I love my man

On Sunday while we were in Africa Brian had the awesome privilege of preaching at one of the churches in a village we had visited. It was Pastor Unity's church, which is also the school we got to play and spend the day with the children at. Before church began Brian was preparing and I was walking around exploring and taking pictures, and then a couple of women started to pray before church began. There were only about 6 of us in the room and as soon as they started praying I broke out into tears.... I am not talking little cries, more like sobbing crying so much that I had to leave the room because I didn't want anyone there to think something was wrong with me. The presence of God was so strong and these people were just pouring out themselves worshipping Him. At that moment, if I had any teeny tiny doubt in my heart or mind about coming and serving in Africa, it was completely washed away. This is what we had been waiting for the last couple of years. The feeling of being at home was truly overwhelming and unexplainable. Then people started pouring in and church started.

From what I understand it is typical for worship to be done in 3 parts there. First it was a song that they sang the same line over about 30 times, then it was singing and dancing, then it was a hymn ( I am pretty sure it was How Great Thou Art). Brian did an amazing job preaching. I know I am bias since I am his wife, but I have never been more proud of him. He did so great with his first time of having an interpreter, and Pastor Unity did a great job translating for him. We got to have a great time of praying with people afterwards. One of the really great things about church there was that it is a serious thing. What I mean by that is that when the people come in they are there for one thing and one thing only...... God. They come hungry and ready to love on Him. It was such a great experience and such a wonderful memory.

Some things I miss the most....

Sharing our hearts

Last night we got the privilege of telling our church family about our trip to Africa. We felt extremely honored and super excited to share with people SO important to us about SOMETHING that is so important to us. It was a beautiful merging of both. It went really really well.... in my opinion. I absolutely hate being in front of people. If you have ever met my husband it is obvious that one of his many gifts is being in front of people. So the plan was he would do most of the talking and I would just share whenever I wanted and a little 5 minutes about what was on my heart. Well.... I guess when it is something I am passionate about I have no problem talking. We got home and Brian was like , " Well for someone who doesn't like talking you sure made it hard for me to get alot in." ( He was joking. ) It was just SO awesome to be able to share all about our trip and Africa really is such a deep love in my heart. Brian put together an awesome 5 minute video of all of our pictures and short clips we took. I think the most exciting thing of the night was our churches response. It seemed like everyone was really excited about this call on our lives and extremely supportive.

Last night seemed very surreal to me. I felt almost like I was in a dream. I have been falling more and more in love with Africa over the last four years but never thought everything would come together as quickly as it has or so nicely. So to be in front of our church family, exposing what has been going on in our lives, putting it all out there and then getting such a great response, was incredible. I am just blown away by the faithfulness of my God daily. I put up all of our pictures from Africa on my facebook, so if you would like to see them check out my facebook page. There are just too many to put on here. Right now where we are at in the process is just taking some time off.

Going there for 10 days and then coming back to the States has been alot of work in itself, and there are many decisions to be made coming up and honestly it can all get a little overwhelming sometimes. We are focusing on our babies right now and getting back in a routine with our lives here and planning our next steps..... all while following the Lords leading. Please keep us in your prayers as this is a very pivital point in our lives and we are totally relying on our God to direct our paths.

Randomness

It is five in the morning and I have been up for an hour and cannot sleep so I thought I would put down some random thoughts going through my head while I am up and the house is quiet. :) I never knew my heart could be in two places at once. Although I am very happy to be here and have my babies with us again.... my heart can't help but ache and feel like big peices of it are still over in Africa. At the same time... I feel like my heart is here in Iowa, at Real Life, in the ministries we have going on here. I really love each place with a deep love and feel so incredibly blessed for both. I am very excited about the longing in my heart to be back in Africa. We had a great trip and fell in love when we were over there, but I was wondering if when we came back I would feel like it was a nice trip but not the place for us to move our children and our entire lives.
We were sitting in the Amsterdam airport and all of a sudden I just burst into tears, and it was such an intense feeling of wanting to get the kids and move there that I was overcome. I thank God so much for breathing more and more love into my heart for the people of Africa. It is a feeling I sometimes don't even understand. Wherever He leads us , I want to follow with a joyful heart.

I am so excited to put all of our pictures from the trip and some videos as well into a presentation. We are having the leadership from our church over tomorrow night to tell them all about the trip, and I am SO excited!! :) Brian doesn't want to me to put up all of the pictures yet because he wants the church as a whole to see them together, so if you don't go to our church, sorry, you are just going to have to wait to see those sweet sweet kids faces. :)

Thank you all so very much for your prayers. We for sure felt them on our trip and they really mean so so much to us. We know and have experienced the power of prayer, and it is awesome knowing we have such wonderful prayer warriors over here.

When we were at the house of some of our new friends on the trip, she felt like God had given her a word for us. It was a very powerful word and much appreciated. After she gave us the word she told us something along the lines of how when we stepped off of the plane on U.S. ground we were official missionaries. Tears came to my eyes when she said that. It just sounded good. :) We thank God for this incredible opportunity in our lives and are so humbled by His goodness. Please keep us in your prayers and the process of raising support is going to be starting. This is all new to us, and we are excited to see how God is going to work in all of it!

