The Empty House

It was been a little over a week since we signed papers to sell our house.  As usual, things were quite an emotional roller coaster.  At times I felt like it was no big deal but then a wave of emotion would overwhelm me.  Just when I thought I was OK because it didn’t look like our house anymore, I would do something like walk into the kitchen and have a flashback of all the dance parties we had in there.  I would picture a squealing, beautifully joyous girl I would spin around in her wheelchair….. I would picture the time Jackson was in preschool and won a CD on a shine.fm radio call in.  We all laughed and huddled around the kitchen radio to hear his voice broadcast…. I would think of all of the pictures taken in there of things like crazy hair before school….

We are settled into our rental house and it truly is a blessing.  We are right in town and the kids are excited to do things like ride their bikes to Dairy Queen or walk to the library or grab a latte at the coffee shop on their walk to the Post Office.  It is also amazing that we were blessed with a house where everyone still has their own bedroom and the space they need to homeschool and also to process all these changes that the Lord is doing in our life.

It is freeing to know that we are now debt free with no strings holding us back from heading overseas.  We are ready and willing whenever the Lord prompts hearts to get us funded with the monthly commitments that we need to sustain our ministry in Indonesia.  We can’t move forward until that happens.  Now that we are done packing and moving we really need to start connecting with people to share what God is doing through MAF in Papua and the gravity of needing to be funded as soon as possible because of the shortage of Maintenance Specialists, like Jack.  We would love to explain it all to you if anyone has time to get together with us.

As Jack and I sat in our empty living room one last time, we were filled with sadness of what we are leaving behind but also so encouraged with possibility.  The possibility of months of ministering and praying with our friends and family.  The possibility of being funded soon and heading into the next training class.  The amazing opportunity that we get to be in full time ministry.  The reality that the many conversations we had over our 18 years of marriage have actually come true.  We felt several times that God would call us to sell everything and follow Him.  And we are finally doing it.  It’s not what He calls everyone to do, but the fruition of that prompt we felt several times is pretty incredible and terrifying that it actually came true.

So, we said goodbye to our house. We brought our two bio babies from Michigan there over 11 yrs ago. We grew in our marriage, fostered, adopted and made a home there. And many years before that, Jack’s Mom and Dad brought him home from the hospital to this house. They built it right before he was born. Tough day but we “know the plans He has for us. Plans to prosper and not to harm us. Plans to give us hope and a future.”

We’re ready and willing, Lord.  We choose to say “send me.”