Provisions & Prayer Requests

In the last couple of weeks of preparing for our move overseas, we have been completely humbled by God's provisions and that is no doubt thanks to your prayers!  Not that things have been easy, but God has been revealing Himself along the way.  Things we would typically take for granted, like that the prescription that I ordered four weeks ago would surely be here by now, have not fallen into place.  Instead, we have prayed and by doing so God has been faithful to take care of all of these small and large things.

We were recently blessed by the wonderful silent auction, friends who helped us move, and a shorter time moving everything we own into storage at my sister's place (so that we did not have drive to Florida).  None of these things have been our doing or nor could they have been better orchestrated.  Case and point- I was taking boxes from our apartment down the moving truck and three neighbors were outside, saw us loading, and started taking boxes down for us.

In the provisions, we are also seeing the continued need for prayer, recently in our housing arrangements in Bogota which just fell through.  Our dear friend, who we were excited to live with for a month, just had his corporate housing fall though.  We are woking with the school now to set up a home stay while in Bogota.  While we consider ourselves to be flexible people, but this is where doubt and stress creap in, making us question our mission and purpose.  Please keep our friend in your prayers as this is a very frustrating situation for him.  Also pray that God puts us all exactly where He wants us to be in Bogota.

Thank you!!!!

Stuff, stuff and more stuff....

So the Hulseys are selling a good amount of their goods!  We started small like selling our books on amazon:

www.amazon.com/shops/weatherlyc

But in order to use up all the goodies in our bar and sell the better items, we are having a fabulous party Saturday night, May 14th, staring at 7pm.  Please stop by and participate in our silent auction.  Need directions to our place?  Email us and we'll send you a link.

Nationals Game

See the full gallery on Posterous

It's very important that as we prepare to move, we spend some good times with friends. So last night we headed to the Nats vs. Mets game.

We're moving....again

Pharmacist: "I take it you're moving overseas?"

Weatherly (politely): "What gave it away? The anti-malaria drugs, the EpiPens or the anti-diarrhea medication?"

Pharmacist: "The anti-malaria pills."

So the Hulseys are moving again!  In six weeks we will head to Bogota, Colombia to start our Spanish immersion program.  We'll be there for four weeks and then head to Cartagena, Colombia for another four weeks.  Our details are not ironed out just yet, but our hopes are to stay in Latin America to work with kids, specifically orphan care or street kids.

To prepare, we have had multiple trips to the doctor and a ridiculous amount of vaccinations (who knew Typhoid shots made your arm so sore).  We are really excited, nervous and all of the emotions in between.  We'll update more as details unfold.

In the mean time, we sincerely hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Team in Training

So John Mark and I decided to take the plunge and signed up with Team in Training to complete a century ride (100 miles) in October. I have been talking about riding a century for years...literally, but there was law school, health concerns and the big one...no bikes. Now that bikes have been bought, gone is our favorite Saturday activity: sleeping in. Instead, we are going to train all summer in order to compete in the (very flat) Sea Gull Century, on the eastern shore of Maryland.

The whole concept of Team in Training has always been appealing to me. I really like the fact that you are given coaching, training and a schedule so that you don't have an excuse to get out of a tough endurance event. I for one, need the accountability and the know-how. I also like that's a social event (no surprise there) and best of all, that John Mark and I get to do it together (well, if we don't kill each other).

The somewhat uncomfortable part is the fundraising. Yes, to participate with Team in Training, we each have to raise $2,000.00 for a combined total of $4,000.00 that goes directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am not so great at the letter writing/emailing thing, but we hope to make up for it in the many talents of "enticing people to drink over-priced alcohol for a good cause." In other words, it's a great excuse to throw lots of happy hours and that, my friends, makes us happy.

18 miles into our 36 mile ride...my nostiles are flared because I can barely breath!

So, the kickoff for Team in Training in the DC area is May 15th, but in my best efforts to make sure I'm not dead last during our first group ride, we have been hitting the biking trails early to get in some mileage. Well, in an effort to bike 36 miles 2 days after having two teeth removed, I totally bit it....I mean hard...I mean I cried (the sunglasses and helmet may have helped dsiguise that). As of today (4 days later), I am still pretty black and blue and have to have an x-ray on my wrist (just in case). I was told I am now official biker...hmmm, whatever that means. The good thing is that at end of my day, I still can't wait to get on a bike and for a girl who's not a huge fan of exercise, this is a very good thing.

Lots more to come! In the mean time, here is our Team in Training website.

Gifts

So JM and I are now the proud owners of a new Toyota Venza. Yes, Toyota's PR/recall disaster has been our gain as a car that we really liked, but could never afford, was just acquired by us for a ridiculously low price.

So in telling people how we "wheeled and dealed" and came out so far ahead, JM and I started to feel pretty good about our tag team negotiating skills. We started patting ourselves on the back....and totally missed the mark.

Today, church was humbling as our assistant pastor, Young Lee, gently reminded us that all gifts are from the Lord. In listening to the study in Exodus, it it clear that God always provided sufficiently for Israel whether they deserved it or not. Time after time, God provides for us solely by his grace and not by our merit.

The sermon was specifically on the eighth commandment, "Do not steal." As pointed out today, this commandment preserves the sanctity of God's physical provisions. In this economy, while we may not be driven to commit illegal acts, our heart of "wanting" is amplified. Instead we need to remember that the Lord is our Jehovah-Jireh "God will Provide."

I constantly have to remind myself: I deserve nothing; I've earned nothing; I've been given everything. God has provided it all and His greatest gift is Jesus Christ.

Since recently going through some tough medical issues, I have been working on recognizing God's everyday blessings. Today, I am ashamed at how quickly I took credit for one of those blessings.

Here's to praising the Lord for a very undeserved gift!

I Love My Friends!

A recent text:

me: Just bought a bottle of Hendricks - loving life! ( I know I totally sound like an alchy!)

AC: Whatever hendricks=heaven in a bottle

me: So glad you agree!

FYI- we were referring to Hendrick's Gin, the best thing ever to happen to a G&T!