Looking Back and Moving Forward

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Looking Back and Moving Forward

If you have read any of my blog posts around the time of New Year celebrations, you already know I don’t do “resolutions”. But I do find it beneficial to review the past year to help focus on the coming plans for the new year.

2017 Was a Difficult Year

In January, Scot’s father passed away and we spent a lot of time traveling to and from Louisiana, working out the details of his estate. Later on, Amanda miscarried, which was such a sad time that will weigh heavy on us forever. There have been other struggles and stress much like everyone else has, but we get through it all while keeping our faith in Jesus for strength and stamina… and yes, even joy.

2017 Was Also an Exciting Year Which Will Bring Lots of Joy in 2018!

Amanda got pregnant again, and so far this baby is healthy and growing! Her due date is May, 30th. She will be having a girl, and they have named her Winry Rose. The joy of this news is indescribable. She has a blog that has ministered to quite a few women who have gone trough the same experience. You can read that here.

Also, Natalie and Carl got engaged! The date is set for September 28th. We will be gaining a son-in-law… PLUS three amazing grandchildren. You should see my heart exploding! The dress has been picked out and plans are falling into place. We took engagement photos over Thanksgiving break… We’ll be posting those soon, but here is one of our favorites.

Joe has had some excitement as well. He took a new job (still in Austin) at Aspyr Media. Yep. A video game publishing company. God’s hand was evident in this turn of events as he was hoping to move back to the Dallas area and put applications in to many jobs here. He put in one application in Austin and they got him… hook, line, and sinker! I would love for him to be closer, but this is a great fit for him. I don’t have a photo of him for this bit of news… he rarely lets me take photos.

It is easy to see that the exciting things that happened in 2017 give beautiful hope for happy events in 2018. We continue praying for expectations to be met as we plan going forward. But if they aren’t as we envisioned, we will still hold strong and know that God’s plan is way greater than what our human minds can take in. God is good.

Quick Ministry Update

The “new” Obrero Fiel launched on Reformation Day with a promotion of videos and articles focused on the historical event. It was well-received (even though there were a few glitches) and we have a way to count and interact with our user base (which was one reasons for the relaunch). We are now up to over 9,000 registered users and it is growing everyday! Truly overwhelming. And these users are responding and giving feedback with thankfulness for access to the resources we are providing. God is so amazing how he uses technology to reach the world and encourage believers.

Our team has been going through some changes over the last few weeks, and I will begin to take on a few more responsibilities this year. In April, I’ll be going to Mexico to meet with our team there, lay out some plans and do a little training. Please pray as plans are made that everyone will be able to attend and have safe travels. I have not met some of them, so I am excited to get to meet them!

Things To Pray For

Home in Scurry: We recently lost our renters (after several months of them not paying) and are now going through the process of “fixing” and cleaning up everything. Please pray that we get tenants soon as the income from the rent fills in some of the financial gaps where my ministry support is lacking.

Expectant Parents: Pray for the baby and and parents as Amanda and Casey plan for the arrival of Winry Rose. Finances will be tight and schedules will evolve as they figure out how life will look with a sweet bundle of joy!

Love birds: Plans for weddings can be so stressful, not to mention the financial burden. Pray for Natalie as she plans and for Carl as well.

Support/Finances: My support is still below recommended levels and we have had some changes to our insurance which is adding about $250 more to my monthly expenses. The rent house situation compounds the financial stress as well. Please pray for new supporters to join my team and/or new churches who are willing to join with me in the ministry.

Daily Life: Pray for Scot and I as we juggle work, ministry, church involvement, and family activities (especially in May when I get to spoil my new grand baby). And to add to all of this, we adopted a new dog. Sweet Lucy! She is a great dog and is settling in well to our family. I’m not sure why we did this except we just can’t torture ourselves enough with cuddle bugs! Her name when we adopted her was “Glee”. We decided we didn’t want to call a dog by my sister’s name, so we changed it to Lucy (because Snoopy is a boy name).

 

Know that we are praying for you as well. Feel free to email me with specific prayer requests so I know how to pray.

I am sorry this update took so long for me to get out there. I really wanted to do it right after the New Year… but life just takes over! So until next time…

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