In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
After a rather long hiatus...almost 18 months, I thought it might be appropriate to briefly bring you all up to speed on the Every Day Matters that have been our life for the past year and half.
So to avoid my downfall of what can sometimes be labeled "rambling", I am going to try to create a Top Ten (or so) List and add some photos.
Starting with events following my last post in Jan 2010:
- March 14th, 2010 - We celebrated Joel's 3rd birthday (his first with us)!
- May 2010- Jessie resigned from her position as Counselor at North Middle School and Faith and Joel completed their first year of pre-school!
- July 9th, 2010 -Celebrated Faith's 4th birthday.
- July 13th, 2010 - Arrival of Luke Isaiah Fewins. He is an incredible joy to our lives. He is the best baby and Faith and Joel are the best big sister and big brother!
- October - November 2010 - In accordance with our now long-time desire to be involved in Missions and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we attended a two-week missionary candidate course in Littleton Colorado with Overseas Missions Fellowship. We were appointed to serve as full-time missionaries to Taiwan!
- November -December 2010 - God was working BIG TIME in our hearts. After following what we believed to be the direction of the Holy Spirit and getting our "official" approval (as mentioned in #5)...God made it clear that He was indeed leading us this direction, just "not yet". In other words, our plans to move ahead with partnership development are now on hold for a time. We are still "future-planning" in this direction and Lord-willing will begin Jan of 2012.
- CHRISTMAS 2010! ---I started to type "not earth-shattering news" - but isn't it? The meaning that is, perhaps not the celebration. Nonetheless, the celebration seemed to merit mentioning with three little ones in the house, it was quite a memory!
- Dec 23, 2010 - Phil and Jessie celebrated 10 yrs of marriage!
- Jan 2011 - Thought we would spend the beginning of 2011 raising support and preparing to leave for Taiwan,...And following intense prayer and seeking the Lord's will, we did put our house up for sale (only not for the plan we thought). It sold to the first person that looked at it --even in this market. Thank you God, for reassuring us this was the right step!
- Last week of Feb. 2011 - We Moved to Pittsburg, Ks.! Quite different from Taiwan, yet clearly where God would have us at this time.
- March 2011 - Celebrated Joel's 4th bday.
- March -Present -- Spending our time with and opening our hearts and home to the MANY international students on the campus of Pittsburg State University. We have met lots of international students, started Mandarin tutoring (thanks to a special student who offered us some help), and had many opportunities to share Jesus with the Chinese and Taiwanese students right here in Pittsburg, Ks!
So for the time being, God has not given us the green light to go to Taiwan; but rather He has brought us to the nations right here @ PSU! We are so blessed by God's love for us and that He cares about the Every Day Matters of our lives!
Friends, as I type this post, I am reminded that we are never happier or more full of joy than when we are fulfilling God's purposes.
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. - John Piper
So Enjoy Him!
For His Glory,
Jessie
P.S. Enjoy the pics. I apologize they are in quite a random order as I could not figure out how to move them or label them. And I guess, I might have went a little over the top...but how's a mom to choose with 3 such cute kids and 18 months of pics?!? :-)
