Whirlwind Summer Tour Part 1

Today we started what I like to call, our whirlwind summer tour. 

For the next 38 days (ONLY 38 days until we leave....AH!) we will "home" for 9 of them. The rest of the time we are out of town, and sometimes out of the state, visiting friends, family and churches.

We left DFW this morning headed for Russelville, AR to visit our friends Brian and Amy Tindall. We only got to spend a few hours with them because Amy is 38 weeks pregnant and ready to welcome in their third child....at any moment. However brief, it was good to spend time with familiar faces that we love so much. 

We are now back on the road and headed to Memphis, TN to visit the Spellings Family. Randy is Jake's old time friend, former co-worker at Whitehouse Christian Academy, and best man at our wedding. We get to spend the Friday night and Saturday with them. 

*side note: Jake asks "is there ever a time where there isn't construction between Little Rock and Memphis?!?"

Sunday we will be off early in the morning to make it to Huntsville, AL, hopefully for morning services at Twickenham Church of Christ. We have a special delivery to give to them that afternoon. The rest of our belongings, all 13 bins of it, are going down with their youth group that is leaving Monday morning for Ecuador. They have 19 people going down to work at the school and orphanage!

Sunday evening we will head up to Nashville where we will spend the rest of the week with the Smith family, another friend of Jake's from his college days at Lipscomb (and a groomsmen!). Monday thru Friday we will be attending administers training for the A.C.E. curriculum, the program that School of Hope uses. Hopefully this training will better prepare us for our roles in Ecuador. 

We are headed "home" Friday night so we can attend the Winn family reunion (Jake's mom's side of the family)  Saturday afternoon. That will conclude summer tour part 1. I will update everyone as the tour continues.

In other news, did you notice the quotation marks around the word home? Well, I did that because as of last weekend, our home is the spare bedroom of Jake's parents' house. The closing of our house kept dragging on and on. It was supposed to be May 10th and kept getting pushed back further and further. We finally had enough of sitting on the floor to watch tv and eating with plastic utensils so we moved over. 

It ended up being a good this because the contract on the house fell through this week. There was something wrong on the buyer's end and didn't get caught until the last minute. That was a bit of a set back for us, and a whole lot of stress! But know that house is cleared and cleaned out and has been showing really well this week. We have had some 7-8 showings and pray for a good offer to come I sometime next week. 

It feels like Satan is attacking us and trying to discourage us. However, we are not discouraged. Stressed, yes but not discouraged. I like to think of it with a positive spin. God is continuing to show us that we are not in control. He is faithful and he has a plan, and it will all happen in His time. We just need to have faith and watch/listen for what he wants us to do. 

Speaking of having faith... Fundraising.

 We know without a doubt that we are called to move and work at the School of Hope. And because of this, we know that God will provide for us. We have heard of, witnesses and experienced so many stories of how God has provided financially in situations like ours. However, it is still hard not to stress about it. 

We currently have $13,665 fundraised toward our goal of $40,000 and $500/month pledged toward our monthly need of $2,500. So you can see, we still have a ways to go...especially for only 38 days! 

Please consider donating on our website. Funds go directly to Twickenham Church of Christ. If you donate more than $250, please include your address so they can send you a tax donation receipt.

Thank you to those of you who've already donated! 

And hey, leave a comment so we know you are visiting