A Special Update - Nov 2018

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will hope in him.” Lam 3:22-24

INTRODUCING OUR DAUGHTER

It is with grateful hearts that we share with you the arrival of our daughter, Aria Hope. Her life is a testimony of God's faithfulness and an answer to many prayers. Prayers from many of you and many others, all over the world. Thank you for your steadfast prayers for the Lord to grow our family.

Last February, when we first found out we were pregnant, the lyrics of the song "The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate" repeatedly came to Daneen's mind. God has been so gracious to us. Our journey of infertility for four years helped remind us that we are not entitled or guaranteed to be able to have children. We have always desired for adoption to be a part of our family, yet hoped we might also be able to experience having biological children as well. We knew that whatever the Lord had planned for our family, it would be perfect. God has such great compassion toward us. We praise Him for this gift of life in our daughter.

BABY J

This past April a special little baby boy came to us through foster care. Baby "J" arrived to us when he was 2 months old and is now an active and very mobile 9 month old. He brings so much joy into our home and to everyone he meets. Having a 9 month old and a newborn (our "irish twins") certainly makes life very full and challenging, but we know that both of these babies are a gift from God.

As with most children in foster care, his long-term situation is unknown. What we do know is that he is with us for now and a part of our family. We love him as if he were our own and will continue to do so as long as the Lord entrusts us to care for him.

The heart over baby J's face is for his protection and privacy; a requirement for children in foster care. We wish we could show you his cute, chubby cheeks and precious smile!  

GOD IS FAITHFUL

Last January, we sent an email update to summarize 2017 and it ended with this....

As we start a new year, we literally have no idea what this year might look like. We currently do not have any children in our home, yet anticipate that will change at any moment. We are hopeful that this year might be the year our "forever" children enter our home, yet we have no idea and no control over it. Our peace rests in the fact that we know the Lord has great plans and His timing is always perfect!

Wow! Our prayer and hope was that this year our forever children would enter our home. We had no idea and in many ways had given up on that happening biologically through a pregnancy...

