It's June 2nd today... it doesn't feel like it's June. The temps have been in the low to mid 60's and the sun hasn't been shining for often lately. I hear it supposed to be a fabulous weekend, but then rain and cooler temps next week. Doesn't Oregon know that it's supposed to be SUMMER!?!?!
Thankfully I will be able to experience a little bit of warmer temperatures in a week and a half when I go back to Michigan for a long weekend. I will be arriving in the evening on Thursday, June 9th and staying until Monday morning, June 13th. Shane and the kiddos will not be traveling with me as the ticket prices are so expensive and the time I am able to spend at home is so short. I am happy to be able to witness by brother (Scott) getting married. I am excited to visit with my friends and family and I am REALLY excited to see the sun! :-)
So much has happened since we've moved to YWAM, but it's so hard to find the time to write about everything. I also find it hard to find the words to describe all that has happened. One word that could sum up my entire last year would be "transition". I, personally, feel like I am in a constant state of transition. It's not a bad thing by any means, but it definitely keeps you busy. When we arrived to the YWAM base, we were transitioning to living in community (we share one ranch-style house with 2 other families), transitioning from living away from our family and friends, and transitioning into our new roles here on base. Elijah and I transitioned from homeschooling to sending him to the local elementary school. Shane and I have worked in a few areas here on base for the past few months and am now transitioning into the Crossroads school. We were unable to live in our home for a few weeks as we had a serious mold issue in our dining room and had to transition to living in the dorms. Thankfully, we are now back in our home. We received a new kitchen this past week, so we have lived in a state of transition again as we have had no sink, stove, microwave, etc to use and have eaten all of our meals at the cafeteria. We are excited about our transition into Crossroads. We have 9 students and 10 children coming this summer! My kids are excited about meeting some new friends. We have been praying for our students and planning our school for the past 2 weeks. Every Friday evening we have gone to our director's house to play games and fellowship. I love my fellow staff members. God has blessed our school with a great group of people.
We are excited about having Shane's Mom visit us the first week of July and my parent's coming at the end of July and the first 2 weeks of August. We are planning to go back to Michigan sometime in December and stay for a few weeks. We are planning to homeschool the kids after we return from outreach, so it will work out well for us to stay in Michigan for an extended period of time.
For those of you who know about Romio, I wanted to let you know that he is okay but needs to move asap. Please continue to pray for him as he is in need of a more permanent place to live that is in a safer area. For those of you who don't know, Romio (our orphan friend in Jamaica) had his life threatened and a ransom call was made to Shane and I saying that if we did not send them money, that they would kill Romio. It's a really long story, but Romio was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a very surreal and traumatic experience for Shane and I (I can only imagine how Romio felt) and we could also use your prayers. We have already witnessed God's amazing grace and felt an unexplainable peace that only He could give us. Thank you to everyone who has been praying.
As far as my kiddos... they are doing well. Elijah had some bullying issues at school, but thankfully, they have stopped. While Elijah loves his teacher and is really enjoying first grade, we have decided to homeschool both kids next year because of our crazy schedule. We will be co-leading outreach from Sept-Nov and then we would like to take an extended break and come home for several weeks in December. Obviously no child can miss the entire first semester of school and keep up with everyone else in class, so we applied and were approved as missionaries with BJU (Bob Jones University) and will use their DVD homeschool program. The kids are actually excited about homeschooling (Eli wants a shorter school day. lol), so I'm praying it goes well. I never thought I would homeschool... I have extremely little patience when it comes to teaching school, but God is working on me. haha. :-)
Shane and I are doing well. Shane is applying for an Oregon drivers license tomorrow as his bday is this Sunday (June 5th) and our license plate and tabs expire. He has to retake the written portion of the test, so pray that he passes it with no problem. You'd be surprised at the various difference each state has (speed limits, bike rules, etc). It's not really a "common sense" test... it's a "do you know Oregon" kind of test. Dumb (if you ask me). Anyway - he's studying for it as we speak and would appreciate your prayers. I am heading up the volunteer program here on base, so if you know of anyone who'd like to come spend 1-3 months out here and volunteer, LET ME KNOW. :-)
Love to you all...
