Changes

It's been a month since I've posted anything, because this has been a busy month. Our sons were home with us, which was a lot of fun. We celebrated Christmas in the US, which is a very rare event in our family. We traveled to Georgia and to Arkansas. We reconnected with old friends and mourned the loss of a close family friend. Looking back now, I can't believe that all of this was packed into just a few weeks.

However, life is settling back into a semi routine. . .but not for long. We are preparing for another huge change. We don't know the exact timing, but we expect that by this time next month we'll be on a plane for Istanbul, Turkey. The government where we were living previously denied our NGO's application for re-registration, so we will not be returning there in the immediate future.

We have been in Istanbul as visitors a number of times so we aren't quite going, like Abraham, to a land that we know not. However, we also realize that visiting a city and living in it are two different experiences. We will be learning a new (but, thankfully, similar) language. We will have to meet and form all new friendships. Randy in particular will have to learn new ways of doing his work.

Besides moving to a new city, we are also adapting to a new phase of life with two boys in college. With Hannah Grace coming along so late in our lives, it will be many years before we have a truly empty nest, but sending both guys off at once will certainly impact our family in ways we probably don't fully realize yet.

Please pray for us as we work through all of these changes in our life. Pray that we can quickly adjust and work effectively in our new situation.