I think I forgot...

As I was sitting here this morning, I realized I forgot to mention a few things. First off, and update on Ruby's arm. She has her cast off! We could not be more thrilled about this. She went in and got another x-ray and it looks like everything healed nicely so we were able to remove her cast. For the first few days she was a little hesitant to use it but now she is back to her normal self (besides this cold going around). Trent is doing amazing. I took him in yesterday to get weighed and he is a whopping 10 lbs. 11oz. He is growing perfectly they said but I say he's growing up a little to fast. I never thought that it would go by this quickly but looking at Ruby now, it seems like my baby girl is now a little toddler. We are so grateful that God blessed us with two beautiful healthy children. Preston and I are doing well. Parenting has presented a whole new area of growth and to be honest we haven't always tackled it gracefully. Thankfully, we know that this is a huge learning process and God in His grace allows for growth through failure. We also know that no one is perfect and parenting is no easy task, so for now we are taking it one day at a time. 

So as for the next few months, we are planning on coming up to Michigan for Easter weekend. We cannot wait. We truly miss fellowshipping with our church family at First Baptist and we cannot wait to rejoin them even if its just for a short while. The following weekend, I (Stephanie) am going on a weekend getaway with a small group of ladies that I have been meeting with since we've been here. I will be leaving the kids here with Preston so that I can have the weekend to relax and fellowship with these ladies. There are 8 of us going and we are all so excited. We have received some money gifts from a few ladies to help towards our expenses which is a huge blessing. For our summer, we plan on moving back to Michigan so that Preston can work. We are still in search of a place to stay during that time. We are looking to stay in the St. Johns area so that we can be close to church and so that Preston won't be to far from work. If anyone does know of a place that takes month to month payments or a basement that is open that for us to stay in we would appreciate it. 

Thank you all for being so invested in our lives and for keeping up with us. If you would like to call or write us letters or e-mails we would love it. 

 Ruby at the doctor's office with her splint off!

 Our handsome man on Valentines Day. What a stud 😊

 Preston working in Tech Class.

 Trent helping me with the multi-meter.

 On our walk home from class. Ruby loves being outside.

Honesty is the best policy...right?

So, this is just Stephanie speaking this time. I just wanted to share what God has been teaching me this past week. Right now we have been going through classes that have challenged my thinking so much. I feel like I am at my wits end. My candle has been burning at both ends. When I think of everything that has been going on in our lives over the past month, I really am shocked that we're still chugging along. But at times like these it is when I realize I need God the most. I see that there is nothing in this life that I cannot do without the Lord's help. When I finally realize that I am at this point, it's usually been a while. This time has been so different though. I finally understand that it is times like this that God is revealing a small piece of himself to me in a whole new way. I was so sad that I couldn't grasp who God is and what He means to my life, but after this week, even though I still have a lot to learn, I am feeling so encouraged. God has been so faithful to come alongside me and teach me more and more each day who He is. I have a whole lot of head knowledge of who God is and what His character is but as for heart knowledge, I'm just now realizing, I have no clue who He is to me. I have been changing my heart towards each day. I have never prayed for God to get me though one day at a time but now I find myself waking up and praying that every morning and it has made such a difference. I have seen His love so much more clear and been able to love my husband and kids in a much better way because of it. I'm not writing this to discourage you or anything but I'm writing it out of joy. Joy because I have been growing so much and I just wanted to share that with all of you hoping that it may be an encouragement to someone who may need it. Ok I'm done blabbing now but I just wanted to share that with who ever is reading our blog.

Just a quick update

Just wanted to share a huge praise. God has been so faithful to us throughout our whole time here financially. Within this past week God has provided another $500 for our school bill. This means that we only have about $700 more for the rest of our semester. It has just amazed us at how God has been so faithful even when we have doubted His faithfulness to provide for us. It is times like this that we look at our lives and realize how much more we need to grow. We just wanted to share this with all of you so your could celebrate with us and so that you can know how God has been providing for us. Thanks!

Well to start off, I just want to say that I hope that this blog will help keep all of you a little bit better connected with our lives. Because our schedule is so full, it get's hard to send out updates to everyone we hold so dear. I hope that through this blog, we'll be able to show you a little bit better what we're going through currently and how you can be praying for us throughout the rest of our time here. We also have so many things that we want to give praise to the Lord for and we would love to share them with all of you.

