Huge Dividends

This week I got an email from one of our MKs who is in his second year of college. He is leading a group of young men to go back to Cote d'Ivoire to build a roof on a church. The leadership and initiative he is showing makes me proud to know him. This is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing, investing in the lives of MKs. This investment has huge dividends, they are going back across the ocean, back "home" for many of them. Brandon is still young, yet the call of God on his life is strong and he is answering it!

mommy and Mikaylah in Niger

This picture was taken in Niger last February I'm just trying out the photo options.  Mikaylah was only ten months old here and she didn't really like riding this way so we had to snap the photo before she got upset!

God is Good, All the Time; All the time, God is Good

Hmmm it is that time again when we have to start getting ready for Tax Day. Tim decided to take our last three years of income taxes to Sears because they were offering to go over it to see if we could get any more refunds. Low and behold we didn't get any deductions for Mikaylah last year because our tax lady forgot about her... now who could forget such a precious little one!!
Waaa Hooo for us though, the government owes us money with interest to boot! Tim says its like putting on an old pair of jeans and finding a ten dollar bill in it, money you didn't know you had! What a blessing for us! God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good, even when the government doesn't owe us money!

Humble pie anyone?

We are down to one vehicle now, if you can call it a vehicle. I know I am supposed to be content in all situations. And I really am thankful for Tim’s little S-10 truck. It reminds me of our honeymoon except we have this humungous car seat in between us. I was inwardly complaining this morning while Tim was scraping the frost off the windows that I can’t quite close the door all the way from the inside. “Don’t worry, dear,” Tim said as he got back in the truck, “you won’t fall out!”
Then just when you think you have been humbled enough, God shows you how you can still grow in this area. Paul, one of our supporters at church, a retired gentleman, told us we could have his vehicle and he would ride his bike to work!! Talk about being humble, Okay, Lord. I get it. Thank you for the truck! Don’t worry I didn’t take Paul’s car!!

On the deputation trail

Just a quick update. I was involved in a car accident on Monday, January 9th. We are thanking God for your prayers. The Lord protected me. I wasn't hurt and Mikaylah was at home with Tim at the time for which we are very thankful. However the car was towed away. We didn't know if it was fixable or not. We were hoping that it would be fixable because we figured it was worth more to us than the money to "replace" it.
We are also thankful for friends. Sharon came and picked me up and took me to the insurance office to file the paperwork. The only glitch appeared to be that the young man who was at fault did not have any insurance of his own. The insurance company called Tim and told him nothing would be done to fix our car until it could be proven that the other party didn't have insurance. They told us that it would take weeks before anything could be settled.
Sharon and her husband Drew graciously offered to loan us their car for this weekend so we can go visit a church. Yesterday Tim got the news from the insurance company that the claims adjuster said it would cost over $14 thousand (yes, I said thousand, not hundred) to fix the car, so it would be totalled. We were disappointed at first. Then we were told that we would be receiving three thousand dollars for the car! And they were going to waive the deductable since it we weren't at fault! Praise the Lord!
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, ... plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
I just got a phone call today, Friday January 13th, that the insurance company has a check for us and we just have to go pick it up! Thank you for praying for us. We have two more churches to visit in January, two in February one in March and one in May. Pray for Tim as he makes phone calls. Pray that more of the pastors he contacts would be generous and invite us to share our ministry with their congregations.
On a different note please also pray for the paperwork for my Canadian passport. It was submitted in October and was denied in December, so we just resubmitted another application a couple of weeks ago. Pray that all that paperwork would go through smoothly this time. My dad's uncle just passed away but we can't go to the funeral because without my passport US Customs won't let me back into the US! So, please pray that we will get it back in a timely manner.
We are praising the Lord for his protection and provision for us. Please continue to pray for us.