Life with Ava & Looking to the Fall

Wrapping up the summer and moving to the Fall

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The Hables have had quite the summer, if you can imagine. Ava is a month and a half old and we see no end to the cuteness! Everything is going well with her as far as the things doctors care about, she's sleeping like a champ, and she's even started to smile. Not much else can melt our heart like that!

And we've been back to work prepping for a new seminar we'll launch in the Fall (more in future letters) as well as for a project for when freshman move in. Speaking of...freshman move-in comes in a short 3 weeks! So what are we up to until then?

For the next couple of weeks, we're focusing on our support. We set out this summer to once again raise a significant amount of financial support ($1400/month), and to be honest, it's been a bit discouraging. There have been highlights, but with our new life at home as well as more projects than we typically have in a summer, we haven't gained a ton of traction. But there is some good news:

So far, we've seen $261 a month of new support come in!

So, new people are answering the call, which is awesome! And we've gotten some beautiful responses to our need from many of you as well. A few people on our team have even gradually increased their partnership over the years.

We really do need your continued prayers that our support level would allow us to fully function as a family on mission at the U of I. And, as always, you can update your support level at Reliant's website (reliant.org)

You may also wonder about what happens if we don't meet our goal. Well, whatever sort of shortfall we end up with from this summer will continue to be in our needs for the coming months (as was the case with last summer).

We will need to spend time in the school year raising support, which is a bummer. BUT, it's always encouraging to tell people about what God's doing at the U of I. We think exciting things are happening here!

Pray that we would trust God to provide for our needs.

On August 17th, we're starting a totally new project as a church. It's called Mission(IL). It's a mission trip to campus, in which our current student leaders and influencers go all out to welcome and meet new freshman. It's the beautiful evolution of work we've been doing for years. Each year, we've increased the number of students we have out reaching new students and made our invites earlier and more relational.

This year, our students are being encouraged to come back early, spend time in prayer, and then be launched to be Christ's hands and feet. We’ve been working behind the scenes to make this project work smoothly.

Helping new students feel welcome is one of the best ways to love them and open up opportunities for the Gospel, and we're confident we're on the right track! We can't wait to share stories from these key first few days on campus with you.

Pray that God would work powerfully through MISSION(IL).

We're enjoying our little girl. This is a pic from her one month photo shoot with daddy. And frankly, we just are smitten with the gift God has given us in her. We're excited for the powerful testament she'll help us to be: of a family that loves and that does family and mission together.

We'll be in touch again after the school year has begun. Next time, we’ll tell you how our support level is and about the exciting new students.

Thank you for your prayers and support as we live as a family on mission at the U of I.

Alan & Ashley Hable work with Reliant Mission, who partners with missional churches and gospel-centered nonprofits to mobilize support-based missionaries. We serve at the University of Illinois, where we work with a local church called Illini Life Christian Fellowship, a member church in Collegiate Church Network. You can support our work by giving directly to Reliant. We thank you for your partnership.

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