How are we really doing?

I recognize that a blog is not an intimate place to share really, anything. And many of the things we write about are the events in our lives that are fun, new, or unusual. That's the way blogs work! But, since several of you dear friends have asked the question, "How are you really doing?" we thought we would at least on some level answer that question.

Thanks be to God that we can answer this question in an overwhelmingly positive way. We have seen the Lord lead us to England in frankly miraculous ways, and we have learned much about trusting Him with things that are completely beyond our knowledge or control.

And so, we praise Him for providing a good and safe place for us to live, great friends (already), a nice school for our children, good church with strong preaching and accountability, a car, and a beautiful town and area to discover. We thank the Lord that Jim can study with many like-minded students, that he is on a roll and doing well with his studies (especially writing). We also very much praise God for providing for us financially so that we could embark on this ambitious endeavor, and we thank the Lord often for those of you who helped to make this happen for us. Thank you for being God's hands and feet for us.

I so wish you friends could be here with us, to see what I am trying to describe to you! We walked forward in so many ways blindly trusting the Lord, and He was faithful. As always.

ALL of this we were unsure about. ALL of it came from God's good and kind hands. I am not often in a place (at least so obviously) where I need to trust God so completely, and so I am convinced that is why He led us here. It is a good place to be.

We had no idea how moving to England would pan out. As we look back over the last several months, we can see that since we couldn't "maneuver" every detail we have needed to learn how to trust God for greater and sweeter things than we would have arranged. Our prayer life has broadened, our trust in God has deepened, and we rejoice in how we have grown. We rejoice in how our children have grown.

BUT it has not been easy. Not by a long shot. I really believe now that anything worth having spiritually does not come easily. Knowing more of God, patience, trust and faith only seems to grow in us because we are in a place that stretches us.

Much of how the Lord has stretched us has been tiring! It has taken us a long time to feel rested. Probably just in the last week or so we can both say, we are feeling more back to normal. We feel like we have been tired for a very long time~I don't think we even realized it. As I reflect on this, however, I realize that God in His Sovereignty has stretched us to grow us, and the lessons He has taught us, although sometimes grueling, have never been too much. And now He is giving us a chance to study and grow in different ways.

Some of you have asked some specific questions that I will try to answer:

Living in our flat. It hasn't been easy to live in a two-bedroom flat with 4 children. I am used to a lot more space, and I MISS it! This area of living here is sometimes my hardest, especially when it comes to patience with my children. I see God stripping away much of my expectations of what we need as a family to function well, and that alone is very healthy for me. Materially we don't need so much and space-wise we don't need so much.

But, we do need each other! I have been surprised at how many issues we can address with our children simply because we are more on top of each other. I never noticed certain bad habits (like kicking their socks off and stuffing them under bed) until they were pretty bad at home. NOW, we don't have many socks, so I notice right away! And the three girls share a small room with no dresser, so we notice everything as soon as it's on the floor. Also, I know that we spend more time together in a smaller space, that has been a very good thing. We are enjoying less to clean and care for (compared to a house) and more opportunities to just enjoy each other and our friends here.

Financially: We are doing fine. Even though the dollar is at a historic low we see God providing (on almost a weekly basis) different ways to financially care for us~deals on different things, gifts from others, etc. When gas hit $8 a gallon we gulped~that was a bit more than we anticipated! We NEVER thought about the value of the dollar in America, probably few really do, but you do think about it overseas when your support is in dollars! So often we think of our missionary friends and realize that God is letting us experience on a personal level this year what they experience for a whole career. We hope we will be better partners with them because of it.

Jim's studies: Jim has had some challenges, one being the immensity of the task! He's been surprised at how much momentum he lost since he finished his coursework. Writing a dissertation is certainly not easy and I applaud the hard work he is putting in every day (and quite a few evenings, too!). He is trying not to be a perfectionist (not an easy job) and to research enough and then to write. It is very easy to spend hours tracking down 'just one more footnote' to make sure every base is covered, then get behind in the actual writing. You can pray he knows when he's read enough to write~always a challenge.

I love seeing him come home excited about something else he has discovered, especially when he can outline it and lay it out in a linear manner. (This is the way he thinks.)

Future plans: We have yet to see what the Lord will do! We are excited to see His plan for us right now, and are trusting Him for the timing and place.

And God is leading us. One reason we came here was intentionally to make ourselves as available as possible to being moved overseas, maybe teaching in a seminary or bible school. What we are feeling, though, is that God is drawing our hearts to the church. So that is an answer to prayer; we are feeling a continuing and growing passion for church ministry. We look forward to finding out where that will be.

Jim and I: We have often talked about how surreal it is to be here. So many of our colleagues are in the same spot we are in which, translated, means "short-term." It is a little uncanny to live like this, in an "in-between" stage; we're here but we're not here long enough to put down roots and settle. We already look forward to the time when we will settle more permanently somewhere. We aren't able to get really involved in long-term ministry because we are temporary, and we miss that. Our pastor at Eden did ask Jim to preach at some point, and he is eager to do so, he misses it. Jim and I have enjoyed this hiatus in one way however, and that is that we get to go to church together and sit together! That has been good~

So that's a bit more of how we are really doing. How are you? We love to have people email us or respond to our blog, keep in touch!