Dear Christ Covenant,
We pray you are doing well. We are so very thankful for the love and support we get from the many who receive this update. The past few months have been extremely busy for us as a family. If you didn’t hear, on June 26th, Maggie gave birth to our second child, William Alexander Halbert. He was born at 9:59am local time and weighed 4.09 kilos or 9 pounds. We were extremely blessed to have Emily, a girl from our home church in Atlanta, come and stay about 3 weeks with us. She couldn’t have timed it better. We had been praying that Maggie would have the baby before she left so that we could leave Emma Kate at home with Emily while we were at the hospital with Will and as it turned out, that was the case. We have known Emily since she was 15 and it was a true joy to get to show her around Cape Town, let her see first hand what we are doing, and allow her to love on both our kids. Will is doing well. He just turned a month old and is slowly becoming a little more interactive. Emma Kate absolutely loves her little brother. She likes to give him kisses and “hold” him. She is also learning to deal with sharing the attention she is used to getting but seems to be okay with it all.


The other major event that has happened in the last few months is Summit. Summit is our 6 week internship that Alex organizes and runs. Summit went from the middle of May until the end of June. Actually, it ended on June 24th and Maggie went into labor June 25th. We had been praying that Will would wait until at least the last week of Summit and we are grateful to God for the manner in which he answered that prayer. This Summit we had 6 participants 2 Americans, 2 South Africans, our first Namibian, and our first English participant. What an amazing time it was both for the participants and for the East Mountain community. Summit is designed for the participants to come and get a broad overview of ministry and to gain a better understanding of how God might use them in the future, as well as receive practical training, some theological training, and participate in the life of the East Mountain community. I believe that each of our interns left here encouraged by what they learned and experienced here at East Mountain and if the opportunity were to present itself would desire to return. Our hope is that they each return better equipped for missional service and should the Lord lead them back to us we would welcome them. For us, the stand out moments during the whole program were the meals we were able to share with them. When that many cultures and languages are represented around the dinner table there is almost never a lack of good conversation.

Although Summit is now over, we are staying busy. The transition to two kids has its own joys and difficulties. Needless to say it is keeping us on our toes and longing for a little more sleep. Along with his normal East Mountain duties, Alex is also involved in the planning process for 2017 as well as looking at Summit 2017 and how it can be even better.

We also had to say goodbye to Kelsey, a year long intern who was under Alex's leadership and a good friend to the family. We are already missing her here in South Africa, but are excited to see where God leads her next. We can't thank her enough for all the work she did here at East Mountain and the way she loved our family. We were very pleased that Will was born just a few days before she left and she got a chance to hold him. We are continually grateful for the great relationships God gives us as we go even though the goodbyes are tough.

Praise:
•Praise the Lord with us that Summit went well this year. We had been asking for a lot of prayer in this area and are amazed at what God did.
•Praise God that Will was born with no complications and is healthy.
•We are thankful for Emily and her time with us. Praise the Lord she could be here with us.

Prayer:
•We would ask you to pray about Will’s documents. We have applied for his passport and certificate of birth abroad, next we will have to apply for his visa which is a difficult and long process.
•Both Maggie’s and Alex’s parents will be coming to visit and meet Will over the next couple of months. Pray for traveling mercies and that we would be able to make the most of the time they are here in South Africa.