It's all coming together

Raising support has certainly been a challenge in many ways but God has strengthened us both through it. We've made substantial progress this month and we are now beginning to make specific plans about departure dates. They're still not certain, but I will update as soon as I know more.

I'm attaching 5 pictures we received from Daisy who is currently leading the Social Work Site (Caroline will be co-leading with her when we arrive in the DR). She's been leading the site for less than a year but is doing very well.

Finally, for the next several months I will be including a table that updates our finances at the end of each post.

	Total Need	Total Raised	%	Remaining Need
Pre-Field Budget	$28,000	$11,000	39%	$17,000
Monthly Budget	$2,700	$1,874	69%	$826

Daisy and a group of high school students leading
a bible study for the women of the community.


-a volleyball game involving the women at the
social work ministry


Daisy and several students praying with a woman
from the community.


Daisy conducting the final session of a series of
baking classes for the women.


Daisy teaching a young girl how to do embroidery.

Our Weekend Getaway

2 slices of bread, 8 slices of cheese, and 8 lbs of deli meat…All in one sandwich. It’s called “The Super Duper Colossal Sandwich” and it’s available at Chick and Ruth’s Deli in Annapolis for the low price of $39.99. Why am I telling you about this deli sandwich? Well, it was one of the highlights from a weekend getaway trip Caroline and I took in February.

We had both been working full-time and fundraising in the evenings since October. It was time for a retreat. We kicked it off Saturday morning in Annapolis with a US Naval Academy tour by my good friend Andrew, and enjoyed some Maryland Crab Cakes midway through. I already shared our dinner choice, although I should note that we didn’t actually order “The Super Duper Colossal Sandwich”, it feeds over 6 people. After dinner we enjoyed some homemade ice cream, and we learned that Annapolis was the first place ice cream was served as a dessert in the US. I’m glad it caught on. Sunday we headed for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Maryland Aquarium. I’m not sure what we enjoyed more: seeing sharks swim by inches from our face, or seeing the little kids freak out every time this happened. That evening we enjoyed dinner and a movie before heading back home on Monday. It was fun to see 2 new places for the first time and even better to have a break.

By the way, I posted some pictures from this trip on our last post.

Trekkies

Until recently I've never had much respect for Trekkies. For that matter I've never had much respect for anyone who dressed up as a fictional character in support of a TV show or movie. How does that thought process even work? "Hey let's go see the new Stars Wars Friday night." "Nah, let's go see it Thursday night at midnight in $300 costumes that make actually seeing the movie painful" But, I must concede that my opinion has changed. Why? 1 word, 4 letters: LOST.
I am obsessed with LOST. I won't go on about why Lost is so awesome, but if you don't watch it, I apologize. I've never missed an episode, and my conversations are dominated by lost theories for 2 days after a new show airs. I've actually read several theories online, most of which are several pages long. It really hit me one day when I had this thought: "I wish I had a way to show everyone that I love the show more then they do." I told my friend Dave about this and guess what he called me..."Trekkie". Unfortunately, I can't say I would rule out dressing up like a Lost character at some point in my life. And that's how I came to respect Trekkies.

Caroline and I have gone through a big transition recently. As we get closer to our financial goal we realized it was time for me to start working part-time to allow more time to fundraise. So, my last day at Shenandoah Growers was March 3rd. I am now working part-time waiting tables at Madison Grill and substitute teaching.

I posted some new pictures today as well. It's from a trip we took to Annapolis/Baltimore in February.

Prayer Requests:

1. Funding: We would like to be funded in time to leave in August
2. Discipline: Ryan needs to use his extra time wisely
3. Joy: We've been going through some personal trials lately and we need to find our joy in the Lord

His,

Ryan and Caroline

Weekly Updates

Up to this point our blog has mainly been a resource to find more information about what we're doing and how you can be a part. That information will remain, but now we will also be updating our blog on a weekly basis. Thank you for taking the time to keep up-to-date. Our posts will be a mix of ministry updates, personal updates, prayer requests, and pictures. If you need to contact us at anytime please feel free.

His,

Ryan and Caroline