Tag: Selina

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A Neat Encounter

Last week, amidst the busyness of preparing for exams I took a trip to go grocery shopping at a nearby store. I also planned to stop into a store near it called Action to pick up some home good stuff and little gifts for friends who are moving away. What felt like a typical, if not slightly inconvenient, trip ended with a really unique and neat encounter.

Typically I go grocery shopping on Monday nights with a friend who has a car, but this week she still had enough stuff from our trip the previous Monday and decided not to go. Feeling that it would be better to be well stocked going into exams I decided to bike with a trailer to go grocery shopping. This is not an uncommon option as we live pretty close to a couple different grocery stores, but still, the time and energy it takes to bike and then lug everything back is obviously more than simply going by car.

I went into the grocery store first and got my groceries. As I went to check out, I realized that the lines were abnormally busy for Monday evening. This was a mild annoyance, but I made it through fairly quickly. Once outside I went to the bike rack where my bike was locked up and unloaded all my groceries in the trailer. As I did so a young man rode up and hovered nearby next to his bike. Eventually I engaged in conversation with him to see why he was waiting to park his bike and discovered that he wanted me to move over a space so he could get his bike in more easily. I apologized for taking up too much space, unlocked my bike, moved it, then relocked it. As I did this and he locked his bike he began asking me different questions like where I was from and if I enjoyed the mountains. The interaction was friendly enough, but something about it made me a little uneasy. His final questions before he left were if the United States was big and then if it was dangerous. Again, nothing was particularly wrong, but I was left feeling just uneasy enough that after walking to put my cart away I decided to double back and move my bike to Action with me. This was definitely out of the norm and inconvenient as there is no bike rack there, but it made me feel better.

I locked my bike up in front of Action and went in to shop, leisurely traversing each isle (it’s my favorite store to walk around and has been a go to for finding cute little homey things for our apartment that are inexpensive). I ended up not finding everything I was looking for including some luggage straps and a suitcase that one of my friends had asked me to look for. In the final isle I called my friend to let her know that I couldn’t find the things she wanted. After checking out I walked out to my bike, unlocked it and began trying to figure out how to arrange everything in my bike trailer. Suddenly I noticed someone standing nearby me. When I looked up it was a young girl sheepishly grinning and looking antsy to say something to me. I greeted her and she quickly blurted out something in French. I asked her to repeat it more slowly and she told me that she was going to speak to me in English, but that there would be faults.

She then proceeded to explain to me that she had been trying to learn English over the last year or so because she loves the language. So when she heard me speaking on the phone to my friend in English she got very excited and wanted to introduce herself. As she spoke her mother came up next to us, also grinning. It turns out that they are from an Algerian family who now live in Albertville. The girl is 11 years old and is the youngest of three siblings, all of which have desired to know English and can speak it pretty well. Both the mother and the daughter were incredibly friendly, patient with my French and seemed very excited to meet me. As I talked to them I felt the Spirit prompting me to ask if they would have any interest in getting together sometime to help the girl with English and me with French. They were very excited by this idea and the mom quickly pulled out her phone so we could exchange numbers while telling me that they would love to get to know us and cook Algerian food for us sometime. We exchanged a couple of texts later that evening to ensure we had each other’s contact information. The mom relayed to me then that they had told their whole family about meeting me and were so excited to get together.

It was one of the coolest, most random interactions I’ve ever had. As I biked home that night I praised God for the connection. I then thought through all the events that led up to meeting this mom and daughter. So many things that were inconvenient, uncomfortable and out of the ordinary. If I had gone shopping with my friend by car we wouldn’t have even been at those stores. If the lines hadn’t been long at the grocery store or I had been able to find everything I needed quickly I might not have crossed paths with them or called my friend and spoken in English. If that young man hadn’t parked his bike next to me and asked me slightly strange questions or if I hadn’t moved my bike away from that spot as a result, I would not have been parked outside Action where they found me to introduce themselves.

So many little moments and decisions on a night where my mind was occupied by so many things, but certainly not by seeking out someone new to meet. It was a great reminder to me to be more aware of who’s around me and to pray for more interactions like this, while also recognizing that it’s God who provides for and ordains each moment of each day.

