Last Saturday, we had a garage sale and it did quite well! We started with $30 withdrawn from our "missions savings," as change for shoppers, and by the end of the day it turned into a plus $550. Wow! That was an unexpected blessing and hopefully an indicator that we are stepping in the right direction. Our boys even set up shop with a lemonade/kool aid/tea/cookies/cinnabons stand, and did quite well also. Thank you to those who prayed for us, bought from us, donated things to sell, and/or otherwise made donations to the cause!
The cause: we are currently talking to Praying Pelican Missions about becoming Assistant Trip Leaders for about 5 weeks this summer in Haiti. More details as they develop, but we are hoping to include the boys on this trip. We have sent in our applications and references, and are awaiting the next step. The total costs will become clearer over time, but for right now, I added a fundraising thermometer to our page that reflects a support raising goal of about half of what we think the trip will cost. "Half" may be a good measure of the support we need to raise for something like this. It may be more, or may be less. At least for now, the thermometer gives a good visual aid.
I am in week 6 of the Perspectives course. It is all about Church history and specifically missions history. It has been incredible to see the movement of the Gospel throughout time starting with the Church in Acts up through the 2000's. So many major points along the road had very much to do with God and His kingdom becoming more present on Earth. It is very interesting to see how Christians either voluntarily (or involuntarily) went out, or unreached peoples voluntarily (or involuntarily) came to them for the sake of ultimately hearing the message of the Gospel. And more so, to learn about how different cultures through time expressed their individual Christianity is very cool. History in school was never like this (and so much makes more sense now)! If you want to draw closer to the Father's heart and His plan for the world, Perspectives is highly recommended! They have classes locally during spring and fall, and online year round.
This next Saturday is our painting party. The living room, front entry, hall, and dining rooms are long overdue. With the garage sale, we have freed a lot of space and that should make for simpler painting. We feel like this is a bit of spiritual thing in that we are being good stewards to what we have been given. Being faithful in the "little things" now, and more will be given later, even if it's just painting our home. This should be the last major improvement to the house apart from the boys' room being painted. We figure we will wait till either it is time to sell or they move out, to paint it. Pick your battles comes to mind regarding their walls...
I recently had an impromptu and pseudo interview with a local university model school. It is an interesting prospect for this next fall that may suit our family well on many levels. We are praying the Lord's will be done, and grateful for the seemingly random opportunity that presented itself. The university model is a neat concept where school age kids go to "class" 2 or 3 days a week and spend the remaining days at home, studying and homeschooling with parents. It follows a university model of classroom vs. study time, and is very much college prep oriented. They usually follow the classical method of education as well. It's great because kids still get a lot of time at home with parents, and parents who otherwise feel inadequate to home school, can.
That is about it for now. Hoping to have some pictures up of the finished product of the house painting.
John 17:6-26
-Joshua
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