Please Pray

It is Sunday night and Willie and I just got back from a family visit to Ohio. 8-10 hours in a car with 6-7 people (including a carseat) was well worth the effort to get one last visit in with Willie's side of the family before we make our trek out to Washington.

It's hard to believe that this time next week we will be on the road - moving to Washington.  We are really excited and want to ask you to be praying for a few specific things that we still have to figure out.

(most recent family picture at my friend Regina's wedding!)

We have a lot more prayer requests than this... but for this week, we'd really like to hone in on these ones and see what happens.

1. The perfect place for us to live. 

    Doesn't have to be big or new, just in our budget (dirt cheap) and hopefully close    

    enough to school that Willie could ride his bike. 

2. The perfect job for me and possibly Willie. 

    I would love to watch children or clean houses and things of that nature that would  

    still give me quality time with Owen and be able to keep up the house while Willie is 

    studying. We will need to make about 800 a month to get by. Willie's school is 

    pretty intense and it's not recommended that he be working while in it, but if an  

    opportunity came that fit well we would take it.   

3. Wisdom and encouragement to know how to raise money for school.

I'll share more about this one in a later post, but basically we want to know how to  

biblically be a part of the body in our generosity as well as our need. There are ways that we are told is "the way" to raise support ... but we feel like something is missing and truly want to know from God what this aspect of the body should look like. In a program that is going to to cost a minimum of 75,000 dollars, we still need 70,000. I am certain that this small price (in God's economy) will be paid, but my hope is that the church at large would gain a spiritual blessing.

(and as always we need prayer for our growing family)

God has already provided everything we need to make the move and get started. 

We have friends to stay with for a few days until we find a place of our own. 

We have enough money to travel there and be covered for the first month or two. 

We have a car in great condition on loan to us from Willie's family for the 2 years we are out there. 

Willie told me an encouraging story a few days ago. He was at work thinking about all the things to come and kind of feeling overwhelmed with the cost of schooling and wondering why God hasn't provided more of the funding yet. But then he felt God encourage him by saying, 

"Well, Willie it's because you don't need it yet." 

To which Willie just smiled and was encouraged. Thanks for praying for us, we look forward to sharing with you all God will do through these prayers. 

P.S. We would appreciate stories of how God provided for you. It is a good reminder for us when we begin to doubt, to be encouraged by stories of His faithfulness in other peoples' lives.

Figuring out Finances for School

The move to Washington is really starting to sink in. We have 5 weeks until we move.

Some encouraging news has recently come our way. A few weeks ago we received a packet in the mail from MBI with all of Willie's estimated costs for training as well as possible aids we can apply for to help get us through with the least amount of debt as possible.

One very helpful aid is that Moody now accepts federal grants (not loans) which they previously did not. So, we filed Willie's FAFSA for school, and qualified for the largest amount in grants! It will amount to $5,550 per year. 

What a huge blessing!! 

The program Willie is going into will cost roughly $75,176  from start to finish, for 2 (very) full years of flight training, as well as further Airplane Maintenance experience and study of the Bible. So, assuming that we will receive this amount in grants both years already cuts our out of pocket cost down $11,100!! That's huge! BUT, we wont count our chickens before they hatch... so all we can bank on for the first year is $5,550.

One of the other aids Moody offers is the option for students to enroll in an interest free monthly payment plan. The training was originally broken down into 4 semesters.

First Year Flight Costs

1st semester estimate  $16,016
2nd semester estimate $22,399

Second Year Flight Costs
3rd semester estimate $15,546

4th semester estimate $21,215

The total first semester cost would have been due on June 15, 2012 but since the school has given us the opportunity to pay it as we go, we have this new plan:

1st semester payment plan

June 15, 2012                $3,203.20

July 15, 2012                 $3,203.20

August 15, 2012             $3,203.20

September 15, 2012        $3,203.20

October 15, 2012            $3,203.20 

The federal grant money we will receive this year is broken up into 2 semester payments of $2,775 each. As of this instant we have been able to save about $4,000. Unfortunately, we wont be able to put all of that money toward school because we need a good portion of it for moving costs. But, since we were able to pay off all of our debt we are in a really good spot to make this move. With the first installment of the grant money, plus what we have saved we should be able to cover our first month's payment and have a bit left over to start the second month's payment. This is great because it will give us our first month to work toward raising the next month's payment and so on.

The beauty of this whole thing is that it doesn't really matter how long it takes us. It's not like we want to serve God but can't do it without a plane! Even if this 2 year program takes us many more (so we can get through it debt free) we aren't at a loss. 

The most important thing is that we are listening to what God is saying, and obeying Him. God has told us to go back to Spokane and do the last 2 years of flight training. 

So, we're going. 

We believe the road we walk with God is more important than the destination. It's not like God is waiting for us at the destination. He's with us as we go. 

With that said, our goal is to be done in 2 years and believe God can provide the funds... but we also know that might not be His plan. So, as it unfolds we will trust His timing. 

That's all I have for now, but I want to share these pictures I found in a google search.

It's good for me to keep these images in my head for encouragement as we do the framework now. 

 God is who He says He is in the Bible - we can't fail when we abide in Him. Even if things look like failure in the worlds eyes.