Please join me in praying for this family. May God allow us to connect and build a sweet relationship that is filled with gospel conversations about Jesus! I am so excited to see what He has in store!

– Selina

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Learning to Trust (Grammar Exam Mishap)

Throughout this second semester of language school I felt like the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to take a step back from language learning. Not to step out of school or halt learning by any means, but to step back mentally, emotionally and spiritually to evaluate if I was balancing things well.

During our first round of exams I really struggled with some identity issues and feelings that I was going to fail because that’s what I do and who I am: “I am not good enough and as such I should expect to fail”. As I write this now it feels so obvious that these were lies, but at the time they felt very real. Thankfully Adam is very perceptive and has grown very good at asking me questions to try and draw out my thoughts. When I voiced these things he was able to point me to the truth of who God is, who I am in Jesus and the fact that I was believing lies. I am so thankful for his patience and tender love towards me as I wrestled through these deep-seated identity issues.

Part of this wrestling involved going to the Lord with all of these thoughts and emotions. It was during times like these throughout this semester that I felt Him prompting me to turn some of my focus away from French and onto things like physical, mental and emotional health, as well as our kids. This was hard for me at first because it feels like we should just be fully invested in language learning since that’s why we’re living here. However, at any given time in our lives we are going to have things that are seemingly our top priority, but the reality is that there are other things that must take higher priority.

My walk with the Lord cannot be put to the side for the sake of studying longer. My marriage cannot be neglected so that I can achieve one more thing in French. Our kids, and the great gift and responsibility of parenting them, cannot be put on hold until we “make it” through language school. My mental and physical health cannot be forgotten because “there’s just no time”.

Obviously our lives ebb and flow, during certain seasons there are aspects of life that need special time and attention over others, but at all times I want to be checking in with the Lord about what HE intends for that season, not what I necessarily think is best. What He has shown me is that this semester some of my priorities needed to shift, and I needed to trust HIM for the outcome of my French studies.

I have been so thankful for this change of perspective, although I know I still have lots of room for growth in prioritizing well. Regardless, God has already allowed fruit in my French learning, my health, our marriage and our parenting as a result of this perspective shift. I have not felt as stressed about class, speaking French to people or even our most recent exams. God provided a workout program and a friend to help make physical health a higher priority. Adam and I have had regular, intentional times to connect about our marriage and go on dates. We also began working through a parenting study and more intentionally pouring into the kids, even if it seems “inconvenient” for our French studies. The list could go on, but a huge testament to this was when I was taking my big grammar exam this past Thursday.

The grammar exam is a thick packet of papers with tons of questions which must be completed in two and a half hours. Leading up to the exam I felt determined that I would study hard, but not at the expense of my health or parenting (for reference, after our first exams I got sick, felt terrible for nearly two weeks and had lingering effects for over a month). I am historically a procrastinator so late nights of cramming before a test is my typical method of studying. Last week I created a plan for how to study and prayed about it, feeling peace that this was the amount of effort and focus God wanted me to have. I studied according to my plan, but still spent intentional time with the kids between studying and made sure to get good sleep. When I sat down for the grammar exam I was well rested and felt prepared. As I began I was so excited at how well I felt it was going. Even as I encountered content that was harder or unfamiliar I did not feel stressed, but would pray and do my best to remember how to answer things.

Partway through I looked up and realized I only had half an hour left in the test. At that point I flipped ahead and also realized that I was not going nearly fast enough to finish the test. I raced through as much as I could, but ended up having to leave three or four sections completely blank. My heart sunk and I felt so discouraged. I went home and cried for awhile and told Adam all about what had happened. Familiar thoughts of what a failure I am crept in. “How could I lose track of time? I’ve been taking tests for years. This is so typical me. I’m going to fail. I should have expected this”. Again, Adam helped me voice those things early and walk through sorting out truth from lies. I brought it to the Lord and, though it goes against what I think I should be feeling, I have reached a point of peace. Not because I think it will be fine, I really don’t know that for sure, but because the Lord has been telling me this whole semester to trust HIM with French.

