May 5, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word, The Parenthood
It seems like a few moons ago, when we were sitting around waiting for our baby boy to arrive, thinking about timing and life and Valleys of Postponement and even the perfectly timed birth of Jesus. And I’m pretty sure I told you at some point while we were busy waiting, that I had a feeling there was good reason to trust a God whose timing is much better than mine.
As is often the case in the stories of our lives, I didn’t know at the time exactly how the Lord was working things out.
We were expectant, and even hopeful that our second child would arrive early. As his due date approached, we started to think it would be neat for him to be born four days early, on Valentine’s Day, and when that passed we started to think of reasons why other days leading up to the due date might be nice. And eventually we were busy thinking about which days after the due date might be nicest…but I was pretty much to the point that I thought any day would be nice.
After Baby Blake’s arrival, we shared the news with family and friends (of course), and HH’s folks made their way down for the two weeks we’d planned to spend together right after the little one arrived. As we sat down to dinner on one of their first evenings with us, they had some news to share, too. It turned out that on Valentine’s Day, my first day of choice for the baby’s birth, my father-in-law had a heart attack.
He had a quadruple bypass well over a decade ago, and the doctors think that some plaque broke away from the lining of one of the arteries and created a blockage.
But what happened next was nothing short of miraculous.
When pressure built up because of the newly blocked artery, one of the clogged arteries that had been bypassed in that surgery, back in the mid-90s, opened up and started working again.
The doctor wasn’t sure if Dad was religious, but he was sure someone upstairs had been looking out for him.
At the dinner table I quietly wept as my mind took in the possibility that Dad could’ve not been sitting there with us, making a toast to the birth of this new baby boy. I thought about how differently things could’ve been had Blake come early and had they been travelling down to see us and meet the baby when the heart attack happened. They wanted to wait until after Baby Brother came and they were safely here to share the news with us. Dad had time to recover in the hospital and at home before they made the trip down.
The more I think through the alternative scenarios in my mind, the more I see this little one’s arrival as absolutely Perfect Timing. And for so many moments of those two weeks we enjoyed right at the start of this little life, I silently thanked God for what almost wasn’t — what could’ve not been. How that picture up there almost didn’t get taken. How different this arrival could’ve been.
And while I knew we could trust God for His perfect timing, I just didn’t realise how perfect His timing could be.
In every circumstance, to God be the glory.
xCC
May 2, 2011 | An Expat, South Africa, Stories
Let me start this wee (or probably not so wee…) post by saying there are no less than thirty-seven of you folks that I wanted to share this news with individually, one on one, preferably over a cup of coffee or at least on a phone call where we each had a cup of coffee and maybe even a cookie. But then I started doing the math on how long it would take to make all thirty-seven of those phone calls to share the news, even if they only lasted for ten minutes, based on how many minutes I have free over the course of the day, considering there’s in some cases a six hour time difference, taking into account the fact that I can seldom speak for only ten minutes to anyone — and that sometimes includes telemarketers and UPS delivery persons. Let’s save that story for another day.
Now where was I?
After coming to the conclusion that I couldn’t break the news to everybody this year if I tried to individually contact all the folks I would’ve like to have shared said news with personally, I decided that you are an awfully gracious bunch of folks and you’d understand.
So don’t prove me wrong! I love you.
Now on to the news.
The name of this blog is probably going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because my address is going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because the continent we call home is going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because HH’s job is going to be changing pretty soon (and mine, too).
And for those who feel brevity is the soul of wit, in a nutshell, that’s the news. But if you’d like more details, do read on, dear.
After lots of a-thinking and lots of a-praying, it is clear that the Lord is a-closing one door, and opening another. Our time with Samaritan’s Feet is coming to its conclusion, which we really have mixed emotions about. Although the evidence surrounding the conclusion we’ve come to could fill another blog post or eight, for now I think it’s sufficient to say we’ve begun to recognise the ways that we’ve been wired and gifted and the type of ministry that we’re best suited for is different from our present work. Plus, we need to pay our bills.
So what’s next?
Not long after we made the decision to give notice with Samaritan’s Feet and begin to hand off the work we’ve begun to new leadership, HH got a couple of job offers in the US of A…and none anywhere else. The first was in Seattle and we would’ve been working under an amazing pastoral couple, and we would’ve learned so much, and it would’ve been a wonderful setting to enjoy for a while…but Seattle feels about like Edinburgh in terms of its distance from North Carolina, and we’d like to at least be close to some family, if possible. (And travelling from there to SA would be a heckuva journey.)
While we were umming and ahhing {did you like that? I’m not sure transliterating onomatopoeia is my strong suit. But isn’t that a fun word to say? Try using it in a sentence today.} about the Seattle decision, another job offer was extended to us. Exactly thirty minutes away from my super-duper little hometown in Greenville, North Carolina.
