Every year, we share a personal update all in one letter because many of you have asked. We exclude these from our regular letters because we want to focus on the ministry. We usually send this family update in July but because we will be on our mission trip, we wanted to use July for an update about that.

For me, Joey, because the kids have been taking music lessons, I have had to dust off the old guitar. It’s been a joy to revisit some old worship songs and learn some new ones. Recently our home church had a worship night which I got to participate in. Music is such a great creative outlet overall but especially it’s a great way to glorify the Lord. 

For me, Jenn…this season has been especially a wild one. I am the one handling all our personal packing for the Milan mission trip. Pray for me! But also, in October I switched from being a public librarian to a school librarian. This school happens to be in the inner city of Jersey City. There’s lots of broken kids and families, but I have had the privilege of helping to transform the space and provide tons of new books that the kids are eating up! This is a ministry in itself, which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

As for our oldest, Gianluca (14), he is an 8th grade graduate! We have decided to pursue a high school we feel will have the best support for him. He starts in September 2025! Pray for this transition, as changes can be hard for kids on the autism spectrum. Praise God Gianluca continues to surprise us with how much he understands and communicates. He’s not totally verbal but he gets his point across! He also has continued thriving as an artist and has kept up with bass guitar which he started last year.

Gabriel (12) has really been enjoying his youth group. We are so encouraged to see and hear his maturity come out during family devotions or other times. He has certainly professed faith in Christ and even expressed interest in baptism! Gabriel also is a great student overall and has a decent social life with his classmates. In addition to this, Gabriel also enjoys staying at home and reading a good book. He is such a well rounded kid! 

As for our daughter, Lana (8), her fashion sense has really taken off this last year. Any chance she gets, she is putting lots of fun thought into what she should or shouldn’t wear, which makes the morning routine a little longer than we would like! Thankfully she’s not aging too fast; she loves to play with barbies and hang with mom and dad a ton. She also surprised us this season by being able to roller skate on the first try. That was fun to see in time for a field trip to the local roller skating rink with international students. 

Thank you so much for praying for and following our family’s missionary calling. We are super grateful to the Lord for you!! Pray of course as we prepare for our mission trip to Milan June 25-July 22. We are very excited. Everything is planned, and now, by faith – we take a big breath and will hit the ground running. We are also very grateful for our team from a local church (pictured) where my cousin and her husband serve as leaders. We made a much longer video with all the details for those who are interested. You can watch that HERE.

May God’s will be done!