Merry Christmas

I know I haven't blogged about Emileigh's birthday yet. All the pictures are on my mom's camera so I have to get those off before I can. But I do promise I will! I pray that everyone knows the true meaning for Christmas. Seeing how God has moved in our lives this year makes this Christmas a little more special to me. We sent out a letter and picture this year to many people. There are still some people we missed I know so below is our letter and picture :)


Merry Christmas!! As we think about the birth of our Savior and all it means, that He came to earth for us, we can’t help but reflect on how the Lord has richly blessed us over the past year. Yes, we had our ups and downs as everyone did, but through the downs we see God’s hand on our family and are very thankful for that.
This past year we welcomed Emileigh to our family, a beautiful little girl with loads of personality. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for her life. Noah started Pre-K this year, which was harder for mommy than it was for him! And God moved in our lives to direct us further in ministry.
In June of this year Mark began putting resumes out to churches. Most of the churches were outside of the state because we knew that God was calling us away. We have learned that many times in scripture when God calls someone to serve Him, He calls them to move. He did it with Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and so on, and we felt He was calling us to do just that, move!
Many times while speaking to others the subject of school came up. Things like: Have you gone to seminary? Have you thought about going to seminary? Have you looked in to schools/seminaries? We know that God can use someone that doesn’t have a formal education, but as the questions came we considered more and more the possibility that God was calling us to school and not to serve in a church right now. So the research began.
After looking into several different schools, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was mentioned to us. The only thing about seminary is that Mark needed to have an undergraduate education first. Well, Southwestern has the College at Southwestern where he can do just that. At the end of September we made a trip to Texas to see if this was in fact where God was leading us. We fell in love with it. We just knew that is exactly where God was leading us. So, in January Mark will start his education at the College at Southwestern continuing on to the Seminary.
Why are we telling you this? Well, we need support. We would love for you to join us as prayer partners in this next journey of our lives. Things will be changing greatly for our family. Not only are we moving fourteen hours from everything we have ever known but Brandi will hopefully be going back to work in a formal setting. Mark will be starting school for the first time in twelve years, and Noah will have such a change with school and church. Below is a list of things you can pray with us about:

• The move- we will be traveling fourteen hours- pray everything goes smoothly
• Jobs- currently neither one of us has a job- you can pray specifically that Brandi gets a full time job on campus as this will help with our tuition costs
• Tuition- the cost for tuition is roughly $3000 per semester, this is in addition to normal living costs
• The children- Brandi has been staying at home with the kids for the past year. Changing and going to a daycare setting will be hard on them- and Brandi!!
• Focus- that Mark can focus on his school and make good grades
• Church- pray that God will provide a new church home quickly
• Comfort- we will be far away from all of our family, pray that we will feel God’s protection and presence each day that we are there.
Tuition money is one of the biggest needs right now. We are applying for different scholarships that are available to Mark, but many of those we won’t hear back from until later. If you feel led to donate to Mark’s tuition costs there is a way. We are not asking you to fund us for the next few years by any means. But if you feel the Lord leading you to give please send your gifts to

SWBTS
Financial Aid
PO BOX 22000
Fort Worth, TX 76122
Please put on the check memo or in a note Mark Thomas Student ID#0466100

The school will send you an acknowledgement of your gift. You can also designate if you would like your gift to go towards tuition, housing, or just leave it blank and they will get it to us. Thank you so much for joining with us in this journey through prayer and support. Brandi has started a blog about our story that she will update while we are in Texas with what is going on in our lives. We would love for you to read it so you can keep up with us! You can visit the blog at www.genesis121.blogspot.com . Thank you again for your prayers and support. We love you!


In Christ,
Mark, Brandi, Noah and Emileigh Thomas
Genesis 12:1


Thank you for following along and for praying for us and with us!

Our new address is 4110 William Fleming Ct Apt H, Fort Worth, TX 76115

A New Home

We finally got our housing assignment!!!! I am so excited I can't stand it. As of Monday all we knew is that we were going to school. Didn't know where we would be living, working, where the kids will be going, where we will be going to church, so many unknowns. But Praise the Lord for an answered prayer!!!

Just to know that we will have on campus housing brings such relief alongside so many unanswered questions. I won't say unanswered prayers because they are answered God knows the exact answer for all the question we have, He has just chosen not to reveal those answers to us yet. The time will come though and we wait expectantly for those answers.

The really awesome part of the story is, Mark and I were both starting to get a little worried about where we would live. I even started looking at apartments off of campus. Well Saturday morning Mark went hunting- which means he went and talked to God. He came home and told me very matter of factly, that the reason we hadn't heard is because the school was trying to get us in our first choice of places and that we would hear this week sometime. I trusted that is what would happen. Of course that is EXACTLY what happened. We got our first choice, a town home that has laundry hookups- this was HUGE to me- and a dishwasher! And obviously we found out this week!! We serve a mighty God.

I am so excited to be able to share how all the little pieces are falling into place. This weekend we are having Emileigh's first birthday party- yes it is a week early! So once I get through that and get all the pictures I will blog about it and how much fun we had! Thank you again for your continued prayers.

Big Prayers, Little Answers

Well it's that time of year again. Christmas. This is my favorite time of year. I love all the decorations, lights, parties, and family time. Most of all I love the reminder that Jesus Christ came to this Earth for me! How humbling. We are still waiting on our housing assignment which makes us very nervous.

I was able to email the human resources department about jobs that we both had applied for. So far for me there hasn't been any success. Mark on the other hand got a very promising email from the "shop". They are looking for a small engine mechanic!! If you didn't know that is exactly what Mark grew up doing and knows better than anything. They are very interested in him and want to interview him. Praise the Lord for answered prayers, even if they are little!

So right now we are just packing things, getting ready for Emileigh's first birthday party, getting ready for Christmas and trying to find the most economical way to move! I will post about Emileigh's birthday so you can see all the fun!!! In the meantime please pray that we will continue to get answers. That God will provide financially for the move and the first month or two while we are out there. That God will provide the best job for both Mark and I, and that we will have clear direction on these matters. Thanks for following along on our journey!