...enjoy the pictures

The pictures have arrived. Camp is over. Sleep was needed. But here are some of the pictures from basketball camp last week. It went off without a hitch. The smoothest running camp that G.O. has ever put on. It was just great. The image of the group of kids (I believe it's the second on the top) is a picture of all the kids that accepted Christ or re-dedicated their lives. It was over 40 of them. AWESOME HUH!!!

The week was very refreshing and a real glimpse of how much work it is to put together a trip for a group of people. This week we have THREE teams here. There is a total of about 60 people here. So many, in fact, that not all of them are able to stay where we are, we have several of them in houses and things like that. it's crazy, but fun because there is a medical team here doing clinics and it is just really enjoyable to watch all of that. I will try and get pics for the clinic sometime next week.

Mike and I are doing great. We have bought a kitchen table which is beginning to make our house a home. As well as some paintings that we bought while we were at the beach.

All is well...we absolutely love being here and will continue praying for God's direction and intervention in our financial situation.

We miss you all...enjoy the pictures.

Dios le Bendiga

I've been advised by my best friend that I am not doing a good job of updating this as often as I should. So here I go...

We have been here for a week. It's hard to imagine. Sometimes I feel like we just got in last night and sometimes I feel like we've already been here for two months. We absolutely love it here. The final touches are coming together on our apartment. You know me...decoration comes first! We got our bed (totally comfortable), our inverter is installed (it keeps our lights and fans running when the electricity goes off) and we are probably going to paint sometime next week (I'm so excited for this part). It is such a cute apartment and fits our needs so well. Its not too big so that there is too much cleaning (it gets VERY dusty) and its not too small that we feel cramped. We have about 3 more bigger purchases to go: futon, kitchen table and a washing machine. The futon is about $125.00, kitchen table about $30.00 and a washing machine is about $180.00. (If you want to make a donation to pay for any of these specific things, just let me know) But other than that we are settling in nicely.

As for this week, we are going to be ridiculously busy. A basketball group of about 35 are going to be here this week. We are running clinics, camps, tournaments, etc. for about 100 kids this week. CRAZY BUSY!!! The awesome part is, that we get to go to the beach on Sunday! Woo hoo! I am so pumped for it. I gotta get the rest of me tan that is lacking due to clothes covering them up.

I try not to think about the fact that we have to leave in August...I want to stay so badly. But I am seriously so greatful for the opportunity to be here at all. I love it so much, I just don't want to leave. But I know that God has us in his will...and that's a nice place to be, although its not always comfortable.

That's about it for now...I will try and post again sometime again this week to let you know how the camp is going.

Dios le Bendiga!
(God bless you)

We Arrived!

We are here!!! Yay!!! We arrived safely in the Dominican Republic and have all of our "junk" in our new apartment. It is WAY cuter than we remember it being. We just wanted to let everyone know that we are here and safe and things couldn't have run smoother. We definitely felt your prayers encompass us on our journey. We will write more, but just wanted to let you all know we arrived.

the day has come...

In 13 hours we will be on a plane and on our way to the Dominican Republic. Can anyone believe that we are already here? I sure can't. Things are a little crazy, a little hectic...but God continues to bring peace. We KNOW without a shadow of a doubt, that this is where God wants us.

This little blog won't be long tonight, we just wanted to send a quick note to say thank you for your support and please pray for safe travels tomorrow. It's a long journey (not too long) with 4 massively heavy suitcases plus 4 carry-on bags. But, by God's grace, we are not traveling alone. Our friends, Will and Audrey, are coming with us tomorrow. We couldn't be more thrilled.

We are so excited...and now the day has come...

Almost there.

The traveling is over...well until our big travel day next TUESDAY!!! So we will finally be ONE PLACE for more than TWO DAYS. Ha. We are going to have some pretty full plates over the next week, just buying last minute things, packing, storing stuff and just getting mentally and spiritually prepared. Mike and I are getting so stinkin' excited, it's hard to imagine that we are now full time missionaries.

God has been so faithful to us. We are slowly just seeing His work in our lives individually. He has opened up doors for us and has just really encouraged us through the people we work with and others that we meet. This is really the greatest time for us to be doing this, during this stage of our lives. I've learned, funnily enough, to not look to far into the future. Living day-by-day isn't my strongest personality trait. I'm a planner. But in the business of "God's work" you can't plan too far ahead, you just never know what turn He'll take you around next.

Our relationship has definitely strengthened this past month of living in Louisville. We've learned a lot about each other and what each other's strengths are and where we can lift each other up. Our communication with each other has improved ten-fold and we are really learning what it means to be a "married couple." Don't get me wrong, most of the time I still have those "on the honeymoon" feelings, but it has been great to see a new dynamic to our marriage and just how much God prepared both of us to be each other's strength. It's kind of interesting...one of our long-time mutual friends made the comment that she can't believe how much more mature we both seemed. Hard to believe, I know :) but I do feel like we have grown up a little bit (in a good way...not in a boring way).

Keep us in prayer as we still are in need of about $2500-$3000 more a month if we want to stay a full year. But we also know that this is all in God's hands and we will go where He sends us.

Dios les Bendiga.