Thanksgiving 2005

GREETINGS!
Well, I know its been a long time since we've written a real update on life in OKC, but man have we been busy! With school, work and church, its hard to find any extra time!

Okay, so Rusty is doing GREAT in school. Taking Hermeneutics, exegesis, greek, bible and core, he's doing great! His grades are up and he's learning like never before. He is loving it! He is still working part-time at Randy's Music and Movies. It really helps us each month with a few bills. And we get FREE movie rentals which helps our budget! He is working hard to do well in school and I am so so proud of him.
He has been heading up AMF, African Missions Fellowship at our house every other week. Its a group to get students interested in African Missions. After his recent return from Rwanda, he is passionate about getting more missionaries to a place where Jesus is needed. Its great to have young minds and hearts over to our home where we can fellowship and inspire eachother to love Christ more deeply. (Thanks again to all of you who helped him get to Rwanda!) He is also hoping to get an internship with our church in the upcoming year. He would ideally like to quit his pt job to focus on his major, Ministry and bible. He wants to learn how the church functions and be a part of more ministries within our church, and learn how to be more evangelistic. He makes my heart swell... I love his heart and his spirit. Its been awesome to watch him grow.

Me... Well I have been working for over a year now as a graphic designer for Century Incorporated. A martial arts company.... the largest in the U.S. I have been learning so much and was recently promoted to Team Leader/Designer. I now manage 3 other designers and am lead on several internal companies and projects. Its very rewarding. They also gave me a raise!!! God is blessing us abundantly. I look forward to more growth in my career with Century. I've been doing a ton of freelance in my extra time too so we can pay off some school loan debt!

I am working out like a maniac! After a hard and trying year, I decided to kick into high gear and get back to the gym. Its great because I get a free membership at Rusty's school, so thats a plus! I work out before work in the mornings, and recently ran the Race for the Cure. The first race I've ran in 4 years! It was about time! It feels great to be getting back in shape after 3 years in school! Rusty plans to start coming with me in the new year!

This summer, after Rusty's return from Africa, we were able to take a class at one of the local churches. Financial Peace University. We had been praying that God would bless us with the tools we needed to get our budget on track. Well, after a 3 month class, once a week... we finally have a budget that works! What a blessing! We have been faithful to it, and we believe God is blessing us more now because of it! After our first month on the budget, God sent me 2 new clients for freelance and we paid off a car! We've been faithful to the budget and so we think God will be giving us more responsibility......... so we hope that means we'll be out of debt SOON! What a blessing FPU has been to us! We also met a couple from California at our class too. She is an atheist and he is agnostic. Well, we've been to dinner at their home once and plan to do it more soon. They have 2 children and seem interested in learning more about our faith! We pray that God will use us to lead them to Christ. God works in awesome ways... he is sooooo good!

Church is GREAT. We have been members at Quail Springs Church of Christ for over a year now. We love it. It feels great to be a part of such a big family of believers. Our church does a ton of mission work her and abroad. We've been asked to be apart of another trip to Rwanda this summer and we pray that I will be able to be a part of it this time. It would be a 3 week trip. Please pray about this for us. We have met so many wonderful people there. We are also part of a weekly small group. Most the couples in it have at least one student attending OC. We love the people we've met and we look forward to growing with them all. We are also meeting once a month with a mentor couple. They've been married 36 years and we hope to learn a lot from them. This is what we call the 2x2 ministry at Quail. Its set up so we can learn from eachother. We love our mentor couple! We've learned so much from them all. Our faith has been challenged so much over the year and for this we are so thankful!

My mom is doing great in Idaho. She has found a home and a great job and is settling in there. She is growing daily after a hard year, but her faith in God is inspirational. I know she couldn't have done it with out God. She has relied on him for everything! She found a great church to be a part of there and is now very involved in small groups and is meeting many wonderful people to rely on and be encouraged by... though I am sure she's doing most of the encouraging. Thats my momma....she's wonderful and I miss her very much!

My dad... please just keep him in your prayers. I love him so much and miss him dearly. Please just pray that God will restore him one day soon.

All in all, we are doing FABULOUS!! We miss our church family in Helena, and wish we could drive home every weekend! There's no place like home! We also miss our families and friends who are spread all over the U.S. and hope that one day we all live closer! Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We pray that God continues to grow us and use us for his plan. We are so excited for what the future holds! We love you all and please keep in touch. You're emails and cards encourage us!
love you all!

Rusty & Onawa