The Mallaris - 2019

Whatever my God ordains is right

In His love I am abiding

I will be still in all He does

And follow where He is guiding

He is my God, though dark my road

He holds me that I shall not fall

And so to Him I leave it all

It brought so much joy in our hearts to hear from many of you after our Fall 2018 update was published (donkeys ago). Thank you for your encouragement, generous support, and most importantly, for entrusting us with your prayer requests. We are privileged to be praying with you and for you. We have heard of blessings, good news, and provisions; praise be to the Lord! We rejoice with you! Sadly, we also heard of bad news, sickness, even death. Please know that our hearts go out to you, and we continue to uphold you in prayer, knowing He is sovereign and He is in control. May you be comforted and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. We are also praying for patience and God's peace for those still waiting for His answer. Most importantly, we are praying for your salvation. May we know Him more through His Word that our desires will be aligned with His plan for us. We would love to get updates from you and continue to be your prayer partners. "Though He causes grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men." Lamentations 3:32-33

Our family has been through some storms too. God has ordained a tough time for us during the spring of 2019. But He also has blessed us richly with lovingkindness that the trial hasn't seemed so much like one after all. We have experienced the highs of unexpected blessing and the lows of discouraging setbacks. Bryan has entered the seminary on his own accord in 2017, and 2 years later, we were pretty much financially depleted. We prayed for financial provision but what we got was a rent increase. We pleaded and begged the Lord to let us stay in LA until Bryan finishes his program. The thought of moving and starting all over again -- children's insurance, doctors, school, church -- was a lot to process. But God's thoughts and ways are different and far higher than ours. We received random love gifts, scholarship grants, a helper to homeschool the kids, to name a few. Grace Community Church helped us pay our rent for five months, which was the time we needed to finally accept what the Lord has been leading us to. We moved out of our apartment, which was painfully sad, but we were blessed and thankful to have a family in Stockton who welcomed us back. It was a challenging transition having six kids in their hyperactive ages to shepherd. But God's providence is always timely, amazing, and definitely brings peace and comfort to a heavy heart. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation." Psalm 42:5

By the summer, we are blessed to find Quail Lakes Baptist Church led by Pastor Marc Maffucci. The children have easily adjusted to their Sunday School classes. And being around fellow believers worshiping together is truly encouraging. But before we could even get our heads out of the water, persistent waves kept us exhausted. The fall semester has started, Bryan had to drive 300+ miles to seminary and back home on the weekends. He has suffered from kidney stone pains and countless ER visits only to be sent home with a pain reliever. He was scheduled for surgery, only to be recalled due to insurance limitations. He was not granted a scholarship this time; it was pretty tight. But even through the bad, the Lord has been exceedingly kind.

At home, I continue to homeschool Boo and Rafa while the babies are our entertainment and distraction. Most of our days start with sweet good mornings; moments later, it's NO RUNNING! Then, great job, well done, you're a superstar while doing our lessons. A few minutes later, it's FOCUS ON YOUR LESSON! Lunchtime! ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE! I SAID, STOP RUNNING! CLEAN UP! A lot of shushings, a lot of pursed lips, yeah, a lot of ALL CAPS. I've learned that my children aren't excellent listeners, but they are keen observers watching our every move. It's shocking how much they have mirrored my actions. Oh, dear Lord, forgive me, help me, I am not doing very well, not even good at all.

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford

I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee

Oh bless me now my Savior; I come to Thee

We end the day with devotion time. We have started The Torchlighters Heroes of the Faith series, which has been inspiring, and we highly recommend it. We play the theme song and sing along to prepare our hearts before we start the devotion. The Lord be praised for the lives of these martyrs!

Days are long, but years fly by. The children are now ages 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. I pray that we would find every opportunity to present the Gospel to our children, even at their tender age. Heavenly Father, help Bryan and me take care of these blessings and train them to be godly. We are raising future husbands and fathers, and a future wife and a mother. That's a major responsibility that should not be taken lightly. And only by the grace of God, we are able to do it, for apart from Him, we can do nothing.

By winter, the children (except Boo) and I were under the weather. We had two trips to the ER, and most of the children had to be nebulized. We all got well by the grace of God, heading on to the new year. He truly is a gracious Father who hears our prayers and draws near to us.

Thank you for hanging in there with us as we journey this long road. We have made it through another year, proving again how mighty and kind our Lord is. Through the storm, He is with us. Our prayers are being answered so graciously.

Then came 2020.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

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Fall 2018 Home 2020