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The Thomas Newsletter
"Serving together since 2016..."
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We are getting close to the end of the year. As difficult as 2020 has been for many people, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, let us be more intentional than ever to reflect on the things that we are thankful for. I am thankful for so much, but I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to serve in Panama. We moved one year ago on October 16, 2019, while in my third trimester of pregnancy. As hard as it has been at times, my reliance, strength, and maturity in the Lord has only grown. I am also grateful for my family but especially for my best friend and husband, Stephen, who has been an incredible partner to walk this journey of life together with. And I am grateful for Noah, of course, who has been such a bright light and joy in our lives during this time.
At the end of September, we returned from Texas to Panama, where we had to do a two-week mandatory quarantine. It was not fun going from what felt like complete freedom in the USA to little freedom since we could not leave our home for those two weeks. Regardless, it gave us a chance to readjust Noah’s schedule from all the traveling and get back into the swing of things. Since then, we have been focused on working on all our paperwork for the ministry.
Later this month, we will be going to Costa Rica to renew my residency (aka my green card). I received my residency a few years ago but have had to renew it every year. After much discussion with Stephen, even though we live in Panama full-time now, we decided to continue to keep my residency status up to date. The process to get approved was complicated, expensive, and long; however, it does not require as much work to keep the status updated. We will also get to see Stephen’s parents, who will finally get to spend some quality time with their grandson since they have not seen him since he was 1 month old. Also, it will be nice to celebrate Thanksgiving with them this year. Lastly, we plan on having some meetings with Project Bethany (the single mothers’ ministry my in-laws started at the Abraham Project) staff to discuss details for our ministry.
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We are so grateful that the Project Bethany team has helped us over the last several months, reviewing all our paperwork and making sure everything is in order. We will be looking over different materials (for example, possible finance workbooks to go over with families and much more) they plan on using in their ministry that we could potentially implement in ours.
After our quick trip to Costa Rica, we will return to Panama for a few days. Then we will travel to the US for a fundraising trip followed up with some family time in Texas to celebrate Christmas there. We will be traveling to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my family there. We are looking forward to these times with family since we had to experience not only no family face-to-face interaction but hardly any interaction with others during the 6 months of extreme quarantine measures we experienced in Panama. Nevertheless, the Lord is always faithful and so good!
On a different note, our baby boy continues to shoot up right before our eyes. Our social butterfly is a little talker who loves to hear himself babble away. Also, his smile just got a little fuller with 2 more teeth and another one coming soon, thus making it almost a grand total of 5 little teeth!! As an early Christmas gift from us, mommy and daddy, Noah got a push toy to help promote walking and some fun. He absolutely loves it, and he will be walking on his own in no time. We cannot believe he is 10 months old already!
On behalf of us, the Thomas family, THANK YOU for your incredible support through prayers and/or financial support. The Lord has used you to be such an encouragement to our little family. We pray for you and your family often. We hope that this year has drawn you much closer to God. May the Lord bless your 2021 with so much peace, love, and joy.
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If you would like to financially partner with us, there's 2,
tax-deductible options:
1. PayPal: Click "Donate" for a one-time gift or subscribe for continued support.
2. Mail: Send a check payable to
'Thomas Missions' to:
Visions Made Viable
17595 Harvard Ave.
Suite C235
Irvine, CA 92614
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If you would like to financially partner with the
Abraham Project Panama (APP),
there's 2, tax-deductible options:
1. PayPal: Click "Donate" for a one-time gift or subscribe for monthly support.
2. Mail: Send a check payable to 'Abraham Project, Inc.' with
Panama in the memo section to:
Abraham Project, Inc.
7904 N. 19th St.
McAllen, TX 78504 |
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Noah has 5 baby teeth already!!!
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Family photo with Noah’s first Christmas gift from Mommy and Daddy! Also, on Sunday, November 15, is Stephen’s birthday! He will be turning 33 days young!
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On November 11, my grandfather (who I called Welito), my mother's dad, passed away that evening. He was 89 years old. I loved him dearly and have so many fond, happy memories with him throughout my childhood up until now in adulthood. I am grateful he was able to meet his great-grandson, Noah, in September when we visited my family in Texas. He will be dearly missed but he is finally at peace with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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May the Lord bless you and keep you,
Stephen, Kendra, & Noah Thomas
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