Last one...for now

Doug and I have known this weekend was coming months before we even got engaged, but the advance notice hasn't seemed to alleviate the separation anxiety I'm experiencing right now. In just over 24 hours I will be leading a team of 12 college students on a week-long mission trip to the Dominican Republic. On Wednesday, Doug heads to Timbuktu, Mali, Africa for a 10-day mission trip. Doug and I are so blessed to have careers in education that allow us these opportunities to serve Him among unreached people groups of the world....but I'm not looking forward to being without him by my side for 2 weeks. :(

We are expectant to see what God has in store for us as we are convinced that He has called us to serve in these lost and needy areas of the world. I will be working at an orphanage in the DR and Doug will be running a soccer camp among the Songhai people of Mali. We ask for your prayers as we step out of our local mission fields and onto the foreign mission field for a couple of weeks. Pray for us as we are separated - only by 3500 miles, but who's counting? The blessing that comes with separation, however, is that we will be required to lean more heavily on Jesus, our True Companion. Pray for our health, safety and, most of all, our effectiveness. We desperately want to share the love of Christ with those who don't know Him. We also ask that you pray for my sister and brother-in-law, James, as he is serving overseas as well this next week. If you'd like more information, you can visit their blog: www.jandacheatham.blogspot.com

This is where Doug will be.

This is where Elaine will be.

This is my awesome team of college students.

Brian, Thomas, me, Jack, Emily, Meghan, Kenzie, Michael, Morgan, Lauren W., Lauren H. and Leah. Not pictured: Ashton

Another post!

Well, since I'm actually taking the time to update our blog, I thought I'd just keep going and let you know what we've been up to for the past month. I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to find the time to blog, but I was wrong. I'm pretty sure that we're the busiest people I know - at least the busiest people who don't have children anyway.

As a first year teacher at Van Winkle Elementary, my work days are busy and exhausting. I love my kids, but working with them is physically and emotionally draining! I could take a nap every day after work...and some days I do! Lately Doug and I have been super-busy with all of our extra-curricular activities. We both lead Bible studies and we're both leading mission trips over Spring Break (see my next post for more info on that).

Also, Doug plays on an indoor soccer team. It was SO EXCITING for me to be able to see him play soccer for the first time. Although I've seen him coach many games, I've never seen him actually play in a real game. He ROCKS!!! Since I'm new in the "soccer crowd", most of the spectators that sit near me don't know that I'm Doug's wife, so I get a kick out of hearing them talk about how good he is - both as a player and a coach. I know I shouldn't be prideful...but I am. :) Below is a picture of my man in action!

I've been dying to be a cheerleader since I was little, so it's been fun to cheer Doug and the Hinds Soccer team on to victory these past 2 seasons. I was really looking forward to being Doug's personal cheerleader at his indoor game the other day, but he forbid me to make a poster. I rebelled a little bit and made a palm-sized sign. He knows he loves my cheeziness. :)

Several weeks ago all of my college girlfriends from MC came to Jackson for our annual Girls Weekend. Since we are all turning 30 this year we decided to have a birthday celebration and have professional pictures taken. It was so special to spend time with friends that God so clearly brought together during our Freshman year of college - 11 1/2 years ago! I love you, Allison, Brooke, Cara, Charise, Cyndi, Katie, Lauren and Sarah!

Newlyweddedness

Being a newlywed is AWESOME!!! I love being with my husband. He makes me think more about the important things of life; he makes me laugh; he likes being with me too which is a plus!; and he's my human news reel and Bible concordance - Who needs CNN or Biblegateway.com when Doug's around?

As I've expressed my desire to others about how I want to protect my time with my husband as much as possible, I've noticed that the world tries to tell me that this desire will fade and that it's okay when it does. My conclusion is this: me, Doug and God are called to have an intimacy that resembles that of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Does the Father ever not desire to be with the Son or the Son with the Spirit? Never. So as followers of Christ, should it ever be normal for that desire to fade between me and Doug or, more importantly, between me and God? Never. Jesus has called me to a life of abnormality, and I pray the He convicts me if I ever start stepping back in the direction of normalcy.

A Day in the Life

Welcome to our first blog posting!  We hope that this blog helps our family and friends more easily keep up with our comings and goings.  Before Doug and I got married, we knew that part of the call on our life was to simply live our life out in front of people, as honestly as possible, ready to share the power of God's love and grace at any given time.  We hope that this blog will be a tool to do just that!

I figured that, instead of recapping our first 6 weeks of marriage, I would get us off to an easy start by just recapping the last 24 hours. :)  It's been quite a busy 24 hours!  Last night I was privileged to celebrate the engagement of my friend, Charity.  Charity and I were in the same Bible study group for 2 years.  The girls in this Bible study are so precious to me.  None of us attend the same church, but through God's divine hand, we all ended up contacting each other and starting a Bible study.  It was so random, but now it's so easy to see why the Lord put us all together: we just needed each other.

We had a beautiful dinner last night at Char and then a fun time lavishing Charity with lingerie.  Lingerie showers are always hysterical to me.  We laughed so hard that my cheeks hurt!  I love making funny memories.

So what was my wonderful husband up to while I was off with the girls?  You'll never guess.  A soccer game!  This weekend was the MS High School State Championship, which means that this was essentially Doug's last weekend to recruit.  This, of course, was our first recruiting season as a married couple, so I was slightly nervous about the amount of time this may cause Elaine to be sitting at home alone pining for her man.  But God was SOOOO good to us.  I don't think there was a single night that Doug had to go to a soccer game when I didn't have some sort of obligation as well.  I was actually able to go to a couple of games with him, too, which allowed me to see him in recruiting mode up close and personal.  Doug is AWESOME at his job!  He sees talent that I wouldn't see in a million years, and the proof lies in his winning record at Hinds.  I'm so proud of him.

Today was another full day of soccer for Doug.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL here in Mississippi so Doug got to ride his motorcycle to the games.  I was able to join him for the last soccer game, along with 2 of my students from Van Winkle.  Erico and Tytianna have been a couple of my challenges at school this year, but God has really shown his favor on my relationships with them.  I was able to get Tytianna into a local Upward basketball program and hopefully we can get Erico signed up for a spring soccer team this week.  Erico and I went to Tytianna's first basketball game today, and then we joined Doug at the soccer field.  We had a blast!  And to top the whole day off, they each got to sit on Doug's motorcycle!  I'm so thankful the Lord provided me and Doug the opportunity to hang out with, talk to and encourage these two today.  I love them and pray for them and their families so much.

So that's it for our first posting!  Stay tuned for more of the Doug and Elaine Life!