{"id":155,"date":"2009-02-17T12:15:02","date_gmt":"2009-02-17T16:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/?p=155"},"modified":"2009-08-31T13:46:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-31T17:46:29","slug":"praising-planning-praying-from-esther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/2009\/02\/17\/praising-planning-praying-from-esther\/","title":{"rendered":"Praising & Planning & Praying (from Esther)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends and Family,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the time draws nearer for us to go back to the States for a year of home assignment (furlough), we are both excited and a little overwhelmed with all the planning and financial needs and decisions to be made for this next year. Most of all, we can’t wait to finally reunite with you, our family and friends, after four long years of being separated! Even though, we can see so clearly now the amazing blessings in the lives of the Dinangat people that have made every sacrifice so worth it. Thank you for praying and sacrificing with and for us through the years to make it possible for us to live and serve here. God is at work in the lives of these new believers and it is amazing to see!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, we wanted to give you an update on the beginning of our plans and to ask for your prayers for wisdom and God’s provision in the months ahead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are already in awe of <\/span>a couple huge provisions<\/strong> from the Lord. One is the purchase of our plane tickets<\/strong>. We\u2019ve been saving as much as possible for four years and the money was there already to purchase the tickets. Second is God’s provision of a\u00a0home<\/span><\/strong> in the Stone Mountain (Georgia)\u00a0area, furnished, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, rent free for the whole year!!! It is a missionary home belonging to a church in the area that Nancy contacted through First Baptist of Atlanta.\u00a0We look forward to living close to Gary’s family in Atlanta for this furlough. Isn’t it exciting to see God’s provision in this already?! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please continue to pray with us for a vehicle<\/span><\/strong> (or 2?), a job for Gary<\/span><\/strong> (to minister <\/span>in a <\/span>church), and wisdom\/provision in choosing a school for our kids<\/span><\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"smith-kids-header\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our school needs on furlough\u00a0are unique to home schoolers in the States. Since we home school in the middle of nowhere every 4 out of 5 years, our kids really need the classroom interaction and exposure to their own culture that they don’t get over here.\u00a0 So we really see the need for our kids to be in a classroom setting this year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also,\u00a0as we’ve shared in the past, our son Caleb has a significant learning disability.\u00a0\u00a0At this point, I am not qualified to give Caleb (who will be\u00a0in 4th grade)\u00a0the specific NILD instruction that he needs. During furlough, I plan to go to a 2-week course to get certified in the Discovery program so that I can work with Caleb in that capacity when we return to the field. He really needs some specific training this next year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a Christian school very close to\u00a0the home where we’ll be living\u00a0that sounds perfect: all the kids would be in one school, it has the exact NILD program that Caleb needs, Kindergarten is only half day (which we prefer)\u00a0and it is a Christian school; but it costs over $26,000 for all four of our kids!!! (and that’s with the fourth kid free!)\u00a0 Anyway, our other option is the public school (elementary\u00a0for the boys and middle for Charis), and it sounds like a good, conservative school with some Christian teachers (from the church giving us the house) teaching at the school. It does offer a limited special needs program for Caleb; and I appreciate that the public school will at least be helping Caleb get through the year, whether or not they work specifically with his learning disability. That is better than a private school without an NILD program. I also like that the public school isn’t quite running at the break neck speed academically that many private schools try to aim for. Caleb should actually feel more average in a public school as opposed to always at “the end of the pack” in a private school. And of course, public school\u00a0is free!\u00a0We hesitate to have Charis by herself in a very big public middle school. Nathan and Zachary should fit in easily in first grade and Kindergarten next year. Overall, we would love to send our 4 kids to the Christian school I mentioned above, but not having the finances to do so, we don’t want to demand this from God\u00a0for our kids, knowing that God can make the public school option good for them as well.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0continue to pray and are\u00a0at peace that God can make either option work out for His best for our kids…either provide the money for the Christian school\u00a0or good teachers for our kids in the public school. We look forward to seeing how God answers prayer. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We do know a few dates already…we will leave the tribe at the end of May, and travel through Goroka, Port Moresby, and Singapore, arriving in Germany at the beginning of June\u00a0to visit with our co-workers, the Schlegels for a few days. From there we will be going through Paris and London for a few days and arriving in the States mid-June. We are excited about doing a little sight seeing in Europe since we will be traveling through there anyway. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We look forward to contacting each one of you and setting up dates to visit sometime during the next year. We appreciate your prayers for wisdom in planning.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Serving together,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Esther (for us)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends and Family, \u00a0 As the time draws nearer for us to go back to the States for a year of home assignment (furlough), we are both excited and a little overwhelmed with all the planning and financial needs and decisions to be made for this next year. Most of all, we can’t wait […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}