April 2016
A Good Report!
We are so thankful that we can start this month’s update with great news! Julie’s recovery from the Chemo/Radiotherapy has gone really well. Following the last day of treatment in early March she had a few challenging weeks, but her skin has now healed and she is almost back to full strength. We had a follow up appointment with the Oncology Consultant on 30th March and he said she had done remarkably well. He was even able to examine her and announced that the tumour has completely gone! He was amazed by Julie’s progress and gave us the go ahead to travel as soon as we are ready and doesn’t need to see Julie again for at least 3 months for a standard check-up. We really appreciate the great care Julie received during her treatment and the hundreds of friends that have been praying for us and encouraging us throughout this time. We are blessed to have received financial support from friends in the UK and USA and thankful for the charity that has allowed us to use the retreat cottage during this time of recovery.
Unexpected Change of Plans!
Our life journey often resembles that of a rollercoaster ride! The ups and downs, twists and
unexpected turns regularly take us by surprise. Julie’s diagnosis in December was certainly not something we could have anticipated or planned for, but as always we trusted that God would bring us through and He certainly has! We are wiser, stronger and more grateful for health as a result and we certainly have a greater empathy for people suffering with long-term illness or having regular visits to hospital.
Now that we are finally coming out the other side of, what at times has felt like, quite a long dark tunnel, we can get on with the rest of our lives. We thought that our next few years were firmly planned, but we recently received an email from Christ For The Nations Bible College in Dallas Texas, withdrawing their offer of employment to us, due to current and future financial cutbacks.
We are obviously very disappointed with this news, as we had put so much effort and investment into preparing for this transition to the US. We are still processing this change currently and evaluating our options for the future. We have no home currently in the UK and are free to travel anywhere in the world. We will need to make a trip to the US to tie up some loose ends and to retrieve our belongings and the majority of our clothes that we left with friends in Dallas.
We will be looking at alternative employment over the next few weeks and are open to offers. Whatever we end up doing we know that it will be worthwhile and making a difference to people’s lives somewhere in the world. It is at times like this that we rely on the faithfulness of God to continue to lead us through. He is never taken by surprise and always has a rescue plan for us. He has come through for us so many times in the past and we are confident that He is already preparing something great for us to step into next!
Easter Family Time in Wales…
With the cottage we have been staying in having a prior booking for Easter, we took the opportunity to visit family in Wales during Easter week and everyone was very pleased to see us. 
We hadn’t visited our family since before treatment started in January, so seeing Julie looking so healthy was such a relief to her Mum, Children and Grandkids. It was a pretty full on week, with trips to the park and boating lake and an afternoon at the Movies. We joined in with a Good Friday Service in Cwmbran Shopping Centre and enjoyed the Easter Sunday Service at Victory Church, Cwmbran, before 
taking Julie’s Mum out for Easter Lunch.
During our time in Wales a good friend of ours passed away. We were able to visit her in hospital in her final days and will be making plans to attend her funeral later in the month.
We returned to the cottage in the Cotswolds on Easter Monday and will be staying here for a few more weeks before taking our next steps. We have to move out on 22nd April and have no plan beyond that point at present.
We are not sure what the rest of the month holds for us, or what we will be doing in the coming months. We will be making contact with organisations seeking a place for us to serve and trusting God to open the right door for us. If you have any suggestions as to where we could go from here, please get in touch!
How you can support us.
Pray for our next steps! Please pray for direction for us, that God will bring the right opportunity soon!
You can support and encourage us by emailing us with your news, even if only a few sentences! Hearing from friends and family is always an encouragement and we love to support you and pray for you too!