Kid's Castle

Last weekend we escaped from one castle to another. This one is a 35' wooden structure with 2 large slides built for solely for the kids (and adventurous parents). This castle is located at Central Park, Doylestown, PA.

We visited this castle with 5 others from our Candidate class and had a great time, although it did get a little too warm as the temperature rose into the 80's. I was quite surprised to see Jeremiah and Deanna run off and explore without us, but happy to see their growing independence.

There were so many nooks and crannies to explore that when it came time to leave we spent at least 30 minutes hunting for Elaina. I was really beginning to worry until Daniel spotted her from the top of the castle - she was sitting happily playing in a sandbox, totally oblivious to the anxiety she was causing her parents!!

I have changed the slide show to pictures of our outing to the castle - If you would to view larger pictures please click HERE.

Michelle

Brokenness to Forgiveness

Today Jeremiah stole a piece of candy. He managed to take it without anyone noticing, but when he was on his way to the playground he tripped over and it fell out of his pocket. Sarah (one of our childcare providers) noticed it and asked Jeremiah where he got it from. Jeremiah realized he had been found out, and told where he got it from. She then asked him if he took it or if someone gave it to him. He willingly admitted that he took it and she saw that his heart was broken. He also told Sarah (through his tears) that it was stealing. He was really upset and cried for quite a while.

Just before lunch he admitted to me what he had done and told me he was sorry. I encouraged him to pray and ask God for forgiveness. This was how his prayer went -

"Dear God, sorry I stealed the candy from Hillside – will you forgive me? ... Hey Mom!! He didn’t answer.” I was able to reassure him that the Bible tells us that God does forgive when we tell Him we are sorry. So Jeremiah was satisfied.

A little later I realized he also needed to ask for forgiveness from the person who is responsible for the candy at Hillside. So he willingly went and sought their forgiveness too. On our way back to the castle I asked him if he felt better inside now that he had asked for forgiveness and made things right. His reply was so precious. He placed his left hand on his heart and said “Even my own heart has forgiven me!”

Michelle

God's Plan

There have been a few times when I have doubted that working with WEC in England is what the Lord has called us to do. These doubts usually arise when we have to cross an unexpected hurdle that has appeared. Each time He either removed it altogether or given me the peace that "through Him all things are possible".

I am so thankful that God is not the author of doubt and fear, instead He is the giver of peace, which He has given (sooner or later) in every occasion of my doubt.

This week He revealed a verse of Scripture to me that has become very special.

Job 42:2
I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

No words can fully express my appreciation of this truth.

Michelle

Happy Birthday

Recently we celebrated Nicholas' birthday. I think he had a really great day, although I was saddened not to be around for most of it.

His morning started around 7.20am We allowed him to open presents before I went to class. He was so excited with what he received. A 'Rush Hour Jr' game; a Lightening McQueen car; color by numbers and a digital camera.

I then headed off to class but Gary was able to stay with him (and the other kids) as we were lacking childcare that morning.

At lunchtime he received his birthday cake (chocolate - of course!). I had to run off with Naomi for a dentist appointment, but Nicholas had a good lunch with the rest of the family and a neighbor who Daniel had invited to join us.

Nicholas then spent the afternoon playing outside in just about perfect weather (sunny skies and mid 70's).

Now, there is a tradition here at WEC that when it is someone's birthday we all sing to them at dinnertime. Nicholas had made me promise not to announce his birthday at dinner as he would be too embarrassed by all the attention. So like a good mother I promised him I wouldn't announce it - instead, I secretly asked someone else to announce it!!! And they did. So Nicholas had about 80 people singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. It was wonderful and I even think he enjoyed it.

Another WECer gave him a gift at dinner and three others gave him a little money.

Finally his evening was spent playing volleyball outside with a bunch of other people.

Oh, I almost forgot we have a rule that if it is your birthday then everyone gets the day off school, but as you can imagine we were quickly reminded of this by the kids.

As some of you know Nicholas is a boy that is not easily pleased, so it thrills me to report that when he was asked before bed if he had a good birthday, his reply was a definite "YES!".

Michelle

Unexpected Refund - Part 2

As I stated below I called the Pfeiffer Institute to request reimbursement of our shipping costs, but very generously they refunded our whole purchase price and the Pharmacy Manager told me to call back when I knew the amount it cost to ship the vitamins. It didn't take me long to decide not to call back as I thought they had done more than enough to refund our $188.00, I certainly wasn't going to ask for the $7.19 that it cost to ship them.

