Finally......An Update!!!!!!

Wow!!!! I can hardly believe how long it's been since I last posted. Our lives have been a non-stop whirlwind the last five months. But we are finally....FINALLY....in our new home in West Africa. And, oh my, what fun we are having!

For those who only follow us on this blog....and really for the sake of my journaling to go back and read later...I thought I'd give a very quick update on the last five months....gotta warn you, though....this will probably be a long post!

March-April
After the stress and work involved in selling and moving from our home in TN, we enjoyed a much-needed vacation in the Caribbean. Cozumel was much more enjoyable this time than our last time there. The Cayman Islands were the highlight as we swam with the stingrays at Stingray City. And, though Dunns River Falls was SO fun and amazing to see, I don't think I'll care to go back to Jamaica. The boys had more fun than they can remember and all-you-can-eat ice cream on the ship was one of the things they would tell you is their fondest memory!

We stopped in GA and spent a few days with Olivia and Ross before getting back to TN where we spent a brief 10 days or so with family and friends before heading off to VA for an 8-week orientation.

April-June
The eight weeks at orientation were filled with lots of reading, playing games, lots of classes, lots of new friends, and lots of fun! That time spent with others who understood what we were doing...what we were feeling...all that we had given up to be there...and all that we were looking forward to will be a treasured part of our journey. We were commissioned on June 17th, 2009 and were so fortunate to have a couple of wonderful friends give up precious time to be there with us and celebrate.

I wanted SO badly to blog throughout this process, but honestly, I went into a fog and only now feel like I'm really coming out of it. Though I had lots of things going on in my head that I wanted to capture in this journal and share with you through that part of the journey, it was like one big jumble of mess that I couldn't get to spill out right on this keyboard.

June-July
We spent three wonderful weeks at home. We spent as much precious time with family and friends as we could. We went to all our favorite places to eat. We saw all the movies that we wanted to see on the big screen. We ate ice cream all the time. I didn't worry about how many times I went to Starbucks. The boys had sleepovers and playdates with all their best friends. And, well, we just soaked up every last minute of things that we loved. Then came the hardest part of the journey....saying goodbye. I believe God gave each of us...and those we love...extra amounts of grace to see us through those days. And He continues to comfort us in the most amazing ways on the days when we just miss them so bad it hurts inside. I've been reminded over and over again that He is worth all we have left behind.

As we left the U.S., I must confess that I had lots of "me and I" thoughts going through my head. I had been praying for weeks before that God would help me to fully embrace my new life....that He would remind me again and again why He was sending me. He has answered that prayer over and over. I was reminded on the last leg of our plane ride as a M**lim man boarded the plane and sat down right beside Rick with his prayer beads in his hand. He literally spent the entire two hour flight passing bead after bead through his wrinkled fingers and reciting the names of God that the I*sl*m faith requires he recite and praying non-stop the prayers that they are told must be prayed. I wept. And I remembered what we were doing and why we were doing it. I remember every day when the call to prayer wakes me at 4:30am. I remember when we drive down the street and I see the depths of darkness and hopelessness in the faces that we pass. And I pray.

So here we are....in this new land we were told to come to....learning, as babies, how to speak this unknown language....figuring out how to maneuver these foreign streets....cooking from scratch....learning to live with what is available rather than choosing from an abundance as we have always done in the states....spending an insane of amount of time just existing. It's been hard. It is hard. But we are also having more fun and fulfilling more purpose than I can ever remember in my whole life. Our prayer continues to be that we would be lights in the darkness, that God would somehow be able to use us in our weakness...and boy, are there a bunch right now...to reach this people that He loves. We covet your continued prayers. They are being heard and are helping to sustain us.

God is SO GOOD. He has been caring for us in the most amazing ways in our new life here. And now that I'm back in the groove....hopefully....I will be on here much more often sharing those stories with you, along with some of the more mundane, but perhaps fun and interesting, parts of our daily life.

Stay tuned....