what am I up to now?(Melissa)

Since moving on from Alberta Bible College in the iddle of February I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off making new plans!
I was job hunting for a good month and on the last weekday on February I was offered a job at Montessori Childrens House Academy. Talk about trusting in Gods ability to give me what we need and when we need it!

I work Tuesday's and Thursday's now and am enjoying the new environment of sweet little children who multiple times a day tell me they love me...it melts your insides. On the other hand there are plenty of noisy, bad mannered children with whom I slowly but surely work to change their conduct and make preschool a better experience for all. I'm learning ALOT trying to figure out the in's and out's of Montessori materials and the classroom methods and expectations.

After a long and wierd process I have been accepted to Bow Valley College's online Early Learning and Child Care Certificate. On my days off I plan to work on becoming even more certified in order to work with children here in Calgary and eventually overseas.

Its been very neat to see God's hand over all of this. He's showing me over the years how much I love kids and yet can learn so much more. As well as how it is the type of job that is meaningful and rewarding yet its not something I can do in my own strength. I need God more than ever to make the most of these opportunities and serve these children and their families especially when it gets hard.

Kenya Fundraising

So, a little update here on how our Kenya plans are coming. Yesterday we went in to get our passports renewed. From what we had heard, even though my(Kevin) passport wasn't expired it would need to be replaced because my address had changed. As we found out last night, this was not the case, so we saved ourselves $87, and Melissa got her application in with little difficulty. Not too shaby. As for fundraising. We are currently on a deadline to raise a total of $4000 between Melissa and myself by the end of March. That is it for now. God bless!

A Lesson In Weakness

I was riding on the bus the other day as I headed home from work, and began thinking about some things people had said about me in a staff meeting. Nothing bad, but things like "he is patient," "he is calm when dealing with guests," and other stuff like that. Most people reading this will probably already know that I work at a ministry that seeks to help the homeless, and for those of you who have ever had the privilege of working with the homeless, you will know that it can be extremely taxing at times. In light of this, the passage 2 Corinthians 12:9(But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.") came to mind. This passage has caused me untold grief in the past as I have struggled to understand what "My power is made perfect in weakness" means. A bit of a revelation came to me as I rode home that day.

I have been asked many times how I get through the day, or how I can deal with the people that come through these doors that seem intent only on pushing other people's buttons, and everytime I get asked that, the only honest answer I can come up with is that it is God who gets me through the day. This, I think, is exactly what 2 Corinthians 12:9 is talking about. If we could do everything on our own, we would not, in our selfishness, give any of the credit to God. However, in actuality, we fall quite short, and because of this we cannot do anything without God. His power is made perfect in our weakness, because in our weakness we have no choice but to let His power work in us.

God Bless!