New friends

We said goodbye to many, many good friends in Woodland Park, but we also know that we'll make new ones.  It's a blessing to already know some, both in person, and through email.  Meet some of our new friends:

We first met the Beckers at our candidate week at AIM's headquarters in November of 2008.  Their daughter is a year older than Faith, so they won't be in school together, but I'm sure they'll find plenty of time to play together!  Karl is a English teacher and Laurel will be helping out around the school like Heather.  They are departing the states with us in a few weeks and will attend orientation with us as well.

The next family we came into contact with was the Unruhs.  They have four children, all of whom (I think) were born in Kenya.  Faith and Rodney have been at RVA for many years, and so through numerous emails back and forth, they have helped us prepare and know what to expect and what to bring.  They serve as dorm parents and Rodney is the school purchaser, which means he travels to Nairobi frequently.

The Shirley family moved to Kijabe in November, and unlike the other families in this post, they live outside of the RVA campus because Rhett is a doctor at the Kijabe hospital.  Megan stays busy with their three kids under 4!  Claire is a year younger than Faith, but they are looking forward to meeting each other!  Megan and Heather share a love of smocking and Southern Living magazine, and Heather has appreciated Megan's fresh insight and advice from their recent move.

Our most recent contact has been the Gonzalez family.  Tony and Bethany attended candidate week in August of 2008, have been preparing just like us, and will depart with us in a few weeks.  Tony teaches history and Bethany is a Chemistry teacher.  Their two kids, Ellie and Marcus, are exactly the same ages as Faith and Joel!  Heather had a few friends in Woodland Park that had same age and gender kids, and was praying for another family like that, so what an answer to prayer!

Leaving Woodland Park

In lieu of posting many, many pictures of our last sweet month in Woodland Park, we made a little video that chronicles the time until our move last Monday, June 21st.  We've been here in Western Colorado with Jim's parents, checking things off the to-do list, packing our suitcases, and spending time together.

Take a look at the bittersweet closing of our past few years living in Woodland Park.

Moving out

How are we doing?

I suppose it's time for a little update since we are moving IN TWO DAYS!  Things have been going well around here this week.  We've packed a little every day, made time to spend with special friends, and we even fit in one last zoo trip.  We load the truck tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) and head out early Monday morning.

It has been interesting to watch our family during this time, myself (Heather) and Faith in particular.  Back in April when we packed up the first wave of things, I had a few emotional days looking through pictures and remembering all God did for us in our six years in this house.  The first house for our marriage: where we brought both children home from the hospital, where we've grown spiritually and relationally, where God comforted our sorrows and pain during hard times, and where we rejoiced in Him together during the good times.  And I thought... 'How in the world am I going to handle moving out of here in June?!'  

Faith over the last few months was sometimes a bit of a challenge when it came to moving and including her in that process.  She has always been a child that likes to know ahead of time what is going to happen for the day or week, and has never cared for surprises.  So knowing this about her personality, we have spent a lot of time talking with her about what our lives would look like from June until August.  She'd have to put a lot of her things in boxes to store at Grandma's house, and only a few things that would fit in a suitcase would go with her to Kenya.  She would have a new bed at her new house, but there would be quite a few beds to sleep in until we got there.  While I think that we've told her not too little or not too much, she still often met the conversations with argument, frustration, and even tantrums.  And I thought... 'How in the world am I going to handle moving Faith out of here in June?!'

If there's one idea that I already knew, but was certainly reinforced this month, was that the anticipation of something is generally harder than the actual event.  I remember in high school that I would stew and stew before writing a paper, but once I got that first sentence on paper, I often finished in a shorter time than I spent anticipating the writing process.  Looking around at my empty walls and eating out of foil pans on paper plates with plastic forks really doesn't feel all that painful and sad like I thought it might.  After a conversation on Monday with Faith about packing and her jobs for the week (that was met with a little arguing!), she went right over to her toys on Tuesday morning after breakfast and began to pack cheerfully, even including Joel in the process with the sweetness of a little girl not troubled by anything.

But even more so, I believe that God is saying "It's time."  That we have been granted, through our prayers and the many, many prayers of others, the 'peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.'  And we are so thankful to be able to lean on Him.