July Update!

Hello World!

I thought you guys would excuse my blog entry being later this month. Our lives have changed recently. Bonnie is here. She came earlier than expected, but she is healthy and adjusting to life outside the womb. Graham and I have felt so incredibly supported during this life change. We are praising God often and praying for his strength as we navigate the late nights with our new roommate.

Leading up to Bonnie's birth, I was taking full advantage of the restful nature of summer. I napped. I went to the pool with students. Thought I would maybe get a tan in preparation for the baby... even though I don't really tan. We finished our staff book club. I hosted an after event for our weekly service. I did what I could as a very pregnant lady. It feels surreal to now be starting my maternity leave. I will be soaking up these precious early weeks with Bonnie until my twelve weeks are up.

Graham is back to work, but thankfully, he has a reduced schedule because of the summer. Our UTA team has begun planning for the fall semester. Graham and the rest of our team are inviting students to lead and planning welcome week events. My hope is that I will not be a stranger when school starts. I plan to swing by different indoor events and show off Bonnie.

Pray for us as we navigate parenthood. Pray for Graham as he goes back to work. Pray for the semester starting and all the new students we will meet. Pray for me as I sit back during our most exciting season. Pray over our student leaders and for their boldness. Pray for the continued safety and health of our little girl. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. They mean the world.

Photos from this month:

Here's a photo from the after event I planned. We had a challenge of students writing a poem from zany prompts we gave. It was one of the many challenges our students competed at.

This is a photo of our dear friend Hailey introducing Waldo to Bonnie's blanket and hat. My heart melted seeing him lay his head on her stuff.

Our first walk around the hospital.

Here is a view of our summer service.

Comments

August 2023: Is Bucee Going to FOCUS?

Greetings from Buc-ee's Above is a photo from Buc-ee's on the fourth of July. We got to met the celebrity beaver while visiting my family. For any of my out of state friends, Buc-ee's is a huge gas station and this beaver is their face and mascot. I just had to get a photo of these two with him. Here's a photo from our church's dog event. The guy above's name is Mauricio. The dog he is holding is his. We had a good laugh that his beloved dog was a pampered shih Tzu. He and Graham have become great friends over the year. He will be leading in the fall. Pray for our men's side of the ministry. What happens every four years or so is that many of our people graduate. We are coming into this year with fewer men leaders. Pray for them to have courage and boldness to reach out on campus to their classmates, friends and whoever. I'm hopeful with guys like Mauricio that we will meet the people God wants us to this year. Ministry-wise, we have begun the prepara...

August Update!

This update is full of prayer requests and news! Let’s get started. I just got back from our summer staff retreat with our entire staff team. One of the key parts I want to underline is: we have not had our entire staff together on a retreat since my apprentice year. Our staff has boomed in size because we are taking on nineteen apprentices this year. Nineteen. It’s exciting to experience a surge of new people and to see our team grow. I had a strange moment during the retreat where I realized some of these apprentices were students when I started back in 2018. Now, I get to partner with them in reaching our campuses this fall. I guess that’s what happens the longer you work at a place. One of the most exciting updates I have is that we will be pioneering five new campuses this fall. Each team is focusing on a different campus. One thing that has blown me away during my time in FOCUS is how the Lord has worked on community college campuses. I remember visiting a Colli...

Big News at the Bottom.

Happy New Year! The photo above is of some of us at Inks Lake State Park during our staff retreat. We made it to the new year! I hope you all had some time of rest during Christmas time. Since you last heard from me, our semester ended and students went home. At UTA, We did a Christmas devotional service and then ended with a party. At TCC, we went to Chick-fil-a and all got free sandwiches. I love the rhythms of ministry. We always end with parties and food. Over our break, we rested. We read our assigned reading for the break; a fabulous book called To Love as God Loves by Roberta Bondi . If I could surmise what I learned, it would be that many things i.e. our sin and our lack of humility get in the way of loving those around us. The book looked at how monastic church mothers and fathers tackled this common issue with prayer and seeking God. This book was what our retreat centered around. Graham preached the chapter about love. Also, We went to Hous...

Emily's Ministry Updates

Search This Blog