5 days and counting...

I can hardly believe that we leave in 5 days. We've spent the last seven days in Las Vegas visiting family. It was a really special time that went by far too quickly. I'll be posting some pictures from that visit later.

I just finished unpacking from that trip and am feeling a bit overwhelmed about packing for Nicaragua. There is a lot to do in the next several day. Pack, get our bills in order, spend time with friends and family, and much more.

We have received nearly ALL our funding... wait... let me say it again.... We have received nearly ALL OUR FUNDING! Amazing! It's really happening!

TICKETS!!!

We bought airplane tickets today! Amazing! We'll be leaving on March 1st (just a short 25 days from today) and returning on July 6th. This is just incredible.

We were going back and forth on what date to return and how to get down there (which airline, or to accept some frequent flier miles someone offered us) this week. When I first looked at the ticket prices last month, they were about $630 ea., and then I looked on Sunday and they were up to $735! Ugh! I was frustrated. So, as we debated about using these miles, Nick and I finally felt that it really wasn't going to work out to do that. I went back online again today and the ticket prices were back down to $630! God is Awesome!

HALF-WAY THERE!!!

Lake Nicaragua
Oh my gosh, I can hardly believe it! We're halfway to our funding goal already! Just two weeks ago we had a whopping $100...

Two weeks ago (a conversation with my friend Scott):

Scott: How's the fund raising going?

Me: well.... we have a ways to go still.

Scott: What do you need; what's the bottom line?

Me: We need about $7500... and have $100 so far, but I guess we really only need about $1500 by the end of January so we can purchase plane tickets.

Scott: Wow.

Yesterday morning we called to check how much was in our account that our church had set up for us and we had $550. Better.... but still not even enough for plane tickets. Then we got an update in the evening that another $1000 had come in! We had $1550.... by the end of January! Plane tickets, here we come!!!

Today we got another phone call telling us the church missions board had approved $2000 for us as well... AND last night, at my last choir practice, the choir completely surprised and blessed me by giving me a card with $300 in it!

That brings the current total to about $3850! Praise God for his faithfulness and provision and THANK YOU if you were a part of that giving.

We need about twice that to make it the whole four months in Nicaragua, but wow... what a start! I feel extremely blessed right now.

The massive yellow pad

We have this yellow pad that we keep writing things down on that either, "need to be done" or "need to be purchased" or "need to be packed." It feels like every time we walk by it there's something new to write and things aren't being crossed off the list very fast. All in all ... feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of leaving the country for several months right now.

I've been wondering if we should do a benefit concert or two. Maybe one over here in Seattle and another is the Tri-Cities (where many friends and family live). That might help us see a lot of people before we go and help raise some funds. So, there we go... another thing to add to the yellow pad! :)

I actually crossed two things OFF the list yesterday, so it was about time something new was added.

hand cramps and 101 stamps

We sent out letters on monday to raise support. 101 letters! We hand addressed every envelope and boy do our hands hurt! I went to Costco to get these great pictures printed to include with our letter. Sandy (Nick's mom) took the picture at a friend's Christmas open house.

We've figured out that we need to raise close to $8,000. It's a bit daunting... but we have faith that God will provide and that things will work out.

Nick is working on an online class to continue his aim towards a teaching certificate when we return. Megan is making lists of things to pack and working on finding a good reading curriculum for Drew. We're all working on our Spanish... Nick has the advantage of two years of high school Spanish class stored away in his brain. Megan took German in high school... that's not going to help much :)

Falling into place

So it's been while since I posted, but things have been falling into place over the last several weeks. We will be moving to Nicaragua at the beginning of March to work with Kathy and Halle August of Alongside Ministries En Nicaragua (AMEN) for aprox. 4 months. The Mission Society didn't work out and we kept coming back to Kathy and Halle. They are originally from our church here in Woodinville, but have been living and working in Nicaragua for the past 7 years. We're excited and terrified all at the same time, and there are many details to work out as we get ready to go, but we're looking forward to helping them with the preschool, feeding program, library, and sports complex that they are involved with. The Augusts also host teams from different churches who come and work for a week or so at a time. We anticipate helping with preparations for teams as well.

We really feel and see God's hand in all of this as we step out in a new direction. The kids will be coming as well, and we're working on our Spanish skills! Drew will be homeschooled for the remainder of the school year. We plan to be back in July and he will start 2nd grade in the fall in the Northshore School District again. Megan plans on returning to teaching in Everett, and Nick is hoping to start his teaching certification program in the fall as well.

Our current needs are:

PRAYER! Huge... there are so many details and little things to work out that we're unsure of and we need God's grace and peace as we go forward.

Financial: We we have no income during this time and will need financial support. If you feel led to help in this way, you can send a check with "Nick and Megan: Nicaragua" to WCUMC (www.wcumc.org)

Back story #1: or how we got here

So several months back, our state of being was as follows:

Megan: On leave from teaching for the 09-10 school year to stay home with Abbey

Nick: Working at a local music store and not exactly loving it

Nick had been working at the store for over a year and constantly looking for something different. Who knows how many other jobs he applied for, but nothing ever came through. He started calling this, "the year of being poor."

October rolls around, Nick is still at the store. We started a study at our church called, "live like you were dying." Now, I (megan) was being a bit cynical about this study and said it was silly because, "if we really only had 30 days left to live (the premise of this study) then you (nick) would quit your job and we'd live off our savings! But we can't do that... we need your income."

A week later, Nick comes into the bedroom after being up early with the baby and informed me that October would be the last month that he worked at the store. Evidently he and Abbey had discussed it at length while I was sleeping. Then a week or so later, we found out that his store was closing. October would indeed be the last month he worked at the store.

Oh boy... now we're both out of work! Yikes!

After some thinking, praying, and discussing, we decided Nick would take November off to do some volunteering in Drew's school (which he needs to do for his teaching certification program anyway) and we'd supplement the paychecks we get from the church with our savings... but... get this... his paycheck from the store to finish out October was EXACTLY the amount we needed to not have to use ANY of our savings. God is really providing for us and helping us see that we're going step by step with Him.