But God!!!

~~~

We wish you a special and purpose-filled Christmas season. We pray that your hope is in Jesus our Lord!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Much love from Montana,
Joe, Daneen, Baby J, Aria (and Pendo)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Reflections of 2017

Happy New Year!

As we reflected on this past year, we tried to think of how to best describe the whole year. The only word we managed to think of was “full.”

Full of children.

Full of change and transition.

Full of basketball.

Full of life lessons.

Full of spiritual growth.

Full of using our spiritual gifts.

Full of memories.

Full of dependence on God.

A full life is a good thing. We truly feel that the Lord is using us to our full capacity.

FOSTER CARE

Our personal ministry and much of our free time is devoted to foster care. When we left working at a school for orphans in Kenya, we knew we still wanted to be involved, in some way, with orphan care. Back in the U.S., we quickly felt the Lord directing us to be involved in foster care. The deeper we get into it, and the more we realize and live-out the challenges and uncertainties with foster care… the more we feel called to continue. It is hard, it is frustrating, it is full of unknowns… yet, it is worth it. While we do desire to have “forever” children, either biologically or through adoption, until God brings us those children, we are glad we can play our part in the community to support some children during a very difficult time in their lives. It has often been HARD. But in those times, we try to imagine what the kids are going through, and we’re pretty sure that it’s much harder for them than it is for us. Our hope is that the kids’ families will be restored and God will redeem their story. Our prayer is that, during their time with us, they will experience a very real example of God’s love, have an example of loving and encouraging parents and a Christ-centered marriage.

In 2017 we had 9 children in our home, from the ages of 0 to 15 years and for lengths of stay from 3 weeks to 5 months. There were surely many struggles, yet the highlights and blessings from our foster care journey this past year were:

·      Seeing 3 siblings reunited with their birth father and go live with him.

·      Spending 2 weeks in the NICU with a precious newborn baby and slowly jumping into caring for her.

·      Gaining great wisdom from the Ezzo’s and Young’s by going through Preparation for Parenting. PARENTS: this is such valuable wisdom. Their Biblically-centered teaching tools are available for children of all ages!! Check out Growing Families Int’l. 

·     

5 amazing moths with baby "K". She was a true joy in our lives and we loved caring for her and watching her grow.

·      Caring for "K" helped us better understand a mother or father’s love for their children.

·      Letting go of "K" to return to her birth mom, was terribly difficult yet it helped us grasp an understanding of God’s love for us and how he let his only son come to this broken world and face a very uncertain future.. but ultimately for the Father’s Glory!

·      Teaching "M", a the 15-year old teenager, about the natural consequences in life and the importance of making wise choices.

·      Seeing "M" get excited about her report card of all As and Bs for the first time in her life; or at least, since elementary school.

·      Daneen and another local foster mom started a foster/kinship/adoption support group for our community which is being hosted at our church. We are grateful to be a part of a church which desires to support the needs of our community in practical ways.

·      Sharing about foster care with our church congregation on Stand Sunday (also Orphan Sunday). We are blessed to have a pastor who leads his church well and is a great teacher, yet also recognizes the passions and strengths of his congregation.  

·      Our final placement of 2017 was a sibling set of 4 which really, stretched us. When we were overloaded with the challenges of these kiddos, we were blessed by our church community who desired to support us in a very practical way by providing meals.

·      When the court hearing unexpectantly ruled that the 4 children should be returned to their mother just 5 days before Christmas, we were thrilled for them!

BASKETBALL

Joe has been excelling in his roles at Dawson Community College. It’s certainly a challenge to balance his two positions of Athletic Director and Men’s Head Basketball Coach, which are both technically half-time positions (ha!) Some of his work-related highlights and blessings include:

·      5 of his 6 Sophomores (from Spring 2017) were recruited and are playing college basketball at higher levels.

·      Added Volleyball to the NJCAA Athletics Department at DCC; after it was defunct for 4 years.

·      Hired a new Assistant Coach who has been a valuable asset to the basketball program.

·      At half-way into the current season, their record is 13-4 (three of those four losses were to Top 25 teams).

·      The basketball team has been working hard and is excited to start the conference part of the season on Jan 8^th.

CHRIST’S GIFT ACADEMY

Daneen continues to work part-time from home for Christ’sGift Academy. This role is a perfect fit for her gifts, abilities and for our family. We love getting to stay connected with what is happening back in Mbita, Kenya and having the opportunity to share the stories of the students and the ministry. She loves the flexibility that comes with working from home especially when we have children in our home! Some of the CGA highlights and blessings include:

·      Celebrating CGA’s 20^th year of ministry in Mbita, Kenya

·      Communicating with’s CGA first-ever Kenyan Ministry Coordinator and being able to get timely updates on things happening on the ground in Mbita.

·      Receiving comments from supporters, sponsors, and church partners about how they enjoy and appreciate the updates on the ministry.

·      Receiving the news that 5 of our alumni graduated from college/university. These were all students who started university when we were still in Mbita. Two of our all-time favorite students were among these graduates. Steven Ogechi finished nursing school to become CGA’s first Registered Nurse. Ogechi gave his life to Christ in 7^th grade after Joe shared the gospel to his class!! Moses started secondary school, through CGA, after being out of school for over 10 years. He is a living testimony of CGA and the importance of perseverance and waiting on the Lord’s timing.

