Something is Coming

Greetings this Holiday Season, 

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday and that your Christmas season is shaping up to be a great one as well. 

Today I wanted to give you all a little update about something I've been working on since our Son Caleb was born. It's a new concept for a book. 

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Here's the story....

Many of you know that My wife and I have been working on a series entitled "Kedoshim: The Untold Journey". The first book in this series is still in the 'in progress' stage but we have a title for the first book. It's called "Kedoshim: The Journey Begins". 

However, this is not the book I wanted to update you about. The book concept I have been working on in recent days is very different. It is pulled from my Devotional Blog...

www.gathering-777-together.blogspot.com.

The night after Caleb was born I woke up in the middle of the night with this idea for a devotional book that combines Letters, Devotionals and Reflections. I have always wanted to do something like this and I am so excited its finally coming together. I have to say the timing was perfect because I had two weeks of paternal leave and Traci's mother was staying with us for quite some time. 

This gave me the time to write the book. It's a pretty simple book to write because a lot of it was already written and posted on my devotional blog. I am very excited about it if you can't tell because I really feel as though God gave me the motivation to write this book because of where I am at in my spiritual life. It also ties really well into another Idea God has given Traci and I that we aren't ready to share just yet. :-).

I have titled this book 'Ahavah' Writings for the Journey. The word 'Ahavah' is a new testament word for Love. Thus making this book 'Love' Writings for the Journey..... Here is the back cover text... Let was know what you think...

   God has taken my life and made it something truly wonderful. Growing up I went through so many things I shouldn't have gone through but every step of the way God was with me. I was blessed beyond what I could ever imagine, not in the way you would guess, but in the way of experiences that I have been able to use to reach others.   

Ahavah' Writings for the Journey is the result of those experiences in my life as well as in the family God has blessed me with. The purpose in sharing these writings with you is simply meant to be a bit of encouragement to all those that read it and to remind us all that our 'Ahavah' (Love) Journey with Christ is indeed a continuous one.    

God's promises are so wonderful and they are always anew. God promises us that he will be faithful to us, all we have to do is trust in Him for guidance. It is my hope that this book will help you, the reader, do so.

Blessings to you all,

Matt

A New Family Update :-)

Hey Everyone,

It has now been just over a year and a half since my wife and I packed up everything and left our home behind to go  forth into the world and serve in the Kingdom.  This marks the longest time we’ve spent in one place since we got married four years ago. 

I can’t believe that it’s been four years. In some ways it feels like only yesterday we were planning our wedding and in other ways it feels like that was a life time ago.  We have been through a whole lot in those four years and I am grateful that I did not have to face those things alone. 

Our little Leyla will be two years old in a couple of months and in just a few more weeks we will have a second child living in our home here in Tucson. It’s so crazy to think that Traci and I are where we are at today. Who would have thought. We have some wonderful new things happening in our lives and God is  truly revealing himself to us in some new and wonderful ways.  I will speak more on this in “A NEW Revelation”.

I can’t say that these revelations have been an easy thing for me to come to realize but we are learning so much about who we are in Christ through everything we experience here in the Desert Southwest.

Monsoon season has been a huge reminder of what we left behind in the Midwest and we truly hope to see our way back there one day. For now though we are continuing our Ahavah Journey and growing closer in our faith as well as in our family. 

For my birthday this summer Traci surprised me with a two night stay at a wonderful Desert Oasis up in the Catalina Mountains called La Posada Lodge and Casitas. We took Leyla and our dog with us and stayed in a really nice Casita (1 bedroom apartment) and spent some time resting as a family and with God. 

It was so restful, I didn’t want to leave and come back to civilization.  I really enjoyed giving that time to just focusing on God and on my Family for once. 

Blessings to all,
Matt, Traci, Leyla & Caleb Elliott

We have some NEWS

Hey Everyone,

It’s been an eventful year indeed. This time last year my family and I had just begun taking this step in our ‘Ahavah Journey’ with Christ as we packed our bags and moved halfway across the country for the ministry. The excitement of moving from Bartlesville, OK to Tucson, AZ has worn off and it seems like time has changed so much more than we could have ever imagined.  We truly have been blessed this year, Praise Jesus!!!

Leyla has grown so much and it seems she is going to turn out more like me than her mother (those that knew me as a kid, know what that means, LOL). I often think to myself, ‘what was life before Leyla?’ While she has grown we have also grown and learned so much more about the Love Christ has for each of us. Because of Leyla I have a deeper understanding of ‘The Father’s Love’ for his people and for his church.  This understanding has lead me to begin writing more which is good for our book and for my song writing hobby. In fact I have just about finished a song I will be titling ‘The Father’s Love.’

In other News, for those of you that haven’t already figured it out, we have some exciting news…

WE’RE EXPECTING A BABY BOY!!!

Caleb Jeremiah will be making his  debut in October if the pregnancy continues to go well. We have already had several appointments and have heard the heart beat a few times already.

We are truly excited about this and the timing will be fantastic, 2 months after this child's arrival our little Leyla will be turning 2 years old. That in itself is a miracle and a blessing.

