be good to go by Thursday of next week!!

Best Day Ever!

2009-07-23T21:35:00.006-04:00

Today we took a family trip to the World Famous Santa Monica Pier for our California beach day. We had "Hot dog on a stick" or corndogs and walked the pier. Kaden got to play in the waves for the first time and had a crazy fun time. He was soo tired on the way home he slept through the busy Malibu traffic and as a way of saying "thanks for taking me out today" he stayed sleeping so we could get some In-N-Out on the way home.

Kaden is getting a little "stroller tan."
What a view!

Hamilton Mini-Reunion

2009-07-20T18:46:00.006-04:00

On Saturday Andrew and I drove to Agoura Hills to visit my mom's side of the family, the Hamilton's, all of whom we haven't seen since almost three years ago! It was a lot of fun, although it would've been more complete with my mom and dad there too (missed you guys)! Despite the broken air conditioner we had a good time catching up and having Kaden get to know everyone!

Uncle Gary and Aunt Linda on the left. Uncle Bill and his girlfriend Christine on the right.

Someone gave kaden a little water mister to play with, which is good practice for being a future fireman =)

Like daddy like son! Wonder where he learns it from?

5th and 6th Grade Summer Blast

2009-07-17T10:56:00.006-04:00

This summer we had a chance to hang out with some 5th and 6th graders and share with them about the Gospel and missions. We met at a family's house every Thursday afternoon and hung out at the pool. We played a bunch of crazy games involving sticking half an oreo to your forehead, pool races, "different" foods, some native characters and five gallon water jugs. We would usually play one game that tied into what we were teaching that week, so that the kids could experience what they would learn and not just hear about it. The biggest thing we wanted them to get out of it was knowing for themselves what the Gospel or Good News is of the Bible and being able to articulate it. And then also how there are people that need someone to go to tell them the Gospel because they live in isolated places where they won't hear it unless someone comes and tells them. It was a huge learning experience for us since we have never taught that age group. We had a great time with the kids though and got to work with amazing parents who helped out!

Ally, Bailey and Spirit-missionaries to the people below for a day

The natives from Papua New Guinea- you have to put a little imagination into it. Andrew can look the part better than me!

Nadine helping out with watching Kaden. We took him with us to each Thursday and we are so thankful for all the parents helping us with watching him!

Getting roped out of the pool.

Beach Day- Check!

2009-07-08T16:32:00.001-04:00

Andrew and I finally got a day off to go to the beach yesterday! It was so funny, because when we were walking up from the street to the beach Kaden saw all the sand and just started screaming and squealing in excitement! He LOVES playing in the dirt and sand, so it was a good day for him!

Andrew and I also played some beach volleyball with our friends, rematch from our visit during spring break in March, and.....we WON! =)

After the game we went swimming and caught a few waves body surfing, and called it a day! Good stuff!

HAPPY 4TH!

2009-07-04T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone enjoyed their fourth of July!! Here are a couple shots from the parade we wanted to share!

A cool fact- in 1909 Ojai had 5 graduates from Nordhoff High School and a population of 400 people.

The Mardi Gras crew

Kaden was sad after his favorite float went by...

Kaden's parade buddy Layla

Azteca of Ojai

the cutest baby horses!

Check this out! These jeeps were driving on top of each other! Look close at where their tires are!

Kaden's favorite float

Grow Food Party Crew

After the parade we let the kids have some fun in the pool- this was my favorite picture! Kaden's splashing is out of control! =)

Pool Party!

2009-06-22T17:43:00.005-04:00

Kaden got some time to splash around in his blow up pool the other day, and was joined by his 9 month old friend Carly, who he had a lot of fun splashing... maybe too much! ;) He absolutely loved the water, and would crouch down and splash so much it would go all in his face and he'd stand up gasping because he could barely breath with all the water going into his face- but once he got his breath he would laugh and giggle about it! So, I guess we can officially call him our water baby!

loved the splashing!

Hopefully Carly had some fun too inbetween Kaden's splashes! :)

June Update!

2009-06-21T15:28:00.004-04:00

Take a look at our latest newsletter! If you are interested in receiving our quarterly update just e-mail us and let us know! We can send it via e-mail or snail mail, whichever you prefer.

We also wanted to mention that we are in Ojai right now and will be in town until the beginning of August. So if you'd like to get together and catch up over a cup of coffee or meal please e-mail us or call us to let us know! 805.890.9831

Thanks for your love and encouragement!

