Belated

Hello,
Obviously I am very behind on blogging. I have been very busy since August. I took a 4 unit class at GCC in Accounting and book keeping. It was a hard class and took a lot of time. I fell behind in almost every area of my life. My house, blogging, socializing, blogging, book keeping, blogging. You get the idea. Well, I passed the class with flying colors. Thank the Lord and my study buddies. Then on Nov. 6th Skip and I headed for Northern California in anticipation of the arrival of our grandson. God's timing was perfect. We drove 11 hours, stayed up all night while Joy labored and heard Anthony Steven Olla cry for the first time. That was the most amazing experience in my life. What a blessing. Anthony weighed in at 7lbs. 9oz. and was 20.5 inches long. He is not yet two months old and has gained 3lbs and grown 3 inches. He is having some trouble with colic. The dr. says he should do better after his 3rd month. He will be going to a Kidango program on the Ohlone College Campus where Joy works. He will start the beginning of February. Momma Joy and Daddy Phil are enjoying their new son.

We learned the middle of December that the gym I have been working at for almost three years is closing. My last night is Dec. 30th. I am losing my job. It is sad because I have made some great friends at the gym. I really have enjoyed that job and will be sorry to not meet the ladies there night after night. The Lord opened another job for me though. In addition to working at the gym I have been taking care of Ben Robinson. He is an active 22 month old boy whose 3 year old brother has cancer. It is a blessing to watch him and be able to help the Robinsons. I will continue watching Ben until the Robinson's don't need me anymore. Then I will probably look for full time work.

Lord willing Skip and I are going to Moldova at the end of April or May. We will see where the Lord leads with that.

The economy has made life challenging with our business. Work for Skip has been hit or miss. We need more work to stay afloat. It will be interesting to see how God works out the financial details for Moldova as well as for maintaining our finances at home while we are gone. We are willing to go to Moldova, if the Lord wants us to go. He will need to work out the details, because they are beyond us.

We had a quiet Christmas at home in our PJ's. We loved it. We usually invite people over, but this time we just relaxed. It was wonderful. My brother, his wife and mother-in-law are coming to visit tomorrow thru Saturday. We will spend New Years with them touring Sedona. We are looking forward to that.

So, school ended, and now my job is ending and the year is coming to a close. I will be interested to see where this next year leads us. We are here by God's design. His will doesn't lead us where His grace cannot keep us. We know we live and serve where God has planted us. We are trying to trust Him for His leading in this next year.

God Bless you and have a Happy New Year.

Licenses/Passports

Well, life has been very busy for the Ragans, as usual. Skip and I completed our 15 hour motorcycle training/skills class and test last weekend. It was much more intense and exhausting than we thought it would be. It was also invaluable information and practice. Now we are fully licensed for the motorcycles. Speaking of licenses, Lord Willing, Skip will be receiving his 2 contractor's licenses in the next two weeks. They are in a mandatory 10 day waiting period before being released. That is a huge Praise to the Lord! A lot of hard work has gone into Skip getting these licenses. We will let you know when he receives them.

We received our passports in the mail the other day. As Jennifer said, "you are now free to move about the world." In between all of this we have been working and entertaining over night guests. Our best friends daughter and son-in-law stopped in overnight Monday evening. We had a great visit. They are on their way to Germany, for one year, to teach in a school that teaches missionary kids. This weekend Skip's brother and his wife are coming through to spend the night. We are so glad we bought a house with a spare room for guests. We enjoy having people stay with us. Besides that, keeping busy keeps us out of trouble, well maybe. :-)

Lots Done

Due to the strength that Jesus gives, we have accomplished much the first three days of this week. We had our appointment for our passports on Tuesday. We made a trip to Costco and stocked the pantry and freezer, in between answering business calls and making business calls. We finished the stack of paperwork necessary to apply for two contractor's licenses and had one meeting regarding that. The final meeting is today. Oh, and did I mention we both worked as well. It is only Thursday morning. I am moving slowly today. I am thanking the Lord for a slower day. :-)
Jennifer is feeling better, although she is still sore.
Joy and the baby are doing well. He is growing at the appropriate rate and so is she. :-)
Have a great day!

Jennifer

Hi all,
Tuesday we have an appointment at the Post Office to apply for our Passports. Another step closer.
We had a good time on the 4th of July. We had the Nelson's, Yvonne and Holly over. We ate, played Apples to Apples and watched the fireworks.
This morning we had a little scare. Jennifer woke up with extreme abdominal pain. She was bent over, white as a sheet, sweaty and had dry heaves. I took her to emergency and Skip met me there. Jennifer is very tolerant to pain and she was complaining so I knew it was serious. The attending assistant Physician thought it was either a kidney stone or her appendix. She was leaning toward a kidney stone, based on the site of the pain. Two and a half hours later, the tests were all done and they came back showing everything was fine. By then the pain had subsided some. So, bottom line is, either she passed a small stone here at home, or she had something going on with her ovaries. We are not sure. She is very sore in her lower abdominal region, but her color is fine. Poor Jenn. So, I thought I would let you know. We have been laying low for the rest of the day.

Passports

For some of you getting a passport is not new. For Skip and I however it is. Today I picked up the applications. Tomorrow we are going to AAA to get free passport pictures. Then of course we have to fill out the applications and make an appointment. One more step in the process of our trip to Moldova.
Speaking of filling out applications. We still have to fill out mountains worth of paperwork to apply for the two contractor's licenses that Skip tested for recently. We have many things to do, sometimes it is hard to keep up. By God's grace it will get done. I am so thankful we belong to Him, and that He has everything in control.
Sheryl

Short Term Missions Trip

Lord willing, Skip and I will be going to Moldova for the month of May 2009. We are going to help our long time missionary friends, Eric and Stephanie Chapman. Eric sent word that he needed American men to come and help enclose an existing room at one of the camps. They want to turn it into a Bible School by creating two classrooms, a library and a hall to hold 100 people. Skip and I began praying about going around the first of this year. Some of our friends began praying with us. Little did we know that the Pastor and elders at our church had been praying and asking God to raise up some missionaries out of our church. Within 6 weeks 4 families came to the Pastor desiring to serve as missionaries in different capacities. Skip and I were one of those couples. Things have progressed well. I spoke at our former church in California on Sunday June 22nd, sharing our desire to go to Moldova. That church has supported the Chapman's and their ministry for 15 years. Then Monday evening Skip and I shared at a missionary dinner, sponsored by our church here in Surprise, Arizona. That was quite an event. It was fun too. So, we are waiting on the Lord for His direction. We need to get our passports and write more letters. We are looking forward to what He has in store as we make ourselves available to Him.