·      CGA met the year-end giving needed to meet the needs of our financial budget.

SUBA LAKERS

We continue to also stay connected with our girls in the SubaLakers Football Club. Our focus has been to ensure the girls have the funds to finish their education. This year we have 9 girls who started their final year of high school last week. Most of them are all on a full or half scholarship for their football skills!! We are so proud of these girls and desire to see them have opportunities for a great future. Yet, as we talk about it last in this newsletter update, it’s also (unfortunately) gets the least amount of our time to focus on. There are some great highlights and blessings from the Suba Lakers this past year:

·       Lilian was recruited for to play on the Kenya National Football Team, the Startlets. Since late 2016, she has traveled to Botswana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Morocco, Cameroon, and Jordan! She is the primary goal keeper for the Under 20 National Team and currently a back-up keeper for the Women’s National team. As a member of the national team she has received enough funds to not only pay for her own education but to also build her mother a house!

·       Alicent, who has been like a daughter to Joe, started college at Kenya Medical Training Institute studying Nutrition and Dietetics. A friend of ours has graciously offered to support her college education!

·       This coming Fall, Karen will graduate from Mawego Technical Institute with an Agricultural Diploma. Thanks to the support of a friend who have assisted with her tuition fees.

·       In December we received the report for the needed funds for the girls’ education for 2018 and, to our surprise, the needed amount was in the Suba Lakers USA account. The Lord is a great Provider.

A few additional 2017 highlights were:

·       Hosting the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda in Glendive, MT. For 3 days, our church had the opportunity to host this incredible group of children and adults. I knew the choir would be amazing and everyone would be blessed. But until they arrived and later performed, no one else had a clue how blessed they would be!! Daneen LOVED having a little bit of Uganda in Glendive. She even cooked them Ugandan-style beans and rice as well as chai and mandazi. The team thought they were in heaven when they got to enjoy a taste of home!! We love getting to be a part of a church who was open to bringing the choir to Glendive; and we were thrilled the Watoto USA team found a way to bring the choir to our off the beaten path (middle of nowhere) location!

·       We continue to the lead the campus InterVarsity at Dawson Community College. With it being a very small campus (approx. 250 students) it’s a challenging place to minister. This year we have had a solid group of students attending Bible Study each week. We partner with a number of local churches who provide a meal for the students once a month. This past fall we had 2 students attend the Montana Fall InterVarsity Conference and really learned a lot. We are thrilled that one of our DCC IV students has been accepted to go on a 6 week mission trip to KENYA with InterVarsity!!

As we start a new year, we literally have no idea what this year might look like. Our peace is in the fact the we know the Lord has great plans in store. Surely the year will be full of blessings and many lessons along the way.

2016 Family Letter

Happy New Year!

It has been 1.5 years since we moved to Glendive, MT!  Compared to last year, this winter has been much colder (many days below 0 deg F) and we've had much more snow (8 inches on Christmas and 8 more inches coming on New Year's).  Despite the weather, we are getting more and more settled into our community.  We really enjoy small town Montana life.  After moving back to America from Kenya over 2 years ago, we thought life would eventually calm down or perhaps become steady, but we are quickly realizing life is a constant state of transition.

Daneen was working for the college in Recruiting and Admissions for a year and left that position in July so that she could be more flexible for parenting children.  She is now working part-time from home for Christ’s Gift Academy, the organization we served with in Kenya.  She does admin work including online fundraisers, newsletters, social media, and other sponsor and public relations communication. One of her large goals for 2017 will be to increase funding for the organization to help meet the general budget and fund many needed capital improvements, and also to support her own monthly stipend.  Daneen is thoroughly enjoying this role and it's an answer to prayer; a flexible schedule, working from home and serving an international non-profit she's passionate about. She also does some substitute teaching in the local schools to help supplement our income.

The biggest change in our lives in the past year is that we have become foster parents.  Our journey started with respite care for a 14 year old girl for a few days and then a newborn baby for a few days. However, our lives dramatically changed when we accepted 3 siblings; twin 7 year old girls and their 8 year old brother.  It happened to be the first day of basketball season, November 2^nd; the start of the busiest time of the year for Joe.  During school days, we only get a short time with them in the morning and a couple hours at night.  They have brought a lot of life to our home over the past couple of months.  They are Pendo’s new best friends and so good with her. We do a lot of reading together to help them catch up to their grade-level.  One of our best times together was traveling with the DCC basketball team to Casper, Wyoming for a Thanksgiving tournament.  They loved hanging out with the players on the bus, at meals, during shoot-arounds at the gym and especially in the swimming pool.  Some of our proudest moments have been during prayer and Bible story time. It’s a blessing to hear their genuine, child-like prayers and seeing them grow in their understanding of who God is. We don’t know how long they will stay with us, but it will likely not be long-term. We are trying to do the best job we can while we have them, knowing that some day they will hopefully be able to go back and live with their mom or dad.

