Transitions

So, we have been back in the U.S. for two and a half weeks now. It has been really great to see all of the family and friends that we have been able to visit and spend time with. We are currently going to be in Southern California for a little more than two weeks and are excited to reconnect with our friends down here. As we have thought and prayed, we have decided to move up to Chico to live with my (Leah) aunt and uncle on the farm while we raise support. This will allow us flexibility both financially and time-wise that we would not be able to have down here, although we are going to miss our friends and our church greatly! Our hope is to come down and visit frequently. Kevin spent last weekend in Portland, OR, where he went through the orientation for his new MA program. He was able to transfer most of his credits from Fuller to George Fox Seminary where he will be getting an MA in Ministry Leadership. He is going to be participating in a distance program, which will give us flexibility to go to Spain when we have sufficient support. He is super excited about this opportunity and looks forward to beginning. If you are in Southern California we would love to see you in the next couple of weeks, so drop us a line!

Back Home

So we are officially back home! It has been a really emotional few weeks for us, and we said good-bye to our family and friends in Mexico City with more than a few tears. Still, overall, it was a really amazing experience and I feel like we both are moving on to what is next with the feeling of being extremely loved.

Right now we are in Northern California, and will be until mid/end of August. We still hope to be living in Southern California, but as of yet have not found an option that will work with our travel schedule (we have a two week orientation with LAM in January, at least a two week exploratory trip, probably in November or December, and Kevin has two weeks of classes up in Portland for his Masters degree). Please continue praying that God will give us wisdom in this and will open up the right opportunity, in the right place, at the right time! :)

Meanwhile, we are enjoying visiting with our families, right now we are with Kevin's parents and on Saturday we will be going to visit my (Leah's) parents and grandparents. It is nice to re-enter life a little slowly and have time to process.

Please e-mail us, we would love to hear from you and reconnect when we are either up in Northern California, or back in Southern California. :)

Sad Goodbyes, Coming Hellos

Times of transition hurt. It hurts to change, even in a situation that is bad...But our situation has been awesome! This year has provided for us many things. Upon quick reflection some of the items are:

- The chance to spend a great deal of time together. I do not know too many married couples that spend so much time together and get to know their spouse. What a blessing.
- The chance to learn to minister and learn what God is doing around the world and in another culture.
- The opportunity to communicate well in another language (though Kevin still has a good ways to go.)
- The opportunity to make strong relations with people from another culture. These people will be like family. (This means we have three families - our parents, in-laws, and Mexican family.)
- The opportunity to explore missions as a full-time career.

All these things grew our personal lives, our marriage and our faith.

As earlier posts stated, we feel the call to begin a program, similar to the one we just completed, in Spain. This is a very exciting time for us as we have already run into many potential contacts to help our ministry there.

Yet we have to say goodbye to what we have here in order to follow the current call of God. This means tearing ourselves from a family that took us in and loved us. We are not so unique, however as our Mexican sister and her husband, and their two children are also moving away, almost as far as we will be (before we move to Spain). This is hard for our family, but it shows us that our Mexican family, like our own parents and siblings will be our family forever. That is fantastic. It still hurts to say goodbye.

But...

WE ALSO GET TO SAY HELLO!!!!!

Upon returning to Los Angeles we get to see my sister, Jennifer. We will also get to see some friends. Then after a day or two, we head north to stay with Kevin's parents in Cupertino. Some time with them, then we head to Discovery Bay where Leah's parents will be flying in and staying for a week. In that time I (Kevin) get to fly to Portland and say hello to my virtual classmates who I have yet to meet, and spend time with a very long-time friend (I've known him since he was born.) After this we will head to Los Angeles and decide the next portions of our lives.

With every change there is a sour side. The more intense the experience the more intense the pain when leaving, but the more you've been changed. It also means a sweet return.

It is a trying time, but necessary and beautiful. Sometimes shedding beautiful tears helps to grow even greater smiles.