Man! It's been a little while since we posted some news, but that's only because we've been slammed with blessing after blessing. It's crazy, really. For efficiency's sake, lets break them down.
- We hosted a trip from New York
So... It wasn't exactly a trip. It was more of a family reunion. We had family come down from New York to "vacation with a purpose" with us. It was really amazing to hang out and just enjoy time. I know we already blogged about it, but it was cool and deserves another mention.
- We hosted a trip from St. Petersburg
Pinellas Community Church has been a huge blessing to us for a couple of years now. On this trip we had the joy of meeting new friends, reconnecting with old friends, and enjoying time together. They also took on the task of completely painting the new building!
As if that wasn't enough, they also held a carnival for our students!
And then had some personal family ministry time!
These guys did an amazing job and we were sad to see them go. We can't wait until they come back next year!
- We hosted a group from Orlando
Orlando baby! That's our hometown. We love that place and everything from it, so we were really excited to host Church in the Son! This team blew our socks off! First, they poured the sidewalk on our new school building!
Then, they did visits to services at two churches that we work with in the community. They prayed and blessed those services with hearts like servants.
These churches are very close to our hearts, and it was moving to see CITS giving themselves fully to the ministry. But that's not all! They also wanted to bless our classrooms with new acrylic boards!
And finally we were blessed with Pastor Dave's acrostic, A.S.A.P, always stop and pray. I have personally implemented this in my life. It essentially means that there is no waiting. If there is a prayer need, we handle it then. It takes priority. We stop, pray about what needs it, and then get back to what we were doing. I love this principle. It forces you to make God a focus of your day to day life instead of letting Him get lost in the shuffle.
The house we were in was a blessing when we moved into it. We were originally living in a small apartment, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, tiny kitchen. We loved it while we were getting our bearings in a new country, but we were glad to leave it when we did.
Our next place was a 3 bedroom one bath, slightly larger kitchen, $300 a month. We we're amazed to find a place that fit our needs and our budget so well. We lived there for over a year and praise God for providing.
Then, just a few weeks ago, another house on our street came up for rent. At this point, we were ready to move. The things that were minor inconveniences in our old house were starting to wear us down. We stopped by to see it on a whim, and we were amazed. Everything about it was an upgrade from our current place.
- It's bigger. We were tired of constantly bumping into each other. The new house is 6 bedroom, 4 full bath.
- It's nicer. There's real tile on the floors, it had been recently painted. There's even a huge balcony out front.
- It's safer. The house comes with an alarm system, secure garage, and an electric fence.
- It has 4 bathrooms. I know I already said it. It's worth repeating.
- It has a ceiling in the entire house. The old house had an entire room that had just the tin roof. We thought it wasn't a big deal at first, but turned out to be pretty tough to live with.
- It's better. I know that's a vague statement, but the feeling you have when you come in to the new house is just better than the old.
Needless to say, our first experience with the new place blew us away. We we're only 4 houses down the street, but it felt completely different. Just looking at it we felt like it was probably out of our price range, but maybe in the future we could look again. Megan suggested we at least call the landlord and ask.
It was only $30 more a month.
I know! I called our old landlord and terminated our agreement (no penalties). I signed a contract with the new landlord, and a week later we're in a new place experiencing Gods provision. Here's a couple of pics.
Gods hands in our lives has truly been amazing. Thanks everyone so much for keeping us in your prayers and your hearts!
Wayne
