new year, new semester, new life

Dear Friends and Family,

Three down, one to go:

We have successfully finished our third semester. Only one more to go before we graduate this coming May! This past semester was a challenging one not necessarily because of the workload (though it wasn’t light!); but because of how our thinking and worldview were challenged as we studied through the books of Romans, Hebrews, James, Galatians, Ephesians, and others. Our classes facilitated a lot of examination of our own hearts and actions as we worked through homework assignments and talked to fellow classmates as well as staff. Karalise has really enjoyed being able to be involved in a small group book study that is meant to help you work through both the knowledge and application part of what we are learning here in our second year. “It has really helped me to better understand and apply what I’m learning in class, I’ve really enjoyed the friendships that I’ve made with the 6 other women in my group.”

Please be in prayer for our finances as we are still in major need for this semesters down payment, Malachi has been able to work enough to stay up on our monthly payments but we have not been able to put money away toward next semesters $1,700 down payment or the $400 more of semester fees for our senior semester.

Christmas Break:

We are currently on our Christmas break which will last until January 17^th. So far it has been a time of much needed rest, Karalise has been able to catch up on housework and Malachi has stayed busy with work. We will be staying here at school, in Jackson except for one trip up to Grand Rapids for Christmas and possibly a dentist appointment in Plymouth, IN that had to get postponed because Malachi was sick and missed his last appointment.
We enjoyed being able to celebrate Christmas three different times this past week. The first was with a few friends from our church in Albion who opened their home on Christmas Day and shared their wonderful dinner and fun games with us. The second was with Malachi’s family on the next day and it

was really cool, as all four of his brothers were able to be there. It was a fun day full of re-connecting, lots of yummy food and a nerf-gun war. Our third celebration was the following day and was combined with a birthday party for TJ, Kara’s oldest brother. Her family came, along with a good friend and squeezed into our tiny apartment, again the celebration included another nerf-gun war and lots of food. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with both our families and friends these last few days, but we are also looking forward to just relaxing at our house when Malachi is not working.

We are also excited as Kara’s youngest brother Micah, will be coming and hanging out with us for about a week in January. It will be fun to have him around!

A baby on the way!

Our exciting news, if you haven’t heard yet, is that we are going to be having a baby this summer, the middle of July to be exact! So far Karalise is 12 weeks along and based on the Doctor’s visits and ultra-sounds, both she and our baby are healthy and doing well. Karalise has been having quite a bit of “morning sickness” and all the aches and pains that go with a pregnancy, so please pray that she will soon have some relief. On Kara’s last Doctor’s appointment she was able to hear the baby’s heartbeat, which was super cool! Right now our baby is about the size of a lime.J Her next appointment is January 20^th.

Malachi:

Malachi has stayed busy so far during our Christmas break with work, we are so thankful for his job and that God is meeting our needs in that way. Pray for strength for Malachi as he has been working hard both at work and various odds and ends here at school. He’s also been doing quite a bit of cooking because of Kara’s nausea. His latest was a delicious cheesecake for a friend’s birthday. He has also applied for a second part-time job to go along with the one he already has, as his hours will be decreasing soon. Please pray as he will be attempting to juggle both jobs and still find time to get caught up on late work from last semester.

With love: The Pratts

We are going to have a baby!

In case you haven't heard the news yet, we wanted to let you all know that we are expecting a baby to arrive on the scene somewhere around July 15th!

Right now Kara is 8 weeks along (9 this Saturday) and so the baby is still super tiny, only 1/2 inch long, about the size of a blueberry. So far Kara and the baby both seem healthy, we are very thankful to have been approved for Michigan Medicaid, which will cover all the Doctor's visits, ultra-sound, testing, etc. We also are thankful that we have a Doctor right next door to us, his office is in the hospital, so we are able to just walk over there for our appointments, and will be able to get just about everything done all in the same building.

Last week we had to get an ultrasound done and we got to both hear and see the baby's heartbeat, so that was super cool, and it was encouraging to know that the baby was growing as it should and there didn't seem to be and problems from what the doctors could see.

Please be praying for Kara as the "morning" sickness is lasting all day and she is also having quite a bit of abdominal pain. Because of this, she isn't going to be trying to work over this Christmas break. Please pray for strength for Malachi as he has been continuing to stay busy with school, work, cars, etc, and now he has also been helping with a lot around the house when Kara's sick. He's been pretty exhausted lately.

We do have another exciting thing, Malachi just found out a few nights ago that he has a temporary raise at work for during the Christmas season. He has worked very hard, so its neat to see this raise work out.