The Epistle form

January '21

As my previous post outlined, January 2021 was extremely busy. Five events back to back, two events overlapping. 

Due to a situation with Azael's work at the time, he and his co-workers were given 6 weeks paid leave - which helped me with the kids immensely during those back-to-back events.

Azael felt the Holy Spirit tell him that a change was coming. We were actively seeking to purchase a house in the DFW area, and sensed God asking us to wait until the issues at work subsided. We are grateful that we heeded that admonition with the news that came in February.

February '21

Azael was laid off in a company wide downsizing. The company he was working for went from around 50 employees to 11. The lease for our apartment also expired in February, and "Dallaska" as someone called it/the cold-front + snow found us in the middle of moving out of our apt!

While Azael's layoff was not necessarily in our plans, God was gracious in working out the details for us. Our friends were so kind and offered us a place to stay for the next 2 months while Azael looked for new employment. We were in the midst of moving to their place (an hour north of our apartment, but still in the DFW area) when the snow hit. In the craziness of packing we didn't grab the winter clothes 😬 so the kids weren't able to really play in the snow. But we DID have power the whole time of the inopportune snow storm event in Texas, since our friends live on the same grid as the Firehouse, which was a blessing to not add one more crazy layer to our already chaotic week of boxes and moving and sudden unemployment. 

March '21

Since Azael was not working, I increased my hours for Cru. Our team began planning for the second virtual Deaf Summer Mission. Deaf staff attended two workshops Cru offered. I began meeting with the Teaching staff team within Cru to work to make our core curriculum accessible for current and future Deaf staff. 

Azael applied for jobs and had a few different leads, but we felt the Holy Spirit asking us to rest in His timing and wait a bit. It was a blessing that I could devote more time to Cru as Azael was able to invest in the kids more during this time. We continued to live with our friends.

April '21

I was able to interpret for a one-day Christian based Foster/Adoption-care event with a friend of mine. That was amazing and so insightful! Azael and I had begun training classes for foster care licensing in December. When he was laid off in February, we had to put our training on hold. However, having just been through most of the training that was used in the one day conference made it so much easier to interpret the content. Azael is also an adult adoptee. Many of the classes/trainings have been so helpful to us in navigating things that happened in his childhood that he is just now finding vocabulary to be able to process. It's also been an asset to our own nuclear family and helping to identify unhealthy habits or patterns and implement better ones. If foster care/adoption is something that you are impacted by, I would encourage you to check out the annual conference. :)

There was also more work on Summer Mission prep for our online Summer Mission Opportunity.

May '21

I had two back-to-back interpreting events that I needed to be in Orlando for. If you remember, last year we did an event for 24 hours, but it was not recorded. This year it was condensed into a 12 hour event, and the recording worked! If you have some time to watch, you can repeat the prayers for the people a year later now. ;)

We took the opportunity to take the whole family to Florida for a week. Azael had a few leads for a new job, but nothing substantial, so while he could go with me, we took the chance to go on the road trip! We also got to visit my Grandma and the kids enjoyed seeing one of our former roommates who lived in Florida at that time. The 3 day drive there and the 3 day drive back were good opportunities for Azael and I to really discuss future options too. Six days in the car with kids can be a little stressful, but overall we were glad for the trip and it worked out well.

June '21

Unfortunately, we did not have any students able to join the virtual Summer mission. 

After a lull with employment options, Azael had two job interviews in the same week. Both were jobs that had been brought to Azael's attention back in March, but due to various circumstances had been delayed in finalizing job offers. One job, with DOOR International, would move our family overseas for the next 5 years. First to Kenya, then to Costa Rica. The other would keep us in Texas, where Azael could purse his long-time desire of higher education. After much discussion with some trusted advisors and seeking the Lord's guidance, we had peace about which offer He was inviting us into. 

July '21

We verbally accepted the offer from DOOR International. This meant we would be heading to Kenya by January, and then Costa Rica come fall of 2022. Now we just needed to find somewhere to live for the next 5 months since our friends, who had graciously allowed us to stay with them for an extra 4 months, were needing their space back. We needed to find temporary housing for the rest of 2021. Thankfully DOOR has connections with DIU (Dallas International University, a partner with SIL - Summer Institute of Linguistics) and we were able to secure missionary housing for August to December. 

Adding an new critter to our ZOO! 
The kids had "animal themes" at birth that they continue to
enjoy as they've gotten older. This baby will be a Koala.

August '21

We moved to missionary housing in Dallas in order to downsize all our things. We also found out we would be adding a member to our family in Kenya! Surprise!! 👀

September '21

First trimester fatigue, trying to downsize our storage unit, and mentally and physically prepare (passports, shots, ect) to move overseas, all while Azael worked a temp position with DOOR makes this month a little bit of a blur..

October '21

How I told my family.. Grandkids #9, #10 and #11
for my parents. Lauren is 8 months pregnant here, 
Lindsey is 4 months along, and I'm barely a month.

