Progress?

For the record we are still alive! Sorry for the delay in updates. We have been so busy with orientation in both Bristol and Boone for a week at the end of July. It was great meeting the other 14 physicians and their families who are in the same boat we are going with Samaritan's Purse to mission hospitals in Central America, Asia and Africa. 2 other couples are also going to Kenya but to different hospitals than we are. It was a lot of great info at both locations. Bristol orientation was at the CMDA and was a great time of learning from missionaries who had a combined 50+ years of missionary service. It was more of a big picture...setting goals, being aware of culture, how to mentor and be mentored.Things these missionaries wish they would have known on the front end.

Boone orientation was at the SP headquarter which impressed us with the amount of work and quality of work that goes on there in all their ministries. There it was more focused on the details such as conflict on the mission field, Q & A time with missionary doctors who recently returned from the mission field. How to do your taxes overseas, what banks to use, security training and some fellowship and hang out time.

Then I (Aaron) visited a great friend from medical school who lives in Seattle, Washington. That took us through the end of July and so far August has been summarized by DOLLYWOOD. 2 trips in 1 week! First with cousins and second with friends from med school and residency. As the pictures show, the kids love it but we were WORN OUT.

I've had the opportunity to speak at 2 different churches and have 3 more on the schedule tomorrow, next week and early Sept. Please pray God would speak through me to encourage and motivate through His word.

We have moved our leave date to the last week of September. I keep telling everyone "we want to leave as soon as possible but we are realizing we have no idea what is possible!". We are buying and buying (2 years worth of clothes for the girls) and hope to start packing soon. So many little details that we are trying to trust God to provide. We know He will, we are just so faithless sometimes. Thanks for keeping up!

Learning and Preparing

Sorry I have not updated much lately. We are really busy these days trying to figure out what we need to take to Kapsowar and trying to spend time with family and friends.

Today was our first day of orientation and we heard a lot of great information. It is so encouraging to be in a setting with other young people and young families that are going through the same thing we are. We are hoping to feel a little more prepared when we come back home next week.

We have changed our leave date to the end of September. We appreciate your prayers so much even during this time of preparation and decision making for the future. This is an overwhelming process at times, but we know that the Lord has called us to it and we know He is faithful to provide for what we need.

Specific Prayer Requests:

*Please pray that God would teach us a lot through our orientation

*For continued wisdom in packing and planning for the next two years in Kapsowar

*Wisdom in managing the time we have left here before we leave

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

We made it to Knoxville!

Just wanted to give a quick update. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support during this time of many transitions for all of us.

We were blessed to have some men from our church help us load up everything this past Tuesday morning. And after about 3 different stops between Bristol and Knoxville to disperse our belongings....we finally arrived at the mission house late Tuesday night. My sweet husband had arranged for there to be roses at the house for me for our anniversary (8 years!). However, I was so tired I walked by them for an hour before I finally noticed them! It is such a blessing to be able to stay in the mission house for these next couple of months. Now that we have most of our stuff either sold or in storage we can really begin focusing on packing for Kenya.

Aaron is back in Bristol right at the moment finishing up his last week of work!! He is such an amazing husband, father, and doctor. Life has been very busy and exhausting lately, but he continues to lead our family with much love and patience. Please pray for strength for him as he finishes up this week.

We really appreciate all the prayers and support! They are really an encouragement to us!

Getting ready for move #1

Just a little over a week until we move to Knoxville! Our moving date is June 26th, assuming nothing else comes up between now and then. We have changes moving dates about 3 times I think :). So we will be celebrating our 8 year wedding anniversary as we move to Knoxville!! It will make for a good memory.

I wanted to just share some more blessings. The Lord is continuing to provide financially toward the money we need to raise. It is so encouraging and humbling to watch the Lord work through His people to provide for this ministry opportunity. We are so thankful for our church family and so many other friends who are praying for us and encouraging us through this process.

We have much packing and sorting to do between now and our move date. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom as I try to decide on what to do with all our stuff (take, sell, store). It helps to keep reminding myself that all this "stuff" is really just "stuff".

Probably next post will be coming from Knoxville, TN!

Oh, I almost forgot.........we got to meet the Jones' this past Tuesday! They are the young family that we will be serving with in Kenya. This is the first time we have ever met them and the next time we see them will be in Kapsowar! It was a great day and we are so thankful for their friendship and look forward to serving alongside them for the next two years.

Update on our travels....

So much to update on and so little time to do it!! We had a great week of vacation at the beach, depite the three rainy days. It was still a great break from our "to do" list. The girls really enjoyed themselves.

Before the beach, we spent Memorial day camping with my family at Elkmont. Braelyn enjoyed playing in the river and we had a special treat of getting to see the fireflies do their special "synchronized flashing"! I had heard about this, but had never gotten to see it. It was really amazing. Just another experience that makes you say "Wow, God.......you are so creative and amazing."

