Last Friday

Last week, I received a donation and a note from a co-worker.  It was one of my first ones, and needless to say I was very excited.  The note simply had a verse and a blessing on it.  Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is with you,
   the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
   in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
   but will rejoice over you with singing.

This is one of my closest friends (or sister from another mister) favorite verses. It made my heart leap for joy.  I approached him after work on Friday and shared this with him and thanked him so much because his support means to much to me. He started to tell me how God led him to write that verse and how he is so excited for me and the ministry that is ahead of me.  He then prayed for me in the hallway.  He was truly speaking things that I had been praying about and that time was such a blessing.  I feel so blessed and encouraged!  

VISA

So I applied for my Australian Temporary Student Visa on Saturday. The process did not take as long as I thought it would, but every time I went to go pay for the Visa it would kick me back a few pages and say that it was unable to process the Visa. This, of course, got me worried and concerned, but it was pointed out to me that it was Sunday there and possibly Daylight savings...so the computers might be acting funny. So I waited to that evening (after a fun night with the 20's group from church). I came home and at around 1am our time I put the application through and there were no problems. I was so excited! The next day, I slept through my alarm and made it to church late, but I made it. I got home later that night after a lovely baby shower and cleaning my wonderful friends house (YAY FOR BABY GRIFFIN). I check my email and what do you think I might find? I AM APPROVED TO GO TO AUSTRALIA with a student Visa! Praise God! In less then 24 hours and I have an answer to the prayers of myself and many others. I was so stressed because when the youth group applied for their Russian Visas we only got them days before we left due to issues with letters, taking a long time at the embassy, etc. This has been the easiest process for a Visa ever and I feel so blessed. SO THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN PRAYING. I am now one more step closer to making it to Australia in July!

School Board Says Yes!

The school board approved my one semester leave. So they will hold my job for me while I am in Australia and I cam come back and teach 2nd semester in January. I am so blessed that they are willing/able to do that for me. It will be/is a huge weight off my shoulders. I am really blessed to have this even as an options. I found this out Feb. 24th and I was so excited. I shared this information with family, friends, and my senior advisory students. They were very excited about this and asked me to mention them in my blog. I have been really blessed to have this group of kids in advisory for 4 years. I cannot believe that they are graduating. It makes me feel old. They asked a lot of great questions and I am excited for what their futures will look like, they have so many options. I will be sending out my support letters soon, so be on the look out :)