Announcement

For those who have not yet heard, Angie is pregnant! She has had her first doctor's visit and we saw the heart beating strong. He even performed a bit for us. We expect the baby in mid-January while we are in the US. It's truly amazing how God sorts it all in the end. We couldn't have planned out a better timeline if we tried. We will depart London in mid-October for 6 months in the US, which will give us time to settle in and connect with a local doctor before the baby arrives. And then we hope to return to London at the end of April.

We still don't know what God really has in our future. We are as sure as we can be that He wants us in London, but we are still waiting for our approval to return with the company.

In the meantime, we have hit the busiest time of year for us in London. We have 18 interns here now, preparing for ~60 teenagers to arrive next week and another ~60 in three weeks. We are well excited about the potential for God's glory over the next month.

Chris will be leading the morning trainings during this time and walking with a smaller group in South Acton to connect with teenagers in the community.

We also connected with South Acton Community Forum a month ago to discuss the street party that one of our US partners will host in September. A few weeks after I received a phone call from them saying that they have decided to cancel tentative plans that they had for an event in August in order to partner with us in September. Praise God for invitations into the community!

Praise Him!

We received an email today with great news. The extension of our term was approved through 31 October. Next step, career aplication approval.

Quick Update

Thank you for your prayers over the past two days. We received an email yesterday letting us know that somehow our finish date was input incorrectly and, in fact, our term does not end until 04 August. That's great news. But please continue to pray for our extension until October.

Thursday, 03 June is election day in the UK. Pray that these elections will allow us to live in peace in this country.

URGENT!

I just received an email that could potentially cause quite a few problems. It has been our understanding that this term ends on 06 August. However, our file apparently lists 05 June as the end date. That's NOT GOOD! That is only four days away. Even if you don't understand all of the implications or workings of our organisation, I'm sure that you can see the urgency.

In addition, our supervisor requested an extension of our term last September, but apparently a formal petition was not recorded. And now the organisation is under financial strains, so all extensions are being strictly questioned. We have also begun the process to return to London as career, but with the financial issues, our supervisor and other leaders in Western Europe will have to advocate for us. We have great leadership around us who support us and are vieing for this, but everything is currently uncertain.

Thank you for your continued prayers despite the infrequency of updates over the past several months. The Art Exhibit went well. 50 - 60 people came to the Artists' Reception (most of whom we had never met) and another 20 or so came through the exhibit over the next few days. We will start a photography club this Saturday. Please ask God to stir the hearts of the teenagers that we have invited to come along, especially those who we have just recently met.

So many things going on. I'll keep our calendar on the right updated so that you can pray over the direction that God is leading us. We greatly appreciate you.

"Acclimate" is not a word in Britain...

Apparently you do not acclimate to a new environment in England, you "acclimatise".

Sorry again for the silence between posts. We have much to be thankful for and much to pray over.

Chris led a Seminar for Parents of Teenagers on Saturday. We had a low turnout, but we WERE competing with a Bank Holiday weekend and BRILLIANT weather! In the end, I was happy with it all.

From the seminar, we are starting a parenting community (with Tim and Sheila) that will meet for 6 weeks from 13 May (and hopefully continue on from there). I received a phone call from a parent yesterday who had received a flyer for the seminar and was very interested, but her family was away on the day. She asked if we had another seminar planned in the area. Currently we don't have another seminar in the diary, but I did tell her about the parenting community. She and her husband are now very excited to be a part of this community and wants to invite friends. I have had similar responses from 2 single mothers as well, not to mention the contacts that Tim and Sheila have.

So, all in all, it's rather exciting. It's all so new, but we have glimpses of great things.

You can see our upcoming schedule to the right. Please be in prayer over these things - not for our own fulfillment, but for the glory of God.

He gives beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, peace for despair...

I just received one of the most exciting phone calls that I've received in a long time. We now have our first official registration for the Parents of Teenagers Seminar! We have just begun putting out flyers in local businesses and distributing them through our social networks. Please pray diligently that God will stir the hearts of parents, especially fathers.

-We have begun a conversation with a local partner about coming under their umbrella for Limited Liability Insurance. We hope to know this week if their insurance would extend to other locations.
-A new member to our London team arrives on Thursday. Christie will teach one of the children of a family on our team and work with South Asian women teaching English classes. She has arrived in a good time of year (the sun is beginning to peak through the clouds and the days are getting longer), but she still has a difficult three months ahead of her as she adjusts to this drastically different culture.
-We will begin inquiries this week into space for our art exhibit as long as I can muster the motivation. Honestly, it's the one part that I'm least excited about.

Life can only be put into perspective by death...

So we stepped away from it all for a bit to holiday in Rome and hit the ground running when we got back. I really don't feel like I have taken a breath since. Sorry for not updating our prayer space in SO long, but thank you so much for your prayers.

We received news on Monday that my brother, Philip's, best friend since he was young died in a tragic accident (as if any accident wouldn't be tragic). I grew up with Logan. He has always just been part of the family, and since I moved out it has never been uncommon to see his face when I walk through my parents' front door. It's a bit surreal for me right now. Even after talking with my family and Logan's mum, I can't imagine the shock of it all for them.

So I'm going through these days with a bit of my heart back in Texas (more than usual). But God is so good in so many ways.

-Both Acton High School and Twyford High School are VERY keen to partner with us on the art exhibit for teenagers that we will host in May. Praise God!
-We are still looking for a location for thie SPACE.
-We have reserved a space at Elthorne High School for the Seminar for Parents of Teenagers on 2 May. Every step of the way I realise how much our success with parents has little to do with us and everything to do with God's plan for His Glory.
-Elthorne High School is requiring us to have Limited Liability Insurance in order to use the space. I am hoping that one of our local partners will serve as an umbrella for us on this.

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