Boo-yow.
The church I attended while at university there, Greenville Christian Fellowship, has a missions-sending agency they’re hoping to grow. It’s called Global Impact Resources, and it’s actually the agency that first sent me out when I moved to Scotland.
As the director of Global Impact, the Hubs (and I, to some extent) will be providing a pastoral covering for missionaries on the field, as well as overseeing the administration of their ministry support. Opening the honesty box, there have been some times, when being on the mission field has made me feel like I was on an island of my own. Care packages have made me cry because it didn’t even matter what was inside — it just mattered that someone cared enough to make the effort. With a small heap of experience in our back pockets, we feel equipped — and passionate about — being a blessing to other missionaries on the field. We’ll continue to raise support for part of our salary, and we’ll also be ministering in the local church part time.
Now on to the specifics:
We’re either leaving our place here in Gordon’s Bay at the end of June or the end of July. We were originally thinking July, but since the honesty box is open, I’ll explain that we’ve pretty much been going into debt to try to finish off what we started here. We’re planning to spend several weeks in wonderful Bloemfontein with HH’s folks before adventuring across the pond. If possible, we’d like to spend a week or so in the UK, visiting our previous mission field and all the wonderful people there we’ve been missing these past two years — we might even get to attend one very special wedding!
We’ll then be heading to North Carolina, staying with my folks in the Original Washington, while we look for a place to live in the wonderful Greenville. Dates and departures to be confirmed.
So, I’ve tried to cover all the bases, but my guess is you might have some questions! Would you like to ask them in the comments and I can come back and edit this post to add in the answers?
Oh, one last thing! How do we feel about all this?:
Bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe this transition for us. Although we were confident this wasn’t our last stop, this move has come much sooner than we expected. On the one hand, I’m stoked about little things like maybe having the same address for more than a year, and putting paint on walls. And I’m stoked about big things like being close to my family and a lot of the friends back home that I really miss. On the other hand, leaving South Africa, and more specifically HH’s folks, is really, really hard. We haven’t left yet and I’ve already cried about it. A lot. Yes, we are definitely planning to come back regularly — our boys are American and South African, and we want them to know both cultures and to know their grandparents (and their aunt up in Joburg, and their Uncky in London!) — but visiting regularly isn’t the same as being a day’s drive away.
It’s true that Mama Africa’s red dirt gets in your blood. I’m not the person I was when we stepped off the plane almost two years ago. And those sentiments deserve a handful of posts, too.
For now, the long and short of it is: Change, She is A-Coming. In every circumstance, To God Be the Glory.
xCC
Apr 30, 2011 | Baby Photos, Stories
There most certainly is a lot going on around here and thank you very much for asking. There’s some news on the docket that I’d like to share but I need to get my heart and my thoughts and my words together, and finding a moment for getting all three of those together at the same time can be a bit like herding cats right now…without the scratches, I suppose.
And of course we have friends around, and as always, they have come in God’s perfect timing and I am incredibly thankful and full of run-on sentences and good cheer and fresh reasons to bake something.
Until I can herd those cats into one barrel, or crate, or metaphorical litterbox, I thought I’d share a Be Still, My Heart moment with you from yesterday.
Are you ready?
Are you sure?
Look!
Hero Hubs edited it this afternoon and I almost fainted.
Twice.
Hope you’re having a great weekend. Talk at ya soon.
xCC
Apr 25, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word
There are days for me, when the sky is gray. One baby crying upstairs, the other crying downstairs, I find myself in the middle, thinking how much I’d rather be able to sit still than juggle.
Sometimes, the daily grind tires my heart.
I imagine there are days for you. When your boss is angry. Your spouse is angry. Your heart is angry. Or just tired. And though He is Risen, you feel like you’re still in the tomb.
I find myself gray.
Then I read a story like this one, a mother who lost her young daughter, after a long battle, on Good Friday. And thankfulness for these boys of mine finds me again.
Perhaps you hear unemployment rates on the news. And thankfulness for a job greets you.
A single friend talks about the challenges she’s facing. And your spouse is rightly recognised as a gift from God.
I remembered this morning the story of Horatio Stafford, a friend to D.L. Moody, who lost a son, then all his investments, and then his four daughters to shipwreck. He travelled to England, to be reunited with his wife who’d survived, and on the journey his boat passed over the spot where the shipwreck took place and he wrote these words:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain: It is well, with my soul, It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
Refrain
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
Refrain
But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord! Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!
Refrain
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.
