Moving week!

Well, we are here!! These past few weeks have been kind of a blur of packing boxes, tears, goodbye's, surviving the Atlanta airport, unpacking, and boxes. A massive amount of boxes.  But we made it! And we are honestly doing a lot better than I thought we would be. The last few days in Atlanta were really, really, long. Emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining, and we were a little bit of a mess.  Now that we are over the major hump of moving everything and ourselves up here, we've been able to just slow down and process what actually just happened.
I look outside and see the snow falling, and see the tired faces of the people in town, and read in the Word about the fields being white for harvest, I just have this great sense of peace that this is right where I am supposed to be. 
And of course with that my busy little self starts to get antsy to get a church started! today! and the Lord presses on my heart that the work to be done is the Spirit's work and as we yield and wait, He will do the work of bringing people to life. So we wait, we watch, and we pray - and rest in the mighty power of the indwelling Holy Spirit!


Here are some pictures from the move!

 

  

We had lots of amazing people helping us on moving day.  I thought I had just a "few things" left to pack inside the house, and 8 hours later, we finished. That'll bless ya.  

And there you have it. Practically all we own in the back of a truck.

It was really emotional for me to saygoodbye to our old house in Acworth.  I got terribly sappy remembering all the "firsts" that happened there, all the moments rocking my boys in the nursery, all the incredible fellowship and laughter that happened in the kitchen.  But when we did a final "walkthrough" and Levi was happily chirping "goodbye, bathroom!" "goodbye, YiYi's (Levi) room!" "goodbye, kitch-den!" it reminded me that of course it's the people that make a house a home. And so I'm incredibly beyond-grateful for the 3 people I get to do life with, no matter where we live.

This guy couldn't have been more excited when he saw the BIG YELLOW FIRETRUCK in our driveway!  These pictures of him sitting in the truck are so special to me because they document how little he was when such a big event happened in his life. 

That face!! He just melts me.  And it also melts me when he is asking for something and he tells me, "Mommy, say 'sure YiYi!'"

 

Ben and a team of guys drove up on Monday and Tuesday, and unloaded Wednesday and Thursday.  I enjoye staying at my mom's house for a few days and spending some quality time with her.   

And then the boys and I and our trusty traveling buddy, Steph, flew up on Thursday.  We were doing great until we barely made it inside the airport and they wanted to charge me $100 for my bag being 16 pounds overweight and I was thinking never would I ever want to spend that much money on a stinking overweight bag.  I held my already nervous nerves together and asked if there was anyone who I could speak to about that.  I think it helped that Elijah was hanging on me sound asleep and Levi started screaming when I left a 3 foot radius around his stroller and I told them, here's the thing, we are moving across the country today and the trucks have already left and this is the last of all our stuff and it's just clothes and baby stuff and I can't leave it behind. So some really kind Airport ladies helped me stuff enough of our clothes into the cheapest bag we could find (which naturally was zebra print) and Steph took it on as her purse.  So that was eventful.  

Then we stood in the elevator for a few minutes and forgot to press the button, and when we got to our console we grabbed our last meal of Chick-fil-a for a loooong time.  And we didn't even sit down, we rushed back to our gate so we would be ready when it was time to board.  But as we stumbled up to the gate literally spilling fries and about to puncture our lemonade cups (because it's not that easy to pull suitcases and push strollers and wear babies AND paper bags full of lunch all at once) everyone was standing up and about to board the plane.  We worked our way through the crowd since obviously people with children get to load first, and by this point I was shimmying around with my roller-board hanging off my shoulder and people were totally giving us the oh dear are these clowns really on our flight? look. 

The movie on the ipad that was going to be my saving grace didn't work so I just fed Levi snack after snack and tried to keep him from striking up conversations with everyone around us by explaining to him that lots of times, people like to sleep on planes.  

 

Thankfully airplanes are like giant white noise machines, or the flight attendant would have heard Levi ask in his convincingly sweet little voice as he taps the tray in front of him, "hey little man, I have some pretzels? I have some pretzels, little man?" 

