We have a contract!

After a year of being on the market, we have a contract on our Kansas house. The inspection is complete and we have some repairs that need to be done, most are minor and due to the house sitting for empty for a year. We are so thankful to everyone back home who mowed our lawn, picked up branches, flushed toilets, cleaned floors, and dripped faucets when it got really cold. 

We had taken the house off the market to replace the roof and get it back on for the spring. Our realtor, who we love, contacted us last week with an offer. We have had so many showings over the last year. I don’t even know how many. We considered renting, giving up that our house would sell in this market and then when it’s not even on the market, we get an offer, one that we would have taken last spring.

Selling this home has been really difficult for me. This came to a great surprise to me, since I hadn’t even painted anything until we put it on the market. Darrel and I walked into that house and both immediately knew it was ours and a few weeks later we celebrated Noah turning 4 and brought baby Lily home from the hospital. We cacooned with Jude in that house for the first 6 months he was home. We’ve had so many good times with friends and family in that house and for 10 years we called it home. I would not be selling this house except to come into ministry. I loved it. It was so hard to hear of all the people who walked through and didn’t find it as amazing as I do. I asked God, “why would you ask me to move and then not provide a buyer?” I struggled. Darrel took care of all the house issues, all the realtor walk throughs, all the negotiating, all the paperwork. I just couldn’t do it.

Now that things appear to be coming together, I am sorting through my emotions and mostly I am feeling relieved. I know that my family is where we are suppose to be, walking with individuals and families to help them find where God is leading them and working with the poor here in OKC.

I still love “my” house and we miss our friends and family dearly but it’s so good to know that we are where we are suppose to be. Please continue to cover our house in your prayers, if everything goes well closing will be May 1st.

 

   

Traveling

Our first few months of really being the Directors of Mobilization, after we completed Beautiful Feet Boot Camp training, have been full of many adjustments for our family. First, we moved, which deserves its own post so I won’t say much about it now. Second, Darrel and I have been traveling with John and Jamie Zumwalt to the Perspectives classes that they are teaching within driving distance. This has taken Darrel or I away about every other week for the last 6 weeks or so and will continue until the first week of May.

This has been a time of challenge and growth, both for us and for our children. FaceTime has become our friend and vital part of our morning routine when one of us is gone. Seeing faces and checking in helps add to the security of the ones left behind.

The time on the road has several benefits for Darrel and I as we learn and develop our new position. We are able to spend time with our founders between classes; understanding our organization, its past and their vision for the future. This is incredibly valuable as we move forward. Another benefit of traveling is being out with the Perspectives students. These kids are teaching us. We are listening, learning and asking the question, “How can we help this generation reach the darkest places with the love of Jesus?” We know what is needed. We know that it requires intimacy with Jesus, training and perseverance to make it long-term on the field, long enough to understand the culture so that the seed of Jesus can be planted and nurtured to grow. This kind of commitment is not usually made in a semester. We are learning how to help these individuals just keep moving, as Jamie says, “it’s hard to move a ship while it’s sitting in the harbor.” It has been eye-opening to see what God uses in the lives of future missionaries to bring them to the point of going. Please pray for us as we walk with the ones we are talking with on a regular basis. Pray that we will have insight to help them process and the perseverance ourselves to never give up on people. After all, it took us many years to process and many steps of faith to get to where we are today.