My verses this year are 2 Cornthians 12:9-10,

“Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I wanted to wait to write about this until I had the results of our exams, to wait until I knew I had passed despite my mistake. But the Lord reminded me that the beauty in this is not that He allowed me to pass even though things didn’t go well, the beauty is that He is powerful when I am weak. His grace is sufficient at all times and in all things. I wanted the result of my trust in Him over this semester to be that I was able to easily pass the exams and speak French fluently after just six months (haha – that’s a joke), but His intentions were for me to continue to see my weaknesses and to revel all the more in His strength.

I pray that whatever season of life you are in, you know Jesus and the sweetness of depending on Him. The sweetness of facing weakness and hardship and seeing the immense power of Christ and His deep love for us, even when we don’t feel like we are “enough”. This week I will find out if I passed or not, but regardless, I give Him the glory and pray that I can take the next step of obedience for what He has in each season of my life.

– Selina

Thankfully Adam captured proof that I’ve been prioritizing proper sleep over too much studying šŸ˜€
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A Visit from Grams!

At the end of April my mom came to visit us. This was much anticipated as it was our first visitor, but the trip didn’t pan out quite as we expected. The original plan was for her to come see us for the first part of our two week vacation. We would spend several days in Albertville then all take a train together to spend time in Paris which is where she would fly out from.

After weeks of planning and waiting the week of her arrival was upon us. Towards the start of the week my mom started to not feel well and then the day before she was supposed to fly out she tested positive for Covid! This was so disappointing, and also a little crazy as it was the first time she had gotten Covid even after having worked in an urgent care where she primarily did Covid testing over the last two years.

Thankfully we were able to rework her tickets and our timeline so that she could still come. Rather than start in Albertville, Adam, the kids and I took a train and met my mom in Paris where we spent three days sight-seeing and exploring. This was the kid’s first time on a train, but they did wonderfully! It was so sweet to arrive in Paris, exit the train station and find my mom standing there waiting for us. The kids were so excited as well and it was as if no time had passed at all since we saw her last.

While in Paris we visited and saw many places including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur , The Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the PanthƩon, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Moulin Rouge, the Seine River, and Place VendƓme. We also ate at lots of amazing restaurants, tried tons of pastries and coffee and just enjoyed being together in Paris. I never would have imagined that our family and my mom would spend a vacation together in beautiful Paris, but this is one example of the beauty of living overseas! We are so thankful to get to experience new places like this and to have guests who can come and experience them with us!

After our time in Paris we all took a train ride to Albertville and spent several days showing my mom what our life is like. We went up to the medieval city of Conflans twice (about a mile walk with lots of incline). We had my mom try our favorite pastries around town, had kebabs (one of our all time favorite things here), introduced her to many of our friends, relaxed in our apartment and cherished the time we had together. It was so special to get to show her where we’re living and what life is like in Albertville.

The evening she left I walked her to the train station. We prayed together and cried as we walked. When we arrived we said a tearful goodbye and I settled her on her train headed to Chambery – with an eventual final destination of Paris where she was going to stay the night before flying the following morning. I sat waving goodbye to her until her train pulled away feeling a pit in my stomach that she was leaving and that this goodbye would be for a lot longer than the last one. Then I walked home.

To my surprise, when I arrived home, Adam asked if my mom was with me to which I laughed and said of course not! It turns out that she had mixed up her train time and I had put her on the wrong train! He had hoped we would have noticed before sending her off which of course was not the case.

The train she was on happened to be headed to the same destination as her actual train, but unfortunately with enough of a time difference (mere minutes) to cause a ton of problems. With Adam’s gentle coaching and quick internet searching, she ended up getting on a couple trains before eventually having to take a bus overnight to arrive in Paris in time for her flight. What should have been a relaxing train ride and hotel stay in Paris before flying out turned into a frantic, stressful trip trying to communicate with little to no French, navigate trains, ride a bus overnight without sleeping and then jump on an airplane. Needless to say I think she was thankful to arrive home!

