5.21.2007

Happy Birthday and other News...

Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to baby Gage! He's two months old today! Wow! He's got a doctor's appointment this week and of course, I will update then. Speaking of Gage, Mom (Micah) has decided to go to college!!! What a pleasant surprise! I think it must have been on her mind for a while and she saw an advertisement on TV for a local community college. She decided to give them a call and found out as a single mother, she qualifies for all sorts of financial aid. She went to meet with the counselor today and she is set to begin on June 18. She'll train for 8 months as a medical assistant and then in month 7, they will find her a job to start. She already knows her graduation date...February 14, 2008. I can't wait for her to start and see how she likes it. I think it's time that Micah does something for herself. Now that she's a mother, she's going to have to be able to take care of him because it might be the last thing she does for herself! Keep her in your prayers...I think she's going to need it especially getting started. That's always the hardest part.

Thailand
Have you seen the counter lately??? Good grief! I'm leaving in less than 3 weeks! Saturday we had a mandatory cultural training meeting from 9-noon. I'm telling you, it really got me pumped. I was having a little fear about the air portion of the trip, what with it being so long and all, but not now. I'm just excited. I found out my missionary prayer partner's oldest daughter will be in my class and their youngest will be in Rachel's class. I can't wait to meet them! And...here is the most awesome news of all...MY TRIP IS FULLY PAID FOR!!!!! I couldn't believe it when I asked her for the balance. I just figured it was the same amount as two weeks ago when I asked to be sure I sent out all my thank you notes. I praise GOD that He has provided through generous donations of others. Now, we have to get Steve's Moldova trip paid for. He is counting on the sole donations of others for his trip. So far, we have about $100 donated plus the $300 we had to pay in deposit. I think the church anted up $500 in form of a scholarship. So that leaves us still about $1000 to pay...if you haven't donated to me and still want to support, please PLEASE contact me and I can tell you how to support Steve. Trust me, his mission trip will be much harder than mine...he is literally going to a 3rd world country and staying in someone's home to build beds for orphans. Don't let the fact that my trip is paid for discourage you if you were planning to give. Steve didn't send out many support letters because I had already sent them to everyone for my trip when he decided to go on his. And if you can't donate, continue to pray...

Speaking of prayer...
As you pray, please remember our family right now. In the midst of many blessings (which we are so grateful for), there are several stressors weighing heavily on us at the moment. Currently at work, I'm without a manager which puts more work and stress on me, however, it does present a wonderful opportunity for me to post for her manager position. But that in itself is stressful. I'm up against 3 other internal candidates, two of whom I count as good friends. And interviewing is a stressful situation. On Steve's work front, he is very unhappy with his current job. They have changed his duties again to something that is very complicated and requires him to work from 6am to about 5pm. This has a domino effect because he was getting off in time to pick Jenna up from school, so now she's going to aftercare which she hates and she reminds Steve frequently making him feel guilty which just adds to the guilt he already feels. We've had to call all 3 summer camps she's going to this summer to add before care and after care which is upping our costs considerably and that's putting us in a financial strain. I have her birthday party coming up to pay for and it just seems there is more month at the end of the money. I know I am called to trust and have Faith and all this seems to have kicked into high gear after we committed to giving more to the church, but it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Someone mentioned to me today that it is natural for things to go this way right now...we are both just weeks away from going on mission trips and Satan wants to throw everything in our way to keep our focus off what we are being called to do. But when you are in the midst of it, it's not easy to see past the pain and worry. So, as you pray, remember us.

Well, that's about it. I know it's not much of an update, but I figured I couldn't wait much longer to post or else I'd start getting nasty emails! :)

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