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