Between the difficulties at the beginning after she got Covid and the chaotic voyage from Albertville to Paris at the end we have been joking that we hope she isn’t too traumatized to travel overseas again! But seriously, we are so thankful for her willingness to travel here to see us and also for the many people along her journey who were so kind to help her (ie. the person who just gave her their charging block so her phone wouldn’t die as she stayed in contact with us so we could help get her to Paris).

Since she left we had a whirlwind of activity with all of our birthdays in May, two of my brothers then our field directors coming to visit plus our studies in general. I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet that it will probably be over a year before I see my mom in person again. Saying good-bye has definitely been the hardest part of moving overseas. Her trip here was so good though and it reminded me that, though there is a great space between us and many people we love so dearly, our relationships with those people will always remain special and strong. And each time we do get those face-to-face interactions we will savor them. We thank God for such incredible family and friends who make saying good-bye so hard!

-Selina

Louvre Pyramid
SacrĆ©-Cœur
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“Fresh is Best”: Open Air Markets

One of the things that is significant in French culture – or at least in the French culture we observe here in Albertville – is that there is a high value on food quality. What I mean is that people here highly value food that is fresh, local and in-season. I think that is why there are three different open air markets a week, all of which are within walking distance of where we live.

The first is the Wednesday market which has predominantly Arabic vendors and shoppers. This is honestly my favorite market to go to for produce. The people there are so friendly and patient with my weak French and the prices are hard to beat. There is also a really tasty kebab stand there!

The second is the Thursday market which is the main French market. There are tons of vendors with produce, cheese, bread, meat, baked goods and so on. This is our go to market for whole bean coffee. Admittedly France has not had the best coffee scene compared to what we were used to in the States so we are thankful to have found this vendor (we were a little spoiled coming from living next door to an amazing coffeeshop, in a town with several other incredible coffee shops and a tea lounge!)

The final market is on Saturday morning and, while in a different location, has many of the same vendors as the Thursday market. We don’t visit this one as regularly, but do enjoy stopping by on a Saturday morning family walk when we’re going that direction.

As you can see the options for fresh produce and other food is abundant which is good since there is such a strong desire to support local. In general it seems that the French think most anything that is made or grown in France is best as well. For example, our neighbor who is French has a car and takes several of us women grocery shopping on Mondays. The other day I had grabbed some pears that were from Portugal (all the produce is very clearly labelled based on where it’s from) and she pointed out that there were pears right next to the ones I had grabbed that were far superior because they were grown in France. It was rather humorous to me, but I decided to buy one of each pear anyway to see which was better. And, admittedly, the French pear was significantly better so perhaps there is something to that way of thinking!

In the States I was so accustomed to just buying whatever produce was available and looked good and generally had no idea or concern about which country it had originated in. I have also noticed an emphasis here on buying what’s in-season, both from my friend who takes me grocery shopping and in the lessons we have done in class on food. Again, my choices on what to buy or not buy were more often dictated by price than if something was in-season, especially since most fruits and vegetables are available year round in large grocery stores in the States. This is one area of many in which we have really enjoyed learning about French culture. And we are also really enjoying all the fresh, local foods we get to try!

-Selina

Thursday market fruit and vegetable stands
Thursday market coffee and tea vendor that we frequent
Kebab stand at the Wednesday market
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ER Visit

As many of you know, a couple weeks ago we were dealing with a lot of sickness in our household. Mia had a fever and a rough day of constipation, but it was mostly Desmond who has struggled. Over the course of three or four weeks he had three different stretches of fevers ranging from two to five days in a row with high temps. This was both exhausting and concerning to us.

The third round of fevers lasted four days and involved very high temps and vomiting if he wasnā€™t consistently taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol so eventually we decided to take him to the emergency room. This was a daunting task to consider since we do not have a car and are still very early in our language learning, however it ended up being a great experience in which we got to see God provide in a really neat way!