We just kicked off our new semester on January 15. It was four days after we welcomed our son into the world. Although it was a little stressful at first, God has given us the strength to make it through the first few weeks. When Trent was almost 2 weeks old, we had our E-Linc Group (a small group made up of people from our class and two staff couples that we meet with twice a week for the whole time we're here) over. Ruby was sitting on a chair across the room and she slid off the front of the chair and landed right on her left arm. We weren't sure if she had truly injured it so we had Steph's dad (a former paramedic) come over to check it. He recommended that we take her to the hospital. We left Trent with Steph's parents and headed to the hospital 30 minuets away. Turns out she did fracture her arm right above her elbow. She has a splint on her arm and is doing well. We love that she didn't need a full cast because we are allowed to take the splint off and give her a bath. We praise the Lord that it was just a small fracture and not a full break. It is amazing how in these times of craziness, we fine peace in the Lord and are able to look to Him for strength.

We have been enjoying the classes a lot this semester. Just a brief overview of the classes we've gone through and are currently in are:

Families and Education (Finished):

In this class, we learned some of the struggles that families may face on the field as well as how to deal with difficult situations. We were able to see how having our family overseas may cause some struggles but how it can be a huge blessing and asset to your ministry. We also learned different options for educating our children when we get to the field. There are far more options that we had originally thought so that is very encouraging. This class was a huge learning time for us both.

Biblical Parenthood (Finished):

This class could have not come at a better time. We have been trying to figure out how to raise Ruby. She has been a little more testy and we were struggling to find what was the best way to deal with it. There is always areas to grow in and if your a parent you know exactly what we were struggling with.  It was great to go through this course and see different areas where we were failing and how to correctly discipline and parent. It's was also amazing to see how God's word really gives us clear direction in this area. Please continue to pray for us as parenting isn't a walk in the park. We feel a little more confident after taking the class but everyday is a he learning experience for us.

Romans 5-8 (Finished):

There isn't a ton to say about this course except for the class brought us back to our knees in humbleness. If you haven't read through Romans 5-8 in a while, you should go through it again. This course was just a good reminder of who we are and what Christ has done for us.

Student Teaching (Currently taking only on Monday's):

This course is just once a week. It is designed to help us learn how to better communicate when public speaking. As missionaries, we will be speaking in churches, small groups, one-on-one and who knows where else. So the class is trying to better equip us to speak in an effective way in front of people.

Missionary Tech (Currently taking):

This course is still going on for us. It has been a very challenging for Stephanie to keep track of everything that is being said in the class but Preston is rally soaking it up. This course is to equip missionaries to know how to take care of electrical equipment and different money saving/labor saving devices to use once overseas. We have had the chance to solder and work with batteries and other electrical equipment which has been a lot of fun. The course has been very enlightening and helpful.

Missionary Partnership Development (Currently taking):

This class has been amazing. It is a hard subject for us to talk about. When it comes to raising support, both of us feel like we have no idea where to start. What we have been realizing is that it truly isn't about the finances, it's about the mission God has for us as believers. We realize that if we look at it that way, we get excited to ask people to join us financial to help assist in the Lord's work around the world. We are still going through this class and understand that we have much more to learn about how to approach this whole topic but it has been amazing so far. 

Feild Health (Currently taking):

This is such a helpful class. It's talking about the basics of field health things that tend to show up on the field. We will be studying common sicknesses and we might even be able to practice some emergency situations. We will also be learning how to keep ourselves and our children healthy (to the best of our abilities) while we're on the field. 

As you can see, this is a heavy work load but it is amazing classes. We have been so encourage going through all of these classes and cannot wait to see what else God has to teach us throughout the semester. 

Our schedule is a bit full as of right now. We are in classed from 8-12 a.m. Preston has work detail from 1:15-5 on Monday's and Tuesday's and also has his ministry outreach on Monday and Thursday nights. We also meet with our E-Linc group on Wednesday's and Friday's. On top of that we have a moderate homework load. Although some day's seem more stressful than others, we are extremely happy that we are here. The longer we have been here the more we feel that this is where God wants us right now, and there is no better place to be than in the will of God. We have had to look to Him for strength, endurance, wisdom and rest during this time. 

We appreciate so much the prayers, letters, phone calls, text messages and Facebook contact that we have had from all of you. We always feel so encouraged when we hear from people back home and how things are going there. Please feel free to contact us at anytime. 

Our address is:

134 Main Dr.

Roach, MO

65787

Our e-mail: psnichols10@gmail.com

Our phone numbers: 989-640-4529 or 616-340-8024

We'll be posting on the blog to try to keep people posted a little better on what is going on in our lives. We love you all so much!

In Christ,

The Nichols Family

Below are our beautiful pictures of our kids. Ruby is being a little crazy in some of them but she just wanted to show you some of her personality.