Support Raised . . . to date

It's been almost a month since my last post and I want to stay true to keeping up to date.  As I mentioned last post, it's been hard lately finding balance with so much distraction.  We are still working on finding balance with a new school format for our older three children, four kiddos participating in four sports, working and staying involved with our church and small group.  God is working and I am thankful for His presence as we navigate each day.  I pray God daily reminds me of my true priorities and that I can learn to let go of the rest!

I truly feel after visiting Poland with Dustin this summer that we are meant to be there and each day I long to be back in Lubin.  The new school year for Polish children started at the beginning of September and that means that the English school attached to the church is back up and running as well.  While we were in Poland, Dustin and I had the pleasure of participating in eight separate English classes among five teachers.  I had such a great time in the classes and found it difficult to even fall asleep after the first day I attended classes.  It was such a joyful experience for me personally meeting the students, and speaking with them and I'm so looking forward to getting back and teaching!!!!

Dinner with one English class where we practiced talking about food.

The English school visited a local school to share about the American west.

Linda and Bogusia and some students.

So how do we get back to Poland???  Well to date, we are at 40% of our support.  We need approximately $50,000 to support our family for the year we are gone.  This includes travel, food, shelter, and required international health insurance.  The support we have so far has included some pretty generous one time donations from our friends and family as well as our home church's commitment of 1/3 and we are so thankful for this support.  We are still seeking out supporters willing to pledge monthly.  If we could get 25 people to support us at $100/month, we'd be on a jet plane tomorrow.  Okay maybe not that soon.  Or if we could get 50 people to commit to $50/month, we'd be on our way.  How about a 100 people at $25/month?  You get the idea.  Point being, once we know that there are commitments of support for our year, we will be on our way.  We cannot do this on our own, this is outside of our capabilities and we know we have a pretty big God that has already counted our support and appointed our team.  We are working on trying to seek out and connect with those people that God is calling to us.  Please continue to pray that we pursue God's direction and timing.

If you, someone you know, or a church you know may be interested in being a part of our support team, you can connect with us through our family email of petroskyfamily@hotmail.com or through Facebook messenger.  Contributions towards our support are tax deductible and are directed to our church which is acting as our sending agency.

Super

Forests in Poland are double super.  All forests are accessible to the public at all times because the government retains control over all of them.  This means if we see a forest in the middle of a field, we are welcome to explore it.  Could make for some fun hiking adventures.  Secondly, NO poison ivy!  It doesn't grow in Europe.

Most common trees we spotted everywhere in Poland.

Hiking trail we explored on the edge of Lubin.

Nie Super

Air conditioning isn't the norm in Poland.  Polish people do not like to be cold.  Thankfully, Poland tends to be cooler generally speaking but that doesn't mean it doesn't get hot.  This will be a huge adjustment for us with no air running in the summer but it should make for cheaper utilities.

Distracted

My last blog post was in June.  It's now September.  Yikes!  I'm not doing so well on keeping this up to date and I need to do better.  The one thing that I've noticed lately is that the devil is working overtime right now trying to keep me distracted and unfocused on getting to Poland.  He continually steals my attention to unimportant things.  He's been trying to fill me with anxiety about things that I cannot control.  He's made sure that I've kept my focus inward.  I could use prayer in this area!  It's easy for me to get wrapped up in our family, in busy schedules, in schooling our children, etc.  While life still happens and the every day needs are important, I have to keep my focus upward and outward.

We've had quite a month of transition.  Our oldest three are trying out Indiana Connections Academy which is an online tution free public school. This has the potential to be a great thing but we aren't there yet.  It's requiring a great deal of energy to make adjustments and manage expectations. Thankfully, we already had a getaway planned out a year ago to head down south for a few days.  We needed the break!  We spent some days in Gatlinburg as a family just relaxing and enjoying the mountains.  We are back now and ready to hit the pavement.

So where are we at in the process right now?  When are we leaving?  These are the most frequent questions we receive.  As far as where we are right now in the process, we are seeking prayer support and funding for our one year commitment in Poland.  Our budget for airfare, and living expenses is around $50,000 for the year.  We do have a good portion pledged towards our support but we are not there yet.  If you are interested in supporting us with prayer or financially, we'd love to hear from you.  Please contact us by email at petroskyfamily@hotmail.com and we will send you a letter.  We are also seeking out churches that may want to join with us on this journey and we will be focusing in on that more.

As far as travel dates, we haven't set any.  Once we have the support pledged or given, we will make our final arrangments.  We'd love to leave as early as January or February of next year.  But the truth is that God's timing is perfect and good and we want to be faithful to his timing and the needs in Poland.

A friend of ours started something cool while he and his wife were living in France (Jay & Deb Hocking).  He ended his update letters with a piece of French culture that was cool and something that wasn't so cool (pas cool).  I always looked forward to that last part of his letter.  So I think we shall continue his tradition into Poland with a section called "Super y Nie Super."


Super 

The tea selection in Poland was fantastic.  I don't like mint but I gave this Lime & Mint a try.

This hot summer berry tea was the best tea I've ever had.  It tasted exactly like eating berries.

Nie Super

No flavored coffee, no flavored creamers.  Just plain coffee with or without milk or cream.  The coffee isle was a sad place at the supermarket.  I've only been drinking coffee for about a year and I'm a bit of a coffee snob.  I only drink Michigan Cherry with Italian Cream creamer.  It's ridiculous I know but it's as good as it gets for now.