Pendo has grown to be a well-behaved doggie; most of the time. :-) She brings us lots of joy and smiles. She is so great with the kids; a natural "kid's dog". Yet, she occasionally seeks out a quiet place in the house when the kids are home all day. We love her so much!

Joe is thriving in his roles as Athletic Director and Men’s Basketball Coach at Dawson Community College.  Last season, 2015-2016, the team greatly improved throughout the season, finishing 2^nd in the conference and reaching the Regional Championship Game before losing a close game that would have sent them to Nationals.  This season, they have gotten off to a better start and are currently 9-7 at the halfway point.  The team has had to deal with several injuries to key players, but has still managed to compete hard and has been in every game they’ve played, except one.  He enjoys the daily interaction with his players, teaching the game of basketball along with life lessons and, of course, he loves the competition.  His team is very diverse with about half of the team from Montana/Wyoming and other players from Colorado, Louisiana, Canada, Bahamas, Costa Rica and Australia. If you'd like to follow the season or even watch a livestream of one of their home games, check out the Dawson Buc's website.

One of the highlights from this past year was going on a 7 day cruise to Cozumel, Honduras and Belize with Joe’s family to celebrate his parent’s 50^th anniversary.  It was a special time to be with family and enjoy a new experience (1^st cruise) and seeing new places.  After the cruise we were also able to travel to Pennsylvania to visit Daneen’s family for a week.

We are both still serving as advisors for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus.  The regular attendance has been pretty low on a weekly basis, yet on the monthly meal nights and other special events, we typically attract 20-40 students (out of the 120 who live on campus). Despite being frustrated by the low numbers we know that many students have heard the Gospel in various forms.  We are trusting that God will help us identify and raise up leaders who will take initiative in reaching their campus for Christ this coming semester and next year.

We are not sure what is in store for us in 2017, but we expect there to be more changes and transitions; especially in our family life as we journey through foster care!  We continue to trust God to lead and guide us.

It seems like a long time since we have seen most of you! That's kind of a side effect of living in the middle of nowhere Eastern Montana. :-) Even if we haven’t seen you (or talked to you) in a while, please know that we love you, miss you and pray for many of you regularly.

God’s blessings to you in 2017! We hope the new year is filled with joy in your heart and that your hope is in Jesus our Lord!

Much love,
Joe and Daneen Peterson

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Christmas Update 2015

A new chapter in our life began on June 30 when we moved to Eastern Montana and both started working at Dawson Community College; Daneen as an Enrollment Management Specialist and Joe as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach and Athletic Director. We bought a new house and got a new puppy!

We really enjoy our new hometown of Glendive. It is a town of just 5,000 which actually suits us even better than we thought.  We like that there are only a few options to choose from. We have our two grocery stores, K-Mart, Subway and several locally owned restaurants and shops. It only takes 5-10 minutes to drive anywhere in town and there are frequent events happening and various things to do; plus you get to know people quicker in a smaller setting where you cross paths often. We also love that Makoshika State Park is right in Glendive which has great hiking trails within minutes.

We love our new home (built in 1927) with its big living room, great location and detached 2 car garage! We have plenty of room for visitors and trust God will fill our 3 extra bedrooms with children; in His perfect timing. And we really love our new puppy, Pendo, which means “love” in Kiswahilii. She is a Bishon/Poodle mix. Training her has required a lot of time, effort and patience, but she brings us so much joy. Her energy makes our home come alive. She loves to play fetch, tug-of-war and would lick our faces 24/7 if we allowed her to.

Joe has enjoyed getting back into the college basketball world, though it has been overwhelming at times. Since starting the job in June, he has hit the ground running with recruiting, scheduling, scouting, training, practice, involving the players in the community, overseeing their academic progress and much more. The team is 6-8 (win-loss) on the season and have been a good group of guys to work with. With a new coach, a new system and 10 new players, it has been a big transition, but the team is improving and ready to start conference in early January. Many people around town have frequently mentioned how excited they are that he has taken on this job and how great it is to have “Little Joe” back at Dawson.

Daneen has done a great job in her new role in Enrollment at the college; organizing Orientation, sending out weekly emails to the students, managing the front office and social media, initiating an Adopt-A-Buc program to match students with host families, and recruiting new students for next year. The traveling required for recruiting has been a huge challenge; though she enjoys interacting with the students and working in the college environment. 

We have also enjoyed reviving the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on campus. Our college only has about 125 students living on campus and 200 students overall, yet around 12-15 students attend each week for worship and to hear God’s Word. Once a month we have a meal as an outreach and around 30-50 students attend and often stay for the guest speaker. We are thankful for the great support from a few local churches in providing the monthly meals. We have no idea of all that God is doing on campus through IV, but we know that believers are being challenged to grow in their faith and others are hearing the Word.

We are excited about what God has done in our lives and what He is going to do in and through us in Glendive.

Merry Christmas!
We wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope that you enjoy special memories with friends and family. We pray that you take time to reflect on the greatest gift of all; God sending His Son for us!

