Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We've finally hit our winter temperatures here in New England with the thermometer registering ten degrees the other night and some light snowfall. We don't mind too much, though; it's been an unusually warm winter so far.

Last week, our good friend Diane was here with us from California. We enjoyed our time with her very much and were sad to see her go. She and Amy helped one of the girls in our church with wedding preparations--centerpieces, to be exact. Those of you who know Diane know about her creative talents. We had a great time with a lot of laughter. Now, we're trying to convince her to come back for the wedding in June!

We are currently getting ready to go on vacation ourselves, our first family vacation with Grace. Over the summer, Craig Johnson (a TMS grad) and some people from his church in New Hampshire came to the Cape to help us run a week-long VBS program. One of the guys in his church has a cabin on a lake that he is letting us use for the week. It will likely be chilly, but we're looking forward to some family time away. A good book, a cup of coffee, and my favorite people is sounding great....

Gracie Update

Here's an updated picture of Gracie! We just took it this afternoon; she is growing so fast! We're estimating she's about sixteen pounds now; we'll know for sure when we take her to the doctor's in a couple of weeks. She smiles so much now and makes all sorts of little sounds. My favorite is a high-pitched "Woooo!" noise; it sounds like she's going over a hill on a roller coaster! Other than making noises, her other favorite pasttime is pulling her pacifier out of her mouth. Now if we could just teach her to put it back in...

Daily Life

It's been a typical week for the Faustino family. Lou has been busy preparing his sermons, and Amy is busy with caring for Grace. On Friday night, we had our unofficial youth group over our place. This includes Kaitlyn (17), Mark (17), and Joanna (20). We were celebrating Kaitlyn's birthday, and it was a good time of fun and fellowship. We have appreciated the opportunity we've had to get involved in each of their lives. Joanna will be getting married in June, and Mark and Kaitlyn will be off to college or other pursuits in another year and a half, so we're trying to maximize our time with them. We pray that God will bring more young people into the church.

Saturday mornings have an early start for Lou as he leads the men's Bible study at 7 a.m. They are currently reading Disciplines of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes. It is encouraging to see the men attend regularly to learn and grow in godliness.

On Sunday, we celebrated communion, and Lou continued preached on being "Dressed for Success" in Colossians 3 in the morning. We have been studying Colossians since we came here last January, and it has been beneficial to dive deep into this epistle. In the evening, Lou continued preaching out of 1 Thessalonians where he's been for the last few months. Before that, we studied the book of Titus and his ministry on the island of Crete.

Monday is Lou's day off, and we spent part of the day visiting Lou's parents and our niece Madelyn. They live about an hour and a half away from us, "off-Cape" or "over the bridge", as the locals would say. (Cape Cod is technically an island since the Cape Cod Canal separates us from the rest of Massachusetts.) We enjoyed our time with them, and they were glad to see Grace and how she's growing.

On Monday night, Amy led our church's ladies' Bible study. This group meets twice a month, and we are currently reading and discussing Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney. This has been both a convicting and encouraging study. Amy is still getting used to leading it; it's different than teaching kids! The ladies are gracious, though, and we've been encouraged to see most of the ladies in church participate in the study. We pray that God will use it to conform us into His image.

Lou had a deacons' meeting on Tuesday night. The three deacons-Paul, John, and Rich-have been a help to Lou since we first came here. Since there aren't any other elders besides Lou, these men have acted as a sort of advisory board, a checks-and-balances for Lou. Their encouragement and insight has been helpful over the last year. However, we do continue to pray that the Lord would raise up other elders, so that we would have a plurality as the Scriptures teach.

Tonight we have our mid-week Bible study. Since last January, we have studied evangelism, hermeneutics, escatology, and prayer (not exhaustively, of course!). Tonight, Lou's preparing a study on the doctrine of redemption...it should be good! Amy and Grace are the church with him, helping out with some administrative odds and ends since Lou doesn't have a secretary. Grace is great at filing...=)

Tomorrow is Thursday--laundry day for us. Since we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment, Amy goes over to her parents to do the laundry there. This provides an opportunity to spend time with family. On Thursday afternoons, Amy meets with two other ladies and her mom for Scrabble and fellowship. One of these ladies, Nancy, is in her eighties, and she has been a joy for Amy to get to know. The other lady, Cindy, has five grown children and has provided helpful insight for Amy, as has her mom. It has become a sort of Titus 2 time for some of the older ladies in the church to teach the younger, Amy, and not just about the strategies of Scrabble, either!

So, there's a glimpse into our lives! This is ministry life on Cape Cod. It is a challenging place to minister; people sometimes seem as cold as the winters we're know for! Also, it's a vacation spot, so it's teeming with people in the summer and dead in the winter. They say the population actually triples in the summer, and most of the homes here are people's summer homes! In the winter, half the stores and restaurants are "closed for the season," and nothing seems to stay open later than 5 or 6 p.m. It's a bit of an adjustment after living in Los Angeles for almost four years! Nevertheless, we praise God for giving us a place to serve, and pray that He will help us to be faithful to that calling!

