Exciting news and a longer update

So as not to bury the lead, we will start with the exciting news... we are incredibly excited to share that we are expecting another child in February!

It was a surprise to us, to say the least. But it continues to feel like God showing off his kindness to us. We knew we wanted to have another little one, but just after our return from our Hungary visit in the Spring, Amanda landed in the ER with another ruptured ovarian cyst. On following up with her doctor the indications were not good; she had another decent sized cyst they were worried about and the doctor sent us home to wait for six weeks, indicating that if the cyst didn’t go away on it’s on it that time then we would have to take some drastic measures and ultimately likely have to rely on IVF if we wanted any more kids.  

We spent those six weeks unsure how to feel, trying not to pre-grieve, but also trying to accept whatever God was doing. At the follow-up on the 6 week mark we were thankful Daniel was able to attend as well because the ultrasound tech was acting so strange and we were pretty sure they were going to tell us there was no way more kids were in the cards for us.  

But the exact opposite happened. The doctor came in to confirm that Amanda was already pregnant!  

She is now just over 20 weeks along and baby is looking happy and healthy and so are we! Amanda’s first trimester was pretty rough (which is why things have been a little more quiet from us, she typically does the talking!) but thankfully now in the second trimester she is feeling much better, if tired.  

Other news: 

Amanda is celebrating as the first people she coached in her position have started on the field. It has been fun and encouraging to see how God moves both similarly and differently in the lives of His people as He prepares them. 

She also participated in the Perspectives class hosted at OMS. Perspectives is essentially a graduate level introductory course into missions, but it is more than that. It focuses on scripture as a whole and calling every believer into the role God has for them, whether that’s in cross-cultural missions overseas or crossing culture barriers with neighbors here at home. If that doesn’t sound like something we have talked about before, then we can just reiterate that we are incredibly passionate about that as well so Amanda truly enjoyed her time.  

She also had the opportunity to preach for the first time at our church, Mt. Auburn Global Methodist Church. With a series on Jonah, Amanda got to tackle the prayer in Jonah 2 since the book of Jonah has been an important one to her for years. It was a challenge, but also a joy to try and humbly share what God had been sharing with her.

As for Daniel, he is excited to be entering his final two semesters of school. He has really enjoyed his classes, but he is also happy for them to be behind him. By this time next year he should have his Masters in Theology with a concentration in Intercultural Studies! 

In the office Daniel has been leading a department discussion on the Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni. Here is a little more information, if you want to read more. As a team it has been interesting to see how we work together and have a shared sense of understanding in our approach to tasks and projects. It has been humbling to talk about some of our working frustrations, but also freeing to celebrate where we excel. 

Final bits and bobs:

This Fall we also have the opportunity to do some recruitment visits for OMS to some universities. As an alum of IWU Daniel got to visit during their missions day and share about internship opportunities and hear what God is doing in the lives of the students there.

Later in October we head to Grace College for a mission night where all of the students will come around engage with different organizations, Daniel participated a few years ago and it was 3 hours of non-stop talking with students. 

Finally, Arlo turns three this month and we really can't believe it. He has been nailing potty training, talks constantly, and we know he is going to be an amazing big brother!

Thank you again for ALL of your prayers. We hope to update a little more consistently now, but we feel surrounded by your support and prayers. Thank you!