Greatness!

I am very excited! I have been struggling to get my VA stuff taken care of...and on my end that is done! It is now up to the VA to process my paperwork; hopefully before August 18 when tuition is due. I started out very upset that I had to (yet again!) go through the hassles of getting my paperwork pushed through the UofH VA office. But this time I handled it a little different. From the beginning when I recognized that I was angry about it, I prayed. I just prayed 'God, you know how much this stresses me out, and that I get too angry to deal with it, please just take over- take all the stress and worry and work it out.' Wouldn't you know it, 2 days later, here I am able to write that my end is taken care of; and I have no doubts that God will see the rest of the process through. So, consider this a praise report!

Next on the agenda, Mark is home!!!! Okay, so he has been home for a while, but nevertheless we were happy to see him! His trip to Brazil was an amazing experience for him. He said that he now feels that God has greater things in store for our family- he's just not sure what those things are yet. He really enjoyed being able to serve other people without having the distractions of the typical American home. He also REALLY enjoyed the food!! He brought back some really neat souvenirs: he brought Austin some kind of musical instrument (it looks like a bow to me, minus the arrow), he brought Abi a really cool top (the toy that you spin) that lights up, and he brought me a really beautiful bracelet with matching ear rings. He was amazed at how the people lived. One home, probably not bigger than a 15x15 room, slept 11 people on the dirt floor. But the people were not discouraged about what did or did not have. The children wore big smiles and made up games to replace toys that they did not have. So, if you haven't had a chance, check out the videos -day 4 and 5 are my favorites.