 Hayden trying to give his cousin a BIG kiss.....I don't think she was very interested!

 Brooks first trip to the campground! I think he enjoyed it :)

Welcome to the family Brooks Michael Hasty!

I have a wonderful answered prayer to share. My brother and sister in law have been waiting to adopt another child and a few weeks ago they received good news. We all have been overjoyed and so thankful for this new addition to our family. Praising God for His good and perfect timing in all things.

 Brooks Michael Hasty, born May 22, 2012 , 6 lbs 2 oz

 Welcome Home! Big sister showing him around :)

 My mom is holding the outfit that she brought all of us home in.

 Proud Aunt! I am SO thankful that the Lord brought him into our lives before we left for Kenya! I so badly wanted to get to be a part of this exciting and wonderful time. He is such a cutie!

Brooks and his Mamaw. By the way, Brooks is named after our Papaw Ervin who was called "Brook". May the Lord bless Brooks and keep him, may the Lord make His face shine upon Him.

How much fun can you handle?

Our theme for this season of our life right now is "how much fun can you handle?". Life is definitely busy right now, but a lot of it is just fun things like taking trips to see friends, having dinner with new friends, and vacation. We began our adventures with a trip to Ohio to meet up with some of our medical school friends that we haven't seen in 3 years! We were so excited to see them because while in medical school we really became more than just friends, we became family :). Our weekend together was such a blessing! It was amazing that after not seeing each other for 3 years, we all just picked right back up where we left off and had great fellowship. It just reminded me how good our God is to provide us with lasting friendships. Medical school was a hard time for all of us, but the Lord was so sweet to bring us together and allow us to experience it all together and have so many great memories to laugh about. The only thing that was missing was our friends, the McVays. We missed you guys!! We could have used a couple of boys in this pack of girls :).

The Sabotchicks: KJ, Michelle, Abby & Macy

The Spanglers: Jason, Aubrie, Paisley & Adelyn

Blessings

Just wanted to take a moment to share a little bit of the blessings the Lord has given us the last few weeks. Tonight we went to Fellowship Baptist Church in Bluff City and were honored to be a part of their missions projects and receive some support from them. The amazing part for me is to see how God has brought us into relationships with people here in Bristol and even in other areas and to see how He had bigger plans for those relationships that we ever would have imagined. Aaron knew a few people at the church we went to tonight, but I had never met any of them. It was so encouraging to sit in the seats and hear all the mission projects this church is involved in locally and around the world. Even though I had never met anyone in this church, I sat there with brothers and sisters in Christ.....and it was so obvious that this church has a heart for the Lord and sharing Him with others. It was just so encouraging and humbling, to have them support us and want to keep up with our ministry and pray for us. It is just a beautiful picture of the body of Christ working together to glorify His name.
   And the Lord has blessed us with a couple of more monthly supporters whom we are SO grateful for and excited about. Again, these weren't relationships that we planned, but just people whom the Lord has allowed our paths to cross and He has put a desire in their hearts to be a part of this ministry. These are wonderful reminders that this is His plan and we just need to keep following Him.
   We are in awe of His goodness and provision.

Another blessing.....we were excited to have dinner Friday night (kid free) with a couple from our church who have served as missionaries. It was a great evening of wonderful food and fellowship. We enjoyed hearing their stories and words of wisdom from all they have experienced. We thank the Lord again and again for our church family here in Bristol. They are so supportive and such a blessing to us.

Finally, we were blessed to have the opportunity to do "baby dedication" at our church this morning with Layna. It was a real sweet time of committing ourselves as parents, in front of our church, to raising her to love the Lord and glorify Him. We understand that she is a gift from the Lord and she is His before she is ours. We do pray that her life will bring glory to Him and that we will do our part to teach her and train her in who He is and how much He loves her. It was also a blessing to have my Mom and Dad there at the service to be a part of the dedication. Then we all went and ate a yummy lunch together!
    Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Hope you all have a good week!

The Everyday Question of Motherhood

I came across this yesterday and wanted to share it. It is a MUST read for moms and really for anyone. It is challenging, very challenging. But it also puts life into the proper perspective. 

The Everyday Question of Motherhood

Letting go.......

