Wednesday, September 29, 2010

A WEEK! YIKES!

Today is the one week mark before we go and things are going well. God has been doing some amazing things and really this WHOLE journey has been amazing. From little things to big things. One new thing that He has done is provided the perfect house for us in Kotido where we will be living. 2 weeks ago we got a call from our team telling us they couldn't find a house they thought would work well for us. They gave us two options and we choose one, but continued to pray that something better would come in store. One week later we get the call about that better house. WOW.....really? How exciting. Thank you God!

Another thing that has me smiling today is that I got to have an ultrasound of our baby today and to see my midwife. My lab results were all perfect which is nice because they were not that way with Carter. The baby is healthy and it was nice to see what is making me so sick :) (BTW....Thank you all for lifting me up in prayer about my pregnancy nausea and sickness. It has been getting better. I still have some bad days of vomiting but it is not everyday as before.)

The big question is how are we doing emotionally? For the most part wonderful (although for me I have been up and down). The kids are doing well and are excited to go. I am so grateful and proud of how well they have been doing. The hardest thing is saying goodbye to our family and friends. It is weird closing this part of our chapter, and saying goodbye to so much, but we know that God has new chapters for us in store.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Michaela Fulk

Here's our little 13 weeks old peanut. Too bad we can't tell if it is a boy or girl yet. Guess we will have to be surprised.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Newletter

I haven't done this before, but I am going to post our newsletter on this blog, so you know what is going on. I will not always do this and if you would like to be added to our email list please let me know. michaela.fulk@gmail.com .

Greetings! We hope you all are having a wonderful fall. It is our favorite time of year and we are enjoying the many beauties of the season. Before I (Michaela) go any further I want to tell you about a couple announcements in case you don't read the whole newsletter. There will be 2 different commisioning services and we would love for you to come to either of them.
1. Potluck and prayer at the River center. Saturday Sept. 25 at 5:00 at the River Center in New Castle
2. New Hope Church (Coal Ridge High School) Oct. 3 during church at 10:00 am.

Since the last newsletter lots of things have happened, and a theme that we are seeing in the past 18 months of our lives is God turning the impossible to the possible. After all He is in the redemption and hope business, but we have seen it over and over again, and He continues to strengthen our faith. When we started out in this journey we had a long list of obstacles and God has provided. It wasn't always in the timing we had thought, or in ways we thought, but in the end it has been perfect. I'm just glad we have a Father that knows best!!!

HERE'S WHAT IS NEW (Praise God):
-God provided a renter last Monday, and we have moved out.
-God provided enough money for us to purchase a vehicle in Uganda and one that will be sufficient enough for the rough roads.
-God provided a place to stay during the interim. (Thanks Andy and Holly)
-We got a surprise and found out I am pregnant. We are very excited and the timing turned out to be perfect so that I could be in the states for my first trimester. (I have been really sick with this pregnancy).
-A great time sharing our hearts and ministry in Boise City Oklahoma

WHAT YOU COULD BE LIFTING US UP IN PRAYER FOR:
-To raise the rest of our monthly support
-That all the details of moving could get done and that we wouldn't forget to do anything.
-We just put our van on craigslist, so we are hoping to sell it asap.
-For all the adjustments we are going through. Some of us do better than others with change:)
-For the William's (our team there) youngest boy who is having some health issues that might take them to Kenya for surgery.
-For healthy growth and development of our baby and that my nausea would end soon. (I am almost 12 weeks which is when it gets better for most women)
-That God would continue to give vision to what He wants us to be doing there.

Thank you all so much and we hope to see you at one or both of the commissioning services. Only 15 more days before we leave!

Oh and as always let me know if you want off the newsletter list.

In Christ,
The Fulks (but written by Michaela)

Friday, September 10, 2010

My Struggles

Sorry I haven't blogged in quite awhile. With starting school, and preparing to leave on October 6, I have not made it a priority to blog.

Those of you that know me really well know that I struggle with the sin of people pleasing. I have a tendency to worry and care a lot about what people think of me (learning that this stems from pride). For the most part I am obedient to God rather to man, but it can be painful at times. There are times when I would like to be able to please both man and God and get the best of both worlds. God is not in that business. I either follow Him or follow man. A scripture that I have held on to tightly in dealing with this comes from Galations 1:10, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Apparently I need a lot more work in this area than I thought because there have been a lot of opportunities in the past year where I have had to remember that it is God I answer to and not man. The biggest event that has altered and shaken my people pleasing tendencies is with the decision to move to Uganda as missionaries. With this decision has come a lot of adversatiy which has forced me to dig deeper into my faith and into the reason I follow God in the first place and what following Him really is.
All in all God is still working this in my life and some times are more painful than others. It can be really difficult being in this world but not being of this world. However I have learned more and more about denying myself and doing what the Bible says rather than doing just what I feel comfortable with or what fits into my or other's scope of beliving in God and having Faith in Him.

I am thankful that God continues to be patient but yet He challenges me and ask me to step into the unknown and follow Him for His name sake. I pray that He alone gets the glory.

Thanks for Listening,

Michaela