Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to our friends and family across the country!

We are so thankful for how God is continuing to provide for us in new ways and we could not be more thankful for the wonderful friends and family He has given us.

This year we are celebrating Christmas in Idaho! Benj's parents arrived this past week and will be with us and Nathanael, Shannon and the babies through January! So, needless to say, its a full house and we are loving it. We are missing my family very much, especially this time of year, but I am excited that I will get to see my sister and her family in February as I will get to travel to Dallas to see them and my parents too! God is so good and I am so thankful that He has already provided so much so that I could go see them!

As an early Christmas present, Nathanael and Shannon sent us away this past weekend! We were able to get away for a couple of nights up in the mountains in McCall, ID. It was so beautiful and even though there wasn't much snow to play in or go skiing, we took a long hike in the snow around the most amazing lake and loved the time together! Here are a few pictures and we are looking forward to posting more pictures of what we know will be a wonderful Christmas!

Praying you have a very Merry Christmas,
Steph (and Benj)

More Great Books.....

I just wanted to post some more of the books we are reading! I would encourage you all to get a hold of these and let us know your thoughts too! We are continuing to learn more and more about Missional Communities and church planting and want to take the opportunity to share with you what we are learning from!

Building a Discipling Culture--Mike Breen and Steve Cockram


Covenant and Kingdom--Mike Breen



...and yes, I'm still reading Faith of Leap--Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch! With school still going (and thankfully almost done, it's been hard to finish it but so far is an excellent read for anyone who calls themselves a Christ-Follower!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We are missing much of our family during this time but also so thankful to be around people we love! We are staying put in Idaho for the holidays and we could not be more thankful to be spending it with Nat, Shan and the kidos! It's been nice having a couple of days off together and really looking forward to some great food tomorrow!

We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and thanking God for how He constantly provides! We are seeing every step of the way that He has orchestrated all the details in us being here to learn and grow and prepare for what He has for us in our family and ministry. Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers and we pray that God blesses you and your family as well!

Have a great Turkey day!
Benj and Steph

Time to Explore...

We did some exploring on Sunday after church!
We went up to Bogus Basin, but didn't quite make it. The roads started to get bad so we decided to drive as far as we could then headed back down.







We had a little bit of snow at home, but nothing to stick. The snow right now is all in the mountains and we were glad to see the beautiful sights!

The Cold Has Arrived!

Happy November Everyone!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while! We are in full swing with our jobs and life in the Litter home. Benj returned home last Monday from being on the road for a few weeks with work, and is home this week as well! It is such a blessing as we remember and are in awe of how God provided such amazing jobs for us and the ability to do those jobs well. We continue to love being around Nathanael, Shannon, and the kids, and are blessed by having them in our lives to grow with and bless as we live here with them. We are so thankful to be able to get rid of so much of our school debt and save too!

Along with getting used to work and our new lives here in Idaho, we are also adjusting to the cold! The frost is beginning to show up on our cars each morning and we are in full use of our warmer clothing! We are still trying to build our winter wardrobe as most of our clothes in Florida would just not cut it! While we loved the warm weather, there's just something about feeling and seeing the seasons change. We love seeing the mountains on our way to work every day and love seeing the changing leaves and we are amazed at how beautiful God's creation is each new day. Here's a picture when we were driving into downtown Boise!



We will do our best to post some more pictures soon and we will also be sending out our newsletter and prayer calendar this evening! Please email us at thelitters@gmail.com if you would like to be added to our mailing list or if you have anything we can be praying about for you and your families.

Here's one of the airports Benj was based in. It's exciting that he gets to see different parts of the country through his job!

Risk and Adventure Article

Risk and Adventure Article by Alex Absalom

Home Sweet Home

We are officially in our new home for the next year! We are still settling in and unpacking but we both had a safe trip here and God provided each step of the way! For those of you who don't know we are so blessed to be living with Benj's brother and sister-in-law and their 3 kids! We are also so thankful for Mark, Benj's dad, and Neil, a family friend because they so willingly drove our car across the country for us!

As we left Florida on Sept. 11th, we arrived in Ohio for a visit with family and friends. Though Benj had a short visit of only 5 days, I was so thankful to be able to stay a full 3 weeks! He started work as soon as he got to Idaho. As I traveled this past Thursday, flights were changed around and delayed, but God showed up in so many ways that day! God had some great people for me to talk to on my first flight and smooth flying for the following flights after that!

We are continuing to unpack and get settled, and as Benj continues to learn new things at his job, I will begin work Oct. 10th. I am looking forward to getting back to work and meeting my new coworkers and people from the community. We will also continue to update through newsletters so if you would like to receive our monthly email newsletters please email us at thelitters@gmail.com

We are so thankful for everyone's prayers and encouragement as we begin a new part in our adventure!
Blessings, Steph