Tadpole

becky    Uncategorized    

We’ve been back in Murfreesboro for about a week after being gone for a month. It feels weird to be back when we know we’re leaving in just over a month.  We have much to do in our time left-things to sort, many good-byes to say, and life to live.  One of the new things about living life for us is the new child God has blessed us with.  We are expecting another baby in early February.  S/he will have the distinct honor of being the first baby born to a family serving with HCJB Global’s Asia-Pacific team while in the mission field.  We are blessed beyond measure and know that this child is perfectly in God’s timing.  In keeping with family tradition we will not find out our baby’s gender before birth, so we have nicknamed him/her “Tadpole” for the meantime.  We covet your prayers as we add the transition of having another child into the mix with transitioning to life in a foreign land.

And It Feels Like Home

becky    Uncategorized    

We have been away from home for almost three weeks now, the past two of which we have spent here in Palmer Lake, Colorado (check out this link to learn more about our training) and the first week, as Toffer mentioned, traveling through the Midwest.  We started with a visit with our regional director and his family a little outside of Chicago and headed west from there.  We got to see some friends/supporters in the quad cities (which included a stop at the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, IL-the boys LOVED this impromptu adventure) and spend a night there, then we headed to Ames, IA, for the bulk of that week.

For those of you who don’t know, I lived in Ames for five years of my life-sixth through tenth grade-and my mom grew up about 30 minutes away from there in a tiny town called McCallsburg.  We realized as we were getting close to Ames that the three previous trips there had been for weddings and were short trips and that the last time we were there for any appreciable amount of time without scheduled activities was almost 10 years ago to the week.  I was a bit giddy about the opportunity to actually spend time in Ames-to see the places that shaped me for five years.

As we drove through the streets I could point out houses where so and so lived (and most of so and so’s parents still live).  We drove by the elementary school where I went to sixth grade (Samuel thought the playground looked cool), the now-closed middle school (a much-needed new one was built close-by), and the high school. It made me feel connected to a part of my life that I think I’d become somewhat disconnected from.

We spent time with my mom’s sister and her family and my mom’s brother, including a visit out to the family farm so the boys could ride on a tractor.  Great Uncle Dan was more than willing to do this, though Samuel insisted that Mama also drive him around in the tractor. I complied and Toffer posted a video on Facebook for those particularly interested.  We also went to Iowa State University’s campus where my grandfather was a botany professor for years and years and my parents, brother, and several other family members attended at various times in the past five decades. It was bittersweet to stand at the office that used to be my grandfather’s office and see someone else’s name on the door.  And it was bittersweet to go to the farm where I used to ride the tractors with my grandfather and then go eat my grandmother’s home cooked meals and know that I will not see them again until we are reunited in heaven.

We crammed a lot into our days in Ames. I loved getting to see so many friends and catch up with supporters there.  I loved showing Toffer places he hadn’t seen in previous trips and especially introducing our boys to a part of my family’s history that they hadn’t seen yet. And what I loved the most is that Ames still had a feeling of home, even after not living there for 14 years. It was nice, it was comforting. What was so great about it was that I felt such freedom to be able to call more than one place home.  Murfreesboro is just as much home as Ames is and I hope that our new place of residence in Asia will also one day feel like home without having to feel like I’m giving up something I left behind.  Ames will always have a feeling of home. Murfreesboro will always have a feeling of home. And I hope one day the city where we will live in Asia will also feel like home.

In training…

toffer    General    

The guys in the NFL aren’t the only ones in training these days. Today marked day 2 of training for us here in Colorado Springs. Last week we stopped through the midwest to see family, friends, supporters, and to spend a little time with our regional director while he was in the country before he heads back to Asia soon.

Now we are in training, learning the tools we will need to be effective personally, as a family, and as a team. It turns out it’s kinda hard to cause the lost you are trying to reach to be interested in God’s love when you can’t even show kindness to the people you are around the most. In John 17:21 Jesus asks “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

It will be nice to have some time here and not be living out of a suitcase again for a little bit before heading back home to get everything ready for our soon-approaching move to the field. Thanks for your prayers during this time.

Of course, we are still needing to add to the “Ministry Expenses & Emergencies” category in the progress bar you see to the right. Joining with us at $35/month can move it 4 percent! Thanks for your consideration as we desire to shore this up soon. You can contact us for more info or click the HCJB Global logo to the right to give.