Monday, August 17, 2015

It looks like time got away again and it has been a while since I posted. We have had a good, but challenging at times summer. The girls and I went went to camp for a week and we had such a great time. It was overwhelming to see my girls experience God and experience Camp Hope the way I remembered when I was there age. After camp we came home for the weekend and then the kids and I headed back down to my parent's house. Samuel went to camp with my dad the next week and the girls and I stayed with my mom and I was able to work at my dad's company for the week. Jeremy came down to pick all of us up at the end of the week and I was once again overjoyed by the camp conversations going on between the girls and Samuel. I was afraid that I would have to pull every detail out of Sam, but he talked for three days about every detail and it made me so happy to hear how God has spoken to his heart.

July 1st had passed and Jeremy was officially without a job. He was applying at every open position possible and was not getting any response back. In the meantime, the position that we were hoping would work out was still up in the air because an official budget was still a few weeks away and talks of major cuts had us believing that this was not what God wanted. I mentioned before that we had some money set aside, but each week that passed the reserve was getting less and we were not sure when Jeremy would be getting paid again. We sold Jeremy's car to help out a little bit and Jeremy signed up to drive with Uber. He did not make a lot of money, but what he did make helped out tremendously. Mid-July was upon us and Jeremy started to get some interview calls, but they were all at schools 45 minutes to an hour away outside of the city. He went to the interviews and got calls backs to most of them. Thankfully, the call he had been waiting for finally came. His mentor principal from last year was able to open up a second assistant principal position and offered to Jeremy! We were so relieved and thankful that he gets to stay at the same school he was at last year. There would still be a little bit more stress when we found out he could not start until August 1st and the another bump when he was told he would not be able to start until today, August 16th. Once again the Lord provided by providing a check for all of Jeremy's vacation pay and he ended up being able to start August 7th. I cannot thank you all enough for your faithful prayers for our family and Jeremy's job situation.

Okay, back to our summer. Once we found out Jeremy would have a job we were able to enjoy our summer a little bit more .We went to MI for the National Association of FWB for a few days. It was good see college friends and visit with some we only see every few years. After the National Jeremy's brother, Josh, and his family came to Chicago for a few days. It was a great time and my kids loved playing with their cousins from OK. The next week Emma finally had her oral surgery to remove those two extra teeth. I was having a hard time keeping my anxiety in check because I was worried about her being completely under and the pain she would be in after the procedure. It was also stressful because we found out that we were not covered for insurance and so it would be completely out of pocket. I almost cancelled the procedure, but we had waited so long to get this down and all the arrangements had already been made. We had to be at the surgery place at 6:45 and the place is about 35 minutes away. Samuel went with Emma and myself to keep me company. Here procedure started at 7:30 and 20 minutes later she was done. She did the IV and the procedure like a rock star! Samuel and I went back to the recovery room and I have to tell you it was not a pretty sight. My poor girl's mouth was so bloody that I had to tell Samuel not to look at her. She looked like she has drank a cup of blood :(. She was also being super silly from the anesthesia and we were getting so tickled at what she was saying and doing. She kept trying to laugh and it was only distorting her face and making her bloody mouth look that much worse. A nurse finally came in to wipe down her teeth and mouth, but it was still pretty bad. I had to give Jeremy a heads up before we got home. The prayers over Emma were made evident over the next few days when my zero pain tolerance girl had zero pain! She was doing so good I was starting to worry that they had damaged her nerve endings because did not even complain of any soreness. This is gross, but they had to peel the roof of her mouth back and then cut one of the teeth out and then stitch the roof of her mouth and she did not have any pain or soreness? That my friends is God's hand on my baby girl!

We also had some more visitors the week of Emma's surgery. Jeremy's sister, Janna, and her friend came to Chicago for the weekend. We loved having family come this summer! It was so nice to be able to open our home to maybe show it off a little :). We have had a few busy weeks, but for the most part the kids and I have been home every day. Jeremy has needed our vehicle so we have just hung out at home. We have about 3 more weeks before we head back to school, so we are trying to enjoy these last few weeks of summer.

It is hard to write these catch-up posts because I am sure I am missing something important and the post seems to be never ending. I did want to mention just one more thing before I close and will elaborate later in another post. Those that follow our family or this blog know the struggle we have had with our church plant. I was pretty plain last November that things could not continue without help. After months of praying and seeking God's face we have joined our church planting efforts with another church plant in the city . The church is called The Brook. They will be celebrating their two year anniversary in October, so they are a new church and they are not self-supporting. We know 100% that God has been working out the details that led us to this church. As I said, I will talk more about this decision and the ways that God is using us later, but you can check them out here if you want to know more. We still have the same mission and the same mission field, only the assignment has changed.

Sorry, one more side note. I am taking a FB break. I am hoping I can share this post on FB without actually getting on FB.

Picture overload!