2006: The Year in Review

Well, it's been a busy year for the Faustino family, and among our New Year's Resolutions is the goal of keeping up our new blog! By God's grace, we'll do a better job of keeping in touch with everyone.

January 2006: On January 3, 2006, we left California and began our move back to Massachusetts. After three and half years in L.A., Lou had completed seminary, and it was time to head home. God graciously provided Lou with a pastorate at Cape Cod Bible Church in Harwich, Massachusetts. So, shortly after the New Year, we headed east. On the first night, we stopped at the Grand Canyon. We had stopped here on the way out to California three years before, and we wanted to see it again. After good night's sleep and some quick pictures (it was so cold outside!), we were off again. By the second night, we had reached Albuquerque, NM where we stayed with our friend Merrily's parents. This was a blessing as they encouraged us in the Lord in regards to our future ministry.
From there, we went went to Tulsa, OK, where we stayed the night with Jim and Jan Stewart. Jim was the former pastor at CCBC, and they had stayed with us in CA for the Shepherds' Conference a few years earlier. From there we worked our way to Tennessee where we were able to visit with our good friends, the Risers. We were so glad to have some time with them as we had not seen them since they had left California. From there, we made our way to Baltimore and up the coast to Cape Cod. Praise the Lord, we had an unseasonably warm day to move into our new apartment. We had been wondering if we would encounter a blizzard instead!

February 2006: In February, the Lord had a surprise for us! We were going to have a baby! Even though we had been hoping to start a family once we settled in Mass., this was sooner than expected, but a most welcome blessing, nonetheless. Thankfully, the morning sickness hit in full force AFTER the unpacking was completed. Praise the Lord for His grace!
During this month, our good friend Diane also came to visit. We enjoyed our time with her as she helped Amy finish her Christmas shopping. (Our family celebrated Christmas in February since we were in California in December and moving in January).

March 2006: March was a quieter month as we settled into our new routines. God sustained Amy through her first trimester, and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. We continue to be amazed at God's power and handiwork in creating and sustaining this little life!

April 2006: In April, Amy's ninth grade students from California came to visit for their class trip. Amy had been working on this since we left California, and it was wonderful to see all of them, along with Tom and Wayne, the principals from GCS. For a week, we squeezed eight jr. high girls in our little one-bedroom apartment, while Amy's parents hosted the eight boys and Tom and Wayne. It was quite an adventure with trips to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail, ride the Duck Tours, and visit the Museum of Science. We also visited Plymouth, where Amy grew up, and saw the Mayflower and Plimouth Plantation. The group also had fun exploring the Cape and seeing the Atlantic Ocean. We had a wonderful time, and we were sad to see them go at the end of the week.

May 2006: May was a month of traveling. At the beginning of the month, we left the Cape for Puerto Rico with Amy's parents. As a graduation gift to Lou, they were taking us on a cruise in the Carribean. Although the scenery was beautiful, the sea was a bit rough, and we spent several days under the weather, leaving our cabin only for food (which, I might add, was difficult to keep down). Needless to say, cruising will not be our preferred vacation mode. Like Jonah, we were very glad to be back on dry land again.
Shortly after this, we left again, this time headed for California. We were flying back with Lou's mom to attend Lou's graduation from The Master's Seminary. We stayed with our friends, the Modugnos, and enjoyed a blessed time of catching up with our old friends. Amy enjoyed the opportunity to see her students one more time, as well. Praise the Lord for seeing Lou through seminary! It was such a blessing to see him get his degree!

Summer 2006: God continued to sustain Amy through her pregnancy, and we now had some glorious news--we were expecting a girl! Grace was on her way. We had chosen the name Grace on our honeymoon five years earlier, and now, amazingly, she would be here soon!
In August, a group from Christ Community Church in New Hampshire, under the leadership of former TMS grad Craig Johnson, came to help us run a VBS program at the church. We enjoyed some blessed fellowship with them, as five of the guys stayed with us for the week. (Again, God has allowed us to use our little apartment to extend hospitality!) It was such an encouragement to us and to the people at our church to serve alongside them. We hope we might see them again next year!

September 2006: We finished the final preparations before Grace's birth. (Where are we going to fit a crib and all her stuff? Did we wash all of her clothes and blankets?) Her due date, September 25th, came and went and no signs of labor. Amy was getting tired and less and less mobile.

October 2006: On October 1, 2006, at 2:54 a.m., Grace Anne was born! And, of course, she arrived on a Sunday! We had wondered if that would happen, but thankfully, Lou had made arrangements just in case he couldn't preach! She weighed in at 7lb. 12 oz., 20 in. long! We praise God for a safe delivery and a healthy baby! Also, in October, Professor Keith Essex and his wife Louise came to visit. We enjoyed seeing them and hearing Prof. Essex preach on Ezra and Nehemiah in our Sunday services.

November/December 2006: Grace celebrated her first Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family. Grace is the first grandchild and great-grandchild on Amy's side, and everyone is enjoying having a new baby around. We also had the church Christmas party at our place; we had fun fellowshipping and playing games. We enjoy each new day with Grace, watching her grow and change. So far, she has kept her blue eyes (just like Amy's), and she smiles a lot. Recently, she has started laughing and squealing; we love it!