Many of you might know already, but on September 30, our family of 5 traveled back to the Sioux Falls airport. We made the decision for the 3 girls and I, Sara, to temporarily return and move in with our parents after learning of my mother's stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis the week prior. So we all returned and spent a week with our families, after which we sent Tim off again to return to Haiti and resume his work with Mission Haiti. We are happy to say he returned to the property safely on October 8, and is again busy.
While we were home all together, we moved into my parent's house in Sioux Center/Rock Valley, and will share time between both sets of our parents. We had originally planned to return to the states on November 23 with the other American team members and remain until December 30 for a good long holiday break. So we look forward to the end of November when Tim will return again, and are praying we can return to Haiti at the end of December with the rest of our Mission Haiti team members. We have learned to be diligently praying for peace, unity and obedience when it comes to making plans...,
This was not an easy decision for us to make and yet we know and have peace it is what we need to do right now. Our team in Haiti was very supportive of us and prayed diligently that we would be led to do what we needed. Tim and I talked a lot together as well as consulting with family and friends that we knew would give us honest, and wise advice. My parents never told us that we needed to come home, or made us feel guilty in any way. What we kept coming back to was that fact that we would never regret spending time with our family during a diagnosis like this, whatever way this road leads our mom. We also knew, after spending 7 weeks in Haiti, what it takes to serve and live well there. I knew for myself that my heart would be wanting to be with my mom and so would not be 'all in' where we were in serving with Mission Haiti.
We also have been led to take the perspective that had we not moved to Haiti, we would be working jobs and attending school, in which case a diagnosis like my mom has received would have added to our life... now, we had the ability to be flexible because of home-schooling and make helping our family our first priority.
So... here we are, more transition and more adjustments for us all. We feel blessed to be where we are and for the people both in Haiti and in the U.S. who have supported us through this time. It is definitely not what we intended, or how we planned things to go, but we know this is right for now. After returning the first week to the US, we were at a friend's house and he was giving Tim some books to return to Haiti with that he thought would be good for him to read. One of the books was titled The Land Between, by Jeff Manion. The tag line of the book reads, "Finding God in Difficult Transitions.' When I read that I asked Tim if it was okay if I kept it to read while he returned.
After starting read a little bit of the book, I identified with a lot of what was being said. One phrase I want to share talks about a choice we all have when any of us face transition.
'The Land Between can be profoundly disorienting. It also provides the space for God to do some of His deepest work in our lives. God intends for us to emerge from this land radically reshaped. But the process of transformational growth will not occur automatically. Our response to God while in the Land Between is what will determine whether our journey through this desert will result in deep, positive growth or spiritual decline. We choose.'
I feel this is what our family is facing after leaving Haiti. With seven weeks in to our adventure, we were just feeling acclimated to life there. We were being allowed to see purpose and value in our being a part of Mission Haiti and the people we lived amongst. And I feel this Land Between is what my Mother is facing as she heads into cancer treatment. This disease snuck up on our family and yet has revealed already what the body of Christ looks like when they give so unselfishly in so many ways.
So as I said before, we are where we need to be for now. We will battle this cancer disease however we need to for as long as we need to, and are thankful to have the ability to spend time with our families.
Keep praying for all involved. Pray for Mission Haiti, for Tim as we are away from each other, for my Mom and Dad as they walk the cancer road, and a prayer of thanks for all of you who have already reached out to us in some way. We are grateful and humbled by your willingness to meet our needs and pray us through.
No comments:
Post a Comment