Buckle your seatbelts...

Hello, all!

I'm starting up this blog as a way to share our new adventures with family and friends back home. We'll see what it turns out to be, but that's the preliminary goal. :)

We've known for years that it was possible that our family might be able to do a short term assignment overseas one day through David's current job. When he got the job 9 years ago, we said, "Really? Cool! One day..." We then proceeded to buy a house and have two more little boys and kick too many toys around the playroom and really lean into our "tired 30's." The idea got shelved big time.

We woke up one day and realized that we wanted to give it a shot. So David started putting in an application or two for various positions in countries all over the world. It seemed like the applications went into a black hole.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Ok, well, I guess that's not what God wants for us. That's OK. I love where I am. Vive, Raleigh!"

Of course, that's when he came home and said, "Um, they want me to go and teach a course in Manila in a month." And, since I didn't know where he was applying because of our policy that I didn't want to know where he was applying unless he got an interview, I turned around at the kitchen sink and said, "Manila? You mean Manila, the Philippines?

Yes, indeed. That Manila.

At some point in the evening, the Veggie Tales came up. "What are the Philippines, Bob?" "The Philippines are a small group of islands off the coast of Asia. But that's not important right now. The Philistines..."

So he went to the Philippines. And he met people and did his thing and was his usual awesome self. He came home. And then we sat side by side on our bed and stared into space and wondered if we could do this because he hasn't lived overseas in years, and I never have, and hello, large, overwhelming Asian city 24 hours of travel time from the U.S. Jungles, monkeys, beaches, typhoons, Jeepneys, and oddly enough, Krispy Kreme.

But he got the job because we know people. (And by "people," I mean God, because that's all the people we know.) And we'll be headed out late in March. Now, keep in mind that we found out that he got the job right before Christmas. Pause. Yes, let that sink in. Remember that I'm homeschooling 3 little boys. Your eyes bugging out yet?

My closets have never been cleaner, the boys have a lot less toys than they used to, and a rental company sign is going up in the front yard this week. I've bought additional homeschool curriculum, I've researched step down transformers, I've wondered how 800 lb. of air shipment will cover all the books I will need to survive for the first months. I'm learning U.S. Embassy acronyms that are totally different from the the Justice Department ones that I'm used to. What's a CLO, again?

We're having good days and bad days. Some days, I'm just not sure that I am tough enough to do this. Other moms tell me how brave I am. But I'm not brave. I'm scared. I cling to the thought that He who has called me is faithful, and He will do it. I'm not alone, and when I get homesick, I want to remember that this is the plan. It could've been several other countries or no other country, but the plan is this country, and I know there's a reason for that, even if I don't know what it is just yet.

So stay tuned. We'll see how this all shakes out. At the very least, I think it'll be interesting. :)