Summer!

Yes, we're still here. I don't know how I let two months go by without posting, but it happened. I'll try harder now that it's SUMMER. (Yay! Yay! Yay!)

So the biggest, most important thing to update the blog world on is that Vince got a job! It has been a long and sometimes tough 5 months, but he has had the best attitude in the world and has shown so much faith in waiting on God's timing......which is a big part of the story of his job. Right after we left the Greens (I'm talking early January) Vince heard about an opening at a nearby prison for a corrections officer. He applied and went through a crazy long process of paperwork, then waiting, then a test, then waiting, then an interview, then waiting, and at the end of March he heard that he did not get hired. We were pretty deflated after that; I had been putting all my hopes in this particular job because it was just that good (benefits, insurance, growth potential, ministry potential...) rather than putting my hope in GOD. So I was convicted and tried to truly let go and just trust the process to God. We thought that job was a goner, but oh no! God's ways are so much bigger than ours, remember? Only a few weeks after the "no," Vince heard the same place was hiring AGAIN. So he began the process a second time, which wasn't quite such a headache since he'd been through it once before. After his (second) first interview, he heard back within a day that they were scheduling a second interview. We were pretty excited because that was further than he'd made it the first time through. After the 2nd interview, things were looking very promising; it sounded like they just wanted to check his references and then as long as they were fine he could get hired. The references took a veeeeerrrrrry long time, and I was getting nervous (I confess.....that whole trust thing again!) but we figured no news was good news. And we were right! A couple weeks ago they called him with a conditional job offer; he just had to pass a physical and drug test. Piece of cake. Tuesday he got the call that everything was great, and he starts June 7!!! We are really excited and so thankful for God's provision, and even for His timing that is so different than ours. I got a good faith workout in having to wait until the last minute (of school ending and along with it my paychecks), and Vince has been able to do so much ministry with the youth in our church during these last few months. We still don't know the WHY, of course; but we believe 100% that God had some big reasons for moving us out of the Greens and into a season of "hardship" (ahem, wouldn't really call it that, but relatively speaking) and waiting. Can't wait to see some of those little strands come together and make sense over the next weeks, months, or even years. So. Summer begins here with some mighty celebrating!

Sorry for yet another novela of a blog post. I'll end it here and save a Ziva post for next time. Don't worry, I won't keep you waiting too long. And there will be pictures!