Our Big Girl

Something amazing happened last week. Addie wanted to go to school.

Now she hasn't been doing awful, it's just always made her a little nervous, and so she never went very easily, was usually very clingy to the teacher when she got there, and there were often a few tears on the way (and a few tears after on mommy's part). We had been mercilessly bribing her with chocolate (and not just any chocolate, Swiss chocolate), and it was working for the most part. There were days when we could tell that she wanted to be there, she was just a little nervous while going and when we dropped her off.

Then a week ago, Wayne had taken her to school and was hanging up her jacket in the hallway when she walked off without him into her classroom, turned around and said "Au revoir papa!" like it was the most natural thing in the world! Ever since then, she's been hopping up in the mornings saying "Mommy, I need to eat so I can go to school!" and hasn't had any trouble at all! She says now that she is a "big girl" and that's why she doesn't cry when she goes to school. We are so proud of her and so happy with the change that God has brought about in her. It is such a joy for us to see her happily marching into school, smiling the whole time.

She now tells us too that if we are a big girl and a big boy and don't cry when we go to school, we can have chocolate too. I haven't told her that I already treat myself to Swiss chocolate, even on days when I cry :)

Perfect Timing

I love to plan things out. Wayne will tell you, it drives him nuts sometimes. If we're talking about doing something in the future, near or far, I want to figure it out now. I want to know when we are leaving and how it is all working out. But as we are coming up on one year in France (on January 2nd!) I have been thinking about the last few years and how everything has worked out so well for us, and not because of my planning, but because of God's timing (if it were up to me, we would have been finished with our time in France already). But God knew the perfect time to bring us to France.

When we first started out, we were hoping to arrive in France in September of 2008. We worked hard at raising our support to be able to leave then, but not only were were not ready, we had very limited choice in housing for that time (it would have been way too big and expensive for us). So we planned for January 2009, and I am so glad that we arrived when we did. Looking back over our time and looking ahead to our last few months, I see that we arrived not a day too early or too late. A few of the reasons that I see for this are...

- we got the perfect apartment for us, just the right size (and price!)

- we moved into our apartment the same weekend that one of my now best friends moved into their apartment just down the hall. Both being new students with young kids, we spent a lot of time together at the beginning of the year and had a good 10 months together before they had to move on :(

- both Wayne and I were put into really good classes with excellent teachers. Our classes have had very little disruptions as far as changing teachers or rearranging students, and both have moved along at very good paces for us.

- Addie's situation has been pretty much ideal. For the first 6 months of her time here in France, she was in a nursery at our school with 2 French ladies and between 3 and 6 other kids. Isabelle and Nadine speak a little English, so they were able to communicate well with her at the beginning of our time, but they used as much French as they could with her. The other kids either spoke English or were too young to talk, so she didn't have the opportunity to speak much French (ie. she wasn't forced to!). We were a little worried that she wasn't learning it because she didn't use it, but I think now that those 6 months of hearing French every day were perfect for her. Now she needs to use it to communicate with her teachers and friends, and she does! It's all there! She now has almost a full year to be with French kids and teachers, but didn't have to go through the complete shock of entering a French school the week after we arrived.

- we will be able to finish our time here in France and do a quick trip back to the States for some very important events in my family! We will finish our last week here just one week before my sister Jenna's baby is due and a couple of weeks before my sister Kara graduates with her PhD! The timing for a trip back to see our families and to prepare to move to Senegal couldn't be better.

Looking back on this, I am incredibly thankful that God has perfect timing, as He has proved and continues to prove over and over in our lives.

Wayne preached...in French!!!

When Wayne's mom told this to a man who knew Wayne as a child, his response was "I never thought I'd see the day when Wayne would preach, much less in French!"  I am so very proud of my husband for making the big step into preaching in his second language here.  He's my favorite preacher to listen to, I'm glad the people over here get to listen to him now too!  We are very thankful that our church here in France has given Wayne this opportunity and that he is able to minister to them in our time here.  

If you want to hear what Wayne sounds like in French (even if you don't understand) you can listen here.

Si vous voulez écouter sa predication, vous le pouvez ici.

Silence...????

We have been told that sometimes, when young kids enter a new culture where a new language is spoken, that they will stop talking altogether for awhile.  It seems like they just need to figure out what is going on, and then they will get back to normal.  So we came to France prepared...but didn't have to worry :)  The only time there is silence around here is when Addie is sleeping.  Just tonight, she had to go to the bathroom and was chatting a little too much to concentrate on what she was doing, so I left her alone.  As soon as I walked out the door, I hear her yell, "Mommy, I need some privacy!" over and over again, followed by "Are you giving me some?"  Hmmm, I'm not sure she quite gets the concept of privacy yet :)

Thanks for praying for her.  Her transition has been going really well.  It has actually helped me in knowing that she likes it here.  She loves our new apartment, her new toys that she received from a little girl who just left here, and is getting to love the nursery that she is in 4 days a week.  God really knew what he was doing when he gave her to us.  She brings so much joy to us every day.  I'm not sure we would survive this without her!

