Fourth of July

We celebrated our second annual Fourth of July festivities in Birmingham, Alabama, and we were so glad to be able to make the trip at the very last minute. We started the tradition last year, and we decided that it would be a good mid-year opportunity to visit Stephen's parents at the same time that his sister and her family were also visiting. But with our job situation and financial situation looking very grim (Stephen's hours had been cut back to only 25 hours per week for about a month), we told his parents that we didn't think we would be able to make it this year. The Tuesday before Fourth of July weekend, Stephen interviewed with a charter school here in Wake Forest for an IT position (going into the interview we were told it was part-time and we were hoping it would help supplement our income) and was offered the job as a full-time position on Thursday! We are praising the Lord for working this out and give Him all the glory for it! The school is year-round, but he will work even when the students are tracked out. This job will be consistent and stable, and we are so thankful. We are also thankful that we were able to live from October until now with the income from his previous job. God has truly provided for us and sustained us. I know we are learning many valuable lessons during these days that we pray will serve us well in ministry. We have also decided (after much looking, interviewing, not having peace about various churches in the area, etc.) that we are just going to focus on finishing up our remaining time here as quickly as possible and just plug in (and join soon) the church where we are currently attending. Stephen will also be supply preaching at a church in a few weeks, and we are hoping for more opportunities like that in the future. Whew...so that was quite wordy but that's just an update on what's happening in our life at the moment....a lot had been up in the air with us for a while and it's just good to have some things not so up in the air anymore.

On a lighter note, it was so great to spend time with Stephen's family and have the boys all play together (we had not seen them since Christmas) this weekend! Here are a few highlights from the weekend in pictures: