Joe's trip to Serbia

Back in late May/early June, I was able to lead a team of believers in to Serbia to coach, play, and teach baseball to youngsters in schools - all while sharing the Gospel and our personal testimonies with all Christ allowed the opportunity for.  Although going caused me to be away on Lindsay's birthday, it was an amazing opportunity to share who Christ is, and who Christ is in me, with Serbs.  Serbia is a beautiful country filled with wonderfully warm and friendly folks. 

Therefore, these pictures are long past due.  As you know, our lives have been turned upside down twice since I returned from this trip.  So here are a few of the pictures I have from my trip to Serbia.

This is Chris Coombs, he is a man of Christ who spent the past two years in Serbia with his wife.  He has returned from the field and is coaching and teaching HS science in Missouri.  He played baseball in college and was this year's head coach of the Serbian national team.  

I was able to conduct one of the first softball clinics in Cacak, Serbia.  Here I was pitching BP.

This picture was taken in Belgrade, a very interesting city.  They built up an island in the middle of the city that has sports fields, beaches, and a bunch of fun.  

Here is our team after on of our games.

While in Belgrade, we got to visit Kalemagdan park, which has been built on the remains of an ancient fortress.  It is very cool, and Partizan Sports Club has some of their facilities inside the fortress.  While there, me and some of the team (particularly young Aaron) ran wild like little children - climbing walls and hiding in dungeons and other such shenanigans.  

This man was awesome!  He spends his day with his cart in the park making hand-carved gifts for tourists.  I had a very long talk with him as I watched him work, as I was mesmerized by his craftiness.  He lived in New York for a few years and was a very big fan of W, which should come as a shock to our liberal media.  

While in the Serbia countryside, we were able to spend half a day climbing a mountain to see the view and visit an Orthodox monastery.  Here are some pictures of some of our adventure.

Here is a picture of me and a couple of the Serbs we worked closely with for the majority of our trip.  They are great guys and also young believers, praise Christ!



This is a typical Serbian home, at least outside the major cities.  They are humble homes, but the flowers and the warmth of the people make them beautiful.

Also while in Serbia, I was able to help coach one of the football clubs.  It was a lot of fun, and I would compare them to an average high school JV team in Texas.  

Last, but not least, check out the kicker's hairstyle!

Bye for now, but not for long we hope!

Fall has come to Texas...

Well, another week has gone by and we are still on our knees before Christ about our future and the plans the Lord has for us.  Lindsay has been in Charlotte, NC all week and will return Monday from training for her new gig at Portrait Innovations.  She is excited about this new job and is even more excited to be back home with Joe.  Joe is still interviewing with schools and companies worldwide, seeking the Lord's perfect will for his career.  We have moved twice in the past five months and don't want to move again, lest it be the voice of the Lord telling us to do so.  We are happy to have the church community we have here and we enjoy the weather here in Dallas. 

 Not much else to report, except to say thank you to all of you who have kept us in your prayers.  We have exhausted our financial resources, so please pray that the Lord will provide.  We love each and every one of you who are reading this and we appreciate the encouragement you all are.  Though, this is the hardest season of life I have ever been through, we both know that Christ has wonderful plans for us.  

Now for some pictures:

A good friend of ours had tickets to the Dallas Mavericks' first preseason game.  It was a lot of fun, because he has platinum-level seats at center-court, about 12 rows up.  The seats were at the perfect level to see all the action while being able to hear the sounds of the game on the court.  The Mavs played well and won in a rout, and good times were had by all of us.  Below are some pictures of us, a view from our seats, and pictures of the Mavs Maniacs.  Well, yes that is, in fact, a midget   right in the midst of a group of 300 pounders!

Finally, this is a picture I took tonight at the Flower Mound Marcus vs Coppell high school football game.  It was a great game and the Marauders won.  These are two Texas powers and the game was played at Coppell, which has one of the nicest high school stadiums you will ever see.  It is nicer than any small college field I have ever seen, as well.  It truly is amazing how ridiculous high school football is here in Texas, just ask any of the 15,000 fans who were there with me tonight.  

Praises and Prayers

It wasn't 24 hours after out last post that Lindsay received a phone call where she was offered, and immediately accepted, a position as a studio associate with Portrait Innovations. She will be heading to North Carolina on Sunday to begin a week of training for the position where she will be taking, selling, and printing pictures. She is extremely excited to learn more about photography as her interest in it has grown over the last few years. We are grateful that the Lord has provided this opportunity. At the same time, we are still looking for the perfect fit for Joe. Sales does not seem to be it...no surprise there. Please continue to pray for us as we are still seeking the Lord in this. We only desire what He does...we just hope it comes quickly. Thanks so much for loving us through your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, and emails. We could not function without the encouragement right now.

Pray, Pray, Pray

Since our last post we have been "roaming" again and have seen some great friends...pictures and details to come! At this point though, we would like to beg for your prayers. We are at a complete loss for what the Lord has for us now. Joe has accepted a position selling insurance but there are 2 problems: 1. It is 100% commission and 2. He is not at all interested in sales! Lindsay is still applying for jobs like crazy but, for whatever reason, still has not gotten one. Basically, we have been searching for jobs for over a month and we are more than stressed as we have seen no solutions to our problems. We have no money to pay bills next month and no jobs to promise the money needed for these things. We have seen the Lord provide in the most unimaginable ways thus far but it is still a struggle. We have both struggled with the stress of the situation that continues to grow as each day passes. All we can do at this point is to pray, to ask all of you to pray, and to ask you to ask others to pray. We do trust in the Lord's provision but...well, the words are gone. We continue to ask the Lord what we are meant to learn during this time, where He wants us to be, and what He would have us do but we are over a month out of jobs and still have heard nothing. We genuinely want to know the Lord's will and have even sought opportunities that He may have for us overseas. Basically, we really need to lean on the Lord and the people that He has placed in our lives. As we have said, we are out of ideas and out of words....please pray, pray, pray.