Settling in…
We are on week three of joining as full time staff and are happy to report that we have survived! We are elated to have Kristal Bean, our staff assistant home from vacation and feel that life is finally settling down a bit! This week we said good bye to one of our housemates, Ha, and have welcomed two more. After tomorrow we will have had a total of three new ladies join us bringing us to five pregnant women in the house. This means there will be eleven of us total living here at New Beginnings. With eleven people in one house we run a minimum of four dishwasher loads daily, grocery shop at least twice per week, take out a full can of garbage and recycle daily, and find the washing machines in constant use. We have two hot water tanks so we are in luck for a hot shower, as long as no one else is running water in the house…..haha!!
What an adventure we are on. We’ve said it before but must say again that we feel so privileged to share life with all of the incredible women that we have met so far! We know that God has a remarkable plan for them and are so eager to be a part of all that He is doing here.
Blessings,
Dave and Heather Wait
Christmas Eve Morning
The smell of blueberries and coffee drifted through the house early this morning. Christmas Eve Morning, our first official celebration together as a house. We enjoyed blueberry strata, sausage, bacon, a fruit salad and coffee. 7 ladies plus David and Makai sat around the dining room table discussing our holiday plans. Later, the ladies opened up some presents which were donated from East Main Vision Clinic. This was truly an amazing morning spent with remarkable women. We are feeling so blessed this Christmas season!
After School Program
A part of our discipleship training school consists of an afterschool program which is held at a local church every Wednesday. The children in Port Townsend have half days every Wednesday and some of them come to us from 1:30-3:00 PM for care. This has been one of the highlights of our time here. It has been such a privilege to serve these children and their families.
Our theme is Back to the Future which highlights those from the past who stand out because of a particular quality (i.e. George Washington for the quality “selfless”). We even have a home-made time machine that the kids crawl into; it has lights and sound which the kids LOVE!! We also serve them snack, complete a craft, sing a song, read a story/skit, and play a game, all that are centered around the week’s theme. We have the amazing opportunity to give love to 25 children every week! While we always come home exhausted we know that the kids are having fun and the parents are being blessed with free afterschool care. God has asked us to be the body of Christ and this is an awesome way for us to reach our local community and be His hands and feet. We continue to appreciate this unique occasion and time in our lives and look forward to serving the community of Puyallup when we begin at New Beginnings full time.
A Day in the Life of DTS!
Thought I would share a bit of our Discipleship Training School (DTS) daily schedule with everyone! I haven’t blogged in a while but after you read our schedule you will know why!
6:40 AM Beep Beep Beep (my alarm)
7:45 AM Breakfast
8:20 AM one of us leaves to take the kids to school
8:30 AM-12:30 PM Lecture
12:30 PM Lunch
1:30 PM Prep for the after-school program that occurs on Wednesdays (we do a two hour after school program with K-3rd every Wednesday) or we are on a local outreach or small group time.
2:50 PM one of us leaves to pick the kids up from school
5:00 PM Journaling/Quiet time (AKA do homework with the kids!)
6 PM Dinner
7 PM (on Mondays) we have another time of lecture
11 PM Bed??
In addition to the above schedule David has work duty once or twice a week from 2-4:30 and must refill the wood boxes three times a week (we have a few buildings that are heated through wood stoves). I have dinner prep two nights a week from 4:30-6. Our family is also responsible for cleanup for all meals every Thursday. We have weekends a bit more free although there are some that are blocked out for special events and outreaches. Phew….not done yet! We have six pages of journaling to do every week and scripture memorization. We also have book reports to do which means having to have the time to read the book! For those of you who know me, you are probably laughing….I thrive on this type of craziness! For those of you who know Dave…pray!! Hahaha!
There are 8 of us total in our DTS and already we can’t even think about the day we have to say good-bye to them. They are amazing and we are so blessed to share our days with them. Today we had to say good-bye to Petra and Jeannine, two girls from Switzerland that have been with us since we arrived. They are fantastic young women who love God. We anticipate seeing them next year when they hopefully come back to WA for their own DTS (we are working on that still!).
