Exciting Updates - Garage sale and more!

As we continue down this journey, God continues to reveal Himself. I wish I could recount everything that happened last week. Here is a quick recap: Incredible support meetings, new location of yard sale, showing our house the day before a HUGE yard sale (good thing we got a new location!), yard sale that was phenomenal, more great support news, and then today we find out our house is showing again!

First, let's just talk a bit about the yard sale. Many people have asked how it turned out, etc. Let's just say, our goal was to get enough money to purchase our plane tickets and we got much more than that! But, that is just one small piece of how God worked in the yard sale. We had some incredible families and friends help us all day on Friday getting ready and all day on Saturday. Several 7th grade girls came and set-up shop to sell cookies, donuts, waters, and lemonade! We are very grateful for their friendship and service.

So here is how it went down. Nikki and I arrive at 6:00 along with a few shoppers. They were kind enough to help us pull stuff out of the garage. By 8:30 (when we counted), we had made over $1,000! There was a steady stream of shoppers coming by to check out what we had for sale. Several would just buy a bottle of water and tell us to keep the change (when they gave us $10). A lady from the Dominican Republic stopped by, she moved here 4 years ago from Santo Domingo. Nikki and I had a great time talking with her. I met another couple who vacationed in Sosua, Dominican Republic (the small town we are moving to) last year. They said when they would go out on a tour and see the area and where people lived they couldn't believe some of the living conditions!

Here is my favorite part of the day. At 1:30 we began to bag things up and box things up to prepare for our 2:00 ending time and take things to Goodwill. As we were doing it a "yard saler" came up. Someone mentioned to him that for $20 he could have everything. He ended up giving us $60 and loaded his mini-van to the brim and took everything! It was such a blessing for us to look around and realize, there was nothing left except a storm door someone donated! We were ecstatic! About 1:50 someone shows up asking if we were finished. We told them the only thing left was a storm door. They looked at each other and said, "we know someone that needs a storm door." They bought it and then we literally walked away and had sold every single item! Could not believe it! God answered so many prayers from weather, to providing help, to raising money, to getting rid of everything!

We did have someone look at our house on Friday (have not heard anything in response), but we have someone else looking at it today! It is exciting to sit and watch how God is moving and working in this journey. Continue to pray!

Our desire in this journey is to have families/individuals who will partner with us in ministering in the Dominican Republic. Over the next three days we will do a series that describes what that looks like. Check back to see it!

Yard Sale and Bake Sale

108 Jackson Lane in Hendersonville

Right off of Bluegrass Drive, don't miss out on this! We have gotten some sweet stuff. Also included is a bake sale so come and check it out. Here are some of the big items: very nice foozball table, tv and entertainment center, full matress and box spring set, 4-burner gas grill, push mower, dresser, and patio set with cushions. We also have a ton of good small stuff. Lot's of new stuff that has never been used or barely been used. See you all tomorrow!

House Being Shown Today!

Well, our house is being shown for the first time today! We trust God that it will sale in His perfect timing. Nikki and I were so encouraged yesterday with this news in addition to SEVERAL other bits of news we received. We are grateful to the Lord for His provision. While this may sound odd, please pray for the showing that this would be the house for them! Watching God work is so much fun.

The Provision

I cracked open the fresh pages of my Beth Moore study this morning and had to smile. This semester I am doing “The Patriachs” study with a group of women at our church. This was our first week of homework and week one’s title “Leave Your Country,” hits a little close to home. I have been glued to the pages of the study today and find myself suddenly relating to the biblical story of Abraham more than I could have imagined.

I love how God provides the right word, scriptures, encouragement to us at just the right moments. I had to take the time this morning to confess to God my lack of trust in Him today. I had allowed doubts to creep into my mind and could see them overflowing in my words and thoughts as the morning progressed. I lamented this morning to someone my concern over selling our house before we left. Deep down I know I need to trust God with this, with everything, but if I am not careful, doubts and concerns can quickly overtake my confidence in Him.

And this is why I am thankful that God uses scripture and the words of others to affirm what he has already told us. Through his word this morning he showed me that his call on my life right now is for me to surrender, for me to let go. To let go not only of my physical surroundings, but also any fears or concerns that I have clung so tightly to. This quote from Beth Moore herself hit the nail on the head for me: “We won’t embrace with both hands what God has for us if we hold our lives in a death grip.”

