Where's the Beach?

It's all around us!  We arrived at our new home on the east coast and new ministry partner in mid-January after a whirlwind trip home in December. It was such a fast and furious but much-blessed trip to Texas. We even got to see S*N*O*W!

Which seems such a distant memory in the coastal cloak of humidity of our new home, an hour south of Durban. Oh, my word, the sweat.  

The upside to humidity is my hair has gone curly and I go to bed each night not knowing what new level of volume my hair will achieve by morning. 

What I think my hair could look like:

What satan wishes my hair would look like:

What society thinks my hair should look like:

What my hair actually looks like:


Anyhow, December was a blur as we split time between our families in central Texas and the panhandle of Texas. We weren't able to see everyone we wanted to see but when you have a lot of people you love, there is not enough time!  We are thankful for the special memories we made in such a short visit.  We got exciting news of a niece or nephew coming in August (yea, yea, YEA!).  We also got to spend a couple of days making memories at Great Wolf Lodge with my family.  Nothing says "Christmas" like Santa at a water park.  Another special treat happened when a really sweet family gave Brian's whole family free tickets in their suite at Cowboys stadium so we could go to the Cotton Bowl.  We got to watch Heisman winner Johnny Football lead our Aggies to a huge win against the Sooners, which offered some consolation for 
missing the entire season of watching our Ags.  I haven't missed an 
entire season since 1995.  Brian, a second generation Aggie, hasn't 
missed a season since before he even knew what a season was.

Sometimes I wonder if God finds humor in the fact that we spent our first year in South Africa while the Aggies spent their first year in the SEC racking up an 11-2 record and a Freshman Hesiman winner.

Sometimes I wonder.

We are so thankful we got to go home but we were also really itching to get back to South Africa and get back to work!  We are sweating settling in to a new ministry, new province, new church, new school, etc. and we are looking forward to the year ahead! We have partnered with Norwegian Settlers Church, which is no longer made up of either Norwegians or settlers but it is a church that was first started by Norwegian settlers.  And it is chock full of really warm (hearted in case you thought I was still talking about the heat,
which I totally could've been) people who have embraced us and made us feel so welcome already.  God was definitely at work as we transitioned to our new home.  In one week, we:

- packed and re-packed...and re-packed...good gracious, that 50 lb weight limit is a joke.  Don't they know Velveeta cheese and cans of refried beans are essential souvenirs from home?
- said goodbyes to our loved ones and to Freebirds and Taco Bueno
- flew to SA and, just because I have to...the kids made it across the Atlantic with no (ahem) "extended bathroom visits." We are 4 for 4 now!  Yahoo!  Annie shaved it close at Dulles when I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom to change her as they were about to close the gate.  Still, FIST. PUMP.
- arrived at our old home near Jo-burg
- got our things loaded onto a moving truck the next morning
- drove 8 hours to our new town (the kids could hold it for an entire flight across an ocean...the cat could not make it 15 minutes and 
that is all I will say about that except we made that trip in record
time)
- learned what real humidity feels like...you have been put to 
shame, College Station in August
- looked at houses to rent
- chose a house to rent
- moved in the next day
- went to five stores to buy school supplies...I put the "pro" in procrastinator
- labeled school supplies as required by the school (every pencil, uniform, shoe, even crayons...sweet mercy) and, finally,
- started school.

Goodness.   Just remembering that makes my head sweat.

I am so serious that God kept us sane in the insanity!  Writing names on wood pencils in ant-sized print...times 34 pencils.  If I've ever had a moment of near losing my mind while here, that was a contender.

We are so excited to be in Margate and I promise there is much more to share beyond the humidity and the bathroom success stories and failures of our family members. Which, that statement sets the bar so low, you should be ecstatic when I tell you about the roach I killed the other night.

Just let it be known, not everything is bigger in Texas.

Somebody please come take me back to Texas.

I kid, of course!  We miss our J-Life family and the gorgeous farm but we have fallen head over heels with the new ministry God brought us to and I can see myself maybe learning to love the ocean. Idk. For me, oceans have always meant sharks, salt water that makes you sticky and sand that makes its way into "crevices"  and is so far gone, recovery is unlikely and you may as well say a eulogy for it.

Anyway. The bottom line is, if they sometimes film Shark Week in our waters, I say the sharks can have our waters. We will keep playing on the sand that we are eulogizing.  

Some people take their family to the beach to play in the ocean. We take our family to the beach to stay on the beach. 

As for what life on the coast looks like for us, we will share details in coming days.  Living in a town instead of the farm provides us much more opportunity to develop even more relationships and we are extremely thrilled about the work God's given us!

Praises

- the transition could not have gone smoother

- we love our landlady and her family

- the boys are settling into their new school and making friends

- God's affirmation in our move

- gift of being able to jump right into ministries that fit our passions
- we haven't seen any sharks yet

- they have monkeys here

- deodorant and cold showers, even if the water is brown

Prayers

- protection...living in a town means we have to be more aware

- wisdom as we begin discipling the youth leaders 

- provision of sports camp counselors for our June camp.  We are praying for 24 counselors and have about 8 confirmed. Please let us know if you know college age-ish fun people with a heart for youth and missions. Athletic background is a plus as it's a sports camp but that is not the highest priority. 

- God's guidance as Kenneth and Teri Ussery lead a team here in June.  We are soooooo excited about hosting a team from our church!  Pray for God to build the team with skill sets we need...making kids feel special, compassion for the hurting and light construction experience.  

- for the teams from Hulen and Rockwall coming next week to be so blessed as they come to bless others. Pray for their prep and time here.

- for our parents and siblings as we are apart