So, you can imagine my surprise when today I received a statement from Pfeiffer showing not only the $188 refund, but a credit for $18.10 which is twice what it cost them to ship the vitamins to me the first time.

God is Good!!

Michelle

Unexpected Refund

As some of you know Daniel takes custom made vitamins to help treat a Pyrolle Disorder. These vitamins are expensive, between $140 to $188 every 100 days. As I posted previously it was time to reorder and thankfully the Lord provided the means to do so.

When we received the vitamins they were in capsules that were too small which meant Daniel had to take 3 instead of 1 and he had specifically said he didn't want to take so many. (This wouldn't be too bad except that he has 5 other pills to take each morning besides this vitamin!) So we called the Pfeiffer Institute and they agreed it was their mistake and would resend the vitamins in the correct size capsules. They told us just to keep the other ones as they would be no good for anyone else.

Well, we waited and waited but they didn't arrive. Eventually we received a call from a friend in St Louis who informed us they had been delivered to our home in Missouri, not here at Fort Washington, PA - like we had requested. Our friend had to pay to mail them to us so we decided to call Pfeiffer and ask them to reimburse the shipping costs.

The pharmacist was so apologetic for making another mistake on our order that she not only offered to reimburse the shipping costs, but also refund the whole cost of our order - $188.00. Wow! We did not ask for it or ever dream they would offer to do that, but I am not going to complain!!

Michelle

Too Cute!!!

I know I am biased, but I thought this was such a cute picture of Deanna that I just had to post it.

Thank you to one of the staff here for sharing it with us.

Michelle

What Are We Learning?

This has been a question asked by a few people - so I thought I'd give you a summary of what we have learnt so far and what is still to come.

Wk 1 - Foundations and Introduction
This was just like the heading says. Also we had our first of several interviews and had to share a short testimony with the staff here at WEC.

Wk 2 - Foundations
Like all Christians our foundation should be Christ, so this week covered subjects like 'Who We Are in Christ', 'Lies vs Truth' and 'Growing in Spiritual Vitality'. This week included our 2 day retreat.

Wk 3 - Principles that Guide our Practice
This week included a detailed look at WEC's Principles and Practice as well as the foundations for the organization. We also had a class on 'Generations Working Together'. We started weekly classes (in the evening) on 'Shepherding a Child's Heart'. The week concluded with another interview.

Wk 4 - Church Planting Contexts
Some of the topics this week included 'Security', 'Church Planting' and 'Spiritual Warfare'

Wk 5 - Ministry
This week was spent at Cornerstone Community Church, taking part in door to door evangelism.

Wk 6 - Working in Teams
This was a short week as we had 2 days off for Easter. We did have a class on 'Multi-cultural Teams' and a day of prayer where we (as candidates) shared our testimonies.

Wk 7 - Teams/Ministry Resources
Topics covered this week were 'Team Roles & Gifts', 'Church Planting/Leadership Styles', 'Teams', 'Evangelism Discipleship' and 'Medical Issues'. Not forgetting another interview!!

Wk 8 - Interpersonal Relationships
During this week we discussed 'Sexual Purity', 'Relationships', 'Singles/Loneliness', 'Couples', 'Missionary Life', 'Finances' and 'Missionary Kids'. We also learned how to use power point and prepare our prayer cards.

So this is where we are to date and some of what we have learnt. As you can see it has been a very full schedule of classes. On top of this we have had several books to read (at least 1 a week), met weekly with our small groups, worked 3 afternoons a week and taken care of normal family responsibilities (including home school, laundry, etc). At least I haven't had to cook!!! We get evening meals provided 5 evenings a week and at the weekend we eat pizza and/or hot dogs. As you can imagine the kids enjoy this arrangement!

Now, to look forward to our remaining 5 weeks

Wk 9 - Cultures and Sharing Your Story
We will be learning about 'Cultures', 'Language Learning' and how to 'Share your Story' and attending a 'Peacemaker' conference at a local church on Friday evening and all day Saturday.

Wk 10 - Worship and Prayer
As the title suggests we will be focusing on 'Worship and Prayer'. We will have another interview.

Wk 11 - Missionary Care
This week we will be dealing with 'Missionary Stress', 'Culture Shock and Reverse Culture Shock' and 'Stress Management'

Wk 12 - Church Planting in Special Situations
This week we will cover 'HIV/AIDS', 'Children in Crisis', and 'Attitudes and Expectations'

Wk 13 - Is There Life After CO (Candidate Orientation)?
This will be a fairly easy week with each candidate sharing their power point presentations about where we are going and what we will be doing. Another interview and we will be given time to pack, clean etc. On the Friday evening there is the 'Right Hand of Fellowship' which is the time when we are officially accepted into WEC.