I will blog more about what we actually did on the trip in the next couple of days. I should probably try to lay down a get some sleep before the kids wake up for the day.

Its HEEEERRRE!

Somebody pinch me. Seriously... pinch me. I am going to Africa on Monday. No matter how many times I say it, it does not seem real. I remember the night my friend Alissa and I were going to go to Heartland for worship and for some reason she ended up not being able to go, so I went by myself. Which I have never done before or since. For some reason I am weird like that... not wanting to go places by myself. But that night I did. I remember walking in and seeing Leanne Goff there. I knew as soon as I saw her that I was there to talk with her. I knew she worked for a missions agency and actually that night (at home with the kids) Brian was going to apply to Iris Ministries for us to go to their 10 week missions school. We knew Africa was where we were called to serve and Heidi's ministry was the only one we knew of there and we LOVE and respect her ministry A TON. Long story short, Leanne ended up praying for me during worship and was telling me about what GMA (Global Missions Awareness) was doing in Tanzania. She told me there was another couple our age who felt called to Africa as well and they were going to be taking a trip there in January ( this meeting was like 6 months ago ) and we should join them. That night Brian and I had already had it planned to go to our good friends Josh and Alissa's house to pray about where and what exactly God had for us in the mission field.
So later that night we went to Josh and Alissa's and I told them about the conversation I had had with Leanne. I was still talking and I looked over at Alissa and her eyes were full of tears, but I wasn't sure why or if she was crying. But she was :) . She said that as soon as I said Tanzania she had felt the Holy Spirit so intensely that she just started to cry. Brian and I were both like ... wow. So we had a great night of praying with our friends and walked out of their house feeling so confident and excited about God's leading. I remember getting in the car and just laughing and telling Brian " This is one of the most life changing days for us so far. We woke up thinking we were going to Mozambique and then go to bed knowing Tanzania is where we are supposed to be. "
All of this to say... I remember everything about the moment when Leanne said we should go to Tanzania in January. And now its here. Time goes by so quickly. I am so so so excited about our trip. There are no words to say how excited. We feel so lucky that this is what Father God has called us to do. We should have Internet access there so I will be blogging while we are there to keep track of all that is going on. Please continue to pray for peace for me with leaving the kids. I think as soon as I get on the plane I will be ok, but until then it feels overwhelming thinking about leaving them for that long. Thank you for all your prayers.... we cherish them more than you know.

Reality check

I cannot believe our trip is almost here. It seems surreal. It is really weird when you have been waiting for something for so long and then ... its here. As we get closer day by day, new emotions come up, and they are all extreme. Extreme excitement about going, extreme sorrow over leaving the kids for 10 days, extreme joy about seeing friends I do not get to see often, extreme anxiousness (is that a word?) about the 24 hour trip. In all honesty, I have been somewhat of a basket case lately. I am not even sure why. It is also weird to think that when we return from our trip that the next time we go will be when we move. After we come back ... it is real. We are taking our babies to a third world country to live. Some place they have never seen before, with no one they have ever met, new foods, sights and sounds. But... it is SO reassuring to know this is what He has called us to. When these fears creep up inside of me I just get alone with my Heavenly Father and let Him love me and wash away all anxiety.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:33-34

All I can do it take my life day by day. So that is all I will do. I feel the peace of God just writing that. He is so good and so faithful, so loving. I am so ready for this trip and can't wait to see what God has in store for us there. To see with our own eyes and experience what life will be like there... just makes me smile so much. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness always.

My fourth child ....

No, I am not pregnant. :) Brian and I were talking the other night about what we say when people ask us how we feel about moving to Africa and everything that goes with it, especially when we have never even been there. This is the only way I know how to relate it... so bear with me.
I think of Africa as my fourth baby. The similarities are crazy to having all 3 of my other babies. I carried all 3 of my babies for 9 months, and during those 9 months fell more and more in love with them every day. I have carried Africa in my heart for over 3 years now, and fall more and more in love with the people there and having our lives there every day. I was induced with all 3 of my babies, so I knew the date they would be arriving into this world and when we would meet for the first time. I know that we are leaving for Africa 3 weeks from tomorrow and I will "officially" be meeting Africa for the first time as well. Most of all though, from the moment I found out (and even before) that I was carrying each of my children, I was completely in love with them. It didn't matter if I had never held them or seen them or kissed them. I loved them with a deep love, the way only a mother can love her child. This is how I feel about Africa. I know I have never been there, and don't really know excactley what it will be like. But I do know the love that God has put in my heart for it, and I know that it is a love that only He can stir up in me. I remember the anticipation before having each child, and knowing that my life would never be the same once they got here. I feel the same way about our upcoming trip. I feel like in 3 weeks when we get there, it will be like the first time I held any of my babies right after delivery. It will just (hopefully) be natural.
We have been getting everything in order for when we leave, but still have a few things that need to be done. Please keep us in your prayers as this is a very exciting and life changing event in our lives.