patrick and raquel dot com

That was the title of the message Tim spoke of today. Listen online. It was really good. It was about how so many times, the disciples and others in Jesus’ time kept asking for miracles - as if they had just forgotten about the many he had just performed. Well, Jesus doesn’t have to prove himself to us; we need to trust Him and believe that He’salways looking out for us and has our best interests in mind.

Patrick and I have realized that his flight school is going to be postponed until 2006. Without going into too many details, the bad financial news we rec’d in April is just now (finally) going into effect. We’re going to make some changes to our current situation, and one of them is not taking on any new ‘ventures’.

It’s a setback… he’s really distraught about it. It’s hard for him to remain positive about his dream. It took him this long to realize it, he finally figured out the school, plan, etc. and now it’s on hold. I try to maintain a positive attitute, remind him that he can still study the program/books, and he’ll be that much more ahead of the game when he’s actually flying. But still… that’s just it… he’s not actually flying. He feels robbed and defeated. It’s so much bigger than just flying, you know? That’s why it hurts so much.

I think it’s worse because there’s really nothing we can do about the news we rec’d. It’s out of our hands… the decision has been made for us and we have to abide by it. I hate that. I hate not having options. I’ve always found that there’s a way around a situation… I’ve always been able to find a work around or talk myself out of something. But not this time. And we’ve tried everything. It’s a ‘play the cards you’re dealt’ scenario.

So send up a prayer for us, as we learn to create our own positive outcome rather than dwelling on what we don’t have. I’ve noticed many instances of God coming through for us in the last couple of months. And in very specific ways, too. It’s really cool! I reminded Patrick (and myself) of that last night. I prayed for specific things (I’ll admit, those things were more ‘wants’ than ‘needs’) but He still honored it. That made me feel special - He’s really concerned and listening to me.

So I guess our miracle is for complete reliance on Him to get us through this season.

I just returned from an enjoyable evening out… girls night style. A bunch of us from church gathered at a house, gave away door prizes, split up for dinner, then gathered again at Starbucks.

What fun it is to get to know people. I truly enjoy it… love to ask questions, dive deeper, find out what makes people tick, what makes them happy. Good stuff. I love when people are honest and open… unafraid to share.

We had a great group of 5 women at dinner. We each went around the table and talked about what brought us to the church and how it has affected our lives thus far. We talked about our families. We’d find that we have a lot in common in our church experiences and our basic needs.

And boy… did we laugh!
I love to laugh. It’s exhilerating. It’s freeing. (and it sometimes hurts). But it’s so much better to laugh with friends… to get to share those stories later… “Remember when we did — and laughed so hard about it!…”

What a great evening.

Guess what Patrick’s doing? Gonna go to flight school, baby!

He’s always had a dream to fly. He loves planes. We go to airshows throughout the year. He knows the type of plane by the sound of the engine. He’ll hear a plane and run outside to see it fly over.

So all of this makes sense.

He did his research, talked to people at flight schools, and took an into flight this week. LOVED IT! The instructor liked him and said he was a natural. Patrick flew over our apt and even flew the approach to the landing. He was hooked.

We’re just waiting on the financial aid to come through, and by this time next year he’ll be flying us to wkend getaways. He’s even lined up a flight job once he has his private pilot license!

A dream realized. Good for him.

Missed us? Sorry it’s been months since our last site update. We could list our reasonings, er excuses, but let’s just move on…

To bring you up to speed:
1. We’ve joined Genesis Metro, the church we’ve blogged about. It’s been good. Patrick’s active in the worship band and men’s ministry. Raquel is helping with the hospitality and overall church marketing. We’re both involved in the first-annual golf tournament, so that’ll be fun.
2. Joe (R’s bro) moved here in April. He accepted an awesome job oppportunity and is living about 20 min away. We both love having him here. I think that Patrick’s more excited to have a ‘buddy’ to go around and do guys stuff with.Joe’s a true joy to have around.
3. We’re an aunt/uncle! Drew and Tara had a baby boy, Jonathan, and the baptism in Aug 28. We’re planning that trip to NYC and we’ll stay there for our anniversary. (wow… anniversary.)
4. Our jobs continue to keep us mad-busy, Patrick more so than Raquel, but that’s ok.

We promise to update this site more often. Check back soon.