A few prayer requests/praises

Surprise, surprise! I'm writing another blog already! I know, you are shocked! But, I'm lying here waiting for my pain medicine to kick in and I thought, "why not".
It's not going to be a long writing...at least I don't think it's going to be. I just thought I would share I few prayer requests with you.
I have trouble asking for the 1st one, because I'm not good at sharing personal areas about myself, but here goes.
I now have my second kidney stone in one week. I was taken to the ER last Monday because I was in such severe pain. The CAT scan showed that I had a kidney stone and was given pain medicine and sent home. By Thursday I was feeling a little better and then Friday I was fine. Tuesday night Jake and I were at a evangelism conference when I suddenly was in so much pain we had to leave. I asked him to take me to the hospital (something I usually don't do, I'm usually the one saying "Just take me home and give me some pain meds, it will pass"). This pain was 2ce as bad as the pain last week. Labor didn't hold a candle to this pain! It turns out I had another kidney stone, 2ce as big as the 1st one. It is apparently "stuck"...and to top it off he said there is another one up in my kidney that could drop within the next week. YEA!
Anyway, please be praying for me. This has put me out of commission for most of the last week and a 1/2 now.

Now on to more important things:
Last Halloween our church had the opportunity to volunteer at the YMCA for their fall festival. We were hoping this would help give us an "in" and be able to use it to reach out to more people in the community. Since then, however, we haven't heard anything from them...until Tuesday night.
Pastor Mike received a call out of the blue from a different YMCA in town. They are having a family night this Friday night and are needing more help. They were calling around to other YMCA's asking for volunteers and the YMCA close to us gave them our name, saying we were really reliable and great help to them.
The coordinator said we have full access to the families and can pass out any information about the church we want! This couldn't come at a more perfect time. We are starting a new series this Sunday, "Fireproof"/"The Love Dare", based on the movie "Fireproof". We will also be holding a Sunday night couples Bible study. The couple that is leading the Bible study has been praying for 20 couples.
Jake is so excited about the opportunity we have Friday night. We see the hand of God moving, and it is just amazing! Not only will we be ministering to families this Friday, but they will be doing this once a month and asked if we would be interested in possibly making this a monthly event. This is just what we have been praying for! Jake has really been praying for ways we can reach out to the community, and God just threw this in our laps! Please be praying for the families that will be attending, that God will be working on their hearts, even as you read this, that they will be open to Him and that we will take every opportunity to share His love with them.
We are also looking around the area at store fronts to lease. Our rent was raised at the school, so we are looking to see if we can find something that we would have full-time access to, rather than just Sunday mornings that we have now. Please be praying that God would lead us to the place He has for us, if it is His will for us to move.
It would be so nice to have a space that is "ours", that we don't have to set up and tear down every Sunday and that we could use during the week without having to reserve it and pay extra for it.
The evangelism conference that I mentioned earlier was amazing. Jake attended it on Monday evening and came home so excited. He found out there was childcare, so I was able to go Tuesday evening. I was so upset that we had to leave when my pain got too bad. I will write more about the conference and the speakers at a later time.
This brings me to another prayer requests. As many of you know, Jake has been "attending" an on-line seminary, Rockbridge. He has had to take a couple of semesters off because of his work schedule and finances. The school became accredited, which is good, but it also meant their prices went up significantly. We are no longer able to afford them.
While we were at the conference Tueday night he was able to get information on a new program Golden Gate Seminary is offering. They have begun to offer classes every Tuesday/Thursday night at the Southern Baptist Convention offices here in Vegas. He will only be able to take one course a semester, so it will take a little while, but it will be much easier on us financially, and he will actually be able to go to a class instead of just being online. The information meeting is tonight, Thursday, at six. We are really praising God for this. It is still going to be a stretch for us, financially, but we know that He will provide.
One last thing before I crash into bed...(the computer screen is beginning to move around on me, lol) Please be in prayer for the women in our church. I started a new ministry with them a couple of weeks ago. It is a "book club" for lack of a better term. We have tried weekly Bible studies, but schedules haven't met up, it was hard for people to make a weekly commitment, so we stopped. We are, however, beginning to meet once a month for a Saturday brunch/fellowship. I came up with an idea that I would have a monthly study that the women could do at home. I set up an online group page where they can log on and leave comments/questions/thoughts about what we are reading. This way we can stay connected and learn from each other from the comfort of our own homes. Then, when we meet together monthly we can go into deeper discussion about it before we move onto our new study.
After much prayer, our 1st study was a challenge I made to the ladies. I asked them to read Proverbs 31 everyday for 30 days. I gave them each a journal where they could write down their thoughts and insights the Lord was giving them. In addition I challenged them with "The True Woman Manifesto" 30 day challenge. I would HIGHLY recommend every woman go to the website www.truewoman.com and read this manifesto. If you sign up, they will send you daily devotions and podcasts you can listen to. It is truly life-changing!
Our next book is going to be "Power of a Praying Woman" by Stormie OMartian. We will begin this on Valentine's Day.
So, I think I'm going to end this now. I hope I have written this in coherent thoughts...haha...I'll probably come back to read this later only to find that it makes no since what-so-ever.
Thank you for your prayers, for you support for us. We pray for each of you, as well.

