"Consider it pure joy,...

my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

We officially have overcome may trials(with many more to come, I'm sure of it). With this verse in mind, it has helped to keep us strong. Pure joy, there has been a lot of joy lately. :) These past few weeks have brought up a different type of joy. Michael and I both started our first day(s) of our new jobs! Michael is working for Harris Teeter(a grocery store close to us), and I am working at Old Navy. They are both part time jobs, but we are so blessed and excited to see how God uses us at our new jobs. We have also moved into an apartment on the west side of Greensboro, woo hoo!!! (pictures to come soon after we get things set up) Our new home is just around the corner from the family that we have been living with, so we'll still be close to them :).
The weeks before the jobs was very trying on our patience. There were so many days where all I had to do was to search on the internet for jobs. I'm sure that I applied to close to 100 jobs. Michael and I are still hoping for me to get a full time job, but we know that where we are at right now is where God wants us to be. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do.
I want to thank you all for keeping up with us and praying for us as we go through this journey. I hope that we may encourage you to step out on faith and listen to God.

~Katy

P.S. We don't have internet at our new home for the time being, so we will try our best to keep you all updated on how things are going.

Getting Established

I dont know what else to call this blog, but that's probably not worth my time thinking about it. So it has been quite a while since we last posted, hopefully the only time we wait this long to update. We have made our move to North Carolina; we are currently staying with a family who are friends of Katy's family during the week and we have been going back to Charlotte on the weekends to my Mom's house. I am attending school at GTCC (Guilford Tech) and I am already on my third week of classes. My classes are split up into separate subjects as they relate to the General Course for Maintenance school. I have finished up the first subject which is called Forms and Records (all the paperwork associated with being an Aircraft Mechanic); I have made a perfect grade (100) on all my work and tests so far. I have made a lot of friends in my class, and have been probably been deemed "Mr. Valedictorian" of my program. It is definitely a strange fit to attend community college after already graduating from a 4 year university, but I do enjoy the diversity of the class. I have even learned how to solve the Rubix Cube during our lunch break (one of the classes only creative escapes that we have had). Pretty nerdy, I know.
We really have put ourselves in a position to totally depend on God. We have received many blessing thus far, from friends and family supporting us and we Thank you all immensely. I have started to see some light shining on job possibilities which has probably been the toughest part about the move. I have always left one job for another, but I have never left a job to the unknown especially moving somewhere foreign and trying to find a job. I have made connections at the college and have been put on as a part time simulator instructor. It is more of a sporatic on call position, but we will see how it pans out. It is definitely a foot in the door for future openings at the college. Just today, I had my first official interview, and I will most likely taking a job at a local grocery store chain. I have a couple of leads on Flight Instructor positions, but it is definitely a tough field to get into when you need a position in a specific location. There is definitely some possible openings in the future. Please pray that Katy and I might find the right job position. We are trying to get into an apartment very soon, we are still waiting out the best deal and trying to figure out how our finances will align with that. Please pray for our continued dependence on God, and opportunities to develop relationships for the sake of the Gospel.

"Take nothing for your journey...

neither a staff, not a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony to them." Luke 9:3-5
This is what Jesus said to his disciples when he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to perform healing. I listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler today about this chapter, and he was talking from Jesus's perspective - Here are the rules I'm sending you out to cast out demons, and heal diseases, and proclaim the Kingdom, but you can't bring anything with you, no snack, cell phone nothing with you. And he was saying how if a town is not receiving you, I'm guessing you're not getting a sandwich from them, or a place to stay, and with no extra blanket, or jacket, etc. I want you to have the faith to leave everything behind and do the Lord's will. I feel like this move is a huge step of faith, lots of uncertainties and me not being in control of everything which is a very good, but scary thing. I told Katy a couple months ago, that I felt like we needed to get ready and start living like we could drop everything and go in a moments notice; and here the time has come. I have been looking towards missions aviation for about four years now since I finished up college and God really moved in my life towards His purposes. I have been actively considering going to school for maintenance for about two years, and being heavily involved in trying to do it here in Birmingham, for about a year. Now the time has come, and I don't want to put my hand to the plow and look back.

Katy and I are well on our way to making our move to Greensboro, NC so that I can attend aircraft maintenance school. Some things to report, and to praise God for, I have been accepted to the school, and I am able to pay in-state tuition which is extremely reasonable for a program like this one. We are still in the works with our apartment here in Birmingham, but we've had some people come look at it, and we had one guy come today who took an application. Please pray that He will be the one to take our apartment or that God will send another. We are planning for a yard sale this weekend and need to pray for clear skies and lots of attendance.

School starts August 17th for me, and I have two weeks left working in Birmingham. Please pray for jobs for Katy and some work for me that I can do outside of class hours. Something on my mind tonight was to pray for other missionary aviation students in my class this Fall that I can connect with and share interests with, and even non-believers that are there for a regular career path that I can show them what is on my heart and why I am in maintenance school. I also pray for a Church family for Katy and I, and for friends that we can grow with in Christ, hopefully a cool young married couples group like we have here in Birmingham. We had bible study tonight at Branch Life Church, and I learned to pray expectantly, God will work through our prayers.