Welp, we’re in Montana now. 🙂

We arrived in Great Falls on Friday after a loooooong day of driving through nowheresville Idaho, a drive through part of Yellowstone, a stopover at a very cheap interesting motel, and another morning of driving. With all of us stuffed in a car, quarters are preeeeetty close and comfy. We’ve been listening to the audiobook of Pinocchio and it’s so funny! I’d only ever seen the Disney cartoon and the book is of course so different and so weird. With Pinocchio, a steady stream of Pimsleur Russian, and our favorite albums we don’t get too terribly bored. All that said, we are super happy to be out of the car and in Montana spending lots of quality time with the cousins and Jed’s grandma. We are so blessed!

Here’s some pics from along the way:

Seth calls this his Mickey Mouse pose. Hmmmm?

Havalah and her Playmobils. Inseparable.

Showin’ off the faves.

Addy is my VERY close car companion… 🙂

We ate in a covered wagon! Note the creepy animals…only in good ol’ Montana!

Ridin’ a bear in West Yellowstone

Look! Elk! (Sorry about the stranger in the corner…I’m not in a photo editing mood)

BOYS!

GIRLS!

Listening to the accordion with the cousins at GG’s

Girly cousins. Addy looks just a wee bit frightening!

The little boys. Cuteness!

Either on Tuesday or Wednesday we’ll head to Jed’s sister and her fam in Billings, MT. This trip has been super wonderful so far! Jed is feeling quite a bit better, so thanks for the prayers!

Posted with Blogsy

Road Trip Stats:

3 days

3 states

3 rounds of ice cream

3 delicious batches of homemade cookies

3 awesome times of sharing

2 church families we absolutely love

2 amazing host families spoiling us rotten

1 near-missed tornado warning

600 miles

countless hugs

countless welcoming smiles and open hearts

So as you can see, so far so good!

We had amazing times in Yakima and Hermiston. We seriously love those churches! It’s incredible how God can knit your hearts with people when you least expect it and when you really aren’t even looking for it. We feel such a great love for those 2 church families. The excitement, encouragement, and support they have showered on us has been so humbling and heart-filling. THANK YOU our dear friends! We left both places feeling loved and spoiled. 🙂

Don’t be judging the food choice…it’s a ROAD TRIP!

On Friday night in Yakima, we led worship and then Jed shared about the goodness of God. After the talk, we had a Q & A time with some medical professionals interested in how they can help. I can’t even tell you what it does to our hearts to see others grabbing this vision and running with it. To have someone come up and tell us they’ve been thinking about Ukraine ever since they last heard us speak and they know they just have to respond. “Wait, you thought about what was shared after we left??? YESSSSSSSS!!!!” 😉  We got to have breakfast with the fun and fantastic Lee Family and I forgot to take pictures.  Lame!  I guess you’ll have to use your imagination on that one.  Thanks, friends!

In Hermiston, we got to stay with the Douglass family and invade their space. It was the bessssst. Man, we love those guys. Mark and Lois adopted their son Nik from Ukraine a couple years ago so we have a special bond there, plus they are just awesome, plus their boys are tons ‘o fun, plus they all love our kids, plus they fed us delicious food and let us jump on their trampoline and eat their ice cream and swim in their pool. We had a comfy cozy family time with them that we’ll always treasure. Thanks, dear Dougli!

Now we’re in Boise at an awesome host home with such kind hosts, it’s just great! We shall see what good times await us here.

Thanks, friends for praying and following along on our journey. If you could pray for Jed we would really appreciate it. He’s got a cold/cough that he just can’t seem to shake. That’s made speaking and leading worship a tad interesting! He really doesn’t want to be sick and I really want him to be able to fully engage in this trip without feeling sick and tired. Would you pray with us for his healing? Thanks!

Bye for now!

Posted with Blogsy

 

Preparing to move overseas is quite the task.  It’s such a big task that we really have no idea how to tackle it.  Day by day, we just do the next thing that is in front of us- praying that when moving day comes along we’ll be as ready as can be.  I’m not necessarily talking about packing and all that (although I have no idea what I’m doing in that area either), more about preparing our hearts and minds for how our lives are going to change. 

When we very first started this process some very wise missionaries told us to do whatever we could to prepare our hearts and lives while we are still here in the US.  “Get your marriage right, work on those selfish areas in your heart, help prepare your kids’ hearts”.  Basically we were encouraged to do whatever we can do NOW while we are in a familiar situation and we have a great church and tons of friends and family around who love us.  Because although we will still have loads of rough edges to smooth off when we get to Ukraine, it’s in our best interest to allow the Lord to do some of the smoothing ahead of time.  Lord knows things will get a lot rougher in some areas once we get there!  Ha! 

