So Many Blessings!

 Wow, we have been SO blessed. 

Every time something awesome happens we say, "we should write about it on the blog!"

 ... and then another blessing comes... and another.... then a big change comes in our lives (like a baby... or move across the country...) 

We can hardly keep up with how fast things have been unfolding for us! So, for sanity sake, I'll just make a grand list of the blessings :) 

HOPE THIS ENCOURAGES YOU

(theses are not in any order, I'm just picking them out of my head)

1

We were able to pay off our debt

2

Willie's parents let us stay with them, rent free, for 3 months so we could save money for the move.

3

We got an amazing deal on plane tickets to visit our family in South Carolina one last time before we moved to Washington.

4

We were able to drive to Ohio with Willie's whole family to visit more family before we left.

5

Willie's parents gave us their minivan come to Washington in because it is a more reliable car than the one we were going to bring.

6

We got a great deal on this VERY NICE hotel in South Dakota during our 3 day drive to Washington. I felt like a princess :)  

7

We were welcomed by friends in Montana to stay the night during out 3 day drive to Washington. They blessed us SO much with amazing hospitality, laughter, relaxation, A HOT TUB :P, meals, encouragement, and a gracious parting gift to help us get on our feet.

 

8

We had just enough money saved to move to Washington and pay for the first month of school and living costs. 

***   9   ***

When we moved we had no jobs lined up... One week later we both were working about 30 hours a week making $10 and $12 and hour. I am able to have Owen at work with me! It couldn't have worked out any better. Willie drops me off at 8am, where I get to help take care of my old friend Elenora. He then drives to a construction job that he was offered by a good friend of ours. He leaves at 2pm and comes straight to pick me and Owen up... and we have every evening together! Amazing. Both of these jobs are temporary, dependent on when the renovating is done and when Mrs.Elenora passes... BUT once again, we have what we need when we need it. 

10

Willie's parents bought our mattress from us for $500 bucks! And they gave us their really nice air mattress, with a stand, so we have something to sleep on.  

11

Willie was able to sell his tool chest for $250 (we could not fit it in the car and have room for anything else, so we had to sell it... but pray that we get a good deal on one here, because he still needs one for school)

12

We were blessed by our aunt & uncle in Wisconsin to work around their home doing little projects here and there, and were able to save an extra $240 for our move! 

13

Willie put an add on craigslist for extra work and got a call back! That job brought us an extra $50 and we were only there for 2 1/2 hours. Awesome. 

14

We had a small yard sale and brought in a couple hundred bucks to add to the bank.

15

We have been blessed by the Hamilton family (Frank & Margie) to live with them until we sign our lease on June 28th. Hospitality is SUCH A BLESSING! They have given us everything our family has needed during our stay. Truly, they are spoiling us with all this food and fellowship. (not to mention the golf outings they bless my hubby with).

                      

16

We were debating if we could afford the townhouse that we would really like to get, and when we went in to get the application for it they gave us $100 off per month for the first 6 months of a 9 month lease! Amazing. 

17

We will be sharing a 3 bedroom, 2&1/2 bath townhouse with another couple at the rate of $735 a month (divided by 2 = $367.50 each couple + about $40 each for utilities) Amazing. We couldn't even get a studio apartment for that much! So blessed. O yea, it also has full sized washer and dryer as well as a dish washer :D

18

We budgeted for our 3 day trip to Washington to cost $550... and with the hospitality, gifts of money, lower gas prices, and higher gas mileage - it only cost us around $400! 

19

We never ran out of gas or had car trouble the entire trip. And owen was an angel the whole way! (that is, ... if angels poop up their back in their carseat??? but hey, it only happened once in 3 days! :P ) 

20

We were able to fit everything we "needed" to bring in the back of the minivan. (leaving all furniture behind) BUT, once we got to Spokane a friend of ours said we can have his couch. And another friend of ours said he has lots of furniture he wants to get rid of! All we have to do is go over and pick it out. 

21

We got approved for our townhouse even though none of us had proof of income at the time! 

22

We thought that the disk drive on our computer was broken (and it was) we tried 3 times to get it to work... and nothing. But I felt a strong sense that we should pray about it, so we did, and immediately after it worked! And, it hasn't given us any trouble since. We know this computer is old... but if God could cause the Israelites sandals to not wear out during 40 years of wandering... :) we are certain he can keep this computer going if he wants.... and if not, we are certain he will provide what we need :) 

23

We made it to spokane :)

Each of these blessings could be a post of its own, and I am certain I am forgetting many, but we have so much that we want to share with you that we just had to get it out there. 

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. This is an amazing ride.

We move into our place June 28th, and Willie starts school July 9th. 

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.