Prayer requests and update

1. We've gotten the house almost cleared out and are working on the storage shed today. Please pray that we'll have the time we need to finish up. We're meeting with a realtor tomorrow and have been told not to get our hopes up. Our hope is not in ourselves or in our realtor - thankfully our hope is in a God who is bigger than any economic situation or housing market! :)

2. We pull out Saturday to have Christmas with Reid's family and leave early Sunday morning. Snow is forecast both in NC and along the way - a lot of snow! :) Please be in prayer for our travels.

3. Our furniture etc. left Monday evening and will arrive in Fraser either on Wednesday (next week) or the week after as the company only delivers to Fraser on Wednesdays.

4. We're thankful to have this time with family - it's great to spend time with Ryan and Melanie and little Thomas and Elijah - what precious little boys. Heather and Sharkey are coming over during the day or for meal times as well so we get to have fun with Duncan and Sam too - still waiting on Cameron. At this time it doesn't look like we'll get to see him before we leave :( and Heather now wants him to wait until after Christmas! :) I told Mom that last night I had a very vivid sense of Julie's presence for some odd reason - I almost felt like she was going to walk through the front door at any minute... sadly she did not! :( We miss her a lot in these days and look so forward to seeing her Lord willing when she returns sometime next year.

5. Reid's last day of work went well. His time at Oliver has been such a blessing to him and to our family and it has been hard to say good-bye to some good friends. We really consider it such a privilege and honor that Reid has had the opportunity to have been involved with the work there. It really is a tremendous organization that is really making a difference in this community. And we will never again look at homelessness and the process of addiction recovery in the same way.

6. My parents have been a tremendous blessing in opening up their home during this crazy time. Their's is a busy place right now with all of us in and out constantly. I'm so thankful for their flexibility, encouragement and help.

7. It's been hard to say good-bye to some incredible friends and people.

I could go on and on but will stop for now! :) Let us know how we can be praying for any of you all as well!! It is such a joy and comfort to know that our Heavenly Father cares about each and every one of us.

Get Thee Up Into the High Mountains

Dad was listening to "The Messiah" this morning and passed on the words from the Aria he was listening too. We're a bundle of emotions - sad to leave some really good friends, an awesome neighborhood (rated Columbia's best kept secret for safety and property value according to a friend of ours, told to him by the local sherrif's office - can you believe it?), a great group of people in our house church, a precious homeschool community - but also totally excited about what lies ahead. Mountains Gandalf, I want to see mountains!

Our move west moves closer with every passing day. At 7:50 this morning the moving truck arrived and we've been busy loading the boxes ever since. Tomorrow we have some family and friends arriving to help with the furniture. Among them, three engineers. As my brother-in-law Sharkey said, they may not get anything loaded because they'll be standing around trying to decide how to do it exactly. Still no sign of Cameron. We're all holding our breath for Monday - thankfully Heather is over her stomach bug (I think, right Heather?).

So, our move west happens on the 25th when we head to NC and then we have a three day trip. And, drum roll please - we have a home!! We're so excited. And we have room for guests - and more than one bathroom!!! I'm just tickled pink! :) We'll be housesitting in a home close to Timberline so it is somewhat temporary I think, but hey, we'll have a place to go to. It's actually in the picture above - to the left of the rising sun. Hard to see - but it's there. We had two people come and look at the house here today and ask for your continuing prayers that it will sell as soon as possible.

My father-in-law fell on ice yesterday and broke his ankle in three places. He should be coming out of surgery as I type this - they were inserting a plate. So we've been in prayer for him throughout the afternoon.

Well, signing off for now!

Count Down

Well - the container comes on Friday so we're gearing up for the big move. We start our three day treck out west on the 26th so it will be here before we know it.

Reid had an awesome trip out to Timberline for training etc. complete with near misses by falling trees and vehicles stuck in the snow that had to be towed. He loved every minute. His favorite part of the trip was just getting to know the staff better. The students were on their annual missions trip to NY City and we look forward to hearing about all that God did in their lives when we see them in January.

Our prayer requests remain:

1. That God would provide a buyer for our home before the end of the year

2. That God would provide housing out in CO (we have a couple of leads so we're excited to see what works out. Acts 17 promises that He knows the boundaries of our habitation - that's an awesome promise to rest in).

3. That God would continue to provide for our moving expenses and monthly support for the ministry at Timberline(we are at about 35-40%).

4. For the sale of our van here

I'll try and upload a few more pictures from our trip to Timberline in October. Email us if you have any questions - reidd@timberlinelodge.org.

Blessings,

Jen

p.s. well just one for now! :) You can't tell real well, but it's a picture of the three lodges behind the trees

Moving Update

Hello all - a brief update as we've had a lot of people ask us about what's going on. Our container comes on the 17th and leaves on the 22nd (of December). It should be arriving in Fraser around the 29th or 30th of December. We're still looking for God to provide housing for us in Fraser and to provide for the sale of our home here in Columbia (it's currently for sale by owner and we had one very interested couple come and look at it but have not had a reply so far).

Right now we're at about 35% monthly support and 5% one-time/moving cost support. We've been deeply moved and amazed by the friends and family members who have committed to supporting the ministry at Timberline in this way. Again, we don't want to assume automatically that you want to receive our prayer letters, so please send me a note if you want to be included in our prayer letters and let me know if you prefer email or regular mail.

Jennifer for the Dales

Christmas

The other day I was reading in Isaiah 7 - where God told Ahaz to ask for a sign, but Ahaz refused. His response was that he would not test the Lord. But God had commanded him to do so. To quote Matthew Henry - oh how easily secret disaffection for God disguises itself as respect "and those who are resolved that they will not trust God, yet pretend they will not tempt him." Oh, how I pray that I am not like that....

So God's reply was that He would give a sign anyway - a virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call His name Immanuel which means of course "God with us." The sign was "God with Us." What a reminder! GOD HIMSELF is WITH US! And what a good and appropriate reminder to our family and to me (and to all of us! :) again this Christmas Season as we're asking God daily to confirm what we have felt Him telling us. We're asking for signs, confirmations, and He has already given us one. Immanuel. He is with us. And that is all we need. But thankfully, He gives even more than that! :)

Thank you SO MUCH for praying for us.
Jen