Lately I’ve been thinking more about how to prepare our kids for this major life change.  I want to be intentional about preparations with them, because otherwise I know it simply won’t happen.  I know myself.  🙂  Like back in February when we first spoke at a church to share the vision, we were on our way to the church and I finally thought to look back at the kids and ask them if they understood what we were doing that day.  Addy understood, but Havalah and Ezra were unsure (Seth was just along for the snacks- as usual).  It was in that moment that I realized that although they are absorbing a lot just by living in the same house and hearing conversations, we must intentionally talk with them all through this process so their little hearts aren’t left behind.

Here are some things we have started doing to help our kiddos along this journey.  I’m writing them down partially to keep myself accountable, and partially to encourage other parents to be intentional with your kiddos.  We can’t assume our kids will learn what we want them to know about faith and their walk with Jesus by osmosis.  We have to have intentional conversations.  I am sure a work in progress in this area, so I don’t claim to be an expert of any kind!  But, you never know who needs to be reminded of that truth.  So here ya go!

Language Study
I started including Addy, Ezra, and Havalah in my language study.  Duh.  That should have been a no-brainer, but I honestly was waiting to find the perfect “kid” language curriculum for them.  Instead I finally realized that I started at square one and they can just join me where I’m at!  Some knowledge of the language is better than none at all.  We study Monday-Friday for maybe 25 minutes or so, and then I let them go play while I do a bit more.  THEY LOVE IT. They are such smarties too!  Addy has an awesome memory and Ezra has a great ear for the language.  It’s funny the words that stick out to them.  I’m not sure how helpful it will be to know “cockroach” and “frog” in Russian, but they’ve got those ones down perfectly!  🙂

We use Transparent Russian for our language study.  We bought it many months ago and chose Russian over Ukrainian because the part of the country we ultimately would love to end up in is mostly Russian-speaking, and our tutor we had hired was a native Russian speaker.  Now I wonder if we made the right decision, but ah well.  I think either one is a great start.  The complete program isn’t available in Ukrainian anyway, so it is what it is.  🙂

Transparent has grammar study, audio helps, and an awesome vocab-building tool called “Byki”.  Byki is the only part I use with the kids.  We study our computer flashcards and play little games with the words we’ve learned.  They are seeing the words, hearing the words, and saying the words.  It seems like the language study has given them more ownership in this process and I love that more than anything. 


Sharing
We’ve been lining up speaking engagements at different churches and small groups and have been wondering how to involve our kids more in that process.  Yesterday we had a great answer to prayer in that area!  The kids and I were invited to share about Ukraine at chapel for a local Christian school where my mom is a teacher.  It is missions week for the school, so every day they are learning about different countries and the work being done there.  We opened up the week by sharing about Ukraine.  Addy and Ez helped me prepare the lesson and even shared part of it with the kids!  I was so very proud of them!!! 

Ezra and Havalah…ha!

 Addy talked about where Ukraine is located, what kind of foods are popular there, what the homes are like, and showed pictures of the capital and important monuments. 

Ezra talked about language learning, showed a picture of the Cyrillic alphabet and talked about the sound differences and shared some words he’s learned.

Havalah had planned to show her nesting doll, but got nervous…I pretty much knew that would happen!  Ha! I could see how proud they were to share about Ukraine and it made my heart glad.  I think this was a big leap toward them taking ownership of this mission.  We were very thankful for the opportunity to share with other children!

Prayer and Discussion
Ever since we first learned about the need in Ukraine we have included the kids in prayer for the people of Ukraine. 

There have been seasons when we have been more faithful in that than others, but over all it’s been a constant in our family prayers.  The kids have certain orphans they pray for super faithfully, and most of those children have been, or are being adopted!  

That has been a great faith-builder for them!  Now I see we need to start expanding our prayer time with them to include the caregivers, other believers in Ukraine, and the people we’re going to meet and grow to love there.  I want to start praying with them that God will provide them with friends they can love and enjoy life with.  Addy and Ez are particularly nervous that they “won’t have any friends”.  I know it’s not God’s heart for them- so it’s time to start praying and believing that He will provide friends.


Sometimes I get nervous and think “What are we doing? Are we ruining our kids’ lives by taking them away from friends and family??”  But then I think back to all the words God has spoken to our family along this process.  This move is something He has called our whole family to- not just Jed and me.  Life in Ukraine is something He is preparing for our whole family.  When our loving Father created Adelina, Ezra, Havalah, and Seth He knew what life He was creating them for.  He knows how this will grow them and make them into the men and women He has designed them to be.  When I was pregnant with Addy a word was spoken that “This baby will be a bridge to people who don’t know Jesus”.  I am so excited to watch God fulfill that through Addy.  I can’t wait to watch each of our kids blossom and come even more alive as we walk into the destiny God has created for every.single.one. of us. 

