Meet SOME of My Women's Group

We had a small women's group due to Labor Day. We usually have about 9. So, after taking this picture, we headed to Java and had coffee and hung out there. Next time, we'll pick up where we left off in The Disciplines of Grace by Jerry Bridges. These (and the ones not showing) are a few of the local Titus 2 women in my life (although there are certainly others). I praise God for providing these sweet friendships here in Louisville.

Meet 5A... The New Class

Sister, Sister...

I just have a minute, but I wanted to tell you a little about what my sisters are up to these days and give you a plug for Joey's Blog. Joey will be in Israel for the entire semester, taking Masters College classes, learning a ton about the Bible and WALKING where much of it took place!

I highly recommend that you pop over to her site and keep up with her journeys. I think she plans on posting once a week. She writes in such a way that will let you share in what she's learning and see some of what she's seeing. It won't be a time- waster, but it should be really informative and interesting. Dustin and I were fascinated as she was telling us all about the wonderful IBEX program through her college. Go here or here.

I'm proud of her, too. She's learning things like this:

If Medo-Persia had not become powerful enough to overtake Babylon, or if it had not had the ideology and policies that it did, Cyrus would have never issued the decree in 538 B.C. allowing the Jews to come back to Israel from captivity. They'd still be scattered all over the world, and I would not be here today.

(I had to read that a few times to get it... ha!)

Needless to say, she's really excited to be there. It's a full load, but she should have a great time learning Hebrew (while reviewing her Greek, Spanish, Italian, etc) and learning about Biblical History. Most of all, she aims to grow closer to the Lord with unshakable joy. She's learning a lot about women's roles, and praying through her desires to possibly assist in Scripture translation, if God wills.

Mel update (with a longer one later):
Merdie is now in nursing school.
(Merdie is her nicknamed earned by how fast I said Melodie as a child... Don't worry, I talk really slowly now. :P)
She's doing great. She aces her classes, and she loves to learn about the human body, medicine, and how to help people! She recently went to Spain to see Marcel (her novio) and then he came to the USA to visit her. Mel works at Lowe's and loves to find great recipes for meatless meals. She loves her dog MANCHITA. We're trying to get her up here for Derby. While we can't afford tickets to take her, she would have fun being in town for the festivities. Hurry up, Melodie. Come to Louisville for a visit.

Love you, sisters.

Fun Neighbors, Large Pumpkins, and Answered Prayer

On Saturday, we got to take a study break with our new neighbors. As I mentioned recently, we are loving having neighbors that we actually chill with. (We are sure the others are wonderful too, and hope to hang out with them soon.) So, my friend Leslie knocks on the door and asks if we want to take a quick break and go look at huge pumpkins. I was watching the 4th of 6 ACSI Christian Philosophy videos for school on a borrowed TV, and Dustin was reading about the Crusades, so we were ready for a break. Off we went, and you can read all about it here. Massive pumpkins. We may go back and buy one, clean off our doorway, hang a Fall wreath and plop the huge pumpkin near our door to welcome in my favorite season. Anyway, we love our new neighbors. We're having Leslie's famous tacos tonight!
On other news, we are THRILLED and praising God constantly for the gift of a pastor. After much prayer and waiting, God has brought a shepherd to the church we love so very much. We were so encouraged by his sermon and by visiting with him at a social on Saturday evening. He is humble, and he loves the Lord. We are sooooo thankful!!!! You can read about it here. Reflecting on God's provision, our dear friend and elder Aaron said this among other noteworthy things:

One of the things I’m thankful for most about Third Avenue is the way I’m regularly challenged to share the Gospel and, thinking of a message recently by a dear brother, not just to share the Gospel, but see the lost know God’s Word. There is in Kurt a desire to speak to non-Christians in a matter-of-fact way about the Gospel. I see that and appreciate that in his preaching, and I think that throughout the course of a lifetime of preaching, we can trust that Third Avenue will be a place where non-Christians can be thoughtfully and lovingly provoked to take the claims of Christ seriously.