We have an official departure date, finally, it is (drumroll please) September 10! We wanted to share that with you all so that we can begin our countdown together.
33 more days. A little over a month. This is getting real.
On another important note as many of you know we are fundraising for our living expenses while in Ireland. We budgeted for a total need of $74,000, which you can see in our Support Us page. As of today we have been generously given and pledged 65% of that total number. We are overwhelmingly grateful for everyone who has chosen to give. Some of you who have given have walked with us for a long time, some hardly know us at all, but your willingness to give to us and our mission has been greater than we could have ever dreamed.
At the same time, according to the countdown that leaves us with 33 days to raise 35% more. So for those of you who haven't given and have been wanting to, now is the time, this is your moment! If you are planning to give, please send in the partnership card to Beltway or personally let James and I know. This would be very helpful for us as we finalize our plans this month.
If you have given through Modern Day, our online giving site, (again check out our Support Us page) during the month of August we just wanted to let you know that we will be receiving record of those donations at the end of August. So currently any donations given in the past week have not counted towards our total percentage of 65% unless they have been sent through Beltway. Modern Day gives us a record at the end of each month of all who have given through their organization because of that this next month we will not be able to have an accurate estimate of where we are in our fundraising until the end of August.
Finally, I have to take a moment to brag on my amazing husband who is graduating with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from Abilene Christian University today. I am so proud of all the hard work, dedication, and perseverance he has put into obtaining this degree. We got married three weeks before he started this program, two years ago, and we can honestly say God has been faithful to sustain us as we built a foundation for our marriage while James' poured his time into this program. We were surrounded by a loving church community, selfless families, and one beloved cohort. Yesterday as I was humming across Psalms, I came across this passage and I felt that it described the way James and I have felt quite often these past two years it says...
"For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You have brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water..."
Then it goes onto say this, and I think the ending is a spot on description of how we've come out at the end of this journey, it says:
"Yet you have brought us to a place of abundance." (Psalm 66:10-12)
Man, it is good to be brought to the place of abundance after one long hard road. Congratulations to the Marriage & Family class of 2014, it has been a blessing to walk this road with you all!
The Proud Wife of a Master's Graduate,
Molly