Update On Our World in Goldonna

Oh man…the past month and a half = HARD (but I have some cute and fun kids, don't I? ;) )

I really can’t go into it all…sorry to be so vague. I would love to be able to be completely open and honest with you on here, but some things just can’t be written about. But, for a very vague account…

We’ve been through a huge attack…the battle was brutal. Again, you know I’m not a sensationalist (I usually downplay things too much actually), but it really took a toll on us in more ways than one. It was super intense and full of emotions. Thankfully (yet unfortunately), it is over. ‘Unfortunately’ because the finale was not ideal, but ‘ideal’ is rarely achieved here on this Earth, right? Some things are just the way they are and you have to accept it and move on. We are just so overjoyed to be free from it now. It’s been a battle that spanned over the past few years (although in reality, much longer than that) and finally, we are free. Now comes the growth and health that will be allowed to happen because of that freedom. I’m relieved and happy and expectant. Maybe I’ll write more about it at a later time. But, for now, that’s all.

We’ve been in our house for about 3 ½ weeks. Love it. It is such a great little house. And YELLOW…my favorite house color. It has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (wow), an open kitchen/living room area, and then another huge room past the kitchen (there is an opening above the kitchen sink looking into this room…with a little bar area on the other side of the sink in that room) that we use as a playroom/schoolroom. This house belongs to a church here in this little town (Goldonna…about 15 minutes from my hometown of Saline) and they use it for hurricane evacuees, Bible conferences, etc. Hence, the way it is set up (3 bathrooms, for example…and lots of beds). It was furnished which was a huge blessing…we just had to add a few things to meet our specific needs. It’s in a cute little neighborhood and has a couple of parks that we can take the kids to. We are just on little country roads, so it’s great for running (it’s warmed up around here since that first week or so when it was in the teens)…except for the scary dogs. We already knew some of our neighbors. We were friends with the previous owners and also the lady who lived here for years before them. My Daddy used to come to parties in this house when he was in high school (the owner was their music teacher). And I have good memories of that same lady (Ms. Whitney) singing at our revivals growing up. So, we're keeping it 'all in the family' around here. Good times.

So, we love our house. Of course, ‘our’ is said loosely as usual.

We’d really love for God to open the doors for us to have our own place here in the states. There are so many reasons why this would make sense and be wise…even more reasons now than before this particular trip back. But, God knows the big picture and our future, so we’ll just wait and see what He does. We are definitely actively looking though.

Homeschool is going well. We completed 2 weeks so far, but took this week off. Several things going on and projects not related to school that needed to be completed before we moved on. Kindergarten is significantly more involved than Pre-K (time-wise), so we’ll see how on-schedule we stay with our school year with all our traveling and visiting and trying to get everything done in the states that we need to get done.

One of the things that was going on this week was that Joel traveled to Mississippi with my dad. They picked up our van that we had before we left for Brazil. When we left Louisiana (in May 2007), we gave it to my friend (single mom with 4 kids). She has since gotten married and told us before we came back that we could just have it back…they were no longer using it. What a blessing! So, it is now here and Joel will do some maintenance work on it and see how it’s doing (wasn’t driven for the past several months…they brought it back on a trailer).

We are slated to speak at a couple of churches in February already and have been asked by 2 other churches to do a True Love Waits weekend. So, with all the things that we’re still busy doing just trying to get all settled in here (van, etc.), homeschooling, meeting with friends/supporters, and preparing for speaking engagements, we are definitely keeping busy.
We’re still working on scheduling our travels. We had it one way, then something changed. Then we had it all set, then another thing changed. ;) Typical of a home assignment sometimes we are told by other missionaries. So, as soon as things are more set in stone, we will be letting you all know. But, we do know that we won’t be starting any travels until March, so that much is certain.

Also, just FYI…it has been confirmed that we won’t have high speed internet for the duration of our time in this house. So, I am spending hardly any time on the internet these days. I check email at least every other day and am able to be on through the iPhone when we travel to other towns around here. But, if you are wanting a way to get in touch with me quickly in the future, just email me (see sidebar for our family website where there is a link to my email in the ‘contact us’ section) and I will send you our phone number here in Louisiana, ok? I’m blogging very rarely here (obviously), but if you are on Facebook, I will see you there more often (occasional status updates when we are out and about and have service). If you are not on Facebook, you need to be. ;) Also, if you do call and we don't answer, we might be online. ;) Welcome back to the world of dial-up. ;) But, we usually don't stay on long. If we are not online and are just not home, the answering machine will take your message.

Keep us in your prayers. We come into contact with so many people who have such needs. Pray that we will have wisdom in how to do our part in their lives. Thank you.