On the Road Again

Ok, cheesy title I know...but it seriously has been what our lives have consisted of for the last couple weeks! On May 16th, we drove almost 14 hours from Columbia, SC to Peoria, IL to visit my (Kimberly's) Grandma. It was so good to see her as I haven't been able to visit her since I was 14 or 15!

Me with my Grandma

From Peoria we drove up to Wheaton, IL to begin training with TEAM on May 18th. From that Tuesday through Friday we had all day intensive training sessions to help prepare us for our year in Spain. It was so refreshing to be there, to meet new people, and to learn (and be reminded of) so much! We had a great time there, and feel better prepared for ministry.

All the TEAMServers

We were able to leave early enough on that Friday to make it back to Columbia, SC late that night (or should I say early Saturday!). We had been planning to split up the trip into two days, staying with a good friend in Tennessee, but we were able to leave earlier than expected and made it back in one day! :) And, boy were we glad we made it back that night! The next day around noon, we get a text letting us know that we were about to have a new baby in the family! Micah's brother Nate blessed our family with our first nephew! (We had only girls before that) Skye Logan was born May 22, and he is a beautiful, healthy baby. We love him so much!

Skye Logan

We then were able to speak at Covenant Community Church in Lexington, SC (Red Bank area) the next day, May 23rd. We have a friend from college, Kent Suits, that works at this church, and he connected us with the people there. We were able to share during the Sunday School hour and had the privilege of leading worship for the church service. We had a blast sharing what God has done and is doing in Spain! We were even able to play with an old friend that we didn't know attended Covenant! Mike had gone to our church, Faith, a while ago, and it was so fun to play on a worship team with him again! And many memories were brought back to us as we played with Kent because we had both been on CIU's chapel team with Kent for a year.

We also had the opportunity to travel to Augusta, GA this week. We had meetings with two churches, and we also dropped off some information packets at a few other churches in the area. We then were able to visit with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time! Tim and Emma Strong moved out of the Columbia area several years ago and have since had a baby girl named Elena! We got to meet her for the first time--and she's definitely not a baby anymore! Elena is 20 months old, and she is hilarious--just like her parents. :)

Please pray for us as the next week will be spent on three main things:

1. Packing! We still have more packing to be done at our old house! Next Saturday (June 5) we will be having a HUGE garage sale. If you've had a garage sale before, you know we need prayer to organize and get things done!
2. Planning for various support trips. Some trips that we are trying to get together for the nearer future are to Charlotte, NC and Chattanooga, TN.
3. Visa preparations. We have to have several documents officially translated into Spanish, wait for certain documents to arrive from the Spanish government, and also try to plan a support trip around this trip to Miami. Please pray for us--it's very complicated to work everything out just right!

Thank you guys so much for praying for us, and we look forward to what God will do! Like Hudson Taylor has said, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." We're still at 30% support, and we trust that God will provide!

Jobless, Not-So-Homeless, and Support

Things are a bit of a whirlwind here with us! As of yesterday, we are both officially jobless! While this sounds like a scary thing (and actually is a little!), it is actually quite freeing for us. It has been really difficult for us to juggle jobs with support raising. Now our full-time job IS support raising and preparation for Spain. And, I'll be the first to say that it is certainly a full-time job! We've got a bunch of trips lined up to visit with friends, and also friends of friends to share what God is doing in Spain. You can actually pray for us as we leave tomorrow to go on a two-day trip to Augusta, GA to meet with a few churches (hopefully more!). Please pray that we would be able to finish up some last minute details and be able to get in contact with the right people. We also will have the opportunity to meet up with some friends we haven't seen in a while--Tim and Emma Strong. They used to go to our church, but have since moved to Augusta and we haven't really seen them much since, so it'll be good to see them and to meet their 1 year old little girl, Elena.

We have also moved out of our house! But God has provided above and beyond for us. A family in our church, the Sweazy's, have graciously let us stay with them for these last few months to save money on expenses now that we're jobless. The Sweazy's live on the lake in a gorgeous house that has a kind of garage apartment--now I say garage apartment, but it is fantastic. We have our own kitchen, bathroom, living room, etc. It truly is like an apartment. The Sweazy's have been so kind to us, and I know God will bless them for their generosity. We do have until the end of May to get all of our stuff out of our old house, so the name of the game is sorting and packing. Memorial Day weekend we will be having a garage sale to sell the stuff we don't want to store. Many people have been generous to donate stuff they have been wanting to get rid of for us to sell to help give to our ministry. It has been such a blessing!

Good news on the support front! Within the last few weeks, our support has jumped from 15% to 30%!! We have been blown away by the support that God has provided for us! Praise God with us! And also please pray that a good bit more of support will come in enough time for us to apply for our visa. We are confident that God will provide in Him timing. Pray that we will be diligent stewards of our time and resources in this time.