Okay, so now you know what we've been learning!

Michelle

Painted Faces

One of the people who helped take care of the children while we are in class (Ms. J.) has left Fort Washington to serve others in another place where God is leading her. She was really good with the kids, had lots of energy and they thoroughly enjoyed being with her. The last day she was here Ms. J. decided to bring out the face paints. As you can see she is also quite artistic. So Ms. J. we want to thank you for the fun and for teaching the kids so much.

Enough to Share

The reason I like to write about these deals at CVS and Walgreens is that I am able to give to others through God's provision for us. This was especially true this week. Here is what I purchased:

2 Spa Radiant Body Wash (I gave 1 away before I took the picture) - $9.98
1 Colgate toothbrush - $3.99
5 boxes of extra strength pain relief gelcaps (24 count) - $19.95
1 Jane blush - $3.99
1 box of extra strength Excedrin (24 count) - $1.99
1 box Tums QuikPak - $4.99
Aquafresh toothpaste $3.99

TOTAL PRICE $48.88

Coupons - $ 6.00
Rebates - $16.96
ECB - $29.93

Total coupons/rebates/ECB - $52.89

This leaves me with a $4.01 profit after purchasing all of the above.

I am so excited when God provides for our needs and even more excited when He gives us more than we need so we can share with others. Thank you God for providing.

Riding the Emotional Roller Coaster

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

This is a story of God's control of all circumstances and how we must trust Him no matter what happens.

Yesterday we travelled on an emotional roller coaster for 12 hours. Let me explain...

As most of you know I am a permanent resident here in the US, but not a citizen. My green card is valid until 2017, so I never considered there would be an issue with me leaving to work overseas with WEC and then wanting to return to this country with my family. A conversation with a staff member here a couple of weeks ago led me to believe there may be a problem. We discovered that if I plan to leave the country for more than 1 year I have to file a special form (before I leave) to allow me to return. At the most I can only leave for 2 years. If I am out of America for any longer than 2 years then I loose my right to reenter. So, no problem (or so I thought) I would just apply for my US citizenship. I realized this may delay our entry to England for a couple of months, but I really didn't think it would be too long. I was wrong. Yesterday I spoke to the US Immigration Dept. who informed me that the citizenship process was taking 16-18 months!!! I also had a friend, who spoke to an immigration attorney, who told me the same thing. I mentioned to both that I was going as a missionary, but was informed this made no difference - the wait would be long.

What were we to do? My first reaction was deep disappointment, not just for me, but especially the children as we have had a couple of years of not being settled whilst searching for what God wanted us to do. I was so looking forward to being where God wanted us and hoping we would be there for the beginning of a new school year. My second emotion was confusion. What was happening? God had brought us to this place to serve in England. He had already provided most of the furniture that we need in England, so I believed that we were still going, but couldn't understand why we would be delayed.

While talking to a friend about the situation I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 (which happens to be the kid's memory verse this week) and also about a lesson I had learnt from Hannah (to come in a later post) that I needed to trust God for my children's security and that He had a plan, I need not fear. My friend also informed me of a couple who were on their way to WEC that are in a similar situation and suggested I talk to them. I had that opportunity yesterday evening and they had good news for me. Apparently there is a form I can file which allows missionaries to apply for citizenship and still leave the country without their physical absence voiding their application.

What is most amazing of all is that I don't even have to do all the paperwork before I leave the country (but I do plan to file the forms in St Louis in May). So what we first thought would be a 3 to 4 month delay, turned into an 18 month delay and then into no delay at all - this all happened in 12 hours yesterday!

I am so grateful for the Lord leading us through this experience. I could have just left the country with my green card and been denied entrance to America when we returned in a few years. (I can't begin to imagine how devastating that would have been!) Instead God saw fit to show me how I can get my citizenship so entering America will never be an issue again and how to do this without affecting our immediate plans for travelling to England. Most importantly through the circumstances of showing me this, He reconfirmed for me that He is in control and I do not need to fear.



Michelle

What a Surprise!!!

Today we received our statement from the finance office here at WEC.

What a surprise to see what God has done through our friends and family. Last month $1320.00 was added to our account. This has helped so much in paying for our rent and tuition fees.

So we want to give the glory to God for faithfully providing and thank those who gave for sacrificing to help meet our needs. Three of the donors were anonymous, so if you are reading this please accept our thanks.

Michelle