With the beginning of the distribution of our prayer cards and the upcoming move to Mozambique, we have decided as a family that our best communication methods on the field will be through this blog and through an email prayer list.

For the sake of bringing you all with us on this adventure,  I have made a few changes to the blog to hopefully allow for more ease in navigation and just freshen it up a little. I am still going to be the primary writer on this blog (cause, people it’s my hobby and I really enjoy it), but occasionally Matt may pop on to add a little extra flare. 😉

Matt will be running the email prayer list account. To get on the email prayer list, please feel free to email us at the address on our prayer cards if you are unable to fill out one of our information cards. (Don’t panic if you haven’t gotten a prayer card yet, it’s not personal 😉 We’re just beginning to distribute them and will do our best to get them to you soon). We will begin sending out regular prayer updates and news bulletins through the email address only. These updates will not begin until we have moved to Virginia in late July 2016 and will only become more regular in nature once we move overseas in October 2016. We will explain more in our welcome letter that we will distribute to those joining the email prayer list.

This blog, on the other hand, will be a more of a daily snippets from our world. I will continue to update this blog throughout our journey through packing up, saying goodbyes, vacation fun, moving to Virginia for orientation for 8.5 weeks, and moving to overseas to Mozambique.

Clear as mud? 😉

So now you are in the know-how and hopefully you will (continue) to enjoy this blog and our email prayer list as we begin to put our feet to the ground in these last few months.

I can’t say this enough… THANK YOU for journeying with us to the very ends of the earth.

Today is a mud morning

  


Because some times you just have to cut loose in utter filthy freedom.

– Addicted to their squeals.

I had a little fun yesterday and made the girls some bow tie pasta for the play kitchen out of part of a pair of Matt’s old khakis.

Then I got adventurous with a second recycled pants part and made ravioli, stuffing the bow tie pasta scraps into the ravioli. Hehe.

 
Pasta anyone? 🙂

There’s thriving on the excitement of the moment. The anticipation of the big day on my lips and on my heart. The countdown. 96 jam-packed days left.

But I have a little secret. That day is going to be massively exciting, life altering as we step into the unknowns. But that day will pass. Just like the others have.

Friends, I get most excited about sinking into the ordinary in Mozambique. That’s where my heart thrives to be. And I know the ordinary is not Disney World. It’s not hyped up newness. It’s just living.

I still remember the butterflies of our upcoming wedding. All the planning was intense and yet wonderful. But I told him the truth that what I looked forward to and still do enjoy the most is just doing the normal with him. Days of just regular old Joe grocery store trips, trips to the bank, and driving to and fro. Just hand in hand walking through life’s less exciting days is really my delight.

I desired most just to hold each little lady, while pregnant, and just sink into the normalcy of spit-up rags and dirty diapers. The normalcy of toddler tantrums and sharing conflicts. The everyday.

That’s where my heart desires to be. That’s just how I’m wired. I love the beauty in the non-hyped, nothing to write home about mundane. (Keep reading, I’m not completely insane…. yet. Ha!)

This Africa planning is wonderful. And stressful. And a new challenge. The beginning of an adventure of a lifetime.

And yet my heart also longs for that quiet place on the other side of the ocean, which I know won’t be quiet at all and yet in my heart will be. It’s that same quiet place God has taught me to embrace here serving at our church. Nope, nothing is perfect. Yes, there will always be some kind of discomfort and some kind of growing and some kind of moment to rise to the challenge. There will be super hard days in the world of the mundane, the world of the ordinary. There will be days I cry myself to sleep and I feel helpless. There have been those days here so why would I not expect them to be there? And there will be a whole floodgate of new that I don’t have any idea how to prepare for and really can’t. But that’s a part of the beauty in the normal. It’s predictably unpredictable. It’s ordinarily extraordinary. It’s beautifully mundane. It’s just life.

And it’s a gift.

Even when I need to adjust to seeing it as such, it’s still a gift.

I am thankful for the gift. For God gives that which is best. He knows me better than I know myself. And each day is a gift.

I am praying He continues to teach me how to receive better.

To rest in Him better.

To worship Him better… right in the middle of the everyday.

To exalt Him and glorify Him and pour out for Him.

Lord, help me to make that today’s legacy.

It was one of those mornings. She was just grumpy. Fussing about breakfast, fussing about sharing. She just followed me around the kitchen, crying and fussing. She wanted held. She wanted read to. She wanted to steal her sister’s doll and stroller. She sat on the counter a screamed. How dare I not let her take her sister’s chair?! Tears, rage, and then the need for nurturing. I had held her, read to her, walked with her. But it was only a temporary fix.

It was a busy morning. Four little ladies is always busy. But then there’s the chores, the never ending Africa prep, and the scheduling of time with friends. I needed two hands. She had to wait sometimes. That was never in her plan. She didn’t need words to explain that.

And then I just held her, pacing with her on my hip as I made needed phone calls. The recipients were patient with the fussing toddler.

I say down on the couch. My back was tired. She’s not exactly light. And as I talked to her big sisters, this happened.

Some times as a mommy are hard. It’s not all a cakewalk of beautiful memories. There are times I’m ready to tag someone else in. Matt is familiar with the glazed-over stare. He’s had it himself before. And while I know when she wakes back up we may very well be back to this teething ugliness again, but for now she is overcome with peace. And I can see the beauty in the still, even if it may only be the eye of the storm.

Embracing the beauty is such a help in building endurance. I’m praying that over tired moms today.

Through Christ’s eyes we can see the beauty, even when the storm’s still hitting.

At the request of a handful of people, Matt and I have compiled a list of specific items he and I would hope to purchase before our international move. Some of these items are quite specific due to availability of things in our very near future. Since we will be crating our items for Africa during the last week of June, we will take down the list by June 26th. On the list I’ve put up explanations for many of the things so you can enjoy the journey with us as we bridge to third world living.

You can click on the following link to access our list. Our “We’re Moving to Africa!” list.

With the discovery of no efficiently organized postal solution in Mozambique, we are doing our best to acquire these items and a few others for the next four years before returning to the States. We appreciate any help that you all may be able to provide in coming alongside of us as we prepare for a whole new slice of the world.

If you would prefer, a gift card to Amazon can be purchased instead of fulfilling a specific need. Also, if you are able to purchase one of these items at a better price elsewhere, then please let us know so we can take it off of the list.

******Thank you to all those desiring to help in any way possible. We love you all and cannot say “thank you” enough as we GREATLY appreciative all of the love, care and support you all have so graciously bestowed upon us. Thank you for continuing this journey with us.