Refrain
Stafford’s words are a powerful and convincing reminder to me: It doesn’t take too much looking to find a reason to say that it is well with your soul today, but when all else is lost, the very fact that He went to the Cross, and He is Risen is reason enough.
xCC
Apr 20, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word
S ix years ago I had just moved to Edinburgh and was in the midst of helping a missions team host an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in hopes of reaching kids at a nearby local high school. The Lord put Agnes on my path, and we began to have amazing conversations over coffee about life, decisions, the God who loves us past, present and future, hope and peace, joy and redemption. She began to follow Jesus and I wept tears of joy at her baptism.
It was an incredible privilege.
When Agnes decided to come visit for this time, surrounding Baby Blake’s arrival, I’d hoped in my mind it’d be like old times — we could do Bible studies again together, and sit long over coffee and chat, and I could think of lots of important and helpful questions to ask and encourage her continually.
But somewhere between becoming a mother and having a baby and then having another, those old times weren’t quite possible to resurrect. And I occasionally felt guilty about that…feeling like I didn’t have the capacity to pour out as I did before.
Agnes wrote a beautiful parting note that she left behind on her bed for us to find after she’d been dropped off at the airport today. And she talked about how blessed she’d been to be here, and I thought about how blessed we’d been to have her. And I realised that there is so much to be said for the joy that can come in sharing life. Even if you can’t squeeze in a moment for structured study, or set aside an hour for theological training.
Perhaps that’s why the Lord instructed the children of Israel to share the law with their children like this:
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. {Deut. 6: 6-9}
The Truth is a part of life. And I’m starting to think we can gain more by living and breathing and walking and eating together in truth, than perhaps by just gathering for an hour on a Wednesday evening with structured agenda, or even on a Sunday morning with a set schedule. {Though I do think those things are important and have value, too!}
We talk about it as we live it.
I digress with these thoughts, but more than anything, the beautiful thing I am celebrating this evening is how God can just bless and bless and bless. Agnes was blessed to be here. We were very blessed to have her. The Bear was blessed so much by her presence. Even Blakey was blessed with one more set of hands to cuddle him. And to God be the glory — He pours out of His cup, we pour into one another’s, this way and that way, loving and sharing, and somehow we are all overflowing.
Though the Dassiesfontein photos aren’t yet sorted, I do have one to share with you, of Agnes with our thank you gift to her, which we found on that adventure:
We said goodbye at the airport this afternoon, but we know in the Lord it is always rather a “see you later.”
And in the meantime, my heart rejoices with a simple song of praise for all this goodness:
To God Be the Glory.
Amen.
xCC
Apr 19, 2011 | Baby Photos, Stories
H appy Tuesday, lads and lassies! Today crept up on me! I suppose I am trying to avoid counting down the days, knowing that our dear sweet Agnes leaves tomorrow. {Pray for me.}
While she was off gallavanting in Cape Town over the weekend, we took a little field trip to a place just off the N2 called Dassiesfontein. Remember me introducing you to the delightful and mischievous dassies of Hermanus? Well, Dassiesfontein is Afrikaans for “Dassies fountain.” Unfortunately, there was not a fountain of dassies to be seen about the place, or even a couple, but there were a plethora of other visual delights and we picked up a wee gift for Agnes, which was the mission of the adventure anyway.
However.
The magically delightful photos are not yet uploaded, cropped, tidied, blow-dried or straightened. Okay, we don’t do those last couple of things to photos, but you get the idea: they ain’t ready yet.
So if you’ll pardon the slight delay, you can look forward to getting your non-Dassied Dassiesfontein fix tomorrow. Is Travelling Wednesday okay? Just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Sigh.
In case you just showed up for some photos today, I’ve aimed not to disappoint, and arranged a fairly comparable showcase for you, in the form of a safari, no less!
In this post, you may hunt for Bears and lions. And now you may begin…
….
…
…
…
Look!
Did you see the Bear? And did you find the lions? 🙂
The Bear’s Surrogate Scottish Granny gave us this outfit when he was born, and it was one of my favourites. I was delighted to pull it out last week for Baby Brother’s enjoyment.
That’s the Bear, on the left at two months…Baby Brother on the right at six weeks! I think Baby Brother is a big boy. And fortunately, hasn’t lost as much hair.
Funny how life seems to begin and end with balding and incontinence. If I could set this post to music, the Lion King’s “Circle of Life” theme song would’ve popped up just now, when you read that last sentence. And you’d all pause and think…”I don’t get it. Oh wait, I do.” Good, we’re on the same page.
Moving swiftly on.
You’d think they were related.
Forgive me. I am finding these comparisons so. much. fun.
Hope you’ve had a great Tuesday! Hoping the delightful non-dassied Dassiesfontein will be ready for you tomorrow!
xCC
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