Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I’ve managed to get out a grand total of TWO blog posts during our home assignment, and it was May before that, so let me try and get some of these thoughts out.
This is our very first home assignment, a sixth month leave from Papua New Guinea to have our daughter Lucy Mae; it’s also for learning how to be a family of three, raising some more support, and to hopefully get some rest before jumping back into ministry.
It has been amazing to grow into a family of three… our “mom and dad shoes” so to speak. At first, it was terrifying and overwhelming. This little person invaded every aspect of our lives. Honestly, there was a certain amount of mourning our 7-year-long-pre-baby-life… But then, fueled by the grace of God and cups of coffee, we started growing. The nights weren’t quite so long and anxiety-inducing; we didn’t cry quite as often; and we found that with some intentional “normal” we can still just be us. Suddenly, she became a part of us, and not an intruder. We’re so thankful for our little coconut!
We’ve reached the point in our furlough where we are homesick for PNG, for our ministries, for our friends, and our home. It’s been good being in America — there are people we love, not to mention fast internet, fast food, shopping, and anonymity — but now we feel ready to get back to the everyday life God called us to.
Can you pray for us? We have a few prayer requests weighing on us right now.
- Travel costs: we need about $4500 for tickets and baggage back to PNG.
- Partners: our cost-of-living has increased with the birth of Lucy Mae; we’re looking for more partners.
- Phones: we both need new phones, since ours each have one foot in the technological grave; it’s required to have working phones for our ministries.
- Medical Bills: obviously, having a baby is costly.
We are continuing to make our travel arrangements in faith, knowing that the Lord provides what we need when we need it (and not a moment sooner), but it is heavy on us, and rather discouraging at times. BUT GOD. He is good and faithful. As our friend used to say: “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills; but He only feeds us one hamburger at a time.”
Leave a Reply