It has been almost 3 weeks since we made the decision to follow what we feel God is leading us to do and move our family to Arizona. So much has gone on in these past 3 weeks, good and bad.
We knew that when we decided to do this that Satan was going to attack, and boy has he so far. We know he is not done, and he will never be finished as long as we are living for Christ. Little things have happened such as, the washer going out (which is not good when you cloth diaper), the vacuum quit working, tough financial decisions, kids being sick, etc. But like I previously mentioned this is not getting us down, just another bump in the road of life and we are in for the ride.
One of the first people that we told about our decision was Dr. Cecil. If you read our first blog you know how much this man means to us. We love him like family and know that he feels the same about us. If it wasn't his love for the Lord, the Native Americans, and for every person that he has ever met and his mission to witness to every person he has ever met, we would not be taking a leap of faith and heading to AZ. From the moment that he found out, he was telling the world that he has another family moving to the reservation and doing as much as he could to get the work done. He worked up until his last days. We went to see Dr Cecil last Saturday, little did we know this would be the last time that we would see him alive here on earth. He made phone calls that day to get the ball rolling. We are so thankful for this man and for everything that he has done in our lives and our families lives. Dr. Cecil went to be with the Lord Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013. He lived a wonderful 82 years here, 56 years being in ministry. He is a true man of God and we truly admire him. If we can touch a fraction of the lives that he touched we will feel extremely blessed (not that we don't already). Please continue to pray for Dr Cecil's family, he left behind Mary (wife), children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and many friends. Though we selfishly wish he were here with us, we know that he is pain free and in a much better place. We KNOW that we will see him again one day and the reunion will be amazing!!!
On to how the process is going. We are waiting on one form to be turned in and our packet is complete. Once that form is turned in, it will be a 2-4 week process before we know if we are approved or not. Please pray that everything goes smoothe and will be approved. Once approved we can start raising financial support and working on making our way out to the desert. :) We listed our house Thursday and we have already had a showing. Now we know with todays market this can take a while, so please pray for our patience...we both struggle with this. Also we are planning on going to Arizona within the next month. We are going to meet with Eric & Brittany, some of the local churches, and see where work is needed and where they are currently working. We will try to post some pictures so that you will see how life is on the reservation.
I know this is long and you are probably bored...and if you are still reading at this point, you are thinking...I wish she would shut up already. I am almost done, PROMISE. However, I do have one more thing to add.
Our friends Eric & Brittany and their 3 children are already in AZ, which I'm sure you have already gathered from my blog. They are starting their third year there. Currently they are reaching out to FIVE different areas on the reservation and they too are fully supported through family and friends. They are currently needing a little more help so that they can keep reaching these areas. Please read their blog
www.liveloveaz.blogspot.com
and it will give you a little more about what they are doing and what we hope to do when we get out there. They are trying to raise an extra $1000 a month. The way they are doing this is to try to get 200 people to commit to giving $5 a month for 1 year. If you think that you could do that or even give more, I know they would greatly appreciate it. You can go to the link below and give that way. https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1023666&supId=356649513
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.
~Deidra
