More than 11 down, less than 3 to go.

Eleven months ago, we left our home down south. While the event that prompted the timing of our move was sudden. The Lord had been working in our hearts before that day.

We returned to the field in September 2015. When we did so, we did it with an impending feeling of urgency. We did not know if it was because of my cancer possibly returning or some other medical issue. We did not know what was going to happen in the months to come, but both Rich and I sensed the need to be busier than ever before about the work, making the most of every day. I spent a lot of time trying to pour into "Jennifer" as well as some of the other ladies, while Rich was empowering the men believers and encouraging the pastor. As the months passed by, the feeling got stronger. When a lot of changes happened in our company, we assumed the move would be related to some restructuring in connection with the changes. However, without any real reason to think the move was imminent other than our gut feelings, we still made some changes to our home to prepare for the coming hot season.

Then April came. In the first week, we went from helping one young man to him giving us a clear sign that it was time to leave, now. So we came to the capital and for the next few days talked and prayed through what we were to do next. The clear answer we got was to not return to our home. Where were we going to go? We did not know that, but we knew where we were not going.

In the last two months, I have been rereading through Acts. I realized again that God does indeed prevent going to certain places, even when we do not understand why. God also made it clear to Paul when it was time to leave a place, but before he left, Paul would encourage the brethren. God had lead us to encourage the brethren before we left and was leading us to leave.

Over the next few months, some possibilities presented themselves. Some were great options to use the languages we already have but did not meet my new medical needs. Other options that would meet our medical needs were not the best fit for our languages. Still other options would meet our medical options but the obtaining of visas was sure to be challenging. Finally, we were presented with the position to where we are now going.

Rich has always enjoyed playing devil's advocate, finding out why people believe the way they do. In fact when we were dating, road trips were filled with conversations in which " because the Bible says so" was not quite enough. I had to be able to tell him where it said it and how it related to other verses that seemingly contradicted whatever I said I believed. Since a young teen, I have been burdened by those who say they believe but walk contradictory to what they say, though not always perfect myself, or claimed to turn to Jesus with some other motivation. When we were presented with the opportunity to work with churches who are in desperate need of discipleship, the calling was clear. Living in a city where over half of the population is under 18 would also give opportunity for me to use that Masters in Religious Education focusing on Children that has been "on the shelf" for the last thirteen years.

Between living in a town of less than 100,000 and moving to a city of 12 million, we have been living in a city of 3 million. While not the same size, it has been a good transition time for us. We have had to get used to this type of traffic again. We have gotten used to being able to blend in more than we did in our "small" town. The pace of life is much faster. The kids have been able to attend school this semester, preparing them for whatever the next thing is for them. We are starting to figure out how to buy groceries for a few weeks at a time rather than a few months.

With less than three months left to our move, we are beginning the process of imploding. (That is what has to happen after you explode living in one place for over 11 months.) Pray that we will learn French well and finish our time here strong.

Their Best Chance

Why Did We Move from Home Schooling to a School Setting?

When we came to the field with school age children in 2009, I realized we would need to home school. William was the only student at the time. We jumped into first grade while I learned language. It was not too bad to juggle. First grade did not have too much to do and we could just do the basics. The next year was a little more challenging with a second grader and kindergartner and infant in my lap, but it still worked toward the end of my language learning.

Last year, as we began to look to a new direction in ministry, we began by praying about places where we could still use the languages we already have, with little to no additional language study. However, the Lord had other plans.

As we began hearing about this other position, it was obvious more language study would be needed. I had taken French classes growing up, but I am quite rusty, in spite of living in a French speaking country. Rich has never had French classes. The country to which we are going is a French speaking country, with neither one of our current people group languages being prevalent there. French would be our first language to learn in going there, and some time down the road, we will learn another people group language. Despite our hopes that we would be able to avoid a lot of language study, the Lord had other plans.

Last month before the holidays, we were given approval for our new position, however it was difficult to get the lessons up and going. We had talked with all the language coaches, who were encouraging of us to learn French as a family, offering our children the opportunity to learn how to communicate and thus make friends in our new location. With the beginning of the new year, we were all searching for a language helper who could work with us as a family. Living in a French speaking country should make it easy to find someone who can teach us French.  The challenge comes in finding someone who can teach French but does not speak either of the people group languages that we speak, because that would create temptation to speak in a language other than French.

Last week, Tuesday I believe, an email was sent out that a local French language learning program has openings for three students. Our language coach got a call Wednesday morning from the prospective teacher for us turning down the position. Our coach here quickly reserved two spots in the other program in case. Wednesday afternoon, we skyped with our language coach in our new place. We talked through the many options. We could continue to look for someone to teach our family as a whole and be able to arrive there in April, go ahead and move there in February and then do language there, or attend this other language learning program and move there some time in July. All of these options had their pros and cons. So we said we would pray about the options for the next two days.

One of my best friends has a special ringtone for her husband on her cell phone. She always knows when it is him calling her. The ringtone is the song, "It takes two to make a thing go right." That is so true. It takes both Rich and I to make things go right. He has said in the past that he sees which way to go and moves but that I take more time and hesitate. I used to take offense to that, because I thought it somehow meant a lack of faith on my part. Over the last few months, I have come to realize it is true, but both are good and necessary. He can see which way to steer us, but I read the map on how to get there.

Thursday morning, we met with our supervisors here to have our end of the year review. We talked a lot about the past year as well as the year to come. We came to the agreement that we should go to this new language learning program, but we had an idea of how to go about getting schooling for our children taken care of as well. That afternoon, we heard from the supervisors in our new location that they really wanted us to stay here for this other language learning program.

That being decided, I contacted our TCK consultant to run the idea we had for the kids schooling by her. She instead was very encouraging to send the children to the school here, particularly since we would be here the rest of the the school year and the new semester would begin in just days. She emphasized that I would better be able to focus on language study if they were in school. In light of the fact that we have lots more language study ahead of us, it seemed prudent to go this way.

So Friday morning, our supervisors here checked with the school on what we needed to do to get the kids enrolled. Rich subsequently spent the rest of the day filling out applications for each child. Saturday I spent catching up on grading and recording grades so that the school would have an idea where our kids are at educationally. We all rested on Sunday. Monday morning, we were at the school to interview, which was less of an interview and more of an orientation of sorts.

Amidst all of this, I was reading a book called The Dreambuilders: The Story of the Forts of Africa. In addition to recounting the medical ministry of the Forts, it also recounts their family life. This couple sent their eldest children ages 11 and 9 to boarding school 250 miles away. Knowing the caliber of these children as adults, I found comfort in knowing my own children would be okay in this new setting. God loves them even more than I do. This is a great opportunity for them to learn and for me to get the language I will need.

Overseas, education can look very different, from child to child and year to year. As one of our favorite shows says, we want to give them their best chance, whatever that means.