Fall Festivities

Our apologies for not updating our blog!  Our life is what Julie has come to term “pure insanity!”  We are so busy we can’t keep the days of the week straight?  Anyone else feel this way?

30th Anniversary Gala for the Health Cooperative

Andrew has been busy with work: the Eau Claire Health Cooperative just celebrated their 30th year with a Gala two weeks ago.   It was a GREAT excuse to dress up and a WONDERFUL evening to celebrate the work the Cooperative does to bring quality health care to all those in need.  He’s also been busy with the Ordination process.  He has submitted his last written exam left for licensure; the orals will be in early December.  In January and February the ordination written exams and papers will come due, followed by the orals…we’re praying He’ll be ordained in April!  Please pray for endurance as this has been, and continues to be, a very difficult task for the entire family.

Thank you for your prayers, they were powerfully felt and answered: Julie passed her Jazzercise audition!  She is now beginning to co-teach with her mentoring instructor and working on learning new routines so she’ll have a full set. Please pray for her set to be completed this week and for a teaching schedule to be worked out so that she can begin teaching as soon as possible.  There are lots of things to learn and things to do; she is feeling the added weight of responsibility.
Needless to say we are both very busy and quite stressed…please pray that God would give us wisdom in how to prioritize, energy to get the necessary tasks done, and still find time to rest as a family.
            We have both come to the end of our individual counseling sessions that were required by United World Mission.  We could rant and rave all day about how wonderful it has been for both of us!  We are excited to switch gears and begin the counseling process together through our marital counseling sessions.

We dressed Ann Renee up as a pumpkin for our trip to
Harmon Tree Farm and for Trunk or Treat

         
Ann Renee turned 1 on October 3rd!!!!!!  Where does the time go?  We have both thought a lot lately about how fleeting this life is; it’s unbelievably fast!  We celebrated a few weeks before her birthday by going apple picking in the mountains…she got to experience her first cupcake!  On her actual birthday we took her to Harmon’s Tree Farm to see the farm animals and pumpkins. Julie’s Jazzercise class also threw Ann Renee a surprise birthday party…all in all this girl has done some celebrating =)
            Ann Renee spent her first time away from home with D’dad and Mita (Andrew’s parents), & Alex and Maggie…we’re not sure who had the most fun. =)  It was a refreshing break for us, but we couldn’t wait to get our hands wrapped around her again!   She’s gaining more and more confidence standing up, the countdown has begun until she can walk.  She talks a lot, but hasn’t formulated many words until just recently.  She’s started to say “baby,” “puppy,” and “doggie.”  She is currently cutting 4 molars at one time…when the girl cuts some teeth she goes all out, LOL!
            We are so grateful to the Lord for all you who take the time to read our blog and to lift us up in prayer.  We certainly need you continued prayers as we move through this very busy time in our lives.  You can specifically pray for the following:
-       Working out the details of Julie’s Jazzercise responsibilities,         including when she will teach and how many classes
-       Andrew’s oral exams for Licensure on Dec. 3rd
-       Vision trip to Costa Rica in mid-November

Exams and Excursions

Hello friends!  We are doing well at the Halbert home and just wanted to take a few minutes to update you on current events!  It seems as if the summer months are flying by and as they pass, they bring many important events along with them.

Ann Renée is 9 months old now!  We can hardly believe how much she has grown and changed in recent months.  She has mastered (for the most part) sitting up and is certainly very vocal!  Her progress on becoming mobile, however, has certainly been at her own relaxed pace.  Just this weekend she learned to get from lying on her belly to sitting up on her own – needless to say, she was very proud and has implemented her newfound ability to protest naptimes and bedtimes!

Julie is staying busy keeping up with Ann Renée, and making sure that everything is ready for the dinner guests that we have been privileged to have.  She also has continued her training to become a Jazzercise instructor.  Originally we had hoped that she would be able to complete her certification and start teaching in mid-July.  However, the busyness of life has moved us to push her certification date back to October of this year.  We are excited to see how the Lord will use this as a potential ministry both here in Columbia and eventually in Costa Rica.

Andrew is busy with work, serving at Rose Hill as an elder and teaching Sunday school.  He has decided to divide up his ordination into two parts – the first is licensure and requires three written and oral exams.  The written exams are due on August 1^st so he is busy trying to find time to study.  Assuming a passing grade on the written portion, he will go before the Candidates and Credentials Committee in September and finally before Presbytery in October.  If all goes well with licensure, then we are hoping Andrew will be able to complete ordination by January of 2012.

Some super exciting news (all of the previous stuff was just build-up) is that we have been invited by the team in Costa Rica to take a vision trip.  The mission has approved this trip and we are working on buying our tickets!  The trip will not take place until the fall because that is when Andrew will have enough vacation to go.  Needless to say, we are very excited about this trip and look forward to meeting the team and catching the more of the vision for Costa Rica!

Here are some specific ways you can pray for us:

1) Pray for Julie as she studies for her instructor’s exam in October

2) Pray for Andrew as he studies for his licensure exams over the next few weeks

3) Pray for safe travels as we will be spending some time in Knoxville, TN and potentially in New Kent, VA later this summer

Thanks for reading and for your prayers!

