News from the Byrne
family - Christmas 2010
Milestones Since we wrote to you
last year we have two new members in our family! Mikayla Joy
Porterfield was born to Jason and Laura on December 18th, 2009. “Mika”
is an answer to prayer and a joy to our family. We love being
grandparents, even though at times it is hard to have our only
grandchild on the other side of the world. We’re thankful for the
technology that allows us to enjoy free video calls with all of our
faraway family members. Last night we were playing peek-a-boo
with Mika via skype (technically, I guess we were playing “BAH” – the
Indonesian version of peek-a-boo that Mika plays).
Our daughter Sara experienced several milestones during the month of
May – she graduated from Southern Nazarene University, left the
following day for her fourth trip to the NAIA National Tennis
Championships, and returned just in time to make final preparations for
her wedding! Sara and Eric Hopkins were married in a beautiful
outdoor ceremony on May 30th. It was a joyous day - welcoming
Eric to our family, celebrating with family and friends, and seeing
Sara & Eric’s happiness.
Memories
In addition to the wedding, we had several other family gatherings
this year. In January, shortly after Mikayla was born, we (David,
Joyce, Andrea, Sara & Eric) traveled to Vancouver BC to meet her
(and see her parents, of course!). The 8 of us spent three
wonderful days at a house on the coast enjoying walks on the beach
& through the woods, cooking and eating meals together, relaxing,
and taking turns holding Mika. What a special time! In August,
David, Joyce Sara and Eric stopped in Aguascalientes to spend some time
with Andrea on our way to a conference in Mexico City. We got a taste
of Andrea’s ministry activities while participating in Bible studies,
services, and outreach projects, and also had time for some fun things,
like playing tennis and fronton with Andrea and her boyfriend, Aris,
going for picnics in the park, and shopping in the outdoor markets. The
time passed too quickly! In November we received the good news that Aris had
been granted a visa to visit the United States. He and Andrea drove up
to Friendswood to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us, and we were
also joined by David’s parents, sister, 2 nephews, and niece. We
had perfect weather for things like a day in Galveston playing on the
beach and riding the ferry (Aris’ first time to see the ocean) and an
afternoon seeing the sights of downtown Houston. Aris gave chess
lessons and Spanish lessons to the kids, we taught him to play
pinochle, and of course we enjoyed lots of laughter, great food, and
times of sharing together as a family. We have so much for be thankful
for!
Ministry
Lest you think that we spent the whole year vacationing - we do
continue to keep busy with other responsibilities. David’s work
with the Coalition for Hispanic Ministries has taken him to Colorado,
Kansas, Ohio, Mexico, California, Nevada, Illinois and lots of places
in between. He continues to enjoy the wide variety of tasks that
his work with CHM involves – teaching classes, working with pastors,
consulting with Anglo and Hispanic churches, helping to administrate
conferences – a little of everything. A particular focus this
year has been the issue of immigration. Joyce works full- time as
the administrator at Friendswood Friends Church and has also been
active in the church’s missions program, as well as helping with CHM
and assisting with the finances of several other ministries.
Mourning
Along with the joys of the past year, our lives have been touched
by sadness. Joyce’s brother Craig died unexpectedly in October –
he was only 48 years old. Although Craig had some health issues,
his heart attack and death were such a shock to all of us. We miss him
greatly, and would appreciate your prayers for Craig’s wife Karen and
for Joyce’s Mom.
Moving
All three of our daughters have experienced relocations this
year. The farthest move was made by Jason and Laura, who left in
June to begin their service in the slums of Jakarta, Indonesia with
“Servants" organization. Jason and Laura soon experienced some of
the same kinds of suffering as their neighbors in the slum; everything
from unjust treatment by a dishonest landlord to a bout with dengue
fever that landed Laura in the hospital for a week. They have also been
amazed and deeply touched by the compassion and generosity of their
neighbors. Their main focus for now is learning the language and
culture of Indonesia. Sara and Eric both lived in Oklahoma City
for 4 years while attending SNU, but much to our delight they made the
decision to move to the Houston area after their wedding. It has
been a joy to have them living only a few minutes away from us, and to
be able to get together on the spur of the moment for dinner or a game
of tennis. Eric plans to begin law school next fall, so depending
on where he ends up this may be just a brief interlude of having one of
our daughters and sons-in-law nearby, but we are enjoying every moment
of it!
Andrea has an apartment in Aguascalientes, Mexico that she absolutely
loves, but her landlady needs to move back in herself for health
reasons and has asked that Andrea find another place as soon as
possible. So she has been house hunting in between her busy
schedule of ministry responsibilities with EFM and writing papers for
her Masters program at Fuller Seminary. She expects to move before
Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
We pray for God’s special blessing on you and your loved ones as
you celebrate Christ’s birth and begin a new year. Please let us
know how you are doing and how we can pray for you!
Love,
David and Joyce Byrne
15727
Bougainvilla Lane Friendswood, TX 77546
281-992-9810
Email: joycebyrne@gmail.com ;
david@institutoalma.org