Nothing to do with Senegal

A major part of us being able to move back to Dallas was myself being able to work. At the beginning of the month, I started working at an engineering company that I had worked at for a few years while I was going to seminary. This has been a huge blessing in that I'm coming back to a job where I can set my schedule, make good money to help us prepare for leaving, and be in a great work environment. Here's a photo of our recent ugly sweater day in honor of an employee who is moving to our Austin office.Other benefits of the environment include the many free lunches I've already received and also being able to work with a good friend of mine who attended N.C. State and Dallas Theological Seminary the same time as myself. He's the one who provided my sweater and he wore my personal favorite from the day.The job has already been a blessing in many ways, but mainly because it's allowed me to move back to part-time which greatly frees us up to focus on Senegal. And if you haven't heard already, I originally got this job because of meeting an employee at this company at the Cheescake Factory and my dad asking if the company needed any part time help.

Praise God for not only meeting our needs right now, but letting me have fun doing it!

Confession...

I am a pack rat...just ask my dad :) Recently I was cleaning out some boxes that are at my parents (yes, I still have stuff at my parents) and I was very proud of myself for throwing stuff out. I figured those calculus notes from high school will never come in handy! I always figure that you never know when you might need something, so you may as well keep it. Well, my tune has changed. As we are moving to Dallas in less than 2 weeks, we are in the process of packing our stuff. As we are moving overseas in less than a year, we are in the process of getting rid of stuff. It's not worth hauling that picture frame that I might want to put a picture in someday overseas, so we have been making a lot of trips to Goodwill, the trash bin (yes, I even collect trash!), and other peoples houses (some of it isn't bad stuff, just isn't going to fit in our luggage!). So I guess that is our prayer request this week. Pray that we would be diligent in getting ready to move, and that we would have the time to do it all this week as we really want to spend time with family next week! And pray for patience for us as we just had another hitch thrown into everything. We had a big ice storm last week which apparently has been doing damage to our roof. Our apartment maintenance came by tonight and said that our ceiling had water in it. So we now have a big tarp stapled to our ceiling and a bucket to catch dripping water in the middle of our living room floor. I guess the patience part comes in when Addie gets up tomorrow morning. In a small apartment with boxes everywhere already, it's going to get interesting! It's sometimes hard for me to tell this cutie no (as you can tell from the way that she has commandeered my purse and keys!)We also have an item of praise in this move. You may have heard the story of our trip to Dallas in August. Well, to make a long story short, we had car troubles on the way, were going to pay $1,000 for repairs to our Grand Prix, left it in Oklahoma to get it fixed, drove a rental to Dallas for the weekend, called Monday morning to see if it was finished, and found out it was fixed but then totaled during the test drive! So instead of $1,000 in repairs, we left Oklahoma with a newer, less mileage, bigger than our car minivan! We are now thinking that God gave us that minivan specifically for the purpose of this move. We are hoping to get all of our stuff that we are keeping into the van with Wayne. Addie and I will be flying down to Dallas on the 31st (thanks to frequent flyer miles from all the traveling we have done this year!), and Wayne will drive the car down that weekend. If we still had the Grand Prix, there is no way we would have been able to fit all our stuff in and would have had to rent a truck for something. God has provided for us once again!

I am thankful...

...for so great a salvation.

...that God is worthy to be praised.

...that God chooses to use us in His plan.

...that God has given us a clear vision and plan for our future.

...for my husband who loves me and cares for me.

...that I have a husband whom I can respect and follow.

...for my baby girl.

...for my education.

...for my heritage.

...that God is not done changing me yet.

...for the Holy Spirit, the helper that Jesus promised.

...for technology.

...that we have people in Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas who get excited to watch Addie.

...for books.

...did I mention Wayne and Addie?



Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thankful for!

Praise Update from the MBB conference

The following is a praise update from the Muslim Background Believers Conference that we attended last week. One of the specific prayers that we all prayed was that more Muslims would receive dreams and visions to lead them to Christ.

"Sunday we received a report from one MBB with a huge praise report. After joining in prayer for Muslims to receive visions and dreams, her brother whose body was broken down the right side due to a care accident, said he had dreamed of flying with a white bird and being baptized in a pool. When the brother awoke, his body was completely healed and he could walk again. He is now seeking a Bible and more answers about being baptized. Praise the Lord!"

Pray that God would continue to use this to draw people to Himself!