I'm Wishing...

The other day, I heard Ryann singing in the bathroom. This is what I found. Ryann was imitating the scene from Snow White where she sings into the wishing well, except Ryann was singing into the toilet! She was singing "I'm wishing for the one I love" as loud as she could into the toilet. So funny...and gross (look at the second pic). Such a funny girl.

Northward Bound

Our life has changed drastically within one week. Since Mark graduated in December, he has been looking for jobs non-stop. We feel drawn to aspects of Social Justice in the form of Relief/Development ministries as well as the area of Microfinance (which we both find fascinating). Basically we feel called to help the poor. A position with any of these ministries will most likely result in a move...domestically at first, and then maybe internationally. As many of you know and have experienced, the economy has made these non-profit/ministerial jobs very hard to come by. On December 30, Mark was offered an unpaid 4 1/2 month internship with Opportunity International, a microfinance org. based in Oak Brook, Il, near the Chicago area. We didn't really think about it seriously at first because it was: a. starting in 12 days b. in Chicago c. UNPAID. We also have a mortgage payment here so if we went, we would have to find unbelievably cheap housing. The odds of us going were slim to none....And then we prayed about it. Mark really felt like he was supposed to do this internship and if we found housing, we would do it. We didn't find housing. We were scheduled to go on a cruise the week before the internship was to start, so we went. When we got back, there was still no housing and the internship had started. We now thought we were supposed to stay here for the time being. So: a.I called Angie and told her I could keep watching her son Barrett b. I called our families and told them we were not going c. I called Nwest Womens Ministry and told them I was for sure staying, so I could still lead my Bible Study group. The very next day after all my phone calls, we got a call from a saint named Ginger, who was recommended by our dear friends Jeremy and Liesel, she found us a part of a house that was going to be furnished with the rent basically next to nothing (for Chicago-area standards). Timing is never our own. The internship had already started. Mark really still felt like he was still supposed to do this internship. He called Opp. Int. and they told him to come on...which he did 2 days later. We will join him soon. This definitely has been and continues to be a journey of faith.

Many people have asked me how I am doing with the speed of all this. Soley by God's grace, I am fine. We decided to do this the very day the news was breaking about the devastation of Haiti.Me not wanting to leave our family and friends was put into real hard-hitting perspective in light of the utter destruction of Haiti and it's people. I was at Kroger yesterday and saw the cover of Time or Newsweek (I forget) On the cover was a precious Haitian little boy standing admist the rubble, the unbelievably beautiful shot zeroed in on his innocent face and I am found constantly thinking about him and what his life looks like now. It is hard to leave my comfort zone of Dallas and all the people that are so precious to me. However,I am excited about Mark learning about Microfinance so that maybe one day we can go help impoverished people in countries like Haiti.

Thank You to all of you that have been praying for Mark to find a job. I humbly ask you to please continue to pray as we continue to search for jobs for when this internship ends. Will try to blog more faithfully about our adventure in Chi-town...and it's surrounding areas:)

New Camera

I recently got a new camera for my birthday/Christmas. Hopefully now my pictures will be much clearer. Looking forward to learning how to use it...
Here are some recent pics...

Cruise

We went on a cruise last week to celebrate being done with DTS (thank you so much Mark's parents). We had a blast, despite the bad weather (very cold and cloudy). The one sunny day was Cozymel and we went on an awesome speed boat/beach excursion. We needed this trip, especially now with all the changes going on in our lives! The past year and a half has been so busy, we needed time to be just us! Thank you, Castleberrys, for watching Ryann Cate.