OK, it has been a while so I thought I should try to catch you all up on what twists and turns we have gone through thus far. The end of summer is nearing and the summer on the island for Lee has gone pretty well. We have had a couple of differences of opinion with the lady upstairs but life goes on. The new building that Craig (Lee's boss) was buying for housing fell through so we wait to see what kind of deals he will make between now and next summer. Our last summer in Michigan. And all that talk for the last 2 years about Lee going to the Caribbean for the new butterfly house? Well, we decided not to plan on it and arranged for something else for Lee's winter. Now the house is gonna be finished soon and opening like Craig planned. Without Lee. I guess it was never meant to be for us to go to the Caribbean for any length of time. Too bad.
What you may ask is Lee doing this winter? Well, after returning from the Covered Bridge Festival Weekend Family Get-together Lee returns to the island to work off and on at whatever he can find until January. He will then go to Dubuque, Iowa and attend Emmaus Bible College to finish the one semester he needs to finally get his degree. YAHOO. I will stay in Sault Ste. Marie and finish my degree. My commencement will be on May 5th and Lee's will be a week later. I will not have a teaching degree. It would take an extra year of schooling plus a year of student teaching to get my
teaching certified Bachelor degree. The route I am now on is to finish my BA in Social Sciences and then I am applying to 3 graduate schools for a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT). The schools are in New York, Georgia and Oklahoma. With these programs I can not only become certified as a teacher but I shall do so at the Masters level rather than a Baccalaureate level.
So, next summer we shall be on Mackinac Island for 1 last summer and we both will be working. Then it is off to grad school for me and Lee will follow after closing down the butterfly house. After I complete my graduate studies we will then turn our eyes and our vehicle toward - ALASKA. That's right, Alaska. We believe that Alaska is where God wants us to be. We believe that we are to return to Metlakatla. We know that Metlakatla is going through a lot of changes in the school system but we truly believe that because we are called there the job will be there when we need it. I am planning to be certified for K-12 just in case there
isn't an opening immediately somewhere in the High School. I want to be able to slide into the school system wherever I can and teach.
Prayer requests:
Lee will be able to find enough work on the island through January to keep his bills paid.
Lee will be able to find a part time job in Dubuque that allows him enough study time.
Tonya will be able to successfully keep her grades up while working part time.
Metlakatla's economy is precarious and people are leaving looking for work elsewhere. Pray that the new industries that are in the planning stage (bottled water plant, rock quarry) will progress quickly and smoothly to the implementation stage.
Praise God for this the first year the graduating class at Metlakatla had zero teen moms/pregnancies. Pray for Camille Booth as she is largely responsible for the communication lines being open for these young girls. Camille's health is suffering so please lift her up.
Pray for the Council members of Metlakatla to continue to seek God for wisdom and guidance.
Pray for the Marinello family who have arrived safely to their new post in the Netherlands.