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. 

Cross Off The List: Decide on Transportation to WA

As Willie and I went back and forth between how to get to Washington and how many cars we should take, God helped us make the decision in the most encouraging way I could ever imagine. Here's what happened....



The week leading up to Easter Sunday Willie and I tossed around different combinations of how to get to Washington and what to take (we have a good bit of furniture, a little car, and a Suburban).
We came up with these options (and a few more complicated ones that I omitted).

-Drive a huge U-haul for our furniture, tow our little car behind, sell Suburban
-Drive our Suburban, tow a small u-haul for furniture, sell our little car for extra money
-Drive our Suburban, tow our little car, sell our furniture
-Sell both cars and our furniture :) and get 1 more reliable car

We finally realized that it was not worth it AT ALL for us to get a U-haul (big or small) and that selling our furniture was the best option. So, as Easter approached we were pretty settled on driving our Suburban and towing our little car behind it with whatever we could fit in them.

skip to

**EASTER MORNING**

Easter has grown more and more special to me each year since I became a believer in 2006. Seems like those first couple of years God planted deep in me the fact that my sins had been forgiven, and I was grateful. Now, He's opening my eyes more to the fact that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so one day He will raise ME (and you too if you believe) from the dead. Death in the life of a believer is nothing. I'll say it again. Death in the life of a believer is nothing! :) And that's what this Easter hit home for me. This truth gives me, and all who believe it, great courage and joy. 

After church that morning, filled with joy, we went back home to have a meal together. When I came inside I noticed a man and a young woman sitting there that I had never met before. I introduced myself and asked how they knew the Nickols family. The man's name was Ramon and the young woman was his daughter, Felicitas. They are believers that live in the city beside us and they knew my in-laws from a church service that our church held downtown. On this particular day they had received a ride to church from my in-laws and came home with them afterward to fellowship with us. 

I probably wont do this part of the story justice, but I have to try to tell you how encouraging it was just to have them there with us. For one it was a break from our normal routine. But more than that it was encouraging to get to know each other and listen to stories from their life and all that God has done for them. Even though it was our first time meeting the fact that we share a common faith bonded us. 

While we were all sitting around laughing, eating, sharing stories well into the evening it hit me that Ramon and his daughter do not have a car. When they need groceries another brother in the faith had been taking them to get what they need. When they didn't have a way to church, someone from the body would take them. When Ramon needed to go to the hospital God provided a way. God had been providing for them, but it was like He was telling me He wanted to provide them now with a car. I loved the idea but I kept it to myself so I could bring it up to Willie that evening and see what he thought. 

They left that night filled with joy and thanking us for sharing our family with them, but truly we were the ones that were blessed to have them. 

As the night was winding down my mother in law, Eileen, suggested we watch a dvd of a sermon by Francis Chan. Yet another powerfully encouraging time spent that Easter evening. I was blown away by the incredible words of faith that Francis was sharing. What I took away from it was this, 

The life I have been given in Jesus Christ FREES me to give my all and i shouldn't let other "well meaning" christians talk me out of doing something for Christ because they think it is to radical. 

Most of this was in the context of what we do with the money/material wealth we are given.  

So I was reminded again what the Lord had brought up earlier about giving Ramon and Felicitas our car. Now, just as the message was over and we were all sitting in the living room in a sense of awe, Willie turns to me with joy in his face and says, "Haley I think we should give Ramon our car." to which I squealed, "REALLY!? ME TOO!! I WAS JUST THINKING THAT!"

So the next day we brought it over, and was welcomed into their home and shared another encouraging evening together sharing what God had done. 

Amen.

So, here we are, and as it stands now we will be driving the Suburban and whatever we can fit in the back of it out to Washington. Knowing how God so moved Willie and I to provide for the needs for our brother only makes us more excited and hopeful to see how He will keep providing for us as we transition into school and take on the task of paying for it. 

(also, please pray for Ramon, he just had to have surgery and is in the hospital. Pray for a speedy, clean recovery, and continued support for him and his sweet daughter)