On Dec. 15th, Ryan gave his absolute YES to being the next director for Christian Challenge at KU.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for us during this time. We have had God answer so many prayers AND confirm in several ways. We wanted to share a few of those with you... 1. One of my(Ginger) early prayer requests was that God would give Ryan a "lean" towards one campus or another..at the time we were considering a different campus when KU also became available. In a matter of a month, God clearly gave Ryan a lean. Our interview at another campus went so well, but neither of us felt it was the right fit for us. God continued to affirm our lean toward KU as we gathered more information about Lawrence and even talked with a sweet young couple about joining us there. Our interview at KU went very well and we spent some time on campus to pray and process. 2. God gave us several scriptures: Eph. 3:20 ..to Him who is able to do immeasurably MORE than we ask or imagine.. Luke 5:4-7 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. 5 Simon answered, Master, weve worked hard all night and havent caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Mt. 19:27, 29 27Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?... 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother for children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. ---These verses came to Ryan while praying on KU campus and he was reminded that Disciples leave. Ryan has also been meditating a lot on Mt. 6:19-24 about living for the treasures in heaven on not for those on earth. We realize we aren't getting any younger so this is an opportune time to go to an area where more laborers are needed for the advancement of the Gospel. We would love to see God bring a new awakening to the Lawrence community and by what we are hearing and sensing, it does seem that God is on the move! Mark 9-the account of the transfiguration..3 Disciples had a Mountaintop experience with Jesus as His glory was revealed during the transfiguration..but Jesus did not allow for them to just stay put and enjoy his greatness..He led them BACK DOWN the mountain, in the valley where there were lost, hurting people desperate to know Him.. This was a message preached in the middle of Nov. while we were wrestling with leaving. 3. Two days before Ryan made his final decision, he went out to a local retreat center to read, process and pray some more. While there, the owner came down and said, "Hey I just gotta tell you about something. Whenever we here at the ranch need to make a big decision about our property, it seems that there are these eagles that come flying around the place. And today, there is an eagle out there circling the ranch..and you are the only one here..so I felt I needed to let you know". Such a moment where God gave peace to us. 4. One day before Ryan gave his final yes, he was running an errand and felt "released" in his heart from whatever the hangup was that had been keeping him from jumping in and saying yes. He'd been wrestling with the yes for a few weeks and didn't really know what that last little hangup in his heart was about...but felt at peace with finally saying yes. 5. The couple we asked to go with us is really excited about going! The gal is a dear friend who has been involved in our 834 ministry for 4 years. She is getting married after graduating this year to a man who has worked in campus ministry at Texas A&M. We are very excited to have them join us. We waited until after Christmas to break it to our kids. Our family time together went well. Caleb seemed to understand the calling of God on our family to go. We got a laugh out of his first initial comment, "aww, that means everyone there will be KU fans!" yes. change.:) Hope was very concerned about saying goodbye to friends..and if there will be any friends there for us..and will she get invited to birthday parties? Hannah was hysterical thinking we were saying

goodbye to our cat..but we cleared that up and things seemed to be good. Harmony didn't have a clue, so she was happy to play with her babydoll as we fielded all the other questions from the kids. A few days after that, we took a day to drive to Lawrence and "explore" a little with the kids. We found an indoor McDonalds playplace as well as an indoor aquatic park..both of those brought smiles! There will also be a new church plant coming to Lawrence from Wichita. These families are from River Community church..a very like-hearted church that we have had a good relationship with. We will have a group of people who are all on mission as we are..to find lost people and share the gospel. We have many prayer requests going into this new semester: -our house to sell quickly(hoping to get it on market feb.1) we are stressed about keeping it clean with our 4 kids! -God to provide the house with the space we need in Lawrence-Ryan's job begins June 1st. -Transition...we will be grieving and saying goodbye..even to purple and wildcats. -Ryan will be trying to train someone for his 834 position here, as well as keep up with a seminary class, resume his normal 834 leadership responsibilities, discipling students, and finding time to plan for a new ministry start-up at KU.