After months of prayer, fasting, and lots of paperwork, the sale of our condo is finally fully approved (as you already know if you’ve read our newsletter)!! Our closing date is TOMORROW and let me tell you, we will be two very happy non-homeowners come 11am on 11/22/11! Now that God has moved that mountain, we can focus on the last two items that need to be taken care in order for us to leave for Italy…

1. The Final 10% – As you can see from the indicator in the right sidebar, we need approximately five more financial partners to join our team at $100/month (or ten at $50/month etc) in order to reach 100% of our financial goal!
2. Our Italian Visas – We will be applying for our visas at the Italian consulate in Chicago on December 12th. Depending on when our support and the visas come in, we may be leaving for Italy just before or just after Christmas!

<<<IN OTHER RECENT NEWS>>>

LSW

I graduated with my Master’s in Social Work this past May and recently took an exam for licensure in Illinois. I passed!.. and am now officially a “Licensed Social Worker” in Illinois. Even though I will be living abroad, I will use the skills I’ve learned while in Italy and maintain my license from there so that I have the option of working in the States if we return someday down the road.

My Mom’s Birthday

It was fun to be home on my mom’s birthday to decorate the house, make birthday cake, and see her open her presents. She’s a woman we truly celebrate!

Design on a Dime

Jon and I had fun working on a project this month that combined our abilities. We offered to create new prayer cards and business cards for my Aunt who is a missionary with SEND (since it can be expensive to pay someone to do so). We are huge fans of her ministry and were happy to contribute so I took the pictures and did the wording while Jon did the photo editing and graphic design.

As you can see from the cards above, my aunt’s main responsibility is to care for MKs (Missionary Kids). She makes sure that the kids in families who are heading overseas as missionaries with SEND are prepared for what they are about to encounter and helps them to embrace the calling their parents have chosen as their own. On the flip side, when kids come back to the U.S. after serving with their families overseas she helps them to transition to life in what has become a foreign land to them. She also serves as a primary contact and support for MKs attending college in the U.S.

It was fun to create these cards together and to know it will help spread the word about her important work.

27!

This month I celebrated my birthday with my family for the first time in 8 years (It’s just been me and Jon since I started college)!  My day started with a breakfast treat Jon sweetly surprised me with: cream sticks, my favorite. Later, Jon and I went out for a little bit. Then we had dinner with my parents and brother at a favorite restaurant in town. And we finished off the night playing board games. A lovely day. A couple days later my parents had a family party for me. I loved having my extended family around and enjoyed the home made ice cream cake too (thanks mom)!

If you’ve read this far, you’re basically caught up on what’s happened in the lives of the Tellos lately. Thanks for stopping by! We’ll be in touch as we have lots of exciting things happening in the coming days!

-Erika