Stretching.....

 When we first moved to South America 4 and a half years ago, God began stretching me in ways I never knew I could go!  It had always been a dream of mine to stay at home and raise our children.  In Argentina, I was faced with the necessity of putting Isaiah and Landon in daycare half-days.  Not much, I know, but it was still very difficult for me.
After we finished the project in Argentina, God stretched us (me) by calling us to a place where we would be the only Nazarene missionaries for nearly 6 months.  Then, we moved to the jungle and, let me tell you, I was STRETCHED farther than ever as we learned to survive in nearly unbearable heat with no air conditioning, no  hot water, and very few modern conveniences.  It was certainly an adventure and I praise God for what we learned during each of these "stretching" times.
Well, we've moved and it's happening again :)  This time, our children are old enough to be in school all day, we are blessed to have a team of Nazarene missionaries with us all working towards the same purpose, and this is one of the most modern cities we've lived in South America.  So, how is God stretching me this time?
FINANCES!
With our new positions, I am now the Financial Coordinator for Extreme in Paraguay.  Scary!  When I graduated from NNU, my advisor, Jerry Hull, told me that I would maybe be able to one day help my children with their math until they hit 5th grade :)  I'm great with people; math, not so much.
My good friend, and Extreme's accountant, Sydney Drinkwater, flew to Paraguay last week to help me set up the books and train me.  It went really well and, armed with my very detailed list of what to do in each program and each month, I think I will be just fine!

Also, while Sydney was here, I tackled another one of my bigger fears and stretched some more - driving in the city!  

And, finally, this week I stretched even more by agreeing to cook dinner every other Monday for our 4040s.  I love them and very much enjoy their company, but it's HARD to make enough food to feed 8 ravenous young adults :)

We have a wonderful team here and we are confident that God can and will do amazing things through them. 

 As God continues to grow and stretch us and our abilities to be of greater use to Him, I am grateful for His ever-present hand in our lives!