Thursday, August 25, 2011

The end of the summer

So by now we all know that Jessica and I aren't the most consistent bloggers...but we are trying.  This entry, to keep it manageable, will have just a few topics and then we will try to do more updating on the next post.


Topics:
1. Going to England
2. Jessica's pregnancy
3. Summer life
in Scottland...of course!

So, most of you should have known that we went to England over the summer for 3 weeks.  It all started when we were invited by a great couple, Chad and Julia Dedmon, to help out with a conference they were speaking at in Chiswick, which is in the London area if I understand it right.  We had a great time ministering to people and seeing hearts changed and blessed.  We also saw God heal many many people as well as a group of kids, many of whom were not Christians, that we ran into on the street.  These teenage kids were so great, after one kid's eyes were healed from being unable to see without his glasses the rest all wanted to know what God would heal.  One at a time almost all of 8 kids had something healed by God; shoulder tightness, one ear that was deaf opened up, memory loss, one kid got healed of a stutter instantly, knees healed, etc...and after they ran out of things to be healed of, all but one of the kids made a decision to give their life to Jesus (they were all getting healed, afterwards they wanted to meet the Healer, Jesus! Haahahah!)
Jess and Jenn Hill hiking a on hill called Lion's Seat in Edinburgh

After Chiswick, we took the train to Edinburgh, Scottland to stay with Jennifer Hill, a friend from school who lives there.  We had a great time relaxing and seeing the castle and city there.  After 3 days there we went back to England to a town called Harrogate where we got to help out at a great church with their conference.  We had a busy but amazing time praying and prophesying over many many people.  We saw God transform the hearts of so many great people through our prayers and words as we followed the Holy Spirit.  We stayed with a fabulous family that let us stay with them while there, Steve and Julie Barry.  I feel like we made another lifelong friendship and connection.  We actually had a house to stay in during the whole trip, we didn't stay in a hotel once (except one night because we celebrated our three year anniversary). 

 After Harrogate we went to a small town called Bedford and stayed with another school friend, Catherine Pedley.  It was such a joy to be around her family and eat breakfast and dinner with such a hospitable family.  We also got to pray for a family they are friends with and saw their daughter's ears open up and no longer need hearing aids as well as seeing God heal her mother's migraines (which she had daily and caused numbness in the right side of her body) we heard later that she hadn't had another since, yeah Jesus got what He paid for!   So much fun traveling with friends and seeing God move in supernatural ways, NATURALLY!

Us with sister, Sarah!
Worshiping in a very old church
Finally, we ended our last 5 days in London staying with our good friends from school Dave and Katrina Stevenson.  While there I got to fulfill a longtime dream of mine of playing worship with a guitar in a 100+ year old church.  It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done, God just made it happen, He really really likes me.  One more really neat thing was we got to have coffee with my sister Sarah who was visiting London, she currently lives in Paris, France.  Overall, our trip was the most fun we have ever had traveling.  Mixing ministry, friends and traveling is definitely how we want to travel from now on if possible.  We'll be back soon!!!

In London walking around a large park pond
Now for for what you really want to hear about: Jessica's pregnancy is going so phenomenally well!  She will be 22 weeks this monday (August 29th) and growing bigger every week.  It's so much fun to see her beautiful belly get bigger and bigger.  We found out this past week that we are the proud parents of a GIRL!!!   Our little girl moves all the time, never stays still.  It's been so much fun feeling this little baby in Jess' stomach, we just get such a kick out it.  Oh and Jess hasn't gotten sick yet during the pregnancy which is such a great way to be pregnant! 

Finally, summer life in Redding has been slow at first but has been picking up a lot lately.  Jess started a temporary job through a temp-agency.  She works all day and comes home a bit tired but thankfully only has a week left.  She won't be working during school.  I actually also started a new job.  My first since I left the Navy last March.  I work at a great company called Ncomputing (you can google it if you want) doing tech support.  It's part time in the morning so I can still go to school and not miss out on social activities.  It pays quite well considering it's part time and they are super flexible for my missions and ministry trips.  All-in-all, the perfect job, such a blessing to be able to supplement our savings a little so we don't go through it too fast. 
21 weeks prego!

We are gearing up for our second year at Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry.  Jessica will be doing school up to the pregnancy (around January 2nd!) and then returning to school with our little girl when she feels ready.  So much coming up in the next few months I wish I could just share it all now, but I will wait until the next post.

We love you all and would love to hear how you ALL are doing, feel free to email either of us (even just to say hi).

Lot's of Love

Jesse and Jessica
jessejskinner@gmail.com
jessicaleighskinner@gmail.com