Lord, give me strength to continually let go, to release my grip, to unclench my tightly held fists!

On another note of praise and provision, we sold my car last night! Yes dear friends, the car I have known as mine for the past 10 years is now gone. Not only that, but while we were in the process of turning over the keys to the new owner, we received a call from a dear family at our church who wanted to bless us with a car to drive in the meantime. So if you see a blue VW bug around the area, that’s me!

Thank you Lord for your provision and faithfulness. Thank you for those who are willing to bless us because you first blessed them. May we continue to share and rejoice in the many wonderful ways you provide.

Things to Pray For:

Over the past year, the number one thing God has shown me is His power in answering prayers! Perhaps one day I will blog about some specific prayers He has answered during this journey. But, today I just wanted to post some specific things we would like you to join us in praying about.

• Daily Surrender - Pray that we continually relenquish control of all that has to happen for us to move in January, that we would not worry nor be anxious, but trust in Him for all things.
• The 3 churches, 4 schools, and Health Clinic in Sosua - Pray for spiritual growth and new spiritual life birthed through these ministries.
• Our House to Sell - Pray that in God's perfect timing, our house would sell (tough market, lot's of houses for sale, but we have a BIG God!)
• Raising Support - Pray as we start meeting with people this week. Pray that God would lead us to the people who have a heart and passion for missions and what He is doing globally. Pray that He would provide all that we need.

One example of God's provision is that as we were selling one of our cars, a family in our church called and said a car was ready for us to pick up and drive until we left! We are very grateful to them and to God for providing in all circumstances!

Things We Have Learned - Part 2

Sometimes we learn things that we already know, but just "re-learn" them in a new or fuller sense. I have re-learned that I am an incredibly blessed man to have a wife like Nikki. Most of you have probably read the entry "My Side of The Story," Nikki's version of our call to the Dominican. Even as I read, and then re-read it, and then re-read it again, I couldn't help but smile to know how God has blessed me with a woman who is sensitive to God's call, is compassionate to the poor, lost, and hurting, and is just crazy enough to take the adventure of a lifetime for the sake of the Kingdom. I mean, hey, we only have one life to live together, so we might as well make it count!

I remember as we talked about getting married, the conversation of "missions" came up several times. It was an uneasy conversation for me to have because I felt such a conflict. I KNEW we were supposed to get married (and I knew she knew that), but I also KNEW she was so passionate about missions. It was hard for me to see her "give that up." But, that is the type of woman she is, one who is sacrificial to do what God has called her to do (marry me!!!).

Another interesting fact, in this whole process, is Nikki took a career profile to see what types of careers fit her personality. Of course, the number one career that came back was missionary! She was somewhat frustrated at that point because she knew that wasn't an option. Of course though, God is always working in the background.

Perhaps, could it be, that God is big enough to know that one day He would speak softly to me one evening that He wanted me to move to the Dominican Republic and could it be that God is big enough to know that I would need a wife who was the type of woman of God who would let go of everything and follow along on this crazy adventure? I think so! Praise God for working in our lives and praise God for such an incredibly wonderful wife! I love you Nikki.

GARAGE SALE UPDATE!!

We have changed locations for our big garage sale! Due to our driveway/yard being on a steep slope and the fact our street won't pull up on google maps, our new location is at 108 Jackson Lane which is directly off of Bluegrass Drive in Hendersonville. Thank you very much to the Bagwell's for opening up their garage, driveway, and yard!

While our original goal for this garage sale was to simply unload a bunch of our stuff and not really worry about how much money we made, we have decided to set a goal for this garage sale. When we move, we will have a few start-up costs: airplane tickets and a vehicle. We have decided that our goal for this garage sale is to cover the costs of our plane tickets to move down there and any extra will go to the purchase of a vehicle once we get there.

In order to help reach this goal, we will also have a Bake Sale to go with the yard sale! If you like to bake and want to help with this, please let us know ASAP. We hope to see all of you on Saturday, August 29th at 108 Jackson Lane in Hendersonville!