Water-Wings

As the 1 month anniversary of our arrival here in Louisville quickly approaches it is almost hard to remember what life used to be like. Moose Lake seems like an eternity away and the longing for it continues to exist. Reality sets in more and more each day that “we live here now” and that sets off a vast array of emotions. The grace that God has bestowed upon us in the last month has been amazing and we have truly been blessed in our settling in here. He has given us strength and mercy when it comes to dealing with all the change and emotions that go along with it.

But that is not to say that it has been easy. We communicated to one another last night that this is easily the hardest thing that either of us has done. The new roles that we have been placed in are so new and almost foreign that it is hard at times to know which way is up. Insecurity rears its ugly head and both Drew and I have struggled to “be real” with the people around us.  It has been difficult to navigate how/when/and where to be vulnerable and really tell people how we are doing. It is so much easier to say “we’re doing well” rather than say the things that we are really thinking and feeling. It’s not easy to be vulnerable and burden others with the reality of life, and we are often struck with feelings that no one here truly cares or wants to take the time to help us navigate this stage. However, we have been reminded through a small group that we have met with that it is only because of our pride that we are not honest with the people around us. It is our pride and selfishness that keeps us from opening up and asking for prayer, because we don’t want to appear weak.

So on that note, I ask for prayer.

We miss home, we miss the life that we knew and was “easy”, and we miss our friends and family. As life goes on for everyone back home it’s difficult to not desire to be there and be a part of it all, the good and the difficult.

We are searching for relationships. As I stated earlier it is difficult to be open and honest with the people around us, and so we are faced with the challenge of being vulnerable or being alone. Pray that we could be given opportunities to open up to those God has placed in our path.  

Please pray for our marriage relationship. God has been so gracious to us and has given us the strength to support one another. However, there are challenges and times when we struggle to keep each other afloat. I joked with Drew the other day that I wouldn’t let him drown, that I’d be his water-wings; but as we all know, we cannot always be strong and put-together. So instead I ask that you would pray that we would rely and lean on God to be our water-wings rather than each other; that He would give us the strength to persevere and we would see Him in each valley and mountain top of each day. He is good and He only gives good gifts to His children. Pray that we would remember this and glorify Him no matter what.

Finally, for us in our individual roles.

                

• As a Mom and homemaker I have the joy and blessing of being home with my beautiful children all day. I love my role and feel so blessed to be able to be with them through the highs and lows of the day. However, as any parent knows, this comes with its own specific challenges. I think I could go on for pages about every detail, but I’ll try and be concise. Ella is at a challenging age and stage to enter into a new life of community. As I stated earlier, we are blessed to live in a community with a backyard and a variety of other families to play and interact with. However, this means a lot of sharing and interactions with a variety of children of other ages. She is among the youngest of the children that she plays with and so it seems to be an adjustment for all of them to have a toddler who doesn’t always understand (or want to understand) the concept of sharing and that toys belong to other people. So as a Mom I am struggling to have patience with her as I daily try to teach her and remind her of the principles of interacting with other children. She is also exerting her independence and so listening is not always high on her priority list. Pray that I (we) can be consistent as well as patient with her as we reiterate over and over (and over!) how to be a good friend and how to be obedient to her parents as well as other authority.

                

• And for Drew in his new roles as student and painter extraordinaire. As the semester really gets going he is becoming more and more aware of the workload that each class requires. I feel (as does he!) that there is so much reading for each of his classes and so trying to balance school, work, kids, wife, friends, fun, and downtime, is a difficult thing. Pray that he could stay strong, consistent and confident, knowing that he can do this and he will succeed.  Pray that he can remember that God has called him here and He will equip him for every good work that He has ordained for him before the foundations of the earth.

On a lighter note, I have had two sessions of my Seminary Wives Institute class “Discipleship 1” with Mrs. Jane Cutrer. The class is broken into two 5-week sessions on Wednesday mornings from 10-11:45. We are reading through the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. This has been a blessing of time without children, fellowship with other wives, and excellent teaching. The class has been a great reminder of the importance of the Spiritual Disciplines in my life and has been an encouragement of realistic expectations as well. Next week we get to be taught by Dr. Whitney himself!

We also had Weston’s 2-month check up last week. Our little man was 16 ½ pounds and was 25 ¼ inches! Needless to say, he was off the charts. J

Thank you so much for your prayers and your encouragement.

~Bekah