Missing you already...

What are we going to miss? That’s a question Joelle and I have been asking ourselves (and each other) since we were accepted to go teach in Vietnam. We love this place, we love the people around us…why on EARTH would we pick up and move across the ocean for several years?

To be honest, there will be a lot to miss. Like Isaiah, for instance. Quite possibly the cutest, most intelligent toddler in history, Isaiah came into this world about two and a half years ago and moved from Colorado into our neck of the woods (along with his mother Rachel--Joelle’s older sister--and dad Seth) shortly thereafter. It’s been a joy to watch him grow from infant to crawler to the running, laughing, accordion-playing toddler that he is today. The fact that Rachel’s got a second little one on the way this spring doesn’t make our leaving any easier.

Then there’s this wonderful, blessed place called Whatcom county. I had a free afternoon this last weekend and decided to head for the hills. A 30 minute drive took me to a vast playground of mountains, rivers, forests, and waterfalls. A 30 minute drive the other direction would have taken me to saltwater and glorious sunsets. Vietnam, we’re told is a gorgeous place (and we believe it) but there’s something about this northwest corner of the Northwest that just can’t be found anywhere else.

The list of things we’ll miss goes on: Mexican food, our family, good friends, our church, quiet coffee shops with free wireless…

And it’s at that point that we need to stop and remind ourselves why we go. We go because we are called, and the One who calls us is greater than anything we would ever have to leave behind. We go for His glory, and that His name would be honored. That is why, difficult though it will be, we still choose to go.

Waiting...

The U2 song "40" repeats a refrain that Joelle and I have been able to relate to these last few weeks.

How long.....to sing this song?
How long.....to sing this song?

For Joelle and I, the "song" we've been singing for a while has been the reality of living life in the U.S. while knowing that we're meant--eventually--to be elsewhere.

A few weeks ago we finally finished our application to head overseas and teach English in Vietnam. It was a bit of a harrowing process, lasting a total of about eight months from starting our applications to finally getting everything turned in.

Now we wait just a little longer, while the organization we've applied with decides what they want to do with us. A strange feeling, having one's future in the hands of another person. But familiar somehow, nonetheless...