New Contact Info
Our new address:
613 N. Kendrick Ave
Glendive, MT 59330

Prayer Requests

1. Wisdom as Joe leads the basketball program; to build it with a foundation based on effort, attitude and teamwork. And to impact each of his players in a positive way.  
2. For God to bless us with children in His perfect timing.
3. For Daneen’s health to continue to improve, and for complete and total physical healing.
4. For the leadership of CGA and Suba Lakers to continue to step up; and for lives to continue to be transformed in Mbita, Kenya.

Glendive, Montana

Located in eastern Montana, nestled between rolling hills and badlands, Glendive is home to approximately 5,000 people. The town was originally established when the transcontinental railway was built through the northern tier of the western U.S. The railway is still a primary contributor to the local economy; mostly transporting coal and oil. The area is world-renown for it's dinosaur fossils. Glendive is home of the Foundation Advancing Creation Truth which runs the Dinosaur and Fossil Museum; which presents the truth of God's Word using the latest dinosaur and fossil exhibits. Paddle fishing in the Yellowstone River brings nearly 3,000 fisherman a year to Glendive. One of the world's finest delicacies, Yellowstone Caviar, is produced in Glendive as a product of the paddlefish. 

View from airport; Glendive town (in distance) surrounded by badlands

Main Street

Historic Bell Street Bridge

BNSF railway transporting coal

Makoshika State Park, Montana's Largest State Park

Makoshika State Park

Makoshika State Park, nearing sunset

Dawson Community College

Dawson Community College is a public community college established in 1940.  It's nestled between the banks of the Yellowstone River, Makoshika State Park and the city of Glendive, MT.
Mission: Provide affordable and open access to quality teaching and learning. 
Mascot: Bucky the Buccaneer 
Intercollegiate Sports (NJCAA): Men's & Women's Basketball, Baseball, Softball and Rodeo
Student/Faculty Ratio: 11:1

Main Hall and Administration Offices

Toepke Center (gymnasium)

Gymnasium 

Gymnasium lobby

Ullman Center; classrooms 

View from gym patio overlooking the dorms

View from campus

Making Decisions

A year and a half ago we made the decision to complete our commitment of serving in Kenya and return to America for the next season of our lives.  After making that decision, we would often wonder what we would do back in America.  Living overseas for 11 years made me [Joe] question my ability to get a job when I come back home.  We knew we both had immense and diverse knowledge, abilities, skills and experiences; yet we weren’t sure how that would translate to a job in the U.S. Whenever I had those doubts, I had to turn them over to God and remember that He is in control of my life, not me. Walking in faith always requires trusting the Lord to direct and provide!

Another step of faith occurred when we felt God’s leading to take a 3 month Sabbatical at the beginning of 2015 to take time to rest, recover, reflect and refocus as we transition back to life in America. This was a chance to refresh our souls! The idea of a Sabbatical didn’t make sense to us.  We thought we needed to find a job immediately and begin making money right away. That’s what everyone does—it’s how the world works! But we know that following God does not always look like what everyone else is doing and we are challenged to not follow the ways of this world (Rom 12:2).  Out of obedience, we set aside those three months. This was not an easy thing to do. We had no idea where or how we would find a job, live or provide for ourselves after our Sabbatical.  Again, we handed those doubts and fears to God and reminded ourselves constantly that He is in control! He knows what the future holds and sees the big picture while we see only a limited perspective.  We had a wonderful, restful, reflective and rejuvenating time during our Sabbatical.  In retrospect, it was much needed and we can’t imagine having jumped straight into work and normal life in America. We are immensely grateful for such a gift from the Lord and for all the ways He provided and cared for us during that time!

As we began searching for jobs (in late April), God proved himself faithful in our lives once again.  He provided several different opportunities in various fields and different parts of the country.  The job searching process is very tedious and tiresome; making calls, sending out emails, filling out applications, making different cover letters, adapting your resume and preparing for interviews.  It can be a roller coaster of emotions that changes from day to day, and sometimes hour to hour.  We were primarily seeking out opportunities for full-time work for Joe, yet Daneen had an integral part in the process.  She continually advised, edited and reviewed Joe’s job application materials and even performed mock interviews for him (she was much tougher than the real interviewers)! We make a great team!

The opportunities narrowed down to two job offers.  

#1 Dean of Athletics and Activities at a Charter School in Longmont, Colorado 
#2 College Basketball Head Coach in Glendive, Montana.  

Since we are currently living in Longmont, that job seemed to be the easier choice.  It would be ideal to stay in a place where we have established friends who we love and people who are like family. It provided a good salary and we love our church, along with the wonderful Colorado weather, mountains and a plethora of activities.  The Glendive offer had a lot more unknowns; it felt a bit riskier to move to a small town in Eastern Montana where we would need to endure colder winters and didn’t already have a large network of close friends and community.    

After multiple interviews and many interactions with both jobs, we ultimately felt more excitement and peace about the opportunity to work at the college in Montana.  There are many ways we see God moving in the small town of Glendive and within the college, and that excites us.  It was a very tough decision to make.  Through much prayer, wise consultation and a lot of faith... we know this is the direction God is leading us.  

In the end, we were both in total agreement that we wanted to follow God’s guidance and trust Him to provide for all the unknowns. We’re excited about our next adventure!