Support Goals

Many of you have asked how we are coming on our support targets for our outgoing expenses and our monthly support. The answer we both consistenly give is "God is good!" We have seen Him provide in ways that amaze us daily. It is a very humbling process and one that continues to build our faith in so many ways. It does make us reflect on Matthew 6:25-27 - "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

What an awesome God we serve! He knows all of our needs and provides abundantly. In Isahiah 58:11, it says, "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

I know that still doesn't answer your direct questions of where exaclty we are in the process, so I have summed it up below. I have also found an online tool that allows us to plug in our support targets. If you will scroll down the page, you will see both our "Outgoing Support Goals" and our "Monthly Support Goals" on the right hand side. We will update this monthly with new amounts as support comes in.

Very briefly, we are currently at about 86% of our outgoing support and about 33% of our monthly support. To still be a over a year from our departure date and be this far along is so encouraging to us. We are excited to see how He continues to provide as we get closer to saying goodbye. As always, thanks for your faithful support! We couldn't be doing this without each of you.

Sickness - Part 2

Okay - I'll admit my frustration! I can't seem to shake this sickness. Ever since we have been back from San Diego (back in July), I have been sick at some point during each week. Now, I have this head congestion that has been hanging on for over a week. I'm not one to be held back by your everyday common cold, but it frustrates me. It affects me just enough that I don't feel like biking in the mornings which leads to me feeling very lazy when it comes to exercise. I come home in the evenings and get irritated that I feel so tired. I try to not let it affect me and try to go about my life as if I'm feeling fine. However, that only leads to me feeling more tired once I slow down enough.

I wish there was some deep spiritual lesson I was learning from this. If there is, I'm not thinking clearly enough to recognize it. The only thing I see that I'm learning from it, is that my time with Him is of the utmost importance. Even though I wake up with the same congestion I went to sleep with, I still find that I am getting up and getting in the Word and maintaining that consistency. That has been encouraging.

Please pray that this will pass. Pray that we will have a season of sickness free living within our house. With a 4 and 7 year old it makes it very easy to pass stuff around - you parents know the revolving door of sickeness I'm talking about. Jill has threatened me with having to go the doctor if this stuff hangs around another week. Those of you who know me, know how unappealing that option is to me. Pray that I will clear this stuff out of my system - or at least that I can fake feeling better well enough to convince Jill it is gone.

Love ya'll and appreciate the prayers you lift up on our behalf.

First Days of School

I've said for the past couple of weeks that I'm ready for school to start, and now that it has I'm not sure what to do. Dara started 2nd grade on August 22nd. She is quite independent (most of the time), is back among her friends, and comes home to tell us who likes who and who was chasing who at recess. It's fun.

Dade's not quite as independent, but he's getting there. I just returned home from dropping him off at preschool for the first time. I was allowed to walk him to his classroom, but not into it. As we walked down the long church corridor, Dade's steps got slower and slower and he got more quiet. All morning he has been asking me, "What if I forget where my cubbie is?" I reassured him many times that the teacher will help him, and I walked away from his room, I so badly wanted to stay and watch to see if he made it to the correct cubbie. But for fear that he might turn back, see me, and have a harder time - I walked away.

For my therapy, I need to say a little more about my experience that I'm sure many of you can relate to. Dara did the same thing to me, but somehow I still wasn't prepared. It's the way Dade let go of my hand as he walked into his new room. He had been holding my hand pretty tightly, and then we were next to go in. You could almost feel him take a deep breath to steady himself. There was no eye contact, no last hug, no leaning into my leg for support, not even a glance in my direction. He just let go. He didn't take his teacher's hand that was offered him. He was looking straight ahead to what he had to do next. He was heading for his cubbie. Now that I write this I wish that I had stayed to see what happened. There was just no safe place to hide and observe. They really need those two-way mirrors like they have on Law & Order! I'll have to wait until 2:15 to know all the details, and sadly I'll probably never know. How much information will I truly get from a 4 year old boy?

I'm so glad that Dade is God's child more than he is mine. What a comfort to know that the God of the universe is watching over my kids. What a privilege to rest in Him. For me, I am glad that these first days are over. Now my question is, "What do I do?"

Sickness

This is how the few weeks have been since getting back from California. I (Joel) fought some type of sickness for a couple of weeks. During this same time, Dara left for a 10 day trip with Jill's parents. She had a great time with her Aunt Coco and with her Gramma and Poppa, but came home completely exhausted. I recovered and the kids left again for a three day trip to San Antonio with my parents. Dade got some kind of virus while gone and came home running a high fever and not able to keep anything down. We went through two days of helping him recover only to have Dara spike a high fever about the time Dade's fever broke. Dara was in bed through much of the weekend trying to recover only to wake up early this morning with an ear infection.

All of the sickness has made me reflect on several things...

...In Africa, there will be sickness all around us - the sickness of not knowing the saving grace of our Lord. We turn to medicine for our physical infirmities when we get sick. The kids look to us to provide medicine and comfort to make them feel better. In the same way, the people of Tanzania will look to us to provide the medicine they need to heal their spiritual infirmities with the message of the Gospel. We will be able to comfort them with the Word of God and intercede for them with prayers lifted to the Almighty!

...Last night we left the kids with my parents while we went to a Night of Worship at our church. We both needed that time to sit in His presence and worship Him. It left us reflecting on what worship will look like in Africa. Will we have music or will we worship from the depths of our souls? We were challenged to find new ways to worship him - through creation and His works throughout our days.

...During sickness we tend to put God on the backburner. It is so easy to sleep a little longer when we just don't feel like getting out of bed. How selfish I feel, when I think that during the time I need healing the most, I neglect my personal time with Him. As I spent time in His presence this morning, I was so grateful and humbled that I serve a God who is there even when we are not. It's like that story I've heard many times - He is there waiting for me to rise early and spend time with Him. If it's two days or two weeks, He is still waiting and wanting my time. What a loving Creator we serve!

I know these are random thoughts - just thought I'd share what God is showing us.

Dara's Baptism

On July 22nd, Dara was baptized in our backyard. Family and friends gathered to celebrate with us.

God is good!