Minnesota, Our Second Home

This is not a very thorough account of our slow departure from South Carolina, but I am hoping to figure out how to add the pictures and such later. I just wanted to make sure we updated all of you in a timely manner, so this is what I can do for now.

We officially said good-bye to South Carolina this week, and drove up to Minnesota. It was a whirlwind of seeing friends and family, packing, getting our "affairs in order," and trying to breathe in the midst of it all. I'll hopefully add some pictures soon. It was WILD. Our church had a precious good-bye dinner for us. They gave us some snack food for the drive to MN, and several people passed along words of encouragement and gifts. Mrs. Becky in Children's Church put together an awesome shindig for the boys' last day at church. They had snow cones out back, and then gave the boys some gifts for the road. The boys absolutely LOVE their Mrs. Becky. When Alex was itty bitty he would absolutely BALL when there was a substitute in Children's Church. Both boys always looked forward to seeing Mrs. Becky on Sunday mornings, along with their Sunday school teachers. I think we will be hard pressed to find such devoted and loving alternates in Peru.

We had lunch with our church staff the Tuesday before we left, and it was great to laugh, eat, and tell stories. As I sat there, my mind took a snapshot of the moment. Panning the faces of our treasured pastors, pastor's wife, and church secretary. I soaked in our fun conversation, keenly aware of how much I will miss our church.

We also enjoyed a special going-away gathering at Justin's office, First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. The senior pastor, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson said some kind words, mostly thanking Justin for not exploding over the staff's simple errors and computer glitches. The staff wrote special messages in a journal for his journey, and then Dr. Ferguson added that if Justin could just jot down a few last instructions in the remaining pages and mail them back, they'd greatly appreciate it :). They were truly wonderful to our whole family. They also gave us a collection of our favorite goodies to take with us on the road, and the children's department put together an amazing bag of discoveries for our boys. There was an envelope for each boy to open per state we passed through on our way up to Minnesota. We had a great time with those...what a boredom stopper!

A couple sets of friends at church also arranged get togethers at their houses to say our last good-byes. The food was excellent, guys! Thank you!! We also squeezed in play dates right up until it was time to leave SC. If we missed having a last chance to say good-bye, please know that we just simply ran out of time. We are still available by phone and email!

Now we're in MN. Our heads are still a little cloudy from the chaos of the past weeks/months, but I'm fairly confident that we will eventually relax and feel ready to head to Peru. We spent today helping my sister and her husband clear a swimming area at their new lake place, and the boys have already made use of my Dad's jacuzzi bathtub. Right now my men are outside my dad's house playing basketball. We still have several things to finish up: forms for Food for the Hungry, letters to precious people, etc. But everything is nearing completion, and I feel confident we will get things done, or at least acceptable before we leave.

It's really odd living in this state of limbo. We said good-bye to South Carolina, and now we have another few weeks (or more) to say good-bye in Minnesota. This year we have been blessed to be able to afford THREE trips to MN in a 10 month time span. We give full glory to God for this, because we typically pray to afford just ONE trip per year, much less THREE. God has truly stretched our finances to allow for these three trips. "Why three trips in one year?" you may ask. We came up for my dad's wedding in September and my sister's wedding in January. Now we're here delivering our car to my dad (he's buying it from us), finishing up some loose ends, and saying our good-byes to friends and family.

So that's the low-down on our transition. We're tired and road-weary, but we have a couple of weeks here in MN to recover. We still have no news on our visas. We will know more next week. We were disappointed to find out that they were taking longer than expected, but we're enjoying our time in MN already, and we continue to trust in God's timing. So far everything has worked out great: our house sold in three days, but a rental house popped up quickly and it gave us a chance to whittle down our things somewhat during that first move. Then we made plans to come up to MN, so we had to close out our life in SC. Now we have a little bumper time still in the US to take care of any loose ends before heading to Peru. It will all work out in the end, we're just learning a lot about patience and flexibility. :).

Thank you for your continued prayers. We will continue to keep you posted.

In <><,
Gillian

Random Thoughts about Being Busy

We have just two weeks until we leave South Carolina, and there is so much to do. Thankfully we have a little "bumper time" in Minnesota, so if something doesn't get done, we'll still just be a few-days-by-mail away from South Carolina. I sometimes feel like everyone else is still living the life once paralleled to ours of church and family, and now we're veering off, taking that road LESS traveled...and yet not UNtraveled. We're jumping the track and entering into a life that is shared by missionaries everywhere. We went camping this past weekend and I met a former missionary to Peru and her daughter (who was born in Lima, Peru) in the bathrooms. She and her husband are now pastors of a church up the road from the state park where we were all camping. How providential! She was filled with encouraging words, and it was such a treasure to hear a little of their story. I came back to the campsite and told Justin all about our conversation and he asked, "How in the world did you talk about all that in the time it took you to go up to the bathroom and back?" There was just something about this former missionary that said, "Talk to me, I have a story." So she passed along some words of wisdom and gave us their family email address. God is just so good.