We live in on-campus housing so everyone in our apartment building is attending language school, however we happen to live across the hall from one family who has a unique situation. The husband of this family is American and attends our school to learn french, but the wife is from France and so she speaks fluent french. Apparently this is not a common situation for our school, but has been such an incredible blessing to us in so many ways. In this particular circumstance, the wife of this family not only agreed to drive Desmond and I to the ER, but offered to be our translator as well. As I reflect on this experience I am amazed at how incredibly stressful it would have been to try and explain Desmondā€™s symptoms as well as understand all the questions they asked me if I had been on my own. Thankfully, with this sweet friend accompanying me it was a smooth trip. Here is a little glimpse into our experience:

Basically the whole experience can be summed up in the word ā€œwaitingā€. This refers to the extended time we spent waiting, but also for how many different places we ended up waiting. I am used to the experiences Iā€™ve had in the States where you generally check in, wait in a waiting room then spend the remainder of your time in an exam room, assuming you donā€™t get admitted or need additional testing. My experience here was very different.

First, we buzzed in and waited on some chairs outside. Then we were let in through a first set of doors and told to wait on some chairs in between those doors and the next set of doors. Then we went into small room no. 1 and a nurse took Desmondā€™s vitals and asked some initial questions. Then we waited in a big, general waiting room until it was our turn to go into small room no. 2 to fill out some paperwork. What was tricky about this room is that no one calls you in, you just go when you think itā€™s your turn and the room is empty. Thankfully my friend knew that we had to just go in. Iā€™m certain that had I been alone I would have definitely sat in that waiting room for a long time, expecting someone to call me back.

After small room no. 2 we were taken back to the pediatrics part of the ER to wait in a waiting room meant for kids. Then we were brought into an examination room where we waited the longest. Eventually several people came to examine Desmond. Despite all of this occurring during his normal nap time Desmond was a very cooperative patient. He even did deep breaths when they listened to his lungs and opened his mouth wide for them to look at his throat. If you have ever witnessed us trying to brush Desmondā€™s teeth, you know what an incredible thing it is that he would willingly open his mouth at all, let alone for a stranger!

After everything we were told that, thankfully, they were not concerned, but think his immune system is just adjusting to a new place and so many new germs which is why he keeps getting new sicknesses. They encouraged me to continue caring for him with medication as needed and monitoring for dehydration or any new symptoms with the fever. Finally, we packed up and went to go wait in the big waiting room again until it was our turn to go into small room no. 2 for a second time. We had accidentally been discharged from the system too soon so we waited in there awhile for Desmond to get readmitted so we could pay for the visit (a remarkably inexpensive 47 euros!) then we were on our way!

I thought it humorous to share the experience in all itā€™s many steps because it was so different than what I, and maybe many of you, are used to, but I mostly wanted to share all the details to emphasize Godā€™s provision. While I could not understand much of what was said and in my nervousness struggled to answer even simple questions well (example: I told the nurse Desmond was born in 220 instead of 2020 haha!), my friend understood all that was going on and had been to that ER before so she knew exactly where to go. Additionally, the hours spent waiting allowed her and I to talk and get to one another better. God also provided very kind medical staff who were so gentle with Desmond. Some of them even tried to speak to me in English, even if they only knew a couple of words.

The day after our visit Desmond woke up fever free and as if he had never been sick, but Iā€™m still thankful for the experience. On one hand it was great to have peace of mind after bringing him in, but in a bigger sense it allowed me to see, yet again, the ways God provides.

-Selina

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First Day of School!

The day that we have been anticipating and praying about for months! God has given us several good days of settling into our new home and adjusting to the time change which made our first early morning for school so much easier. I was particularly nervous for Mia as she is attending a French maternelle (or kindergarten) about 15 minutes from where we live. She has never been in school, let alone a French one so I have, admittedly, been fairly nervous for her.

Ready to go in her “Hello…Bonjour” shirt – how cool that a friend was selling this shirt on their Facebook resale page right before we left!

This morning was smooth until we arrived to the school and had no idea where to go! Thankfully the director of the school (the principal) spoke enough English to help us get sorted out and soon enough Mia was whisked away into her classroom. The process was longer than expected and my class started in the morning so we had a brisk walk home (I would have probably cried more when we left the school, but I was too out of breath and sweating haha!).

