5 Minute Monthly: July

Happy summer everyone! What a wonderful time filled with vacations, playing outside, BBQs and water fun. In the Mann household summer has brought many things. It has been a bit of discouraging, a dash of encouraging, a good portion of relational and a whole lot of busy. I love summer and though the looming cloud of meeting our support-raising deadlines is still over us, it has not dampened our joy. Keeping our focus on raising support is our reality but it doesn't need to change our attitude. I would rather my attitude be affected by the beauty that surrounds me and the sunniness of summer. So here we are, living in the balance of exhaustion and excitement and there are many things to be grateful for.

Life Happenings

Here is a small update on the lives of our simple family. This month felt like we did a little bit of everything. The daily norm consisted of me at home with Josiah and Tyler working hard to provide for us. Josiah loves to play on the floor - babbling, cooing and almost crawling. He is alert and aware of what is happening around him. He notices every time his daddy comes home and his face lights up with the biggest smile. He also notices when his mommy leaves the room and that has the opposite affect - usually leading to tears. I have enjoyed my first summer as a full-time mother. Keeping the house in order, tending my garden and of course caring for my son fill my days and my heart. Tyler is working hard with carpentry and has now started working one day at our church. He is a helper for whatever they need, a listening ear and another voice to weigh into decisions. As you can guess, he absolutely loves it.

At the end of June, Tyler ran his third marathon along the shore of Lake Superior and crushed his personal record.

Right after this, we headed to North Carolina for a Mann family vacation with Tyler's brothers and parents. Then, it was on to the next adventure with my brother visiting and a wonderful little stay-cation with our friends from PA. A day after they left, Tyler's mother came to stay with us and we enjoyed quality time with her. July has been non-stop fun, friends and family which is wonderful and tiring all at the same time.

Our church involvement has been encouraging and we are thankful for all the growing relationships. Having the body of believers supporting you both in prayer and friendship is essential and a big blessing. All of these moments with loved ones as well as the community and opportunities at our church are gifts from the Lord. We are thankful for the times we get to spend with those close to us and treasure these moments knowing that when we leave the memories we've made will be worth their weight in gold.

Mission Update

Currently, we are still smack dab in the middle of our support raising journey. We are sitting at about 60% and sometimes it feels as though we are moving at a snail's pace. We are in a period of waiting as many of our potential supporters are still in the decision making process and therefore the Lord is teaching us a lesson in patience.

Recently, Tyler and I were talking about the struggles of support raising and feeling a bit discouraged. Tyler described it like mile 20 of your 26 mile marathon. Everything in you wants to be done but you are not there yet. You want to give up but you are too close to quit. You feel like you have given everything you got but know you have to find a way to give even more. Yep, that about sums it up. We are at mile 20 of our support raising marathon and it is hard but the end is in sight. All we can do is put in the work and then put our trust in the Lord. If you have been considering giving to our mission now would be the perfect time to commit. Here is a link to our giving website https://www.converge.org/global-worker/tyler-aleah-mann we are thankful for all the prayers and support so far. We are so blessed by you all.

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