Blessed

It has not always been easy these past 6 months living so far away from family and friends back in the States. I go back and forth feeling fine, telling myself this is no different than any other time we lived away from loved ones thanks to moving so frequently with the Air Force...and then feeling very far away and unreachable.

But the truth of the matter is that this is different from other assignments we've had these past twelve years in the military. Telling myself otherwise is a lie. This is different from anything we've ever experienced. Of course there are many things that are the same...things that happen every time we move and start over....such as the process of finding a new church home, making new friends, settling into a new house, having to learn our way around our new town.

But most of everything else is drastically different. Unlike anything we've encountered before. And from the moment we stepped foot on African soil...without fail...the Lord has never failed to provide for us. I'm not just talking about meeting our physical needs, though He certainly has done that as well. It's in the less obvious. The subtle ways. It's in those quiet moments when I am feeling far away and isolated, longing for the comforting words of a familiar friend that I wake up to find an email in my inbox. Or receive a surprise phone call. Or a care package arrives unexpectedly. When I am feeling forgotten, and beat down, discouraged and empty, the Lord lovingly reminds me that I am being lifted up from afar.

We have not fallen through the cracks of the earth. We have not slipped off the side of the planet. We are seen, and remembered, and prayed over...and it makes me crazy kinds of proud to know that our life is filled with the greatest of people.

It makes me burst with joy knowing that God has blessed our life abundantly with people to love us and encourage us from afar.....

People like my mom who goes to the Goodwill and scours the aisles for capris to send me because I told her I'm burning through my clothes at an alarming rate thanks to the extreme conditions of our new country. I once got a box stuffed to the seams with her glorious thrift store finds! Not to mention the coloring books and crayons and bags of M&M's she sends for the girls, which we have been eating ever so slowly!

People like Bekah who sends me a new apron made by Cambodian women rescued out of the slavery of human trafficking. And coloring books for the girls. And sprinkles which we used today when we made Valentine's Day cupcakes.

People like Sophie, Nora, Samantha and Lydia..the girls greatest of friends who lovingly leave a box open to fill as they find things to mail. The girls have gotten sea shells from their vacation to the beach, cards, and favorite stuffed animals.

People like Aunt Lisa who sends us coloring books and crayons because the girls also burn through those at an alarming rate....new books for the girls to read including the classic "Little Pilgrim's Progress" which we just finished reading and the girls absolutely loved! Not to mention the bags of marshmallows, books, candy canes at Christmas, extra gifts for the girls, and coffee for Isaak.

People like Holly....who purposefully left the tag on a piece of jewelry she scored for me at Target for my birthday because she got it on clearance and she knew how proud I'd be of her incredible clearance find! True that!! Also all the Trader's Joe Taco Seasoning, hot chocolate mix, books, and notes of encouragement.

People like Kristine who, out of the greatest gesture of love I may have ever been the recipient of...went to Walmart to look for instant pudding mixes and paint samples! Kristine doesn't do Walmart. Not ever. She broke her self pledge to never set foot inside one our their stores for the rest of her life and had successfully managed to stay out of one for many years...until her labor of love on my behalf sent her back into the dungeons layer. I almost died when I opened the box to see that she apparently had taken every last one of those paint samples....a very subtle way of stickin' it to the man...the man that is Walmart. :~)

These gifts are great. They are. But it's not about the gifts. It's not. We don't need them. I don't need paint samples for crafts or taco seasoning, marshmallows, new books or sprinkles. But that is one of the things that is so great about gifts...people give you them whether you need them or not. This is about our people. Our people who want to bless us...simply for the sake of blessing.

And it is with overwhelming gratitude that I say thank you. Thank you for all the ways that you have blessed us. Thank you for those who sent Christmas cards. Thank you to those who keep us in your prayers. There are not enough words to express my sincerest thanks.

Thank you for loving us.
It has been life to us out here.