One Year Later...

 Greetings from North Carolina...

Merry Christmas!  Instead of sending out a paper card this year, we wanted to send out a virtual Christmas greeting and a Scace Family update.  

Transition...

 

It is hard to believe that at the time I am writing this, it has been exactly one year since we left our ship home across the ocean.  At times it feels like an eternity ago, and others it feels like just yesterday.  Before we left, we were blessed to be given a lot of information about transition.  The most useful bit of information was that transition takes time.  Here we are, one year later, getting ready to spend our first Christmas in our new home, and we are starting to see the light at the end of the “transition tunnel”.  It has been filled with highs and lows, but the Lord has been so faithful to walk with us through every step of the way.  

New Opportunities...

 

One thing that has not changed since our time on the ship, is our heart for missions.  In Matthew 28, Jesus commanded us to “go and make disciples of ALL nations,” and we have been praying that the Lord might open up more opportunities to serve Him here and elsewhere.  We are excited to report that for Spring Break 2024, we intend to serve as a family at Loma de Luz, in Honduras, with the Cornerstone Foundation. The Cornerstone Foundation is a non-profit, Christian, charitable organization which serves the people of Honduras through building and administering service-oriented, facility-centered Christian outreach such as hospitals, schools, and children’s foster care services. You can read more about their ministry on their website:  https://crstone.org/

The Good News... 

We pray that this holiday season, you will be able to carve out some time to sit and reflect on the magnitude of our Lord and savior humbly coming to this earth as a newborn baby, living a sinless life, and dying a death on a cross for the forgiveness of all of our sins.  He is the reason we have joy in this season and He is the reason we continue to chose to go into the nations to share this good news.  If you’ve never heard this good news, reach out to us or grab a Bible and read through the book of John.

 

Thank you for your place in our lives!  Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

 

Love,

 

The Scace Family

Some photo highlights of 2023...

Just received the keys to our new home!  We are in Blowing Rock,
NC, and would love for you to visit!

Housing is tough to find in our area.  We had multiple short-term
rentals before finally finding our home.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail about an hour from our
home.  After living in a port for almost two years, we are
very appreciative of all the nature near us.

Jeff transitioned into his new role as Global Security Director
for Mercy Ships, which came with a lot of travel last year.  One exciting
trip took him back to Senegal to welcome the Global Mercy for its first full field service.

We are driving distance to Indiana, which has meant lots of
family time the last year.  

Rosie taking advantage of the skiing in our town.

The kids started a new school and we have been
so grateful for all the teachers and students helping to make
the transition smooth.  This was from Ava's 5th grade class field
trip to Williamsburg, VA, last spring.

Caleb's enjoying playing soccer.

Ava and Jeff with their first place trophies from a local 5K. 

Spending time in some of our favorite places in America.

We really missed celebrating American holidays on the ship, which made
celebrating America's birthday this year that much more fun!

Another thing we missed was team sports.  Rosie jumped right back
into swimming and joined the local swim team.  

Back in TX spending time with the Scace family.

Ava fell in love with a new sport, volleyball.

The highlight of our year, Ava taking a next step in her faith
and choosing to be baptized by her Dad.

Jeff really missed hunting.  He was blessed with the opportunity
to go elk hunting in Colorado with family and brought home some delicious meat.

The girls became volunteers at our local humane society, which
meant it was inevitable we would be welcoming a couple new
members of our family.  Meet Ramen and Hadley Scace.

Another holiday that we missed on the ship.  The kids made
up for the lost years with tons of candy this year!

Ava enjoyed running cross country for her school's team.