Amanda is having a baby!

Yes, it’s true. July 24, or thereabouts, Amanda and Chris Biser will welcome Aster into their family. We are very happy for them. Her pregnancy has gone well so far. With the good news comes some unfortunate news. I’ll let Amanda tell you herself:

It is with mixed emotions, yet with firm conviction that I am writing to let you know of my decision to leave full time service with RMI to pursue a new ministry to which God is calling me. After much prayer and deliberation, my husband Chris and I feel strongly that God is calling me to full time motherhood at home.

This decision is not one that we arrived at lightly. My association over the past 10 years with RMI and its many wonderful missionaries and staff has been a significant part of my professional, as well as personal, life. The past year and a half that I have been on staff has been absolutely fantastic. I have been blessed with amazing opportunities to serve the Kingdom of God in ways I never even imagined possible. Getting to be a part of the Hope for Kidz child sponsorship program has been absolutely life changing. Although I am still unsure why God brought me to RMI only to have me leave after such a short period of time (this is something I may never completely understand this side of heaven), I don't regret for a minute my choice to minister to the children of Haiti.

My mother used to tell me growing up that she always viewed her children as "on loan to her from God". We were His, even before we were hers. As I have been in preparation to become a mother for the first time, I have reflected much on my mother's council. God is graciously entrusting me with one of His precious daughters that I might raise her to grow up loving and trusting in Him. In contemplating how we might best raise her to that end, Chris and I decided that the best person to care for our precious daughter, Aster McKinley Biser, during her early childhood years is her mother. As difficult as it is to leave my 2000+ Hope for Kidz "children", I know that I will never look back on my life and regret spending additional time with the special little one He is entrusting to our parental care.

In the year and a half that she was here, she helped RMI gain local exposure, networking with a number of groups. She took over the Hope for Kidz Program and gave it a new look using her talents to create new brochures, posters, profiles, etc. She gave the coordinators new tools to promote the program in their church and held several webinars to train them and answer questions. She also helped significantly in the Communications Department by updating several brochures and creating new ones. She was instrumental in helping with the several of the new RMI videos we now have. She’s encouraged all of us in the office by bringing fresh new ideas, enthusiasm, the skills to help make some of these new things happen and the perspective of a younger generation. We have enjoyed having her sparkling personality in the office and will miss her in many ways.

God has provided someone to take over the Hope for Kidz portion of Amanda’s job – but more of that in our next post!