I just got word . . .

That our summer team hails from the United States (four of us), Canada and the United Kingdom!  We'll have two guys and four gals . . . and a whole ship load of kids!  

What a Weekend!

Today is Matthew's 15th birthday!  It's also the day Micah and I were baptized!  I went first and then I had the privilege of baptizing her.  It was great!  Add to that on Thursday, we were given medical clearance to join the ship this summer in Togo.  On Friday, our official acceptance came.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  We're wading through paperwork here, but it is with great joy . . . we anticipate Lome!

Our medicals . . .

Just wanted to let you know - Matt and I received medical approval yesterday!  I still have to see the specialist next month and we still have to wait for our formal acceptance, but things are looking like Togo!  Thanks for praying!

Summer Program Art Supplies . . .

I was given the privilege of order summer program art supplies as the Academy Principal is home on medical leave!  It was fun!  And no matter who leads summer program, they will have good art every day! 

Janaury 25, 2012

I did not pass one portion of my Mercy Ships physical today.  Emily is working to get it reviewed quickly by the Mercy Ships approving doctor.  It may be approved because I do have an appointment with a specialist on March 7, it may not be approved until after my March 7 appointment, it may not be approved at all.  Pray with us that it would be, and sooner rather than later so we can ship all the art supplies by container to the ship.  God knows . . . and thank you!

Micah

She adamently does NOT want us to go.  Who would do her hair?  Who would take care of her?  Who? Who?  Who?  Well, Jessica said last week, she'd do her hair.  And Nancy said she'd walk the dog with her every day after school.  And Sheila said Micah could come home every day after school with Anna if she'd like.  And then last week, Micah said it might be okay if we did go.  So we are praying that God would take care of her heart and her and it would be okay if we went.  So we thought things were fine until . . .

January 11, 2012

I phoned Brian Blackburn this morning to share my (and Sam's) biggest concern - my tendency to get seasick.  Brian was absolutely great - over and over he said, "Do not let that keep you from coming!"  First of all, he said the first part of the sail should be relatively smooth.  He said the last three days would be more of a concern since as you go farther north the seas tend to get rougher.  He said at that point, if your whole staff got sick,  we'd just cancel summer program as all the parents would be on board to take care of their kids.  I felt good after that conversation, really good, and knew we just had one major hurdle left to cross . . .

January 9, 2012

I told Sam when I got home from the missions meeting, I felt like we had been approved before I even walked in door.  I tried to explain to the committee that we hadn't said yes yet.  I was very concerned about leaving Micah behind.  I was also concerned about my tendency to be seasick.  One of our reasons for going was to see if working with children was something Matt was truly interested in and if it was something he was good at and wanted to pursue as a career.  And we wouldn't be doing outreach - we would be sailing!  Every argument they had an answer for:  God would take care of Micah and Sam; He could keep me from being seasick and He could keep the seas sooth; it was good for me to spend this time with Matt and truly see if this was part of God's plan for his life; and we would be going to serve the children of the ship and that was a very good thing."  Okay, God, it's in your hands, but I did have one more phone call to make . . .      

January 8, 2012

You need to know that I rarely run in to our missions pastor at church, but it happened today!  And he asked me how it was going, and I thought maybe I'd better clue him in as to what had gone down this week.  He listened carefully and then invited me to the missions meeting the following night . . .

January 6, 2012

Oh,  I heard back from his teachers alright!  Read on:  "What a great opportunity for Matt and you.  I will everything I can on my part to make this feasible for Matt to miss the last few weeks of ASL class."  "I think this is a great opportunity and could work it out so that Matt is able to finish his Algebra early."  "While I never promote a student (I'm sure you both agree) to be absent from school (especially the last two weeks of school), it sounds as if this would truly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  I will do my best (keeping in mind this is my first run at physical science) to get Matt the work ahead of time."  "As for your question about the trip opportunity at the end of the school year -- my personal opinion is to go for it.  What an incredible opportunity for both of you, and an amazing learning experience in so many ways for Matt.  Obviously, I can totally understand your concerns with pulling him out early, especially if it means he would need to test early, but at least for my part, I would do whatever I could for Matt to make it doable.  I could get him review materials early in the quarter and I think he wouldn't have an issue taking our final early.  At least for our class, I believe the trade off of him being able to do such an incredible thing would be worth it!"  Yup, that sounded pretty much like a "yes" to me!

January 4, 2012

I spoke with Matt's dean today at North High School and he said Matt would learn far more traveling to Togo than he would the last two weeks of school.  He approved our pulling him - and he would do everything he could to make it work.  But I wasn't satisfied with just his approval.  No, I asked permission to e-mail his teachers and see what they thought.

January 3, 2012

Sam received a lot of e-mails from me today!  First of all, Brian did not say "no"!  He forwarded my questions to Emily, Mercy Ships Staff and Recruitment Manager.  Right after I opened his e-mail, I got this from Emily:  "I re-activated your applications before I left for the holidays and yours was on my chair when I arrived back this morning.  Because I hadn’t heard back, I sent another e-mail earlier this morning to our Operations Director requesting that Matt and you be able to serve this summer, as this is a unique situation.  As soon as I hear from him, I will let you know.”  Four hours later, Emily wrote again - "Good news!  I’ve heard back from our Operations Director and Nikki Aldum (the Academy principal) with her input.  We would like to go ahead and recommend we move forward with your re-application and Matt's.  Because this situation is a unique one, we want to stress that Matt’s role is to be a helper with the Summer Program and under the supervision of you and the other Summer Program team.  We believe this will be a great summer – but we just want him to be aware of his position and responsibilities with the team!  I will re-activate his application and give your paperwork to the General Placement Facilitator to follow-up with the remaining pieces.  I’ve copied her to this e-mail to answer any other questions you may have as we continue working through the application process.  She’ll confirm and send a final acceptance letter once we get final approval from housing."  Things were moving a bit too fast for me and not necessarily in the direction I was sure I wanted, but I knew we had an even bigger hurdle to cross - could we pull Matt from the last two weeks of school? 

January 2, 2012

After two plus months of hearing Matt ask, "Mom, why couldn't just you and I go to the ship this summer?", I caved in and on January 2, I asked Brian if just Matt and I could come.  Sam and I had gone out for lunch that day, and we both agreed.  Brian was going to say "no" because either Matt was too young or he already had staff lined up.  I assured Sam we had nothing to worry about.  Our summer would be spent in Minnesota.

Monday, October 3, 2011

That was the day we received this e-mail from the Mercy Ships Academy Chief Administrator, Brian Blackburn, "It looks like the Summer Program for next year will be the month of June only.  Starting in Togo and ending after a sail to Tenerife!  Interested?"  Our thought was, "Oh, man!  Yes!"  Both Matt and I have wanted to sail on the ship forever -  no way did getting gas in Benin count as a sail - but no matter how excited we were, it was not going to work.  Sam and Micah did not want to go - Sam has a fence to re-build and Micah wanted to stay home.  And no matter how much Matt wanted to go, he would miss two weeks of school - we couldn't do it.  So on October 17, we sent our official regrets.  And the whine began . . .