Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Showers of Blessings: A Sigh of Relief

It seems like the Lord is bringing things together in His perfect timing.  We've experienced the "Calm After the Storm", and now we're receiving the "Showers of Blessing" which allow us to breath "A Sigh of Relief".  

Please let me take a moment to list off these blessing one by one.  There are only a few, but they are HUGE 
 requests that have been heavy on our hearts.

1.  WE HAVE RENTERS!!  We have a family of NINE who has recently moved into our house. 
2.  Our insurance company covered the cost of replacing our roof!  It should be finished soon. 
3.  What we had anticipated to be a $3,500 repair on our truck turned out to be $15.00 cap that needed replaced!!  Praise the Lord!
4.  WE HAVE CHOSEN A MISSION BOARD!  
After much prayer, research, discussions, exhausting traveling, prayer, prayer, and prayer we believe God desires us to join the mission family at IBM Global.  We will hopefully be finishing up our applications soon so we can continue raising the necessary support to get us to the field.  

And as a result of choosing a mission board...
5.  We are able to set a departure date based on our current support raised and projected support increases.

We can not thank you enough for all your prayers and encouragement as we have weathered the storm and are now enjoying these showers of blessings.  Our biggest prayer was that God would reveal Himself to us more fully through this time and that He would be glorified in our lives.  We certainly know and trust Him better!  We have confidence in His perfect timing and trust Him to lead us in the way we should go.  

At the beginning when EBM first closed our prayer was Psalm 143:7,8
"Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me...
... Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust. 
Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."

God has answered abundantly.  We feel like we can take a huge "Sigh of Relief", and we are excited to see what He has next in our future.  We are confident that whether it is a shower of blessing or a storm of circumstances He will help us through, teach us, guide us, and glorify Himself through it.


And we can't close without wishing you all a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Enjoy this season of blessings and joy celebrating our wonderful Savior's birth.

Monday, December 12, 2011

An Opportunity for Owen

Dear friends,
We can not thank you enough for all your faithful prayers for our family.  God has worked through you in our lives in tremendous ways.  I'm now desperately asking for prayers for some dear family friends.

I'll let you read most of the story on their website, but I'll summarize for you a bit.

Tim and Elaine Dulaney are dear friends of ours.  They attend out church and work in the youth group with us.  They are a wonderful family, and we're so thankful for them.  They have three boys.  The oldest is Benjamin.  When Ben was around 3 years old they found out that he has a degenerative, fatal genetic disorder called Sanfillipo Syndrome, or MPS IIIA.  It has been difficult to see the disorder's effects on Benjamin as he grows, but we all love him dearly and are so thankful for God putting him in our lives.  Their second son is Noah.  He is the same age as Jorja and was blessed to not have the disorder himself.  He is the typical four year old boy.  And now comes Owen.

Owen is 4 months old and through an amnio during pregnancy Elaine found out Owen also has Sanfillipo.  The specialist they were seeing offered them the hope of a stem cell treatment to delay the onset of the symptoms of the disorder and give them more time with him before the disorder took over, but there was no proof that it would work, and would possibly kill him.  At the time the decided against it.  Recently the specialist brought up a similar treatment that is still experimental, but a much better option.  After much prayer Tim and Elaine decided to allow Owen to undergo this procedure.  The procedure will take about six months to complete.  The details of what the procedure requires are on their website, but in short, it will take 8 days of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and isolation as they evaluate how his body is receiving the transplant and he recovers.

Please pray for Owen, Tim and Elaine, and their family as they help with Ben and Noah.  Please go to their blog to read all that is happening.  Owen started chemo yesterday, December 11.

This family could desperately use your prayers, and if you feel led, your finances to help pay for this procedure and all the additional costs incurred through it.  Check their blog for updates and information on how to help them financially.

Thank you so much!  I trust you will pray diligently for this sweet sweet baby and his family.  I can't wait to see how God works mightily through this entire situation.

Please visit their blog and let them know you're praying for them.
if that doesn't work go to:
www.anoportunity4owen.moonfruit.com