Hello Friends!

We hope you’re enjoying your summer and staying cool.  Tyler is hot!  But we’re hoping Arkansas is a bit cooler :).  We are really looking forward to our upcoming move and are busy getting things ready here.  At the end of June, School of the Bible students completed the classroom part of the school and headed out on outreaches to Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Thailand, and the U.S.  The students really enjoyed  the year of study but were also very excited to be finished and moving on to practical ministry.  (Of course, every student graduating from School of the Bible knows that it is just the foundation for a lifetime of study...but it does feel good to have the 1 John translation from Greek to English behind you! :).  We were so happy for them (remembering our own joy at the end of School of the Bible), but sorry to see them go.  It seems like the year flew by!  We will definitely keep in touch with many of the students and are excited to see where the Lord leads each of them to work and minister.

Jason is now working this summer with a temp. agency here in Tyler doing lots of physical labor.  Even though he gets hot and tired, he is enjoying the change of pace from all of his academic work this past year.  (He’s taking a bit of a vacation from Greek :).  We are set to move on Saturday, August 16^th.  We will be moving to Springdale, Arkansas (in northwest Arkansas outside of Fayetteville).  We have promised Beth’s family that we won’t become Razorbacks!  Of course, we will remain faithful Longhorns :). 

Jason will be finishing a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies at Ecclesia College (a Christian college which used to be a YWAM ministry).  The Chancellor of Ecclesia, Oren Paris, is the brother of Leland Paris, the director of YWAM Tyler, so there is a natural connection between the two ministries.  Ecclesia is an accredited college, and they accept all of the YWAM courses Jason has already completed (Discipleship Training School, School of Evangelism, Teachers for the Nations, and School of the Bible) as well as his classes from Christ for the Nations and Southwestern Assemblies of God University.  With all of these previous credits, Jason will have one year left to finish his degree...yeah! 

We have been sensing a change coming and seeking God as to what the next step is for us.  After much prayer, we feel like we are to move to Arkansas and completed Jason's degree.  Jason is called to teach and we are praying for direction in ministry after this year.  We feel God may use this time to connect us relationally with people we may minister with in the future.  Jason truly appreciates the foundation YWAM Tyler has given him in discipling nations with God’s Word and will use that understanding in all of his future teaching.  Beth is looking forward to us getting connected to a great local church in Arkansas and hopefully serving in women’s ministry.  She loves sharing with women about our unique identity, worth, value, and beauty as the bride of Christ.  Springdale is a beautiful part of the country, close to the Ozark Mountains, and we are excited to see what God has in store for us!  We would love to have visitors!  It is about 6 hours north of Tyler.  We will be in prayer for what God has next for us after this year of schooling.

We are currently in the application process to live in an apartment 6 miles from campus.  Please pray that goes smoothly!  (Jason made a quick trip up to see the apartment in person, and now we are moving along with the plan.)  We are so blessed to have our families helping us move!  Jason’s dad has a horse trailer which we will use for most of our things, and Beth’s parents will be helping also.  It’s great not having to rent a U-Haul!

On July 27^th, Jason will be preaching on prayer and intercession at our church, Crossroads, here in Tyler; and Joshua will be getting dedicated!  It’s McKenney Sunday :)  We will spend the next month trying to visit with all of our friends before we leave.  We have been so blessed by amazing relationships with friends from church and YWAM Tyler, and we will definitely keep in touch.

Joshua is growing beautifully!  He is now 8 months old and has 1 tooth :)  He continues to sleep through the night well...praise God!  He started crawling at about 7 months and has also learned how to stand up in his crib :)  We love to hear him laugh and giggle!  It is so fun interacting with him now...we can have much more of a relationship with him these days.  He is probably around 21 pounds now and continues to be tall for his age.  Finger foods have just been introduced, and he loves that!

As last time, we decided to save some big news for last so we hope you’re still reading!  Joshua is going to be a big brother!  (Of course, he is blissfully unaware of the news right now:).  Beth is 11 weeks along and due on February the 5^th.  At around 20 weeks, we should know the gender, so we will keep you posted :).  They will be just under 15 months apart :)  So, it’s a bit of a praise and a prayer request!  It will be great having them grow up so close together, and now we are very familiar with babies :).  The pregnancy is going very smoothly, but Beth has been a bit tired (napping with Joshua during the day).  Hopefully, the second trimester (which is quickly approaching) will bring fresh energy!  It’s been nice to have maternity clothes close at hand...Mom took Beth shopping for maternity clothes for the second summer in a row :)  Joshua is now on the bottle, no longer nursing, so Beth is not quite so ravenous as she was in the beginning!

We love you and would love to hear from you!  May the Lord pour out His presence upon you!

(One last quick note ~ We don’t currently have internet at the house, so Beth communicates much more via the phone than e-mail these days.  So please call!  (903) 279-8447.  I’m so sorry if I haven’t responded to your e-mail.  Jason does have internet at his office, but I rarely get over there.  We will have internet at our apartment in Arkansas...yeah!)     

*Sorry I’m continuing, but we celebrated our 3 year anniversary on July 9^th!  Jason’s mom was wonderful and babysat Joshua for us, so we could go out for dinner and a movie :)  Jason also enjoyed his first official Father’s Day.  On a different note, Beth has tried her hand with cloth diapers (once) and promptly went back to disposables!