Let's Celebrate!

"Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!" Psalm 95:1-2

I've told only a few people about this, but I just started volunteering with an organization called Refugee Services of Texas. (You can find their website here). As soon as I got my job, I knew that I wanted to find somewhere to volunteer and the Lord put this opportunity right in front of me. It couldn't be any more perfect for us. 

A couple of days ago, they matched us with a family!!! We are going to be mentoring a couple and their unborn baby who are refugees from South Asia, basically assisting them in learning everything about living in the United States, helping them on their road to self sufficiency here, and -most importantly, in my opinion- hopefully becoming good friends with them. We are super excited about this and can't wait to meet them when I get back from Florida!  

There are also a lot of celebrations this week in our families--

1. David's (my younger brother) 20th birthday is SATURDAY! I can't believe he's not a teenager anymore!! Happy birthday David! You'll be getting the best late birthday present you've ever gotten in your life--ME!! See you soon! :)
2. Sheppard's (Cory's (now our) cousin) birthday party is on SUNDAY! I'm hoping to be able to make it into Pensacola in time for the fun!!
3. Talya (Cory's (now our) cousin) graduates on MONDAY! We wanted to make sure that at least one of us could make it..and although we are sad that Cory won't be able to go due to his school schedule, we are very glad that I can go!! Can't wait!
4. Daniel (my youngest brother) graduates next FRIDAY! We're so happy for him--and super excited that he is going to be a GATOR!! We hope that he has as great of an experience as we did while at UF!! To all of our Gainesville friends, keep your eye on him for me and please make him feel loved :)
5. Eric's (my oldest brother) birthday is also next FRIDAY! Happy early birthday Eric! We wish that we could be with you to celebrate!!! We hope it won't be long until we are actually in the same city at the same time ;) (We always seem to just miss each other when Eric comes to the states)

So as you can see, this week (and always) there is A LOT to be thankful for and celebrate! God is GOOD!

I looked through all of our pictures to find one that really said "CELEBRATE" to me because I love when posts have pictures, and this one was the winner :) Its an old picture, but I miss you girls!!!

Prayer points:

• Our volunteer opportunity!
• Safety and alertness during my drive to Florida (and for no flat tires/dead batteries this time!)
• School for Cory (side note: He thinks his first exam went pretty well and he is also loving his cadaver lab!)
• A family friend's son who is having medical issues. Pray for healing, wisdom for the doctors, and strength for him.
• For all of our friends who are on (or going on) mission trips around the world this summer...pray that the Lord would use them beyond what they even believe is possible, that they would be sensitive to His leading, for courage and boldness, and pray for the hearts of the people to be softened and for the Gospel message to be clear to them.

As always, if there is anything we can be praying for YOU about, please make that known to us through a comment, e-mail, Facebook, etc because we would love to pray for you and your family!