It's finally here! We never thought the day would come when, first of all, Gary would every finish his schooling. Well, that happened at the beginning of August, and after a formal interview with a dean from DCC, he'll be finished completely with his degree. He'll be a December '08 graduate and the commencement ceremony will be in May 2009. We are always so thankful to the Lord for bringing us through the last two and a half years of his schooling. It was not easy on his or my part, but through much diligence and lots of self-discipline, he finished.
The next big piece of information is that the ministers and elders of Northside Christian Church will be ordaining Gary on Sunday evening, September 21, at 6:30pm. We're excited about that and very honored that they would choose to do this. It's going to be a very simple service where he will vow certain things going into the ministry, and then we will have a reception afterward.
We're very excited about both of these events. Also, through recent conversations with the senior and associate ministers, it is most definitely certain that Gary will be a full-time staff member there at Northside. It's always amazing how the Lord really works things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. Thank you, Father.
I've started my voice lessons, and am loving every minute of it so far. I'm only teaching at the schools Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and I have chosen to open up our home to teach piano lessons on Monday afternoons. I've been teaching during the day and Tuesday afternoons at a private Christian school down the road, and that's been really fun. Then I teach Wednesday afternoons at Klein Oak, and then Thursday afternoons at Klein Collins. It's been really great meeting new people, getting things going with my own self-run business (I set up a business account at WaMu, which makes me feel even more official!). Gotta figure out the whole tax thing, though, too. That'll be interesting.
Another thing that's happened is that our worship minister, Jeremi, has asked me to be the "Vocal Director" of the worship ministry at the church. It's a pretty big role, and will take up a lot more time than what I've been volunteering for the last three years, but I'm excited about that.
So many changes, yet a sovereign and steadfast God that we worship. Praise You, Father, for being just who You are. Constant, never-changing, omnipotent, and sovereign. You are almighty, and we bow at Your feet. Thank you, Jesus.
Here are some pictures of some things we did in August. My family went to Canyon Lake and stayed in a 3-bedroom condo. Here are Annie, Mollie, and Travis at the pool.
Here I am fishing. I caught the first fish of the evening, and was so proud of myself (although I didn't really do anything different than the rest of the group...).
Just in case you wanted a closer look, here's the fish I caught.
And here's Dad doing his fatherly duty of baiting each pole for all us girls. We were using leftover bread and tortillas for the fish bait.
Here are Dad, Bri, and Mom trying, oh-so-diligently, to catch a fish. I decided to head back to the condo, since my work was done...
The next day, we went tubing down the Guadalupe River. It was SO COLD. Here's Gary, after just having plopped into the water, trying to keep his rear-end out of the puddle in the middle of the tube.
The ducks loved Gary. They were getting pretty friendly with him (I think he had pretzels or something...).
Bri, Me, Gary, and Mom. Dad's taking the picture. If you hadn't guessed, Annie, Travis and Mollie had left the day before we did this. Travis had to get back to work, and they didn't really know if Mollie would enjoy this adventure. We ended up going around the horseshoe bend 3 times that day. It was about an hour each time. Piled on the sunscreen and had a blast!