With that in mind, a while back we discovered that Leyla has a very extreme case of eczema that often makes her itch excessively. We have since found that 100% organic cotton clothing really helps. Her Joy and ours is still very present but we are really praying she will grow out of it.  We don’t want her to have to work though that the rest of her life. Well that’s all for now :-). 

Blessings to all,

Matt, Traci, Leyla & Caleb Elliott

One Year Behind Us

Hello Everyone, 

It's hard to believe but at this point last year my family and I were packing boxes, saying unexpected farewells and taking the biggest leap of faith that God has ever asked us to take, moving here to Tucson AZ. Truly we are blessed to have such a wonderful support system across the country. 

Over the past year there have been many different roller coasters to survive, with adapting to the culture and ministry here. Every coaster we've taken has brought us closer together as a family and as believers in the one true God. Much has been learned and there is still much more to be learned. 

This year has really been an interesting one to say the least and it sure feels like we have been gone longer than a year. It was something new for us to sign a 2nd year lease on our house and we are grateful we were able too, the house God has us living is is so much more than we could have ever imagined.

We do miss many of those we left behind though and pray for you all often. It has been good to learn that some of our friends have moved on themselves, that others have gotten married and that still others have had or will be having more children in the days to come. God really has an interesting way of doing things doesn't. he. I know it's been incredible to see his provision in the lives of our loved ones as well as our own.

In just two weeks we will get the longest vacation that we've ever had since being married, 9 whole days, It seems strange to think we have been in a place long enough to have earned vacation time. We were blessed enough to find plane tickets we could afford and are going to be spending our time in California with Traci's family. 

While we are wishing we could have gone back to the mid-west to see our friends and family their as well, we are excited that we can at least spend some time away for some rest and relaxation with Traci's family. We truly hope to make it to the mid-west  at some point before Leyla turns 2 and we have to buy her a ticket as well, we will have to trust in Gods provision for that. 

Well, I'll leave it at that 

Blessings in Christ, 
Matthew, Traci and Leyla Elliott

Seasons Greetings,

I can’t believe that winter is already here and I have hardly even brought out my jacket. I’ve been trying to keep up with the weather for most of our loved ones and while I’ve always loved winter it is so amazing to be in a desert climate. All my life around this time of the year I’ve had to worry about shoveling snow, scraping ice off the windshield of a car, driving on ice and snow, expensive heating bills and as many of you know, cold hands, LOL. Now being in the desert its barely gotten below 40 degrees. Simply Amazing. 

I don’t pretend to brag about being in a warmer climate because I do really miss the snow and the Christmas tree farms but it is such a different feel to the Holiday season than I have ever been a part of.  

The one thing I’ve enjoyed a lot of this year is being in a house. Since our marriage, Traci and I have only ever been able to decorate for Christmas with a tree and the Christmas village my mother loved so dearly. While we still have those, living in a house has given me the chance to HANG CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. Very few people know this is actually one of my favorite things to do around the holidays. 

As far as life in general, we  are still slowly adapting to the culture here in Tucson. We’ve become more aware of what is around us for entertainment, shopping, groceries and in the wonderful outdoors. There is still so much more to Tucson that we need to get around to visiting but its been a great adventure for the most part. 

Leyla is growing and growing and so is our love for her, as well as our patience. We have really enjoyed seeing the progress that she is making. I’ll save most of that update for Traci’s  corner but let me just say she surprises us more and more each day. 

 Blessings to you all,

Matt, Traci & Leyla

August Update

Hey Everyone,

We thought we would take another opportunity to update those of you who like to hear from us occasionally.

Many days I feel like we’ve been in Arizona so much longer than 5 months, but we are still enjoying this adventure with Christ. It seems that every day we get a little more acquainted with the little bit of Tucson that we see every day. We are learning more and more each day a little more of the reason why we have been placed here for this season of our lives and it is encouraging to see even the smallest glimpse of God’s plan for our time here. 

Life here is a bit more fast paced than it is in Bartlesville and while we miss that, we are adapting to a faster pace of doing things. Culture here in Tucson is vastly different as it is a big melting pot of different cultures. It seems that finding a balance between them all is going to  take more time than we would like, but all in all I think we are doing well.

One cultural aspect that comes to mind is the way people drive here compared to Bartlesville. It is actually quite funny, let me explain. Back in B’ville, Traci would often ask me to slow down when I'm driving so we wouldn’t get a speeding ticket. 

Here, there is an unspoken rule that many of the drivers follow that says you can drive up to 10 miles over the speed limit with out getting pulled over. Let me tell you, people really take advantage of this unspoken rule. Don’t get me wrong, Traci still tells me to slow down sometimes but there are times when if we don’t speed up at least a few miles we will get dirty looks from fellow drivers. Even though Tucson has over 1 million people that live here, there are no interstates in city limits, making driving a bit more difficult.

Well,  that’s all for now :-)

 Blessings to you all,

Matt, Traci & Leyla