It's Just One of those Days

Ok...so I've held it together pretty well so far when thinking about the impossible task of raising funds. I have to say...today is one of those panic days. The countdown continues to 74 days til departure and so far we haven't even raised enough money for our plane tickets to the DR, let alone living expenses while we are there. I don't know whether to just shake it off as one of God's life lessons of trust and faith or to be disappointed in the fact that we sent out 150 letters to people and only 12 have responded. Asking for money from people is a ridiculously hard thing to do. I hate doing it (I mean aside from when you were like 10 years old and you asked your parents for money to buy the Hansen CD). In fact, I'm really uncomfortable doing it. I know that will change once I get to see first hand the provisions of God, but right now in the beginning stages, this is really difficult. Mike is cool as a cat. But he's an MK (Missionary Kid) and has seen the money come in when you don't think it will. And yes, God has totally taken care of our financial needs in the past. Our bank account has never been in the red. But that is on such a smaller scale than raising the amount of money we have to raise. We have to raise 3x what we make now!!! Do I think God can do it? Yes. Is it nerve-wracking while we're waiting? Absolutely. Maybe this comes down to the fact that I'm making this too much about me. I'm afraid. I'm afraid God has called us to this and then He will change His mind. I'm afraid of putting myself out there and asking for funds and then not getting what we need. I'm afraid of the humiliation that I could face if we don't get to go and all those people who will say "we knew it wouldn't work out." I've been to the Dominican, my heart is already there. Yep...I'm making this too much about me. I'll knock it off...I promise. It's just one of those days.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

Maybe I am being ridiculous...

The saga continues. It's hard enough having to find a new home for some"one" that is practically your son, but now that it is getting down to the wire, it's even harder to not be able to even FIND a home for him. People either want older, well-trained dogs or cute little puppies. No one wants a year and a half year old teenager (in dog years). Man, how weird. I'm totally fine with moving to a foreign country with the chance of not seeing my family for 6 months or more, but I have a harder time with giving up my dog! That is twisted. I would love to have Simba come down with us, but what kind of life would he have? We would be busy all the time so he would have to stay in the house. It's going to be ridiculously hot (which he is not used to at all) living in a country where dogs are more the scum of the Earth than loved pets. It doesn't seem that God is leading us to bring him on our journey, but why hasn't he brought us a suitable owner?

This is one of those Faith things, isn't it...he's gonna keep me on the edge, holding on by the skin of my teeth so that I learn to trust in Him and have Faith that He will provide. Goodness...this stuff is hard. It may seem little and trivial to those that haven't met Simba or have never really shared that type of bond with animal. But this is a dog that I have raised since he was 7 weeks old, scared and missing his mom. We've gone through Parvo scares, mid-day jogs, being hit by a car, Vet bills, laying on the couch watching movies....this is starting to sound like a boyfriend! ha. But really, I've invested so much time into his life and he has depended on me to keep him alive and take care of him. Maybe this is so hard because I think he's going to feel like I am abandoning him. This makes me think twice about children. If I can get this attached to a dog in a year and a half, I am going to be absolutely ridiculous over my own flesh and blood.

Maybe I am being ridiculous...

I want to be a Barbarian...

Yay! We already have people blogging us!!! Teresa, I am so glad you told me to do this. Anyway, 76 days and counting. I imagine I won't be nearly this good at updating daily down the road, but I will definitely try.

Satan has definitely been attacking us lately, well, me more specifically. Yesterday was one of those days where absolutely NOTHING went right. At work, I had this ongoing e-mail argument with someone almost the whole day. Then we had a meeting set up to meet with one of my old professors. I tried to print out an updated newsletter for him, our printer stopped working. We tried to burn our DVD, someone in the library deleted EVERYTHING. So now we are back to square one with the DVD...for the third time. UGH!!! This is just one of those times. Something that has been so amazing is I am reading this book called The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus that my friend Will suggested I read. I can tell you right now that it is going to be a life-changer in the way I think. When all those things were happening yesterday, I just assumed that God would take care of it because I was doing it for Him. But the more I prayed for God to "rescue" me, the more I realized how skewed my idea of Him really is. In the book, it explains how civilized Christians have become in their way of thinking. We believe that God will rescue, comfort, take care of and always do what we want. That's just not the case. God has a bigger plan than a newsletter or DVD and just because I wanted those things to work out, doesn't mean that magically God is going to do it. He's not a genie in a bottle. When I started to remember what the book was teaching me, I felt more at peace with the idea that what God was doing is much bigger than the presentation I was going to make. What a freeing thought.

Long story, short...the meeting went great. There are a plethera of opportunities that can and probably will come because of that meeting, even though I didn't have my fancy DVD to show him. I hope that some day down the road, I will truly become a Barbarian for Christ.

Til later,
Goody

Beginning of the Adventure

If you can believe it, we are 77 days away from departure!!! A new phase in our lives is about to begin. We are moving to the Dominican Republic.

It started back in the begining of January when we were called by our good friend, Will. He called to let us know that the organization he was with, G.O. Ministries (http://www.go-ministries.org/) was looking for someone who knew graphic design and photography as well as someone who could run their soccer ministry. Are you kidding??? If you could describe us in three words it would be: ministry, media and SOCCER!!!! What an awesome opportunity. We were immediately interested and less than a week later we were standing in front of Brook's (President of G.O.) door. Two days later, driving home, we knew our lives would be forever changed.

So here we are, starting a blog to keep our friends and family informed and introduce ourselves to the wide world of bloggers. We only hope that this will be another avenue for us to spread God's word and get more people involved in the ministry at the Dominican Republic!