Fireside

Grab a warm blanket, a good book, and a tall mug of [insert hot beverage of choice] and make your way to the fireplace...if you have one.

It's one of those days here in Sherbrooke! It rained yesterday, snowed most of the night, and rained all morning. Now the windchill is right around 20 degrees thanks to the 40mph winds. Old man winter arrived overnight and is holding on with an iron grip!

But I was reminded (as the snow plow drove by really early this morning!), life moves on. So I got up and met the guys for a Saturday morning prayer breakfast. Thankfully, it was mostly in English. While we are making great progress in French, it is still very difficult to get much out of our French chapels and church services. We can understand many words and phrases, but our brains aren't fast enough to keep up with what's being said.

Two weeks lay between now and our Christmas break. The plan is to spend most of the break in Ohio at my parent's house. Aside from all the scheduled appointments at the doctor, dentist, attorney, family pictures, etc., we will have a blast! My parents and both siblings now live in Ohio, so it will be great to see everyone, and give my brain a rest!

Speaking of progress, a certain little Kaitlyn is already growing up so fast! She's trying to stand, roll over, and has turned into quite the talker. She is always excited when I come home from school...so is mom for that matter.



Our support has climbed a little bit; it's right around 85% now. Please continue to pray that the rest will come in by the summer so that we can leave for Congo on time! Pray that we will finish the semester strong and have a safe trip to Ohio (we are driving)! We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!



*Don't forget to take a look at our latest newsletter here: www.maf.org/konop

Starting Early

Last weekend I did something I haven't done in a l o n g time! Some of our friends here let us in on a little secret that one of the university's here has free ice skating on Sunday afternoons. Of course I was interested right away; I even brought my hockey skates just in case there were any opportunities to play some hockey while we are up here. Joy didn't have any, but a quick trip to the local thrift store fixed that problem, and we went last Sunday. Most of the time Kaitlyn was bundled up in her snow suit, happily sleeping away. But right before we left, I thought it was appropriate to introduce her to the "coolest" game on earth, and we skated around for a few laps. I even let her feel the ice and stand up on her own. She loved it!



Kaitlyn also really likes bath time--or maybe she just likes to be pampered!



Our French studies are continuing; it seems weird that we only have six weeks of school left before our Christmas break. It's going by so fast. So far we have been healthy, but many of our friends and family have either been sick or are sick. It's been surprisingly balmy here; we've had a lot of rain, but it hasn't really been that cold yet. I have a feeling it's coming though.

Ca roule!

[It's rolling] We've just finished our most recent newsletter, unfortunately I'm not computer savvy enough to get it on here. If you'd like a copy of it, you can email me at ckonop@maf.org and I can send you a copy! You can also find our most recent newsletters on our MAF website at www.maf.org/konop Everything is going well here. Winter is slowing taking over; I think it's supposed to snow for the better part of this coming weekend. We'll see if it decides to stick around for a while this time! Kaitlyn is keeping us plenty busy, along with our studies and required* social events. *That's right, we're "required" to attend at least one social activity each week to help us develop our French communication skills. We're getting sleep whenever we get the opportunity. Even as I'm writing this, I think Kaitlyn is sleeping, so I might go catch a few winks before she wakes up again! We're praying for you!