The Latest News

Most of you are probably aware by now that we were recently appointed as missionaries with United World Mission…we are beyond excited to be apart of their team, and we had a GREAT week at UWM’s orientation!  Most of the time when you are away for a week it feels good to get back into your own home, but we walked through the front door feeling quite bummed to be back.   UWM has a small office staff (6 people), and we left orientation having parted from family!  Their humility and kindness in leadership was so refreshing!  God touched us in a special way that week!

Some interesting facts about Costa Rica, where we will serve as missionaries…

·         The average temperature year round is 75 to 80 degrees

·         There are lots of bugs but very few mosquitoes

·         An estimated 10 to 15% of the population is Nicaraguan

·         Many fast food restaurants (ex. McDonalds) will deliver food to your home

·         It’s the only country without a military of any kind

·         ¼ of the land is protected by the government; Costa Rica has rich lands 
   with lots of wildlife and marine life

·         It can be said of the church that it is a mile wide, but only an inch deep

The last fact about Costa Rica helps frame the reason why we are heading there specifically.  Sadly, too few have experienced what its like to have a daily, life-transforming walk with the Lord.  God has given us a deep burden to see the roots of the church in Costa Rica and throughout Latin America

deepened.  Our work will involve discipleship, training and education for leaders, who will in turn be equipped to disciple their own people, as well as the nations. 

Now that we are back in Columbia we are taking one day at a time to pray and prepare for the journey ahead.  We know each day here is preparation for the work God is calling us to over there.  

God has really been blessing our time here in Columbia with some great friendships…something that we have needed.  We have had to watch many of our seminary friends move away, but God has been so good to meet our need through old and new friendships.  It will be crazy fun to get to heaven and fellowship with all the people God has put in our lives at different seasons…friendships that pick up right where you left them, they are simply a treasure!

We kicked off the summer by getting drastic haircuts, all except Ann Renee of course.  She’s been cooling off by spending time in her baby pool (it looks like a crab, it’s too cute).  It’s incredible to watch Ann Renee grow!  What she lacks for mobility, she makes up with her vocal cords.  She’s quite verbal J  We are truly enjoying the adventure of parenthood. 

That’s all for now…until next time may you and your family be blessed! Thanks for reading  J

Ann Renee in her crab pool!

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

Things have been busy this Spring at the Halbert house!  We thought that we would start this blog to keep all who are interested up to date on our progress towards our goal of Costa Rica.  So here is quick recap of the past few months to get things kicked off!

Andrew started Hebrew II this Spring in order to complete the academic requirements for his ordination in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).  Just about a week ago he completed the class and we are grateful to the Lord that despite many struggles during the semester he did well on his final exam and received the necesssary grade in order pass.  With that behind him, he is pushing forward in finishing up his internship requirements and preparing for his ordination trials this summer.  Our hope is that he will be ordained by either the October meeting of Presbytery (preferrable) or by the January meeting.  He feels much more confident and excited now that the academic portion is behind him and he can focus on the remaining requirements, though they will present their own challenges.

Julie has been working hard adjusting to life as a stay at home mom and pursuing becoming a Jazzercise instructor.  She just passed her CPR certification test and is moving forward with preparing for her own set of trials in July when she will be tested on her knowledge and performance of routines.  The test selects between 2 and 3 routines from a possible 10 that she has to perform correctly in order to pass.  She really enjoys Jazzercise and is excited about the possibilty of becoming an instructor and taking over some of the morning classes at the facility where she is currently exercising.

Ann Renee is 7 months old and continues to grow and change almost daily.  She has a plethera of indestinguishable syllabals that she is continually babbling as she tells her toys, Ellie (the dog) and her parents about all that she thinks and feels!  She loves to laugh and bounce and sit on daddy's shoulders.  She has just recently begun the process of becoming mobile by "scooching" as we have affectionately named it.  Fortunately for the time being, the carpert offers enough resistance to make any serious attempts at moving around not worth the effort - but we are not far from having a mobile baby.

On the missions front, we have selected a mission board - United World Mission - located in Charlotte, NC and we have filled out the application and been invited to their Candidate Assessment and Orientation (CAO).  This happens the week of June 5th-10th in Winnsboro, SC which is about an hour from where we currently live.

The current plan is that we will move to Costa Rica where Julie will attend language school and Andrew will begin teaching at a seminary on a part-time basis.  The remainder of his time will be spent helping to write and teach currimculum in different countries around Latin America.  We are very excited to attend the orientation and see how the Lord guides us and prepares us for our future ministry in Costa Rica!  We still have a lot of questions but God has continually proven himself faithful to us and we are certain that he will continue to do so.

We covet your prayers as we begin this process.  We fully expect that God will use this process to grow us in our faith and dependence on him and we are aware that it can be very difficult at times.  We simply ask that you would pray for us as the Lord leads you.  We will continue to keep you up to date.

Love,
Andrew, Julie and Ann Renee