A New Chapter in our Lives

It's finally behind us. The house is sold... signed, sealed and delivered! We thought it would never be over! We left the closing this morning and reflected on how God so faithfully provided that home during a difficult time in our life and how it has served our family so well. Four of our five children were born there and all five considered it their only home. It helped us to host family, friends, bible studies, lots of kids, neighbors and generally had a "revolving door"! We now give this home up for our Lord and look forward to serving Him full-time the rest of our days. What a privilege.

Thus begins a new chapter in our life. We will spend the next three and a half months continuing to finish up our support raising, making preparations for our year at the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica, and preparing spiritually for our new life. We really need prayer for the following items:

• A place for our family to live in the Portland area from mid-September to the last week of December.
• Monthly supporters to finish up the last 10 - 15% of our support needs.
• Supporters to help us reach our goal of nearly $32,000 in set-up expenses. (we have currently raised $11,000) This amount includes all of our schooling in Costa Rica, travel expenses, moving expenses and housing set-up after moving.

What a Week!

Last week was moving week and what a week it was! As of Saturday night, we were about 95% out of our home. It was alot of work but God provided us with so much help. We especially want to thank both of our parents for being willing to come down and help several times during the week and the Ulmer's, Malcolm and Betty for their willingness to be with us throughout the week, lifting and packing and keeping us company during such an overwhelming process. We could not have done it without our friends and family. Thank you Steve Turner and Ethan Smith for your help lugging out all our big items and to all our friends who helped us out by purchasing our stuff!!

We now have our only remaining posessions categorized by what is going to end up in Guatemala, what is going to remain in storage and what we need for the next few months before we leave for language school. We will be staying in New Hampshire for a few more weeks and then will be looking for housing in the Portland area until the end of December.

We spent the last 20 years accumulating things and have reflected all week on what a freeing experience it has been to give most of it up! Our posessions really don't provide any lasting satisfaction and we are happy to be "light" and ready to go where God is leading us. We spoke to the teens at First Baptist on Sunday morning and finished up by encouraging them not to spend their life accumlating things that would weigh them down.

Tim and Carre Gardner ~ Mission Moscow
Sunday night we were so blessed to hear our friends Tim and Carre Gardner's presentation on their mission to Russia. We were touched by their heart for the orphans and street children of Russia and excited for them as they prepare to leave in late October. We would encourage you to visit their website at: http://www.missionmoscow.com/ for more information on their ministry. Please pray for their safety in travel and for God's provision for all the details of their mission.

An Answer to Prayer

As you may have noticed, one of the items on our prayer list was a place to keep our belongings while we're at language school in Cost Rica. This past Friday afternoon I thought of our nurse, Julie from Gray Family Health, who had mentioned they owned a storage center near our house... only a couple of miles away. I called her and explained what we needed and we worked out a price for the year.

Julie called me on Saturday morning and asked if I could meet her at the storage center to sign the one year contract and have a quick tour. After showing me the storage units she told me that her daughter had been to Guatemala several times and had adopted a girl from there.... and that she had paid our bill for storage for the entire year... I was stunned. Thank you so much for this generous gift to our family!...

...and people think there is no God! This is just another of many examples of how God is confirming and meeting our needs in miraculous ways.