During our discussion of which job to accept, we anticipated that I would continue doing what I've been doing for Cru, since most of my work is remote currently. I started to establish a part-time interpreting team to do the daily work of interpreting, as I knew that the internet - specifically in Kenya - would not be as reliable as it is in the States. In trying to establish this part-time team it was discovered that I could not continue the work I was doing for Cru - USA, and live outside of the US.. 

To say I was shocked is an understatement. Working with Cru for the last 10 years, attempting to provide access to the Deaf community, and trying many times to build a team of interpreters to work along side me over the course of those 10 year has been very trying to say the least. My goal was to continue the work that I felt I'd been given and at least transition it well to the next person who may take it up - a task I felt would take 6 months to a year to complete. However, now I was supposed to be leaving the country in less than 45 days! Many tears and conversations later, I still felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. I continued to remind myself that even though it was no where on my radar over the summer, it was not a surprise to God and that he cares about the Deaf community more than I do. 

November '21

I took the kids and we spent two weeks visiting my family before and during Thanksgiving. Azael stayed in Dallas to wrap thing up, and joined us for the Thanksgiving long weekend.

The tension of how to move forward with my impending absence from Cru while also caring well for our Deaf staff hung heavy over me. I had a 3 day event in Florida at Cru's headquarters that needed interpreting at the beginning of December. I was able to contract with a skilled interpreter who is also dear friend and process through much of my disappointment with how things were turning out. I also tried every which way I knew to see if there was an option to re-code my position so that I could continue to do what I was doing and still live abroad. Cru is an international organization, so it would seem feasible. However the IRS doesn't see it that way.. more waiting to see what would become of my position.

December '21

I interpreted my last in-person campus meetings for Cru in Orlando the first week of December. It was bitter sweet still not knowing if I would be able to continue with Cru after December 2021 since discussion about my position was still ongoing as we moved forward with our departure. This is why there was no mass end of the year email from me.. With so much to catch up on, and so many things "up in the air", I decided to hold off until we had some more details.. 

December 15th landed us in Kenya. We suspect Azael came down with Omicron on the plane.. It made it's way through the family as we adjusted to living 9 hours ahead of friends and family in the states.

January '22

As I predicted, power outages and interrupted internet connections have been frequent here. To abide by IRS regulations, it was decided that I could change my position within Cru to Associate Staff - which basically means I am now a volunteer. I will continue to do the things I've been doing to the best of my limited capacity, only now I don't get paid to do them. I am planning to try the volunteer position for a year to see if it's sustainable for our family dynamic, while also working towards a more permanent solution with Cru staffing teams. 

 >> IF you are currently supporting me financially, I will email you directly with information about your options to cease support if you desire. <<

February '22

Trying to juggle the kids experiences of a new place, manual house work (no clothes dryer, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner..), adjusting to a new culture and expectations and preparing to have a baby here has taken quite a lot of time. After recovering from the jet-lag and illness, we are finally starting to settle in. The adjustment to Kenya is taking quite some time. One of the easiest ways I've found to describe the nuance of living here is that I placed an order for an item via an online portal - similar to Amazon, local to Kenya - but same day delivery. When I asked for an ETA, they replied by saying they would dispatch it immediately. That was at 10am.. I checked in around noon, and they assured me it was coming. The location was less than a 30 minute drive from where we live. I checked in again around 2pm.. again I was assured it was on it's way. It arrived at 4pm.. 10-4 = 6 hours.. the Kenyan definition for "immediately"? It turns out that is pretty par for the course here.. Any estimation of time is taken with a grain of salt, as things just take longer here.. getting adjusted and a daily routine set up included!

Also with internet/power outages and the 9+ hour time difference from the states, I'm having a hard time figuring out a work schedule. I feel I've dropped many balls lately, but I'm hoping for grace in this season and trying to do what I can with what I have available to me.

March '22

Finally finding a rhythm.. one of those things includes a 4:30am meeting one day a week with teammates in the states as we plan for our first IN-Person Deaf Summer Mission since Covid! I am excited to prep for our in person summer mission. We are hopeful to have Deaf students attend this year. The early hours meeting is not sustainable long term, but for the next few weeks until BabyBu#4 comes, I'm trying to make it work.

There has also been some good conversation amongst the leadership within Cru about needing to establish some sort of sustainability of interpreting for the future.. which is something I've been trying to get going for quite a while, but with my impending absence, it seems to finally have been made a priority.. which, I guess, is a blessing in disguise.. 💁

April '22

I'm trying to complete as much as I am able before baby joins us and I'm 'off' for the next few months.

Hopefully this in not the only update you get from me in 2022 - but at this point I make no promises about my next newsletter. I'm sure there will be an intro to baby.. but then we will be moving back to the states this summer, and on to Costa Rica this fall.. Thanks for taking this ride with me for the past 10+ years. YOU have been a blessing to the ministry in whatever capacity you have been involved and I'm grateful!

Soli Deo Gloria

:D