Andrew, Megan and Kaden

Class of 2009

2009-06-13T19:28:00.001-04:00

I finally got a few pictures from graduation that my parents took. I can't believe that it's only been two weeks today since we graduated because so much has happened in the meantime. Right now we are in Vancouver, WA and are staying an extra couple of days with my parents until we head down to Ojai. It has been nice to see my side of the family and have Kaden introduced to his cousins (reintroduced I should say, he saw them last summer). We are excited for the summer ahead of us and thankful for the safety and fun we've had so far!

Our graduating class

Us with our friends Matt, Erin and Alaena after grad

Our car getting cleaned after two years of Ontario weather ;)

Kaden's response when I asked him to help out...

Kaden hanging out with Noah and Chloe (cousins)

Daddy and Kaden by Lakamas Lake

Let Summer Begin!!

2009-06-06T16:47:00.011-04:00

The best traveller I know!

We made it home (North Vancouver) last night after driving from Durham, ON cross country through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho and Washington State to British Columbia... just going through that list I have to sit and take a break!

We are going to be here in North Vancouver for a week and then head down to Ojai, California for the summer (wahoo!!).

Some highlights of the trip- Kaden! He was such a good boy and handled the travelling really well! We saw Mt. Rushmore, very cool! We stayed with my aunt and uncle in Wisconsin who I haven't seen for a couple years. And I became a big fan of Montana, it's really beautiful there!

Some not-so-high lights... Kaden had some explosive diapers while buckled down to a carseat- made for an interesting/disgusting experience! Having the interstate highway worked on right outside of Chicago so it took forever to drive through. Having to leave our friends back in Onatio- we miss you guys!!!

Anyway, here are some pictures to give you a look into our trip.

Checking out the great M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I River! (Kaden is running from the great torrent in this shot)

Mt. Rushmore! I was quite impressed by how clean their faces are, seriously... good job people who maintain the park!

Gotta have the shot infront of the men!! Sorry Kaden, you missed out by falling asleep in the car!

Kaden is ready with stick in hand for anything that comes his way.

If you know Kaden, you know this face! (right aunt jenny?)

This was Kaden's favorite game in the car ride- we call it "the spit face!"

Last Day of Class!

2009-05-29T07:28:00.002-04:00

We just wanted to let everyone know that we had our last day of class Wednesday. The morning was spent reflecting on what God has called us to do as the church, and the purpose of our training here. It was said that the training is helping people become more effective servants of the church for God's glory, and we are excited to be coming to our home churches for pre-field ministry and serving them before we head out. We have also been seeing over and over again that this is God's work, not ours. He could have chose to reach the lost in other ways, but He chose to use us, weak and fragile people. But by doing this God can demonstrate His power and grace through us, so people can see Him through our lives.

We are excited for our graduation ceremony tomorrow which will be at 10 a.m. You can think of us then and the rest of our class- there are 17 of us being sent out all over the world- we are excited to see what God will do in and through this class!

One Week to Go!

2009-05-23T09:55:00.005-04:00

Dobu Island

Andrew and I haven't given an update on our classes for quite some time on the blog, so I thought it would be a good thing to do before we don't have any classes left to talk about!
About two weeks ago Andrew and I finished our tribal simulation practicum, where we had about two months of classes that were designed to simulate what it would be like to go into a tribe as missionaries for the first time. We went into a little village where we were interacting with and building relationships with the Dobu people. So our instructors simulated their culture for us and even spoke Dobunesian, the language we were learning during the practicum. The goal was for us to apply all the training we've gotten over these past years into a simulation, from language learning principles, to culture investigation, relationship building, literacy and Bible lesson preperation. At the end of it we were that much more excited for when we get to go overseas and do this in the Philippines!
After this practicum we've had a class that gave an overview of our previous year of training, focusing on tribal church planting. Then we are wrapping things up with giving presentations that are geared towards our churches back home or home groups we'd share with about what we're doing. It was an opportunity to put something together that we'd share in the future, and to prepare us for the year ahead where we'll be telling people about New Tribes Mission and what we're doing.
So now it's down to the count down, exactly one week from today we will be graduating, and to be exact, since it's 10:00 am right now, it's down to the minute exactly a week from now we'll be graduating, which will take place at the Hanover Missionary Church at 10 a.m. on May 30th. If you are interested in attending and are in the area please e-mail us at megksmith@hotmail.com to let us know! We'd love to see you!

When we started this journey together back on September 25, 2005...

graduating May 30, 2009!

Babies, babies, EVERYWHERE!

2009-05-18T18:07:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to all you new moms out there!! There are so many people that I know having babies right NOW, seriously- one was just born a few hours ago! Because there are so many of you new moms, I just want to say that I am so happy for you and your new baby that you finally get to see after waiting a whole nine months! Between five people I know back home that had babies in the last month, two people here in the last week, and four to go this summer- watch out, the baby boom is upon us, bigger than ever!