Michigan!

Well, friends, by the title of this post you can see that the next phase of our adventure is taking place in Michigan! After arriving home from California in November, we really weren't sure how to go about finding a job in ministry and how hard to chase after it, other than just going off of the leads Tim was given by the director of AFCOE. Apparently we needed to learn some patience or something, because it took a while for things to fall in place. I was still working, but things were tight while we were waiting, so Tim went back to Walmart, though a different one than before. Whatever the reason for the delay, we tried to make use of it in our daily contacts. We had a few different ministries in different states that were interested, but for one reason or another usually unknown to us they either decided not to hire anyone, or went with someone else. Then, some friends of ours from Illinois were talking with their family in Michigan. That church had been in the process of hiring a Bible worker, but it didn't work out for them. Our friends hadn't said anything about us until then because they hadn't wanted to interfere with the church's plans to hire this other man. When our friend heard it hadn't gone through, however, she mentioned us and gave our contact information to them. It wasn't long (hours I believe) before we heard from someone at the church and Tim sent his resume to them right away.



Well, after some waiting and some praying, Tim and I traveled to Michigan for his interview. A few weeks later, Tim and Ethan came so Tim could sign his contract. Then, at the very end of April, we made the move to Hope, Michigan. So, we've been here for just over a month now. Tim is working as the Bible worker for the Edenville Adventist Church. We are settling in, though things have been a little hard financially with no paycheck for Tim in a month and a half (due any day now thank the Lord!), but we love the house that we're in. A church member is giving us a discount on an old farm house that was just renovated. It's in the country, but there's a park right across the street, and we're only 13 miles away from all the big stores to do our shopping. For the first time in our married life, we even have a guest room! It has no bed yet, but the room is there, haha!



Ethan is thrilled beyond thrilled to have a decent-sized room again, and frankly so am I! The main thing that is missing is our dogs. Ethan got to name them when we got back from California and it took quite a while, but their names are Brindie and Samson. He had to choose to keep just one of Sadie's puppies and it was a very hard decision for him, but he picked Samson. If you're wondering about his name, it's because he was over 40 pounds before he was four months old! The vet says he will top 100 pounds and he may be there already! He's a huge dog. Unfortunately, he and Sadie had to stay in Illinois for now because we had no way to transport them when we moved and also because we didn't have a pen or anything for them to be in up here in Michigan. We hope to be able to get them here in a couple of months and then our family will be together once again. Oh, if you're wondering what happened to Brindie (so named because of her beautiful brindle-colored fur), she is a permanent resident at Grandma Opal's house! We had hoped a family member would take her so that Ethan could see her when he visits, and what could be better?! Sadie won't be having any more pups; we had she and Brindie spayed and Samson neutered. That was sad, too, but while Sadie had beautiful babies, we couldn't afford more and it can be hard to find a good home for animals.



I apologize for the length of this post, but when you only get around to blogging about every 3-4 months, you have a lot to catch people up on, haha! Until next time, though, God bless you, friends!

All our love,

Shannon

Home!

I know it's been a long time, but for those of you whom we don't see very often, we are back home in Illinois. We got back at the end of November, and safely. I (Shannon) am currently working on a post and hope to get it up soon. Thanks for your patience, and check back! I hope to get it done this week, but should have something finished and up by early next week for sure. Blessings!