My Favorite Subject

Hello my friends. Someone wrote me asking how Martha was doing in college, so let me use this update to talk about my favorite subject – my kids. Martha is doing very well at Liberty University, living across the dorm hall from Hannah. Martha is glad to have her older sister there to tutor her through the beginnings of college life.

Martha shared with me that her anatomy science professor suggested, after seeing her good grades, that she should consider enrolling in medical school. So, Martha and I have something new to pray about. Martha did say that, after being in the States for a few months, she wants to minister overseas as her career, maybe in a place where medical help is greatly needed. We’ll see where the Lord leads.

Sara is still working at Neiman Marcus, touching up, recoloring, and reshaping all those expensive-looking catalogue pictures in order to make them look better than what they are. Sara has been with them for more than 3 years now, faithfully reporting for work every morning at 7 a.m. I list her apartment as my state-side address, so she handles all my mail, bills, and correspondence, which I greatly appreciate.

When David’s job with Datatel ended last January, he put his resume on the web and had no problem finding a new job which he liked even better. He has continued to receive job offers, including one that would allow him to work from home. David’s considering it. If he is accepted, he could move to Texas, which he very much wants to do.

Hannah has decided to take a year-long break between her graduation next May, and graduate school. She has applied to the U.S. government’s Fulbright scholar program to teach English and American History for one year in the country of Georgia (between Turkey and Russia at the east end of the Black Sea) beginning next summer. If she is not accepted, then she will find a local job in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and work for a year.

Which brings me to our plans for my year-long furlough beginning next August. I made the decision to change mission houses from Ft. Worth to Dallas so we could be near Sara. And, upon my invitation, Sara will live with Jonathan and I in the mission house of Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, a suburb of Dallas. If Hannah doesn’t go to Georgia, then she will live with us also in the mission house. And if David gets his work-from-the-house job, then he wants to live with us, too. I would be papa bear with all my cubs (except for Martha) back in the den. Wouldn’t that be nice.

This will give Jonathan and I something to look forward to, since we will be staying here in the Philippines for Christmas, the first Christmas we haven’t all been together. However, Jonathan and I are hoping to make a special trip in May to Hannah’s graduation. Jonathan may then stay in Texas, live with Sara, and work during the summer, while I return for 3 more months to finish my term.

Well, this is a snapshot of what’s going on with my family. We know plans can change, but God’s purposes do not. The Lord continues to be overly gracious to us all. Thanks for letting me ramble about my favorite subject.