Oui! Je parle Francais

This was our cree when I studied French at Laval University the summer of 1991. (Can it really be fifteen years ago?) And even though I lived in a French speaking country for 10 years and can speak enough French to make myself understood I still do not dream or think in French. Right now we are trying to get information from the university about this year's summer and Fall sessions. the WEB only has info about 2005! The deadline for admission is March 1 and they still haven't updated their website! I believe that our admission letter we received for last year will be sufficient for this year, but trying to get in touch with these people is very difficult to say the least. Pray that we will be able to get some information about this year and our status. The email I sent them came back saying that they were backed up and would try to get back to me in five business days! C'est la vie!

Thankful Hearts

Thank you so much for praying for our appointment with INS. We arrived right on time for our appointment only to find out that the computers were down. They offered to reschedule us or we could take our chances and wait. The offices closed at 2:00pm and this was now noon. What should we do? We had already arranged for Sharon to watch Mikaylah and we had already made the trip down to Indianapolis and paid for parking. We decided to pray. We knew that all of you were praying too. One young man from South Africa said, “you can’t pray for mechanical things.” We told him we believed God could answer any prayers. We prayed that the computers would be running again by one o’clock. One by one the people started to leave either rescheduling their appointments or canceling them altogether. At about 12:40 the officer at the window (who was the same officer we worked with last June) motioned me to come to the window. “We will just get the paperwork done in case the computers come back up”. So I gave her all my information. At 12:59 the computers were back up and by 1:20 I had a stamp in my passport!! Praise the Lord. He even fixes computers!! Unfortunately our South African friend had already left without witnessing God’s answer to prayer. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.
Since it was Valentine’s Day Tim got some flowers for his girls. This is a picture of us with our valentine’s flowers. Mikaylah was very interested in her very own flowers! And hearts! She even tried to eat the wooden heart shaped buttons on her sweater. She is growing and changing so quickly these days. At the end of February she will be 23 months old. She actually spoke her first complete sentence this week too. Tim was playing “Got your nose” with her pretending to steal her nose.When he put her nose back on her face she said, “Thank you for my nose!” Tim and I about fell over, and of course no amount of coaxing would get her to say it again, but at least we were both present to hear her first sentence! So we say thank you for your prayers and Mikaylah says Thank you for my nose! At least she is thankful! “I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “Plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.

I was beginning to doubt!

Well Yesterday morning I was met at the door by the Fed Ex man who handed me an envelope from Passeport Canada! Yes my new passport has arrived. I applied for it the end of October as it would expire November 8, 2005. Not that it is SOOO important, but I can not return to the US if I leave without a special stamp in my passport that says I am a permanent resident. Since American passports are good for ten years the stamp is usually good for ten years, however since mine was about to expire, so was my valuable stamp! So now I have a brand new passport (Canadian ones cannot be renewed) full of blank pages! I have an appointment in Indianapolis on Tuesday February 14th (yes, Valentine's Day) at 11:50 am EST. Please pray that I will again get that all important stamp saying that I am a permanent resident of the US. otherwise we may have to immigrate to Canada!! Tee Hee!

God's great gift

Hallelujah! Here is a photo of our new wheels! (with our house in the background!). It only had twenty-six miles on it! It has a roof rack and even built in child safety seats. This is WAY better than anything we ever imagined! Praise God! This is evidence of how he cares for us.

Impossible?

Who learns more, the student or the teacher? I thought I had learned the lesson a month ago when I studied the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John. It’s the chapter where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Fast-forward six weeks. January 26 I was teaching a group of ladies at the homeless shelter from the Gospel of John chapter 11. We didn’t get past verse six, “Yet when [Jesus] heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” At first the ladies were indignant, “how mean” and “Doesn’t He care about their feelings?” were some of the comments, but as we discussed it, Monisha, one of the ladies said, “I guess it had to look impossible for Mary and Martha before Jesus would step in.” That is when it really dawned on me, too. So often our prayers tell God how to help, rather than simply, “help!” Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to heal Lazarus; Jesus wanted to do the impossible, to raise him from the dead! Right now we are in need of another vehicle since our car was totaled. We were so thankful for the money from the insurance but were wondering how far it would really go. One of our friends at our church knows the owner of one of the car dealerships in town. He pled our case and now we are driving a brand new Dodge Caravan!! God does like to do the impossible. We never dreamed this. We were only asking for something reliable. God did more than we could think or imagine! “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his Power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21