The past 3 months

Okay, I know, I know...it's been almost 3 months since my last post. Obviously, our house selling is old news now (though we are still very grateful that it did). I keep meaning to get on here and post, and I actually started to do so once, but...well...you know how it goes, one day turns into two and the next thing you know it's a new year!
Happy New Year, by the way! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that this new year brings you closer to Him!
Now, to catch you up on the last 3 months...

My mom and my youngest niece, Melanie, came out for the week of Thanksgiving. It had been 6 months since I had seen either of them, and we had a great week, full of showing off all there is to do in our "little town". We did everything from visiting all the normal touristy stuff, (this was taken at the Belagio)

to walking with wild mustangs up in the Spring Mountain Reserve, to going to Death Valley (Which is where the pictures below were taken. And believe me, it is well worth the trip if you ever get the chance to go. We will be going back again, as we didn't get to see nearly enough!)

Above at the lowest point in North America and below at Zabreski's Point

We even got to play in mountain-sized sand dunes and slide down giant marble "slides" in Marble canyon (below, Cora, Melanie and JD taking turns going down one area of the slides).
Thanksgiving rushed by and Christmas was here before I knew it! Jake's parents decided to fly out for the week and surprise the kids. JD and Cora were thrilled! (Jake and I were too, it was nice to have family here for our 1st Christmas away from Rogers) We had a busy week full of buying and wrapping presents, preparing for and having our Christmas Eve service at NorthStar, and playing in the snow up on Mount Charleston. (The days surrounding Christmas brought several feet of snow to the mountain, and even caused a white out and the mountain to be closed Christmas day and the day after.)

Our family on Christmas Eve after the service
And below, our trip up the mountain to play in the snow the day after Christmas, we couldn't make it to the top due to the white out.

The kids got WAY to many gifts--you couldn't see the floor in our living room for all the wrapping paper and presents when they were through--and we were sad to see Nonni and Poppi leave.

New Year's Eve was quiet for our family. The four of us went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in one of the new hotels that opened in our corner of the valley and then we went home and watched a movie and played some games. We got back up a little before midnight and drove to an overlook of the city to watch the fireworks bring in the new year. I've heard it said that what you are doing when the clock strikes mid-night on new year's is a symbol of what the upcoming year will look like for you...Well, I was sitting on a quiet mountain side with my daughter cuddling in my lap, and my husband, my son and my dog by my side...If that's any clue to how this year will be, then I couldn't ask for anything more.
I'm excited to see what new adventures the Lord has in store for our family over the next year.

So, I think that pretty much catches you up on the Bridges.
NorthStar is doing well. Jake has morphed into the Children's Pastor and is loving it. He is currently looking through several options for new literature/programs for the kids on Sunday AM. He is also still leading a Bible Study out of our house on Wednesday nights. Tonight he will start NET training (similar to FAITH). I am heading up the women's ministry and will be introducing a new ministry to our ladies this Saturday at our monthly women's luncheon. Please be in prayer for all our our church's ministries and outreaches. Pray that we will have a renewed love for our community and a strong desire to see our neighbors, friends and coworkers come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We do have one more piece of news that we are SO excited about. FBC, Rogers, AR, our home church, has invited our family to be a part of their GIC (Global Impact Celebration) March 4-8. This is a time where they bring in missionaries from around the world and have a time of celebration of what God is accomplishing and a time of ministering to the missionaries. The 1st GIC six years ago is where Jake and I surrendered to full-time missions, so to be able to come back to this same event as missionaries means so much to us both. JD and Cora are more than ecstatic to be able to be in Rogers for a week (not just because they get to miss a week of school, either!). They are really looking forward to seeing their friends and family...Jake and I are as well.

I promise to be more diligent in updating this with current prayer requests and things that are going on with our family. (Thanks to Cindy Sigmon for getting me on the ball here!)

So, until next time, from Vegas---Elaine