Dear friends and family
Wow! 2020 already. It is hard to believe that 2019 is over. It went so quickly and yet so much happened that it feels like it should have been at least 2 years long!!! 😳How’s that for an oxymoron?!
When I look back over the last year, I am blown away by Gods' faithfulness. It was a very challenging year, financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually. But He provided every step of the way.
2019 started off with Aleck and I marking off one of the things on our bucket list - Israel. This was such an amazing time, (we want to go back with Mya Shae and Micah), but it came with its challenges, as it was not a cheap trip, and we really couldn’t afford it. But God said, “Go!”. So we went. And He provided - for the tickets, the food, and even a little spending money to buy the kids something. It was incredible.
Aleck and I also made a commitment to pay off our credit card. Our car cost about £1000 more than we actually had, and Aleck had a huge amount of money to trust God for work-related travel that put us into thousands of pounds but we have to trust God to provide for over the course of the year. As we made this commitment, we also felt that God said He would help us pay it off by the end of December 2019. With a combination of God’s provision, other people’s generosity, Alecks hard work and me scrimping and saving every penny from the household budget, we got to the end of December 2019, debt free - and able to buy the family Christmas presents! Isn’t God awesome?!
Don’t get me wrong. It was hard, hard work. And there were times when we wondered if we would ever get there. We were physically and emotionally tired and stretched. But God was/is faithful and He kept/keeps His promises.
Last year was also challenging as we worked through some emotional challenges with Micah. It was an uphill battle and we felt blindsided by it as it was so out of character for him. But by the end of the year, we started to see breakthrough in his attitude and outlook, and a return to his logical processing and not such a great dependance on his emotions. We still have some way to go, but we are in a much better place now than we were this time last year.
We were also privileged to see a sudden transformation in Mya Shae. She seemed to just suddenly mature overnight, and things that we were working through with her, and seemed to be never ending, suddenly ended. It all culminated in her getting baptised. It has been a real privilege watching her relate to her friends, handling difficult situations in her life and doing it all so gently and gracefully.
Our final hurdle of the year was mid-November. Our (not-even-one-year-old-to-us) car decided to celebrate Christmas early - the dashboard started lighting up like a Christmas tree! Ironically, it was driving beautifully and nothing really seemed to be wrong with it. So it was perplexing to us and our mechanic. After much searching and troubleshooting, it turns out the drain that takes water away from the windscreen was blocked with dirt, debris and leaves. This meant the cars computer was sitting in a puddle and the hard drive started corroding. Our mechanic said there was no way for us to know this had happened and worked very hard to get everything working again, because, unfortunately, modern cars cannot be driven without the computer. The car ended up remaining at the mechanics for 7 weeks. This was a very difficult time for us as we had no way to buy a new car, and we (both us and our mechanic) didn’t know if it was even possible to fix the one we had. But once again, God proved Himself faithful, and we got our car back just after new year - and the Christmas lights have been put away!
Now as we move into 2020, we are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do.
Aleck is currently in Uganda at a University of the Nations training event he helps to facilitate. Over the next couple of months he will be teaching in Switzerland, Germany and Australia, and will be going to Mexico for our annual university meetings. (I may or may not be joining him in Mexico. We are still waiting to hear from my department head if I am to go.)
Over the last few months, Aleck has had 4 or 5 students do his creativeimagebearer online course as part of their degrees. It has been really rewarding for Aleck to see it being used, and getting feedback from the students as they go through it. It has given him other ideas and he will be discussing future uses of this course with the assistant Provost in March.
Mya Shae is doing really well at school. She is finding great satisfaction in the courses she is doing. She is definitely growing in confidence in her abilities and in herself. Her teachers are all very happy with her and her progress. Her maths is her weakest subject so we need to put her back into maths tutoring in order to help her pass her GCSE maths. She still loves drawing - and almost always has a notebook and pencil to hand.
Micah is starting to settle down into high school. It is taking him awhile to find his groove. But the teachers are very happy with him too. We received his report card this week, and he really did brilliantly, which has boosted his confidence - especially in light of the fact that he felt a bit insecure having skipped his last year of primary school.His interest in football has wained, and is now interested in boxing and running (at home - not competitively). He has also started writing a book, and is doing really well at it; the whole family is looking forward to reading the next chapter.
I am doing great. Continuing my work with the UofN, and looking after my family. I enjoy working at our Church’s coffee shop, and being near to my family.
Well, that is about it for now.
We do have 2 very specific prayer points / financial requests:
- Mya Shae’s maths tutoring lessons cost £285 for 10 lessons or £31 each lesson. There are about 20 lessons left for this school year (up to end of June). And then they will recommence in September.
- Our car bill - we haven’t received the final bill yet, but based on what our mechanic communicated to me over the 7 weeks he had it, we are probably looking at at least £1000.
We would like to ask if you would prayerfully consider either sponsoring Mya’s math tutoring lessons and / or helping us pay the mechanic. Our bank details and PayPal info are below, but if you would like to ask more questions or talk to us directly, please feel free to do that.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support and friendship. We hope you had a wonderful, restful Christmas with your family and friends, and may 2020 be a blessed year for you.
Hugs
Aleck, Donna-Rae, Mya Shae & Micah
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