Preparing for ARC

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared and ark for the saving of his household.

Hebrews 11:7

In 11 days, on September 10th, I will be leaving Arkansas and heading to California to attend Crisis Response International disaster relief training at the ARC Intensive.  I am excited, anxious to begin this adventure.  Training in disaster relief and ministry that will reach the harvest in times of crisis.  The Lord has given me complete peace as I have been working towards preparing to go on this trip.  That is the only way I could leave my husband and children for 63 days.  I am so blessed to have parents that live in the same town as I do, who are willing to take care of their grandchildren and help them with their homeschooling, activities and chores at home.  The children will be taking care of our chickens, dogs, cats, honey bees, and the garden as my husband works 5-6 day work weeks.

I have already assembled a notebook for my Mom that contains the kids schedules and will soon be printing their school work.  Well, Autumn's will need to be printed but Caleb's is AOP Switched on Schoolhouse so that won't be too difficult to transfer to my parents home computer while I'm gone. 

The Lord has so faithfully provided for my financial needs for this trip.  I had to depend on Him for every penny to make this work.  My prayer has been and still is, Lord prepare the hearts of those whom you would have partner with me in this calling.  The first support I received was handed to me in an envelope and the person said, "This is provision from your Heavenly Father".  Little did this person know, the night before I spent praying and crying out loud to the Lord about how difficult it was to see how the provision was going to come, even though I knew He would do it.  I told Him exactly how I felt, what was difficult and what I was wrestling with inside, and then asked if He could just show me a little provision.  When I opened the envelope not only did He show me His provision, He showed me there is a vast difference between "my" little and His little.  It was a definite faith builder.  Support has consistentl come in since that time. 

Less than 60 days ago I began my support raising efforts.  As of today I only need a bit more to meet the cost of training fees and travel.  I trust the Lord completely to provide this and more since I know He knows my needs better than I do. 

If you are hearing from the Lord to partner with me, please know there is no amount too small.  Every gift is from the Lord and a complete blessing.  If you desire to partner with me you can contact me at liveprepared@cox.net .  I would love to visit with you and share my heart.  You can also view the original post about my training here.

I am asking that everyone please keep me in their prayers as I walk out this calling.  Pray not only for me but for my family.  I also ask that you pray for seed to be sown into future support raising when I am called to deploy to disaster or assist in training others.  I will need to develop partnerships and, as a wife, stay at home mom/homeschool teacher I will definitely be able to use some of my own skills to earn money from home.  Pray the Lord will provide ideas that will be profitable and a good use of time that does not take away from my responsibilites to my family. 

I will continue to provide updates while I'm gone via this blog and Facebook.  It may only be once a week since we are going to be living Off Grid with limited power. 

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog.  I can't wait until I can share more with you about my learning and experiences.