We hit the Jackpot!

The chance of winning the lottery is 1 in 302.5 million

The chance of making it to the Olympics is 1 in 1/2 a million.  

The chance in having a baby with Down syndrome is 1 in 700 babies.

The chance of a miscarriage in pregnancy is 1 in 4 pregnancies. 

How come God picked us to win the lottery with Rusk?  The day he was born we were told how he would get to compete in the Special Olympics and donations were made in his honor.  We never had dreamed of any of our kiddos competing in the Olympics :).  The differences of Down syndrome seemed scary at birth and now they only highlight how extra special God made him. From conception, this guy has been a fighter and God has such a plan for him.  From heart concerns to blindness corrected with surgery and contacts, this kid shows us everyday God's good gifts come in all packages!  

 

Eruption!

We lived on St. Vincent for 5 years and all of us have climbed the volcano, Brice too many times to count.   It's a truly beautiful place filled with tropical rainforest. In April of 1979, it erupted with the only casualty being a pig.  This April it erupted again and has been continuously over the last few days.

One of our students currently has family that live in the town near the volcano.  At the last minute, they were all able to get out.  The problem we are hearing from graduates and old neighbors is that because their water system is above ground, it has now all been contaminated with ash.  Stores are out of water now. 

These pictures are from here in Barbados.  For us, almost 100 miles away, we have received several days of darkened skies from the ash.  The ash has been accumulating and with a smattering of rain has made it messy and turned into a cement mixture.  We got a reprieve today and have started cleaning everything.  Our water is low now, and so orders have been not to use water unless needed.  But, it is hard to imagine being in the direct zone there and not even have drinking water, let alone water to clean out the ash! We keep praying for ways to help and for God to continue to provide for them.  

 

Departing As Best We Can

    We've said good-bye to every single person in our lives (except our children).   Teammates and students we've lived alongside flew away, family celebrations were routinely missed, and commonplace farewells don't bring on tears anymore.  Connections are kept through the internet and actual aunties and uncles abounded in personal form through church, neighbors, and friends here.

   I've read books and blogs and attended seminars, knowing how to move from another country well.  My college friend Melissa wrote an amazing book appropriately named, "Returning Well".  But in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, it's hard to put the plan into action.  

   When we were told by doctors and friends it wasn't possible to get one more year here, but God made a way.  He worked out flights, positive tests to help us not quarantine, (who would have ever thought getting COVID could be a good thing?), and a last year of great transition.  So we are clinging to that promise of giving Him our all, even when the situations change it into something else.  With the island being still mostly locked down, we can't say good-bye to our teammates, coaches, youth leaders, friends, homeschool group, etc.  Elbow tags are exchanged for hugs and thank-you's are being written instead of told.  

   A good friend challenged me when I needed answers that I should look at biblical examples first.  So, I found that Abraham, Jacob, and Ruth all left their homes willingly.  One to follow God's call, another to reunite with family, and the last to find hope and persevere.  As we move to a new adventure, which is also our home country after fifteen years, I am full of hope for our future and for the one here at WISE.  

For awhile now, we have been the foreigners.  Our kids were the ones you could pick out in a park of other kids with darker skin.  Our accents always gave us away for natives to ask where we came from.  It's ingrained in us to prefer timely and shorter events instead of all day events typically beginning hours late.  But, along the way, this part of the world changed us, grew us, and will forever be a part of who we are.  

   So, as we head back in the next month, the next part of our story begins soon.  Our kids will exchange hanging clothes out for a dryer, dishes being washed by hand will now be loading the dishwasher, and learning to drive will really happen on the right side of the road.  

   

"Live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear." 1 Peter 1:17

Truly, we are all foreigners, choosing each day to do our best and give all we can!  In word and  action, we serve the Lord, being thankful for Him and all He has given us!

Thanks for all your support over the years!