He was a wiggly 2 year old, as is expected, but overall, both boys were champs.  

 

We could not have done it without our awesome friend "Fuff" (as Levi calls her)! 

 

And both boys finally passed out as we were exiting the plane.   

If you're still reading this incredibly long post, you get a prize.
Here are some pictures from our first few days here!

This is our driveway. I have a feeling it's going to look gorgeous in every season.

And this is the view out of the living room.

Don't worry, I'll have another incredibly long post in a few weeks with pictures of the house and the story of how this adorable little farmhouse was an answer to prayer in so many ways.


If you get our monthly email update, we have included a lot more specific details of what has been going on this past week.  The Lord is alread bringing people into our path and opening doors of opportunity! If you would like to be added to the update list, send me a message with your email address or comment below, and we will add you :)

We are moving to Vermont.

I have been wanting to write this post for a while, but for many reasons it has rattled around in my head instead of making its way to paper. Until now...when our moving date is just 2 weeks away.

We are moving to Vermont. It's over 1,000 miles away, and it touches Canada.

This is something we have been praying about for over 3 years, so it's a crazy feeling that it is really happening.  

From the beginning of our dating relationship, Ben and I frequently found ourselves having these exciting conversations about going to the nations and being missionaries among the least reached peoples of the world.  We literally thought we would get married, and then sometime after that, move to a foreign country for the rest of our lives. China, India, somewhere in the 10-40 window.  

In our first year of marriage, Ben would sit at the computer and research countries of great need and we would ask ourselves, "Why don’t we just pick up and go right now? What is stopping us?"

But it was the Lord.  He had plans we couldn’t foresee and was in the process of directing our steps right to where He wanted us.

Our first Christmas season together in 2010, we spent a day with our dear friends, Ben and Tiffany Presten.  We chopped down Christmas trees together, talked about traditions we wanted to start with our children one day, and then the conversation took a major shift when they announced that they were moving to New England.
 We listened intently as they shared about the specific and unbelievably clear ways the Lord had directed their hearts to this area of the country that is largely unconnected from the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Over time the Lord filled in more details of His calling for them, down to the specific stae (Vermont) and specific town (Wilmington) that they were to go.  The Lord was calling them to go to the least-churched state in the country and start a church that would be a faithful gospel witness among people who most likely have never heard a true presentation of the gospel.

They asked us to pray for them, and pray about going with them.  And as we did, the Lord placed a burden for New England – and Vermont - on our hearts as well, and it became clear that our being a part of the work that God is doing there was not an “if” but a “when.” We prayed and prayed about going with them but felt like the Lord was saying “wait.”  Ben and Tiff moved in the beginning of 2012 to start Valley Town Church in Wilmington, Vermont.  The Holy Spirit is at work in that small town and it is amazing to watch the power of the gospel on display in such an undeniable way.

As we prayed about Vermont these past three years, asking the Lord how He would want us to be involved with what He is doing there, He placed the town of Brattleboro on our hearts and started directing our attention there.  Brattleboro is an artsy, lively little town on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire.  It is considered one of the larger cities in rural Vermont (12,000 people compared to the 2,500 people in Wilmington) and is filled with people who need to hear the good news.  The Lord has confirmed that He is leading us to start a new church in this town with the passion and purpose of being disciples who make disciples of Jesus.

Sometimes I jokingly talk about our family moving to Narnia, because of the extensively long winters and the massive amounts of snow that covers that whole part of the country.  But as I watched “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” for the first time in a while on Thanksgiving Day, I was brought to tears with the uncanny symbolism between Vermont and Narnia.  Vermont, and specifically Brattleboro, has been held hostage by the enemy for so long. Minds and hearts are frosted over by lies and unbelief.  Generations have come and gone under the curse of sin and children have been born there and grown up without ever entering the doors of the church or hearing the true gospel  - Jesus loves you, He died in your place, and He was raised so you can have new life in Him. 

