A spring update on our {growing} family

S - Sending.  So much of our ministry season is spent training, after all, that's really what we're about - training youth to share their faith.  We are now entering into a season of sending.  1 month from today, our first mission team of the season will head out to Ghana to serve alongside a missionary there.  They are in the final stages of preparation - receiving their Visas, finishing raising financial and prayer support and turning in paperwork.  This is just the beginning of many, many youth proclaiming the Gospel in many, many nations so that others may come to know Christ.  We are so excited to see God work in this way!

P - People. The last 8 months have flown by.  Moving to Salem has been a great adventure in our first year of marriage.  As we consider the time we have left, we are realizing how hard it is going to be to leave.  Salem has become our home, not because of the building that we reside in but because of the people we do life with here.  We have spent many hours fellowshipping with our small group and church body here.  We have hosted game nights with college friends from Corban, we have opened up our home to our Sunday school class, we have filled our home with the praises and prayers of new friends.  These people have become those near and dear to our hearts.  They have cheered us on through our adjustment to married life, living away from family and finding a home church.  New seasons call for new challenges.  Leaving our friends here in Salem will certainly be one of them.

R - Resting...NOT. There is a time for rest and a time for action.  This is the period of action in ministry.  I am calling, emailing, Facebooking, and texting participants on a daily basis.  I spend much of my time keeping tabs on where individuals are at with funding, paperwork, and life in general.  I have the joy of seeing first-hand how God works in their lives to bring their mission trip to fruition.  It's a pretty cool thing!  Nathan is busy as well!  This is the time when churches are signing contracts, working out details and making deposits.  It's also the time when he is finalizing summer staff, communicating with them and making sure that they are ready for training in a little over a month.  There will be a time for rest, but that time is not now and not anytime soon!  We are grateful for the strength and stamina from God to head into this season healthy, rested and eager to see God work.

I - In between.  In so many ways, we find ourselves in the "in between".  We are in between renting and owning a home.  The buying process is long and tedious, but we are trusting God to see us through.  We are in between being settled and packing.  I have begun to get this home ready to load into a trailer.  We are in between being a family of 2 and a family of 3.  This little one has many more months to go before we will hold him/her, but Baby Burres's presence is becoming more and more noticeable with each passing day.  Living in the "in between" calls for lots of prayers, reliance on God's sovereignty and faith that things will work out.  It's a good exercise of trust in our good, good God.

N - New life.  YES!  We are expecting Baby Burres in late October of 2014!  I am just over 12 weeks along and so ecstatic to be carrying this precious life.  Nathan and I find ourselves giddy with excitement and nervous for what is ahead.  Our comfort is in knowing that God has given us everything we need to parent well and that he has ordained this child to call us mommy and daddy since before the creation of the world.  We are thankful for 6 more months to prepare our home and our hearts to meet this little baby and we look forward to raising our child in a ministry-focused family.

G - Graduating. Nathan is just 2.5 weeks away from graduating from Corban University with his degree in Student and Family Ministries.  Today he is working on completing 2 of the 6 papers he has due next Wednesday.  I cannot wait to see him cross the stage as a sign of all the hard work he has put in over these last few years.  He'll be done with school for now, but who knows what the future may bring!