Approaching Mia’s school

One interesting thing here in France is that they take lunchtime (dĆ©jeuner) very seriously. So much so that you get a two hour break in the middle of the day for it! And you even go and pick your children up from school/daycare during this break (unless you pay to keep them at school). Such an fascinating cultural thing, but also a blessing to us today as it meant we got to see Mia for the afternoon and hear how the morning had gone. Adam picked her up by bike to help cut down on the travel time since 15 minutes of walking both ways cuts into our break quite a bit. Her report was that she loved school! What an amazing answer to so many prayers! She went back after lunch and had a great second half of the day as well. Tonight at bedtime she became pretty sad about having to go back tomorrow which was hard, but Adam spent a long time talking and praying with her. We won’t be surprised if she still runs into difficulties in the coming days and weeks as this is all so new to her, but we are thankful for such a positive start overall. We continue to pray for her transition to kindergarten!

Thankful for some fellow students in the building who are letting us use their bike and kid’s seat for now – we have been so blessed by this community!

Adam and I’s first day consisted of a tour of the school, which is just across the parking lot from our apartment building and then a placement test which assesses how much French you know so they can decide which class to put you in. Needless to say it was a quick test! Despite how little we currently know, doing the placement test gave us both a taste and excitement for all the learning ahead. Tomorrow we have orientation and will also find out which classes we are in. We have Wednesdays off every week and then begin normal classes Thursday. We feel privileged to be here! Thanks for following our journey!

Jusquā€™Ć  la prochaine fois (until next time) – Selina

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Saying Goodbyes and an Aching Heart (Selina)

Our first couple of days in France have been a whirlwind. I canā€™t even keep straight what day it is! We flew out of the Detroit airport on Tuesday and had an overnight flight to Amsterdam. Then sometime Wednesday we got into Amsterdam and quickly flew out of there to Geneva. We got to Geneva sometime Wednesday afternoon and a taxi drove us plus our 7 totes, 2 suitcases, 2 car seats with sleepy children, a double stroller and 6 various sized carryon/personal items to our school in Albertville, France. We arrived shortly after 4pm here and have been here two full days nowā€¦so I guess that makes today Friday!

In all seriousness though I have been amazed by this process and wanted to attempt to share what itā€™s been like.

The weeks leading up to our departure were far more stressful than I anticipated – Adam and I both ended up getting sick the week before we left which in hindsight was probably due to stress and lack of sleep more than anything else. Regardless, this made us particularly nervous for our Covid tests the night before we flew so we felt enormous relief when we heard our results were negative. We finalized packing that night – the end of a tiring process of constantly second guessing what was worth bringing.

Then came the morning of our departure which was probably one of the most difficult days of my life. Adam and I have both lived in Midland practically our whole lives and our family is very close. In our old house in Midland we lived minutes away from both of our moms, my dad and all my brothers. My sister and brother-in-law were only 30 minutes away so it was not unusual to see various members of our family several times a week, especially in the months leading up to our departure. Additionally we spent our final two weeks in the States living at my moms house which brought us all the closer to everyone since we were with many of them all the time, even my sister who was on Christmas break and spent several nights at my momā€™s as well.

The morning we left my dad came to say goodbye to us in first so the tears started early. When it was time to leave for the airport we said goodbye to my four younger brothers (their ages range from 13-21) which were some of the most difficult goodbyes for me as we donā€™t know that we will see them again before we come back on home assignment at some point. Then both of our moms, my sister and her husband drove us to the airport. We had a long check in process (see earlier list of what we brought) which allowed us extended time with them in the airport. Moments I will always cherish. Then came those final goodbyes. So many tears shed. While our moms plan to visit us in France we donā€™t anticipate my sister and her husband coming since they are due with their first baby, my first nephew, in just a couple weeks.

We hugged each of them tightly then rushed to get to security. In our haste I remember realizing that I hadnā€™t turned back for one last wave goodbye, but they were already out of sight. Then my heart soared when we got up to security and I was able to glimpse the four of them one last time. The flights and travel were so crazy that I did not have a ton of time to think about those goodbyes.

