Soon very soon!

Hello to those of you who are new to this blog! Soon...very soon... we hope to have the newsletter out. In fact, the very next post will be...The Newsletter. We've been working hard on finishing up some lose ends with ministry applications, which is why it's taken us so long to get it out to you. We apologize for that, and can pretty much promise that it hopefully will never be six plus months before a newsletter comes out again. :)

Lately we've been enjoying the snow/ice days. Kristine has had the full week off from work because of the weather. Which has totally been a blessing because it's allowed her to organize the house some more (She's been dying to do that!) and get some Christmas gifts made. Yes, she's decided to make some fun gifts with her sewing machine. She figures the more she can figure out on the sewing machine and with the knitting and crocheting, the easier it will be when we have kids and she wants to make something for them. (No we are not pregnant...just wanted you to know!)

Mr. Gibbs keeps waking us up in the morning with his meowing. We know he wants attention, but we just haven't the time to give it to him. Does anyone want a cat? He's free....seriously... he comes with all types of accessories and we'll even pitch in for a bag of cat food and litter. We can't take him with us when we go to Michigan and we'd hate to put him in a shelter.... He's gotta be the only kitty though cause he loves attention and man... having another cat there would take that way from him! Plus he's got a cat-only disease called FIV. It's non-transmittable to humans.. so no worries about that and we even doubt sometimes if he even has it because we haven't seen any signs of it at all. So yeah...tell your friends... there's a cat named Gibson who's up for grabs!

We hope to be able to visit some of you in the upcoming months before our move across the country. We know that God has a huge plan in store for us, we just need to continue to be faithful and to trust in His guidance in our life. It may not make sense to friends and family for us to sell our house, many of our possessions, and leave our jobs to follow the call Christ has placed on our lives but when God calls... you gotta answer!

We went to Silver Falls to find snow....and we found it! We were so excited to frolic in it, although it was pretty cold! Eric took this photo candidly and we love it.

News...but no newsletter...yet!

Hello everyone!
The newsletter is now slated to come out in December. However, we do have some news! Eric has been accepted into SMAT (School of Missionary Aviation Technology) in Michigan. http://www.smat-aviation.org/ In August of 2009 he'll start his one year A&P program and maybe even work on a float plane rating! Exciting! We both know it's a big move across the country for us, but it'll be great especially since we were planning on downsizing anyway and the cost of living there is considerably cheaper than here. So we'll be just fine for a year! Hooray!

We'll probably move in late July or August and just drive across the country to Michigan. Right now we are both working at our jobs and getting the house ready to sell. We think having this letter will give us the motivation needed to get the house done. :) We know that often times it's hard to sell a house in winter, but we have until next summer to sell it. We trust in God's timing and that He'll provide the right buyer for our property and maybe someone who wants our cat! :)

I should add something....

Some of you think that the Michigan thing is really "out there" and random for us to be thinking about but I wanted to share with you something kinda neat that we remembered.

A few years ago when Eric and I just met we were thinking about moving to Michigan separately, me to do the Teach for America thing and him to do the SMAT (Airplane Mechanic) school. This is the same school that we are now looking at. Amazing eh? At that time we were thinking of joining New Tribes Missions, but as the years have gone by, we now are seriously looking at applying to Missions Aviation Fellowship (MAF). I went back and read the old e-mails and I was really really excited about the possibility of Michigan and so was Eric.

Isn't it amazing how God brings things back full circle? We don't know if Michigan is where God wants us, He could easily bring something else into play that we never realized. But until then it's fun to dream, pray and plan.

New plans, same couple...maybe moving?

They say the best laid plans often get changed, and thus it's the way for us. We'll soon have the newsletter out and then after that shorter updates will come more regularly. Right now there are a lot of changes happening, so we are prayerfully considering our options.

Because of the Stock Market and economy, we don't have as much money in our "savings" as we originally thought we were going to have for Eric to be able to quit work and do schooling in Portland. Because of this we've been thinking of other options and paths we could take towards missions.

One of those options is to move to Michigan. I know what some of you are thinking...how is moving to Michigan going to solve anything? Wouldn't that COST money? Well...yes and no. Ionia, Michigan has an A&P program that is only one year. It does cost more than the community college route, but with the affordable housing costs there, it would cost far less than renting in Oregon. This program is geared towards men who want to become missionaries so it would allow Eric to be in a supportive environment and to meet other guys who have the same calling as him.

It also would allow him to work another six months or so at Garmin, to be able to complete his flight ratings with Servant Wings and also to complete another course at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago because the Michigan A&P program wouldn't start until August 2009.

We'll see though, if the Lord blesses us financially to be able to have Eric quit work and go to school in Portland, we'll definitely do that route. If God has other plans, we want to keep being obediant to His calling for us to be missionaries and to not keep delaying it. Thus the Michigan option.

We'll see! Your prayers would be much appreciated as we seek God's guidance in our life!

Love in Christ,
Eric and Kristine Reed