Update!!

Oh man... it seems overwhelming to even start writing this post, in fear that I might turn it into a short novel since I have so much I want to write about. I do fully intend to (for real this time!!) start keeping up with this blog as a way for people to keep up with our lives in between our newsletters. Here is a quick (OK ... probably looong) recap of what has been going on with us.
Probably about a year ago we (Brian and I) had decided to put the brakes on raising funds to get to Africa. We still knew the call was there, but were uncertain about the timing. I had made the mistake of letting fear creep into my heart. It was ugly and it overtook me. I just felt like it was too overwhelming for me to even imagine taking our four kids to a third world country, away from everything the knew.... what about the heat? the bugs? the diseases? would they be angry at us for taking them away from all their family and friends? .... and so on and so on. Fear and worry are ugly things, and once I let them get a foot in the door of my heart, they kicked that door down and overtook the place. Also, a big problem we had, we were unable to sell our home. We had been trying for about four years off and on to sell it and nothing was happening. Sure, we had alot of people come look, but that was it. We felt like we tried everything. We used a couple different realtors, put it up for sale by owner, had a church work day and were extremely blessed by our church family coming and help fix it up. Nothing. It was a little disheartening to see our dreams and have the mountain of our house in the way. So we just decided to put everything on hold for awhile, and focus completely on the ministries we were pouring into at the time here.
For a little while, everything was good. A couple months later though, the restlessness began again. It still amazes me, the desire to be in Africa. We are so happy doing what we do here. We really feel like we have the most amazing life. We love our church, our family is close, our friends, our ministry. Yet, our hearts are daily drawn to more. We decided we would just pray about it and seek the Lord's timing for our family. A few months later, the longing in my heart ( to be in Africa) one day was deep, it was more than I wanted to handle. I told God I didn't understand why we felt such a desire to serve as missionaries, but yet there seemed to be no way. Why wouldn't our house sell? When would the desires of our hearts be granted? As funny as it seems, I felt the Lord tell me to put something on facebook seeing if anyone wanted to buy or rent our home. That day a friend from church called and said that her son and his wife were interested and wanted to come look at the house. I called Brian SO excited!!! The couple came and looked at our house that night, and within about 2 months from then we were moved out and they were moved in! :) Just like that. It really was so easy, and we felt that God was saying, " I am paving the way... now is the time." People would ask us... where are you guys going to live when you move? We would always be like... that's a good question! We really had no clue! We were just completely trusting God that He would provide the perfect place for us, and of course He did! About 4 weeks before we had to be out of our house my Mom found a mobile home online that was perfect for our family. Such small details that God takes care of that make us feel so loved. So we packed up and moved into our new home. We feel so incredibly blessed to be living where we are.
We felt in our hearts that it was time again for us to start back up with raising funds and GET TO AFRICA!! We met with our Pastors, then our deacon board, also flew to North Carolina to meet with our missions agency (FIRE International). Everything is really coming together so perfectly, we fully trust God is in control, and now IS the time for our family. We are experiencing so much JOY in this journey, and growing along the way.
Our church is beginning to phase Brian out of his roles as youth and children's pastor. His last official day will be December 31st. Brian has been on staff at our church for the past seven years,and we love love love what we do there, and this is definitely a bittersweet transition for us. We have peace in knowing we are doing what we are called to though, and look forward to the future.
I think I will cut myself off here. If you made it through all of that, way to go! :) If you are not an official"follower" of this blog... please become one! And feel free to leave comments! :)
Please pray for us as we are really pressing in to get our monthly support raised. We have been very blessed and have almost all of our start up costs (which is a MIRACLE!!), and now really need to focus on the monthly support. In my next post I will share with you what we will be doing as soon as we reach Tanzania. If you are interested at all in supporting us in any way, please contact me and I will be happy to let you know how.
Blessings!!