Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A few updates

* Our tennants at Quimby are moving at the end of this month. I'm scurrying around trying to get paperwork together to go for a short sale. I am SO done with that place. Prayers would be appreciated as we travel down this road. I'm a bit apprehensive about it, as it affects my credit and I've always had great credit. It's hard to take the plunge into this.

* Marc has a 2nd interview for a school near Houston, Texas on Thursday. PRAY!

* Hope has to go see a geneticist about the size of her head and lack of growth over the last 3 months. Glad they're investigating, but scared of what they might find.

* I'm down to 30 hours a week at work, but only 1 out of the last 4 weeks have I actually only worked 30 hours. The rest have been 40 +. Frustrating.

* Had an AMAZING trip with the high school students. I'll post about that later.

* Continuing physical therapy for my back. Not seeing tons of improvement, which is a bit frustrating, but just going to keep going. I realize it takes time. It's teaching me a bit of patience.

* Hit my goal weight today when I went to weigh in. I've lost 23lbs since 2/21. Feeling good, but still flabby. Need to get my butt in gear and build some muscle now!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Prayers for our Chicago trip

Hello friends,

I'm heading to Chicago on Sunday for a week long trip with 13 high school students and one other leader. I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind praying for us? Here are a few ways you can pray:

1. Our group is a WIDE mixture of ages (14 - 19) and maturities. Please pray for group unity and bonding, despite the obvious differences. We will be learning about Christian community, so pray we can experience a bit of that.

2. WIDE mixture of spiritual depth and even openness. Please pray for lives to be touched, for hearts to be open, for new experiences of God's power and presence.

3. We are staying in a Christian community (www.jpusa.org), so pray for us as we learn from those who live out their faith in very different ways. Pray that there will be translatable concepts, and we will see commonalities - not just differences.

4. We will be serving the poor. Pray for us to again have hearts that are open and ready to serve.

5. One thing I personally have a VERY difficult time with is when students complain about work when we're on a missions trip. Please pray that I have patience and wisdom to know how to handle any difficulties that arise.

6. I'm leaving my family behind. This isn't all that hard, believe it or not. I love my family, and will miss them, but I'm completely accustomed this part of my ministry. I do worry about the little details (will Isaac go to bed well for Miss Jeni? will Hope sleep through the night for Grandma?  etc), but more than anything, I'm a bit apprehensive about pumping for 8 days straight. Hope has been such a great eater, and I want to continue breastfeeding, and I'm hoping my supply does not diminish.

7.  We are depending on JPUSA for all our work sites and our morning devotions. It's hard for me to not have complete control. Pray that I am flexible, and that the students are as well.

Thank you so much. If I get a chance, I may try to post an update while we're there.