india!!

What comes to your mind when you think of India?  For me, it was Slumdog Millionaire and a story I heard of a girl whose leg slipped into a hole of a "squatty potty" on a train in India.  Gross!  Ew!  Really, I've never even had a desire to VISIT India...and living there has never crossed my mind.

BUT GOD!

I love how God's plans and dreams for us so exceed our own.  He knows me better than I know myself.  I'm trusting in His goodness and His plan.  Last spring, once our family knew we were headed to India, we decided we would go visit.  John had been there before, but the rest of us hadn't.  John went to get our visas, but he didn't have enough pages in his passport to get his visa, so just Z and I went.  What a sweet time with that boy!  And what a sweet time of getting to enjoy a new place and realize that our family would thrive there!

We visited what will soon be our neighborhood.

Made friendships with our amazing new team.

Rode rickshaws (autos).

Found places to love...like a library, California Pizza Kitchen, an art supply store!

Went on "tours" with our new teammates.  Z was pretty happy about this scooter ride!

Looked for places to live.  (This one might be an option for our house!)

Drank coconut water from a street vendor.

And got to see some poverty and neediness.  God, how do we respond to the need that will be around us?

Mostly, I experienced a growing excitement!  There's a place for us in India that will be such a great fit for John's work skills and for our family and kids to have friendships!  We are looking forward to falling in love with our new country.  

new beginnings

I've been absent from the blog this year.  Life was way too raw, and sharing it...well, I didn't even have my own words to share in the secret places of my heart.  I certainly didn't have the words to type out to the world and hit publish.  Oh, God has done some amazing stuff in the last couple years.  When He's moving and shaking us and driving the foundation of His truth and love deeper into our hearts and lives, it's not always easy to see.  But in hindsight, the view is pretty spectacular.  And I'm starting to see the view behind us...the last two years...as something glorious, sacred, and holy.  Even beautiful.

(photo cred:  my beautiful friend, Stephany!)

I don't know if I'll ever become a regular blogger.  But I'm hoping over the next weeks and months to share some bits of the journey with you guys.  Tonight as I drove around Waco and pondered, I teared up again thinking about who I am.  Thinking about my weaknesses.  Thinking about how He gets ALL the glory for the story of my life.

He took a girl who is naturally so fearful that I hated going into my house alone at night when John wasn't there and turned me into someone willing to launch out to the unknown; to move with my husband and kiddos to the Middle East; to walk through some wild times over there.  Only God can do that in someone's life.  And only He can take the desert places and bring growth!  Hosea 2:14  "But then I will win her back once again.  I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there."