Overall, this schedule has been an adjustment for us both but we are appreciating the time away to be in the Word of God and to spend time as a family. We also feel so fortunate to have this time together to build a solid foundation to return to New Beginnings. That’s it for now…..
Back in Business because of Him
I drove into town today to pick up the kids from school and passed by a sign that said “Back in business because of you, thanks!” I have passed by this sign before but today I realized its significance for our lives right now, “Back in business because of you God!”
When God began speaking to us about this ministry opportunity and began directing us toward this path, we had a choice to make. We could delay walking in His path and wait for what we consider our “perfect timing” or we could abandon all our senses and obey. When we first began praying about this opportunity He brought about this scripture to us:
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
-Jeremiah 17:7-8
We had a choice to plant roots deep into the world’s plan for success and rely on our strength which meant keeping our jobs, staying in our house and our community, staying at church with our church family etc; or to obey Him which meant planting our roots in trusting God and drawing strength from Him (i.e. in this situation to quit our jobs, rent out our house, move etc)
Has it been an easy choice? Nope. Not easy at all. Were there tears and pain involved in giving up our old way of life? Yep. Change is tough. Obeying God is tough sometimes. However, our family trusts that God’s words are true. We have chosen to plant ourselves near the water so that our leaves will continue to stay green and that in a year of drought we can still continue to bear fruit. We also get to do something that we love; share life with those who need support and family. While we enjoyed our lives in Fircrest and in our jobs, we feel we were living just to pay the bills. God has given us a new direction and put us “back in business”.
In our new house and ready for the adventure ahead.
Malia and Makai in front of New Beginnings Home
Exhausted, emotionally spent, and dirty, we arrived to our new home on the final night of scrubbing our previous house in preparation for our new tenants. As we walked through the front door at 10 in the evening we were greeted with the smell of scented candles and fresh flowers. Looking around we saw the candles lit, our pictures hung, decorations placed, and curtains draped. Two cards were on the table welcoming us to our new home. A mixture of sweat and tears stung my eyes and David stood speechless.
Earlier in the day, Sarah*, one of the mommies-to-be decided that she wanted to bless mine and David’s arrival to New Beginnings. Our staff assistant, Kristal, called and asked if it would be okay to a hang a couple of our pictures and we said it would be fine. Nothing could prepare us for the beautiful home that awaited us. We felt overwhelmed by this act of servant hood. It brought to our memory the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in the Bible (John 13:1-17). Sarah (our “decorator”) was 8 months pregnant and placing her baby for adoption, an emotional journey to say the least; however she poured out her energy and time into our lives to serve us and to provide a bit of comfort and rest for us.
God has brought us to an amazing destination in life. While we know that God is sovereign and His blessings abound, we continue to be overwhelmed when we experience the fullness of His promises. Who knew how He would use the women whom He sent us to minister to, to also minister life to us. This continues to be a remarkable and humbling experience. We look forward to sharing with you many stories of the incredible woman that you are touching through your support.
Sarah had her baby girl just 4 days after decorating our home and placed her baby with a family that had been waiting for a baby. She came back to the house for physical and emotional recuperation and moved out Friday, August 28th. She is enrolled in college and begins next month. She aspires to complete her masters in family counseling with an emphasis in art therapy. Thank you for your commitment to changing lives!
We’re on our way!
Dave, Heather, Malia & Makai
Hey this is the Wait family!
We are extremely excited to be taking the role of houseparents this Fall at New Beginnings Home. Both of us have been dreaming of this opportunity for a long time… and it’s amazing that it is finally going to happen!
Please pray for us as we work to transition our lives and prepare financially for the journey ahead. It’s in God’s hands and we are excited to watch him do a miracle!
More to come!
Dave & Heather