Now we come crashing back to reality. Justin was up and dressed by 6:45 this morning, having woken at 5:30, a full hour earlier than usual. He puttered around the house, went off to buy some milk, and then came back home and still had time to kill before going to work. I got up early too, unable to go back to sleep, and ready to “start the end of our time in South Carolina.” We have a lot to do - enough to fill every day until we leave. It won’t all get done, and if we weren’t such perfectionists, this would be a lot easier. I am also guilty of being a Type A personality – something God constantly has to give me an extra dose of grace to manage. I want it all neat and tidy. No loose ends, a perfect arrangement of information, and everything perfectly put together.

My Mom always said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. And it’s all small stuff.” I have been guilty of putting too much thought into the small stuff, and by “stuff” I mean JUNK. I went through a phase this past spring, just before we sold our house, where every little item in our house had sentimental value and therefore had to be salvaged. Granted, we had already whittled away at our belongings, and I felt like we were down to “the bare minimum.” But as we threw everything together to get moved, I realized how much more we could stand to get rid of. Once we moved into our rental house we were able to do another round of whittling away at our belongings, and now as we are in the two-week home stretch of leaving South Carolina, and after a weekend of camping with truly “the bare minimum,” I now realize how much more we need to get rid of. What am I clinging to? Our family photos, our family videos, a few pieces of furniture, and our boys’ toys. The family photos and videos, okay, they might not come into perfect order, but no one ever gets that project fully completed- it’s like laundry. The moment you get caught up, you have another three loads to deal with. And the furniture…we’re keeping just a bedroom set and a couple of end tables, and a small bookcase. I think that’s forgivable, and the rest will be for sale when we leave our rental house (there isn’t much else, though).

But the boys’ toys. Ugh. It’s tough. Justin and I feel like we could pack a bag of clothes and be good for the journey, but to make that decision for our two boys is excruciating. Over the last year many toys have “disappeared.” Seldom are they missed, but Nathan went looking for a very specific truck today that is long gone. That broke my heart. I found an alternative, and he’s over it, but I’m not. I will be fine by this afternoon. I know from experience. Many toys, though, we have decided about WITH the boys, allowing them to make decisions about what’s important to them and what isn’t. It seemed help our oldest to have a little control over the move. He caught on that a few toys had gone missing, so rather than create turmoil, we let him in on the process. He’s staked out his treasured Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Legos, and a few other odds and ends. Our youngest is a little less aware, being on the verge of being just 4 years old, but he has caught on enough to occasionally announce that, “I will play with THIS in Peru,” as he holds up a treasured toy. I make mental notes of what has been slated as most precious, and move on. Kids Meal toys, however, BEWARE. I have no mercy for you.

In just two short weeks we will be on our way. Our weeks seem to fly by like days lately, so it feels more like we're leaving tomorrow and the pressure is ON to get things done. But here's the most important thing: we are trying to spend time with PEOPLE before we go. I will gladly leave my photos and videos in a managable mess if it means I get a little extra time with the people I have come to love so dearly in South Carolina and in Minnesota (my hometown). I can't believe how good people have been to us, helping us, encouraging us, and receiving so little in return. Thank You Father for your mercy and grace that are sufficient for today, for the people who want to see your work accomplished around the world, and for the blessings of "stuff" for it's evidence of your provision. Praise you for this ministry team that is GOING TO PERU! Amen!

- Now it's off to rid my home of Kids Meal toys.

In Christ's Name,
Gillian

WE'RE AT 100%!!!

Wow, I can't believe it's here. It's really here - the day when 100% becomes an official number in our ministry account. At the start of this process God new that we would need to be broken down and made ready. We started out on our own power, thinking we had this support raising thing in the bag, and God said, "Um, excuse me. It's not about strategy, it's about heart. It's not about money, it's about ministry. You're not bringing together donors, you're offering opportunity to be Senders. Your ministry at home is going to grow and become just as important as your ministry abroad. You're going to lose some friends, and you will gain some. You will face opposition, and I will fight it. You will come to love each and every person you encounter, and you will be forever changed by this experience. And one more thing. YOU can't do this. But I can."

Thank you FATHER. Thank you MINISTRY TEAM!

Love,
Gillian