  

Pardon the stream of consciousness blogging, but the main purpose of this blog is to document the journey, and sometimes I just have to spit out my thoughts as they come so I can look back and remember.  

So, back in September, we sold most of our worldly possessions.  Then in October, we moved in with Luke.  Then came the Holidays.  Then came emergency surgery for me.  Then came now.  

With the emergency surgery came loss.  We lost our little baby that day.  I wasn’t going to blog about it, but it’s all part of the journey, and I know someday we’ll look back and see God’s hand in it, so I guess I feel like it’s important to say a little something about it here.  God’s grace and His hand have covered us so completely the last couple of weeks as we’ve grieved the loss of our baby.  We still grieve, and I know that road may be long, but I don’t doubt His great love for us.  I don’t doubt His plans for our family- every member of our family- even the precious one in heaven.  I don’t doubt the promises He made and I know He will complete the work He started. 

Wonderful friends brought us meals the past week and a half as I recovered from the surgery.  One friend from church shared pizza and some beautiful words of encouragement.  She said that God is going to fill the empty space in our hearts with a dream.  

It’s already happening.  I’m dreaming about Ukraine.  My heart is broken anew for the little ones who waste away.  I grieve for their lost childhoods.  I ask Jesus to linger at their bedside and speak tenderly to them as they sleep.  I pray for great change to come in Ukraine- hearts to soften, more believers to rise up, greater faith.  My heart is broken for my baby, but in that brokenness, God is reminding me of what else breaks His heart.  He’s filling up the empty space with His dreams.    

I know the enemy would have loved to use our great loss to derail us.  No way.  Not happening.  My heart aches for my baby, but my spirit aches for Jesus.  Wherever He is going- that’s where I want to be.  In my human mind, I don’t see how anything good could come from our loss, but in my spirit, I know better.  I have to trust that He sees and He knows.  I see how He has perfectly orchestrated His plans to bring us to this place.  He has prepared Jed and I for this since we were children.  Our baby has never been beyond His grasp.    

Passion is rising, hope is rising.  The pain is there- sometimes so strong it feels suffocating, but hope still rises.  I refuse to be derailed.  I choose to be changed by this and my heart to be molded by this.  As one friend encouraged, I’m “riding the wave”.  I’m not muscling my way through the grief, but riding the wave.  Trying to rest my soul and mind, doing my best to let God minister to me in the way He knows I need it.   

I’m looking forward to the day when I can look back at this and see how He carried us through.  
He truly is good.  He truly is loving.  
He’s got our baby, and heaven looks brighter to me because of it.     

I figured I better give an update about where we are on our journey to Ukraine.  I haven’t written much about our move in this space recently just because there is so much still up in the air.  I’m coming to realize that is pretty much our new reality though, so I better document it anyway. 

This past weekend we had a massive garage sale.  It was great!  We sold a ton of stuff.  Remember we’d already had one garage sale earlier in the summer, and now we had another massive one.  I look around my house and I still feel like we have too much stuff.  Seriously!!  Anyway, we made great headway in whittling away at all our things.  Like now the girls are sharing a dresser and Jed and I are sharing a dresser, so we sold the other 2 dressers.  We sold non”essential” kitchen items, more books, bookshelves, paired down our stuffed animal collection a bit, tools…it felt good.  

The next step is to get out of our house so we can put our mortgage payment toward paying off student loans.  Good riddance Sallie Mae!!  We’d love to sell our house, but we’re upside down in our loan, so we have to rent it out.  We’re planning on moving out of our house in October and then getting it rental-ready.  We’ve had a very generous offer from a friend concerning our living situation that I can share when it’s all finalized.  Let’s just say, God is doing just what He said He’d do!  As we take steps forward He opens up the path before us.  It’s been nothing short of miraculous.  

Right now the main focus is our living situation.  Once we get out of our house, get it rented, and start putting money away we’ll shift our focus to how God wants to finance this dream.  There’s talk of mission support raising, non-profit starting, grant writing, business plan making…all stuff that is much more Jed’s area of expertise!

We’ve contacted a few different organizations in Ukraine that do work similar to what God has put in our hearts to do and asked about partnering.  These are mostly people and organizations we visited while in Ukraine.  We aren’t sure exactly how it will all look, but we just step forward in obedience and I’m confident God will work it out.  

To people who don’t know the Lord this all sounds CRAZY.  Believe me, sometimes it feels crazy to be living it!  But, in the midst of the craziness we have peace.  We have peace that we are exactly where God wants us at this moment.  We have peace that He is paving the way and making paths straight. 

So that’s a brief update about where we’re at.  Thank you for your prayers and support!!