Opportunity

Right now, David and I are waiting. Anxiously waiting to be hired on somewhere. And eagerly waiting to see what God has for us next. David says that this is, "An opportunity to extend our faith." I sarcastically reply, "Oh, thank you Lord. As if selling our house, quitting our jobs, and moving our family (with a baby, toddler, and teenager) across the world isn't showing faith and then moving back in only 9 short months." I know that David is right, but it isn't easy. We are trusting and believing the Lord will provide. I know that He is able! God has blessed us with a house. I know that He will bless us with jobs in order to pay for the house. God must have something REALLY wonderful for us because so far every door that we have heard about has been closed. No, every door has been practically slammed in our faces. The kind of slam when you are just far enough behind someone that you don't have time to catch the door. "A day late and a dollar short." Well, the reality is that such an opportunity to extend this kind of faith is our reality right now. So, we persevere. We thank the Lord. And we wait. "For those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. "

Over the River and through the Woods

Two more days before we leave this beautiful Emerald Isle and head to the wonderful land so affectionately none as the Melting Pot. And literally over the river (well ocean) and through the woods (of the great Cajun state of Louisiana). Louisiana might not have the best of reputations, but you know those people can have church. After all, it is the "Bible Belt."

Kyle's daughter Sasha is to be baptized at church tomorrow! To God be the glory. After service in Gilford, we head on down to the Republic to have church in Dublin. It is a work that Brother McFarland has been elected pastor of only in the last couple of months. It sounds like great things are happening there. We are looking forward to be in service with them.

Our wonderful Gillaine is trading Ireland for Indiana in the next week. She has felt the call to go and work there with the homeless ministry. Wow! That is awesome.

Several of the men here in Ireland are heading to Men's conference in Illinois next week. Kyle will be opening the service with his bagpipes. That is really going to be a blessing to the conference.

And with that I leave you the latest in greatest.

4 days to go

We are wrapping up our tenure here in Ireland. We now have only 4 short days to go.

I think that we are pretty much done with all of the major packing and moving out. Now we have only to organize and reorganize our luggage to try and get as much home as we can. It is amazing what you can live without when it comes right down to it. It is also amazing at how much junk you can collect in 9 months time. Yikes! The good thing is that the church is going to have a "boot sale" (aka garage sale) to raise money for a new Sunday school room. Hopefully, they'll make a good bit off of our collection. 'One man's junk is another man's treasure.'

Yesterday, we enjoyed the company of Lynn and Kyle who had us over for lunch. It was so wonderful to visit with them. They are an awesome family. We are really going to miss them!

We had a surprise potluck dinner as our midweek service. We really enjoyed the food and fellowship. I'm glad that it wasn't too much of a production as it would have been hard to refrain from tears. My heart is heavy for the church here in Ireland.

Today, the guys moved everything out of the house except for mattresses. Thanks for you help!

Shawna Mansfield is headed back to Ireland in May. Shawna, we will miss being here with you!

Tomorrow is mine and David's 10 year anniversary. We shall hopefully do something fun. But no definite plans yet.

All the Best!

Belfast

We arrived back in Belfast today. The flights were pretty much smooth. The only problem that we had is that Elayna cried/fussed for probably nearly 4 hours crossing the ocean. The only thing that I can imagine is that her ears must have been hurting her. Poor baby! She has never done that before. We need to start praying now that the trip back will be better.

It is great to see this beautiful country again. There was snow on the ground when we arrived. I asked one of the locals if it was unusual to have snow. She replied, "Oh yeah, we almost never get snow for Christmas. It only snows in Feb., March, and April." Whew! What a big reminder of our communication differences. I don't understand how you can speak the same language as someone else but still not be able to communicate! I mean, if you study that conversation, where did I go wrong? I just don't get it. Oh well. It is laughable though.

We are also very happy to see the McFarland's again. They are doing well. Sister Mac is feeling much better. She hasn't had any signs of a blood clot. We are believing that it is finally completely gone. Thank you Jesus!

We had kind of forgotten just how "at home" we feel here. We certainly will find ourselves "homesick" when we return to the states.

I should really be sleeping right about now. This blog might not even make sense! So, I'll post more later.

Going back to Ireland

We are getting ready to set sail for Ireland again tomorrow. My surrogate brother, Bradley, and his wife, Jaime, are coming with us. They already had this trip planned before we made the decision to come back to America a few weeks early. It is going to be great having them there with us.

On that note, we are really going to have a hard time leaving Ireland when it come right down to boarding that plane for our final departure for this season of our lives. We absolutely love Ireland and are going to miss so much about working for God's kingdom there.

Meanwhile, we have been trying to setup house again here in Louisiana. This is not an easy thing to do with no job. David has been searching diligently for a job. Things almost fell into place for him to get a job with his previous employer, but for some reason it didn't work out. Yikes! We are praying for God to send that perfect job for him. In the mean time, he is getting certified to be a financial consultant. He loves that. It is flexible hours. But let's be honest, it is also flexible income. We can't be making a living off of flexible income with a family of five.

God has blessed us with our dream house. We are slowly but surely furnishing it. It just so happened that a couple from our church had this house up for sale by owner. They have offered to let us lease purchase the house until we are able to finance it. Thank you Jesus! He always provides for His children!

We are looking forward to continuing our work for God on this side of the ocean. Who knows what wonderful things He has in store for us?? I know that God will not fail us now. He is More than enough. He will supply ALL our needs. He always looks out for us. He is a rewarder of those that deligently seek Him!