Thankfully I will be able to experience a little bit of warmer temperatures in a week and a half when I go back to Michigan for a long weekend. I will be arriving in the evening on Thursday, June 9th and staying until Monday morning, June 13th. Shane and the kiddos will not be traveling with me as the ticket prices are so expensive and the time I am able to spend at home is so short. I am happy to be able to witness by brother (Scott) getting married. I am excited to visit with my friends and family and I am REALLY excited to see the sun! :-)
So much has happened since we've moved to YWAM, but it's so hard to find the time to write about everything. I also find it hard to find the words to describe all that has happened. One word that could sum up my entire last year would be "transition". I, personally, feel like I am in a constant state of transition. It's not a bad thing by any means, but it definitely keeps you busy. When we arrived to the YWAM base, we were transitioning to living in community (we share one ranch-style house with 2 other families), transitioning from living away from our family and friends, and transitioning into our new roles here on base. Elijah and I transitioned from homeschooling to sending him to the local elementary school. Shane and I have worked in a few areas here on base for the past few months and am now transitioning into the Crossroads school. We were unable to live in our home for a few weeks as we had a serious mold issue in our dining room and had to transition to living in the dorms. Thankfully, we are now back in our home. We received a new kitchen this past week, so we have lived in a state of transition again as we have had no sink, stove, microwave, etc to use and have eaten all of our meals at the cafeteria. We are excited about our transition into Crossroads. We have 9 students and 10 children coming this summer! My kids are excited about meeting some new friends. We have been praying for our students and planning our school for the past 2 weeks. Every Friday evening we have gone to our director's house to play games and fellowship. I love my fellow staff members. God has blessed our school with a great group of people.
We are excited about having Shane's Mom visit us the first week of July and my parent's coming at the end of July and the first 2 weeks of August. We are planning to go back to Michigan sometime in December and stay for a few weeks. We are planning to homeschool the kids after we return from outreach, so it will work out well for us to stay in Michigan for an extended period of time.
For those of you who know about Romio, I wanted to let you know that he is okay but needs to move asap. Please continue to pray for him as he is in need of a more permanent place to live that is in a safer area. For those of you who don't know, Romio (our orphan friend in Jamaica) had his life threatened and a ransom call was made to Shane and I saying that if we did not send them money, that they would kill Romio. It's a really long story, but Romio was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a very surreal and traumatic experience for Shane and I (I can only imagine how Romio felt) and we could also use your prayers. We have already witnessed God's amazing grace and felt an unexplainable peace that only He could give us. Thank you to everyone who has been praying.
As far as my kiddos... they are doing well. Elijah had some bullying issues at school, but thankfully, they have stopped. While Elijah loves his teacher and is really enjoying first grade, we have decided to homeschool both kids next year because of our crazy schedule. We will be co-leading outreach from Sept-Nov and then we would like to take an extended break and come home for several weeks in December. Obviously no child can miss the entire first semester of school and keep up with everyone else in class, so we applied and were approved as missionaries with BJU (Bob Jones University) and will use their DVD homeschool program. The kids are actually excited about homeschooling (Eli wants a shorter school day. lol), so I'm praying it goes well. I never thought I would homeschool... I have extremely little patience when it comes to teaching school, but God is working on me. haha. :-)
Shane and I are doing well. Shane is applying for an Oregon drivers license tomorrow as his bday is this Sunday (June 5th) and our license plate and tabs expire. He has to retake the written portion of the test, so pray that he passes it with no problem. You'd be surprised at the various difference each state has (speed limits, bike rules, etc). It's not really a "common sense" test... it's a "do you know Oregon" kind of test. Dumb (if you ask me). Anyway - he's studying for it as we speak and would appreciate your prayers. I am heading up the volunteer program here on base, so if you know of anyone who'd like to come spend 1-3 months out here and volunteer, LET ME KNOW. :-)
Love to you all...
