A Breath of Fresh Air

Depressing note: It's a little too quiet around here without Fenway. Waverly has asked about her a few times in the past week which makes it hard, but we're working through it.

Moving on: Speaking of the past week, as exhausting as ours was, it was equally as encouraging and enjoyable.

We just got back from Nashville and our appointment week. Honestly, I was not really looking forward to  the week; the schedule looked intimidating and I wasn't super pumped about meeting new people. Praise the Lord, His ways are higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:9) and the week was absolutely refreshing. We immediately connected with a couple we had met in Malawi last spring and other couples we had met at Expo last July; as well as, meeting new families walking the same path.

The daily meetings were grueling for someone like me who has a hard time sitting and listening for hours at a time. A few times I caught myself wishing I was a doodler. More than a few times I realized I had no idea what the speaker was talking about. Bad habit. However, the sweet, life-breathing times were those spent with new friends, families at the exact same step of life, leaving it all to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We shared stories and histories and were all in awe of how the Lord takes different people, from different walks of life and different experiences and brings them to the same place, only to send them out on similar, yet completely different journeys. These families will be our lifelong friends. We will always have a connection to them, despite the thousands of miles that will separate most of us.

It was a breath of fresh air, I tell you.

Anyway, all of the meetings (and hotel food... :/) culminated in our official appointment ceremony at Brentwood Baptist Church Wednesday night. Both of our families, as well as, my grandparents and a few aunts and uncles, were able to come, despite the fact that Thursday was the last day of school and my siblings had to take early finals and/or speed home early Thursday morning to get to school. Crazy. But we are so grateful for them and their support. We absolutely understand that none of this is easy for them, so their support and blessing is paramount in our peace (not the God-provided peace that surpasses all understanding, but the peace of knowing that our families love us and support us in following His will).

So, now the real work begins. We're officially appointed as missionaries and we have 8 weeks before we leave for FPO at the ILC haha (Field Personnel Training at the International Learning Center) with so much to do! Like, so much that I don't even know where to begin, so we haven't done much of anything. Lovely. Can you believe we actually forgot that Waverly needs a passport?

Pray for us. "We have a long way to go and a short time to get there". Name that tune.