When I began this blog, we were
preparing to move to India. Our intention was to be missionaries there for at
least five years and to help the church grow in that area. We had every belief
that God was pleased with our desire to work overseas and would bless our
efforts. We poured our hearts into making plans; it was one of the deepest
desires of our hearts. Through various circumstances and some sad events, we
were forced to accept that even the most well-intentioned ideas are not always
God’s plan. Sometimes He does not allow us to serve Him in quite the way we
think we should. But, that is a subject for another article. For now I thought
it would be nice to do an update on our lives for all of you who are interested….
We made the difficult
decision to put our plans for foreign mission work on hold about a year ago. It was
one of the hardest decisions we have had to make so far as a married couple,
but we believe it was for the best. At that time our second child was on the
way and preparations for his birth became a major focus of my life.
On April 4, 2013, Joel David changed
our world at 5:32am. He was thirteen days overdue and weighed in at a whopping
10 ½ lbs. He was 21 ½ inches long and was covered in the most vernix our
midwife had ever seen on a full-term baby. Our Chunky Monkey was and is a
happy, easy baby.
It was just the birth I had hoped
for; quiet, peaceful, full of love, and free of complications. It was so
different from Amos’ birth eleven months prior and for that I am overwhelmingly
grateful. Since that day we have been adjusting to life as parents of two
babies under two. I think we’ve managed pretty well and have finally gotten
into something of a rhythm. It keeps us busy but blessed.
After deciding that mission work
was not in our foreseeable future, we began looking for a stateside preaching
position. My husband has had several interviews, but we are still praying for
the right job to come along. We want to go where we feel we are needed and can
do the most work for the Kingdom.
The last few months have been full
of travel. In July we celebrated our second anniversary with a five day getaway
to a cabin in northern Alabama. Then we were in Alabama again for Labor Day
weekend to visit Josh’s family. A few weeks later we went to North Carolina for
Round House (a family retreat for Christian homeschoolers). The weekend after
we got back from there we had a preaching tryout in Texas, and this coming
weekend we are flying out to Michigan for another tryout. I love to fly, and
this will be my first time flying since before we got married, so I am really
looking forward to it, although I know it will be difficult with babies.
Hopefully they’ll be as good and sweet as they usually are.
The boys are getting so huge so
fast. Joel began sitting up and crawling at four months, and now at six months
he is starting to stand on his own and even try to push himself to start
walking. Amos is barely staying ahead of his little brother in clothing size, but
is progressing rapidly in learning to talk. His growing vocabulary keeps me in
awe of how fast he is growing up. He is absolutely a toddler now; hardly any
baby left in him. He is such a sweet little man, and is so good at helping take
care of his little brother.
It’s been a hard year in a lot of
ways. Lots of adjustments, lots of disappointments, lots of dreams revised. But
it’s been a year of growth for us as a family. We’ve been challenged,
stretched, and sometimes bent nearly to the point of breaking, but God has
brought us through it all and continues to show His mercy every day. We are but
instruments for His purpose, and we are eager to see what He has in store for
us in the coming year.
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