But Aslan is on the move.  Jesus is at work in New England  - hearts are thawing out, and signs of spring, signs of revival, are showing.  We believe Jesus has announced that the enemy’s time is up and that He is beginning to do a new thing in that city, and we are excited to be joining Him in His work.  The heartbeat of this church is going to be dependance on the Spirit, living in and being devoted to prayer, and feasting on and ministering the Word of God. 


So please pray for us, friends.  The harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few.  The Lord has confirmed in our hearts that Brattleboro belongs to Him, and there are many people in that city that He has appointed to eternal life.  We know the victory has been won, but that the enemy will not go down without a fight...so we deeply covet your prayers. 

If you are interested in staying up with date with this journey, leave your email address in the comments or send me an email, and we will add you to our monthly email updates. Thank you! 

Vermont

Part of the reason I wanted to really get this blog up and running was to be able to keep our families and friends updated on what the Lord is doing in our lives and where He is leading us - especially when we don't live around here...someday.  

We have sensed that the Lord might be calling us to New England (someday eventually) for almost a year now.  Our dear friends, Ben and Tiffany Presten, got called to plant a church in Vermont a little over a year ago.  

I remember the day Ben (my Ben) and I were sitting at Starbucks with Ben and Tiff.  Ben P. was saying how he was just itching to be in ministry but they didn't know where the Lord was calling them. He said he was praying the other day and told the Lord that he would go anywhere, and asked for the Lord to make it clear.  

Almost jokingly, he said that "Vermont" popped in his head.  

We all kind of laughed and completely dismissed it as a non-option.  Who even lives in Vermont? Why go there? Surely the Lord would rather send them to some dangerous and remote place..like India, or Thailand. 

But sure enough, over the course of 2010, the Lord clarified in almost unbelieveable ways, His will for Ben and Tiffany to move to the small town of Wilmington, Vermont and plant Valleytown church.  I wish I had time to tell the story of the clear ways the Lord spoke to them, but I'll save that for another time. 

Bottom line, their house is on the market, they have packed up or sold (mostly sold!) all their possessions and will buckle in their two toddler boys and 3 wk old little girl and drive 18 hours to Vermont just as soon as it sells...(anyone looking for a beautiful home in Snellville???).

Aaaaaand....we might be going with them. 

I thought I would be documenting our journey up to New England over the course of a few years because I thought it would take that long for us to end up there.  And it still might.  But it also might take only a few months.  

We keep thinking about all these reasons why we shouldn't go now, like how we have a 3 month old baby, and we are extremely attached to our families, and how Ben is smack in the middle of seminary. 

But if his credits are about to transfer to Southern seminary, we just might start raising support to move up there and be apart of Valleytown church.  And we still will have a tiny baby and be extremely attached to our families, but God is doing something big in New England.  If you haven't noticed, His heart has been in New England since our nation began.  And now He is bringing life to a dead region in amazing ways.  And we want to be where He is, working where He is working, and living right in the center of His will.  

And I'm totally freaking out slightly nervous about it, but I also feel a strange peace about whatever the Lord's timing is.  This is not a definite thing at all.  We are diligently praying about it and looking into all the options. The Lord may want us to stay here a few more years and we would be perfectly fine with that, but we are just trying to be open and obedient to the possibility that He might want us up there a little bit sooner. 

So please excuse me while I go laugh and cry a little bit about the possibility about packing up this house that I just got settled into and packing up our little 3 month old and moving all the way across the country to a state that touches CANADA to bring the gospel to a group of people that would prefer to be left alone. Crying, for all the obvious reasons, and laughing because I'm so humbled that the Lord would invite us to be apart of His sovereign plan to draw people to Himself from all corners of the earth, especially people who currently are totally disinterested/closed off to Him.  He is so good. 

Remember, it might not be the soon, but we feel pretty sure that it will happen sometime.  We'll keep you posted.