What's been happening in our lives~

In May we traveled to Malibu to attend the Pepperdine Lectureships. We attended classes and were encouraged by our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also reconnected with good friends.

In June we traveled to Washington to visit Jewel's family. We spent a week hanging out with her brother and his family and their dad. Jewel's dad retired from commercial fishing in March. So, we spent some time helping him with his new hobby~ gardening. We were inspired to someday start our own organic "farm" in order to help those in the church and in the community. And if we're able to increase our income in this way, then we're excited for that as a bonus, too!

We also got to spend some time with other married couples in the church for a weekend. We spent some time encouraging each other and building relationships.

In July, we stayed around the area spending time looking for our own place. We were staying with Steve's parents. So, thankfully, so friends connected us with a lady just outside of Grass Valley and we moved into our new apartment August 1. It's a small studio apartment, but it's within our budget and our landlady is a blessing!

August we celebrated Steve's dad's birthday and Steve's niece's birthday. We had a good time celebrating life with Steve's family.

It's now September. Jewel had her 33rd birthday. Or rather she celebrated her 21st birthday for the 12th time. :) And we'll soon celebrate Steve's mom's birthday this week.

In that time Steve's been teaching the high school class on Sunday mornings. Jewel was co-facilitating the Wednesday night gals' class as well as working at a boy's group home. Steve is still teaching, Wednesday night classes have been postponed for the time being and Jewel has since quit her job and found a new one. Jewel's job was very stressful and taking a toll on her emotional and physical health. So, God has since blessed her with another job for the time being. It's only seasonal, but it's something with less stress and pays about the same.

In all of this, these last few months we have been walking by faith. Some days it seemed hard. Ok, most days it was hard. But throughout all of the difficulties, we were reminded by friends how God is faithful and never gives us more than we can handle. So, we continued to walk by faith and God still stays faithful.

...Under the Sun

Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun. He concluded Ecclesiastes with

"Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil."

But not everything is meaningless, although these last several months have been hard for me (Jewel), I still serve a good God. Since losing most of our support last year, I got a job. I finally got a full time job working as a type of caregiver for teen boys who have experienced some emotional and/or physical trauma that requires some mental health care. It's been mostly a stressful job with some rewarding conversations about Jesus, salvation and baptism. But I think the time has come to find another job. The stress that comes with this job has taken an affect on my health. I've put in a position transfer request at my work, but I think I just need to find a new place to work. I know the boys need Jesus, and I've had those conversations with them.... I just think I am not in a place myself to give to these boys when I need to be taking care of my own emotional health first. If I'm not healthy, then how can I truly help others who need it? (Thanks to my sister for reminding me of that and thank, Miss Betty for sharing that with the ladies you teach and mentor)

So, what's not healthy about me? I've been struggling with my self-esteem and depression for a while. Basically, attacks from Satan. It seems like in January there was just major disappointment after major disappointment--you know, culture shock. And not feeling connected to the church didn't help. Since having actually moved to Grass Valley, I'm feeling a bit more connected now that we're closer in physical proximity.

So, what about West Coast Missions? Well, we didn't start our first class this fall. We really need another family/couple to move here to be a part of this ministry. It's just too much for us and the Hooper's to take on. So, WCM is on hold until we can get some more people out here to help us. We've thought about moving forward with just the 2 families, but we believe it's the wiser decision to wait until we have the necessary people to be in this with us so we don't overwork ourselves. So, we've been praying that things will "fall into place" so that we can have a class next year. We do have students interested in WCM, but we want to be able to give them the best of ourselves and give out of the overflow rather than overworking ourselves.

So, in the meantime Steve has been preaching when needed and he also teaches the youth on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I've been helping teach on Wednesday nights, but that's going to be put on hold since not many people have been coming on Wednesdays and with the days getting shorter, even less people come.

Steve and I have been reading through the Book of Romans together each week and being reminded of God's grace and love and how we can apply those scriptures and principles to our lives. I miss being fully involved in ministry like we were with AIM, but I know that the Lord has plans for us and that each difficulty and joy that we go through will be a blessing to us and a benefit to others. Thank you for being a blessing to us through your words of encouragement, your financial support and more importantly through your prayers to God on our behalf. This ministry wouldn't be possible without your help (and of course, without God!)

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• For a new/different job for Jewel
• Jewel's emotional health
• For a fixer-upper house to buy
• SUPPORT!
• A family/couple to join the West Coast Missions team