Update on our family

We are so thankful for all of your prayers for our family. Especially, for Addi's growth and health. We can now say that Adelyn has absolutely NO known health problems -thank the Lord! We do praise God for his grace and answer to prayer. Since Addi was born about 8-9 weeks early, her development will be 8-9 weeks behind a full term baby. Already, she is watching us and recognizing our faces and voices. She smiles and giggles at us (especially her silly daddy!).

Though we are still in the States waiting for medical clearance in order to return to Santo Domingo, we have been very busy. On top of seminary, Anthony has been preaching every Sunday at different churches around Missouri. This has been rewarding for our entire family. We have met some amazing people that love missionaries. Please pray that God will continue to use Anthony to speak to His bride, the church, here in the United States. Pray that the hearers will be open to receive a word from the Lord.

We are hoping to return to the field in late May or early June. Please also pray that God will prepare our family to live overseas again. Our Spanish is rusty and I'm afraid that we've gotten quite comfortable with our spoiled life style here. The good thing is, we are all excited to get back home to the Dominican Republic.

Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers.

"Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause..." Jeremiah 50:34 NIV

New Addition

We wanted to post a picture of our sweet preemie, Adelyn. She came early on November 27th weighing 1.14 Ibs. Many of you have been praying for Addi. We hope to have our blog up and running with news and pictures of our family and ministry very soon.

Currently we are in the States because of our little medical emergency as you can see in the picture. DeNiel had an emergency C-section the day after Thanksgiving. Since Adelyn is still on a small amount of oxygen, we are awaiting our return to the Dominican Republic. Please pray for continued healing and growth for Adelyn. Kylie, Brooklin and Jacob love her to pieces! But, we are all ready to go home to Santo Domingo. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Fun at the Farm

The kids are having a blast at Momo and Poppy's house. They have been playing with their pony "Magic." We are leaving St.James on Sunday the 13th and headed to Nanna & Pappa's house! We will fly out to Costa Rica on July 24th. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!


The goats are behind...wondering when Brooklin and Kylie will ever pet them?!?



Brooklin is so good with Magic.




Jacob is feeling left out, but will have hardly nothing to do with the horses up-close!

You can tell that Kylie is loving this!

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Whooooh!

Well, I'm a little out of breath after this past week and weekend. We have moved most of our furniture out of the house. We also visited Northbridge Baptist Church in Springfield, MO on Sunday. The kids also got to visit with Nanna & Pappa for the weekend. Our days have become very exciting, but I cannot lie, they have also brought somewhat of a heavy heart for me. I am realizing that I will soon leave family, friends, and yes, furniture behind. We have TWO Sundays left at our home church in STJ, MO.

Pray for Anthony and I as we venture on a short trip to Santo Domingo to visit with our fellow missionary friends there. We will actually meet them for the first time and they will give us the tour of the city, office, our apartment that we'll be living in, etc... We want to be safe, of course, but also accomplish whatever the Lord has for us there for that week. Pray for our children while we are away. They will be staying with Momo & Poppy and Nanna & Pappa and Ninni! I'm sure they'll have a blast!

Thanks again for visiting our blog. And thanks for your prayers!!!

Blog?!?

I've spent the last couple of weeks learning how to post pics on the web and what the heck is a BLOG anyway?!? So, I've come a long way. Thanks for taking time to check-in on the Gillen Fam.

Prayer Requests

We are very excited about learning Spanish in Costa Rica. Before we go, there are a few prayer requests that we have. Please pray for:

• Our house to sell right away.
• Peace in our hearts as we go.
• Assimilation into the culture(s).
• A continued passion for the lost.
• Finally, pray that we'll learn the language!

Your prayers are GREATLY appreciated. The purpose of this blog is to keep you informed and to build a prayer support team for us and the Dominicans. So, THANKS!