I was very thankful this past week to have my Mom & Dad keep our girls for a couple of nights to allow us to get some sorting and packing done. Actually, it is still mainly just sorting and getting rid of A LOT of stuff. Our goal right now is to minimize. It is actually a pretty good feeling most of the time. Sometimes it is stressful, some things are hard to decide on. It's funny because a few things I have kept back thinking I really needed those items, then a couple of weeks later, I am ready to pack it up and take it to the Haven (our thrift store ministry).
    One of my favorite things is to journal. I started keeping a diary when I was really young, and it is hilarious to read what I wrote about in third grade! And then middle school.....oh my goodness. It was really FUN to get to read part of these as I was cleaning out(slowed me down a bit). At some point my regular journals turned into prayer journals. Going back through some of these journals was just like a trip down memory lane. And it is AMAZING to look back and see all that God has taught me, all that He has brought me through, all that He has BLESSED me with! I was almost in tears just being overwhelmed with His goodness and being able to see how He led me through each season of my life. It was so encouraging. As we get ready to take this next step, I know there will be difficulties and I know there will be great blessings as well. I pray that the Lord will make me more like Christ. I pray He will grow me closer to Him than I have ever been before.
     I struggle with letting my "to-do" list overwhelm me and getting so preoccupied with all that needs to be done. I am praying that the Lord would teach me how to ABIDE in Him as I prepare for this big move, to set my eyes on Him and His promises instead of my list of "to-do's". I found a couple of great resources as I was sorting through that I read this morning. One of them is "Put off....Put On". It just lists all the attitudes/actions that are characterized by the old man and then the opposite of that which is who we are in Christ. I would like to post it on here.....there are 78 of them though! With scripture references.
     We had a full weekend with my nephew's birthday party in Dandridge and then back to the CMDA dinner Saturday night. It was exciting because this was our first opportunity to share about what we are going to be doing in Kenya. We are so thankful for the wonderful Christian friends and church family that the Lord has given us here in Bristol. Also, I think we finally managed to get a family picture made so we can order our "official" prayer cards! And over the weekend Aaron was able to get a lot of the tedious paperwork for each of us gathered together and mailed off. So we appreciate your continued prayers and praise God for the progress that we are making.
      I am hoping to figure out how to shrink our family picture. It's a bit huge if you ask me :)
Hope everyone has a good week.

Honoring my husband

Just wanted to take a moment to honor my husband....

Last week he received a special award for "demonstrating excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service." He was chosen out of 60 other family medicine residents.

I am so proud of him. I thank God for giving him a career that is fulfilling and challenging. I thank God for a husband who does his job for the glory of God. I pray that God would continue to teach him how to be a good doctor for His glory.

Spring Pictures

I decided to put the girls' Easter dresses on and try to get a few pictures. They both loved putting on their pretty dresses. As soon as they put them on they started twirling and dancing.











Happy Spring and Easter! Just wanted to share a few pictures of the girls. We have been enjoying this beautiful weather so much. It's funny how I am starting to think a little differently. Just trying to really enjoy and appreciate all the beautiful things that happen in the spring, knowing that we won't be around here to watch spring arrive for at least a couple of years. However, I have been told by a few different people that Kapsowar is one of the most beautiful places there is. I think there are flowers there to enjoy as well. I feel very blessed to be getting to go and serve in such a beautiful setting. I know we will be leaving behind a lot of things, but I feel like the Lord is giving us some things to look forward to as well.

I just started the Beth Moore bible study on James about a week ago. Yesterday I was doing some of the homework and there were a couple of verses that really got my attention.

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

First of all, I feel like I am in constant need of wisdom from the Lord. So this verse is encouraging to me. He gives to all "generously". However, Beth Moore pointed out that there is a condition to receiving this wisdom. The condition is that we have to ask in faith without doubting. If we don't ask in faith, expecting the Lord to provide the wisdom we need, then we will receive nothing and be unstable in all our ways. I know I am guilty of praying this way at times and it was a great reminder and challenge to PRAY IN FAITH, and EXPECT God to give the wisdom we ask of Him.

When I picked Braelyn up from preschool today her teacher told me "She is definitely a singer." Apparently she serenades them often with her musical talents :). One of the verses I hung in Braelyn's room when she was born was Psalm 71: 8 and 15... "May Braelyn's mouth be filled with Your praise and tell of Your righteousness, declaring your glory and salvation all day long." I love to hear her sing praise songs in the car and at church and even on the toilet! :)
I should also say that there has been a lot of rudeness and bad attitude flowing out of her mouth as well lately. We are preaching "obey with a good attitude" and "speak kindly" a lot right now. So, the other morning we were driving to church and talking to Braelyn about giving some of her money as an offering at church. We have just now started to introduce her to the idea. She won $10 for her dessert she helped make at the chili/dessert cookoff last weekend. So we asked her how much of it she wanted to give to God and she said "All of it!" (She was confused about how she was going to give the money to God because she can't reach that high in the sky :)) And then in the car we were discussing how giving our offering is one way we can worship God, and aaron asked her what were some other ways that we can worship God, and she said "By obeying Him". And it just thrilled and surprised my heart to hear her say that. I really was not expecting a "correct" answer. And honestly I wasn't even considering that as an answer in my own head.....but it was a great reminder to me that my obedience to the Lord is not just something I "should do".....but it is worship and it is pleasing to my Heavenly Father.