Posted by
Dan and Carole McClelland
Here in Jamaica, God did not forget us! He moved just as mightily in our hearts as He did in South Africa. Here are a few things we got to do when Daddy was serving with the team.
The biggest thing we got to do was Glow Stick Hallelujah parties! Each night, Mommy chose a song that was meaningful to me when I was pregnant with each one of them. I shared a story about each song, why it was so important to me at the time, and a story about how it applied to them in my womb. After sharing a song's meaning that made the song personal to their lives, we worshiped to it and prayed afterwards about the theme. The kids really enjoyed listening to the stories of when Mommy was pregnant with them. A few of Olive's songs were You Make Me Brave, Take Heart, The Stand and Glory to God. Some of Valor's worship songs during his pregnancy were Resurrection, Overcomer, Where I Belong and No Longer Slaves. I love that every time Daddy leaves, we get a season of prayer and worship! And we even got to invite a visiting family on the base in for our last evening.
We started swim lesson again. Valor has been scared to learn how to swim but recently expressed a desire to learn again. It has been fun to start swim lessons again with our favorite coach ever!!!
Friends, friends, and more friends! A week without Daddy gave us the opportunity to spend time with some friends with more space in our schedule. Mommy even got "Mommy time" with another Mom, which was such a blessing.
One of the biggest things the kids have been asking for is play dates with friends. When the team was in South Africa, we were able to have a few; some were during the week Dan was away and some were in the last month.
Parks! The first day Daddy left, Mommy surprised the kiddos with visits to 2 parks in 1 day! We hopped from one to the other (the only two parks we know of in MB). Then we bought special juice as the "icing" on top of a great afternoon.
We were also so blessed to have a family from Canada and a DTS team from Florida serving at the base the same week that Daddy was gone, which made it much more fun! Titus, is 4 years old just like Valor. Titus came to the park one day with us, and the DTS team ran a few kids' camps in which Olive and Valor participated.
We got a beach day!
We even went to the dentist! Both kiddos received a "no cavities" report, so they got to pick a little toy from Mommy. ( This idea came from another amazing missionary mom, Kimberlee Hershey, from YWAM DC, which encourages good oral habits with less money spent on fillings and procedures.)
Thank you for your prayers for us in Jamaica as Dan traveled to South Africa!
