Happy summertime! If only it weren't so hot here in Texas. Right about now (and the entire last month) we are missing the mild summer of Colorado Springs. We had no air conditioning in our townhome there and really didn't miss it except for maybe two weeks out of the summer. Each afternoon the clouds would roll in and we'd get a great thunderstorm to cool everything off. It was great! Here in Texas it's a wee bit warmer and much much much (did I mention much) more humid!
Jon is officially off school for the summer now. Woohooo!!! He turned in the last assignments for his summer school course last week. We got his grades for his spring semester classes and I'm very proud to say that he received all A's and one B+. We are awaiting his final grade for his summer school course. I'm sure he did great in that one too.
We had our interview with the Apartment Life organization and it went very well. We were accepted as a CARES team for them and are awaiting to hear where we'll be living. We went to a training seminar with them this last Saturday and got to meet some great people. We will be known as "retention specialists" for the apartment community. Our role will have different facets including welcoming new residents, planning activities/events, helping the apartment managers, as well as visiting residents when they are up for renewal. Our prayer is that it would be in the Uptown/Downtown area of Dallas; putting us between DTS and church. We are also praying to be placed sometime within the next month.
We also began working with the premarital ministry at church. Last week we got to meet for a leadership training session. And this past Tuesday was the first of eight classes with the couples. We are the table leaders/mentor couple to two couples. Neither of them are engaged yet, just considering it and excited to learn if their relationship is marriage material. Jon and I are super excited to be involved in ministry together again and are looking forward to getting to know our couples better over the next eight weeks.
With school finishing for the summer, Jon is working more hours at Sprouts while continuing the search for a better job. He's applied to five or six great ones over the last few days that would be right up his alley. One is for a construction company here in Dallas doing the exact same job he did with Caffey Inc. in Colorado Springs. The job hunt is very frustrating most of the time with very few employer's responding to the applications/resume's you submit. Please continue to keep this job search in your prayers.
God has continued to provide for us along the way. Graci and Isaiah were finally approved for Medicaid a few weeks ago. Praise God!!! As soon as we got their paperwork in the mail, I turned around and called our insurance company to drop them. It seems that His provision for us since arriving in Texas has been by removing expenses from us through: Medicaid, WIC (women, infant, children...a government funded program that provides healthy, nutritious groceries each month for pregnant and nursing mothers and their children that are 5 years old and younger), Luke's Pantry/Closet (a ministry at DTS providing groceries and clothes/household necessities for full time seminary students), a greater discount on food purchased at the Sprout's where Jon works, Apartment Life, etc. I could actually keep listing more ways that He has continued to show us that He very much here with us and taking care of us.
The kids are all doing great! Ezekiel is growing more and more each day. All three kids have a doctor's appointment next week, so we'll see where they all measure up. Zeko is about to outgrow his newborn size onesies. He continues to sleep like a champ through the night. I can't believe our little man turned 2 months old yesterday. Where has the time gone? By the way, I still hold the "never been squirted" title in the house. Although his diaper did leak on me the other day when I was carrying him in the baby bjorn. Oh well :)
We've had fun going to the pool in our complex with the kids. Isaiah is a bit more timid and unsure of himself in the water, but Graci can't wait to get in each time and swim around with daddy holding her. I love to see the trust in her eyes and she gets up the courage to jump off the edge of the pool or the step into her daddy's arms. As I sat in the lawn chair watching her get more courageous, I thought of how difficult it is to take that first leap into God's arms. I feel like each time we venture out into our "faith adventures," I have to muster up the courage to once again leap into His arms and entrust my life to His leading. I'd like to say that it gets easier with each leap, and maybe in some ways it does. Yet this whole issue of trust is one that I am always challenged with. I look back at my life and am so amazed and encouraged at how He's molded and shaped me through each of those leaps of faith. We knew that Jon going to DTS was a huge leap of faith financially. What an amazing comfort it is to know that when we jump each semester, His arms will be there to catch us.