Then came our first night in France, which went well from a practical standpoint – the kids fell asleep quickly and only woke up once before sleeping in until 10:30am, but for me it was one of the more difficult nights Iā€™ve experienced. I had been tearful the whole evening and exhausted from our trip, but then I woke up in the middle of the night and felt truly awful. I have never experienced such an ache in my heart. Every time I thought about each goodbye with our family and with dear friends the days leading up to leaving I felt my stomach drop. The reality of being away from home, from all that is familiar and those who we so deeply cherish was all hitting me at once. I was overwhelmed with feelings of sadness and even regret. Why had we chosen to do this? Why would we leave all those people we love? How would I get through this pain? In the midst of that I felt the Spirit remind me, ā€œYou canā€™t get through it, but Jesus can carry you through it.ā€ And I knew I needed to cry out to God. There was no way to make myself ā€œfeelā€ better or to explain to myself all the reasons why we are here. So I cried out to God and prayed for the peace of His Spirit. I begged Him to minister to my heart which continued to ache. And even in the dead of the night He was there, comforting me and allowing me to fall back asleep.

The next morning I stepped into our apartment and saw all the natural light streaming into the living room. I looked out the window and saw the incredible mountains that surround Albertville. I thought of all the past couple of days had held and instead of a hole in my stomach and a throbbing heart, I felt at peace. The longing for my loved ones and the familiarity of Midland is still there obviously, but with ease the Lord has already lessened that aching. By His Spirit He is providing peace that only He can give and continually cementing a foundation in Him for why we are here and why all of this is so good.

He also prompted me to journal and reflect on all the many ways we saw His hand on the trip here. He allowed the kids to do SO well on the flights and taxi drive. He provided awesome neighbors in our apartment building who moved all our luggage in (weā€™re on the second floor), provided us dinner our first night and cookies the next day, took us grocery shopping and who have answered a million questions for us already. He has allowed our little apartment to already feel so much like home in just the time it took to unpack. He has given us such an amazing support system of family, friends and prayer warriors (you who are reading this!). He has allowed us to live in a place that is so breathtaking in itā€™s beauty we canā€™t help but praise Him for His creativity and workmanship! He has and continues to wrap His arms around me, around our whole family, to provide, comfort and encourage in ways only He can. This has been the hardest thing Iā€™ve ever done and I know the difficulty and discomfort will only continue as we start school Monday and put our kids in preschool/daycare for the first time. In those things and beyond I donā€™t know what is in store for us, but I do know that God has gone before us and will be with us each step of the way. Iā€™m so excited to see what He reveals of Himself through all of these changes and transitions as well as the heartache. He is so worthy of it all!

-Selina

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Our Personal God

I have a mentor who was sharing with me about how she will often ask God to minister to her heart and He always responds in amazing ways. This was a new, but interesting idea to me. To minister is “to attend to the needs of [someone]”. God meets all of our needs so it seems to me a fitting thing to pray to Him. So, lately, I have been trying to more intentionally bring my sorrows, concerns and longings to Him, asking Him to minister to my heart.

One of the biggest things I have been learning through this is that He is such a personal God. He is a loving Father who hears my prayers and wraps me in an embrace. He is a tender Savior who lavishes me with love, though I am so quick to doubt and fear and worry. He knows each of His children better than we even know ourselves and supplies exactly what we need, when we need it.

On our recent trip to Kansas City for our Avant Go training I felt Him ministering to my heart in two very special and tangible ways.

First, it had recently dawned on me that when we go to France for language school we will be in classes four days a week and therefore our kids will be in daycare four days a week, for the first time ever. My desire has always been to stay home with our kids and the last three years of doing so have been such a gift. When I realized the reality of full time language school I was disappointed. I feel confident in our calling to go overseas and excited about learning French next year, but I couldn’t help feeling sad that I would not be with our kids in the stay-at-home capacity I have loved. So, in time, I brought it to the Lord, asking Him to minister to my heart. While at Avant we had classes all day so our kids went into a childcare setting during that time. Despite this being the longest the kids have been apart from us, especially with non-family members, they did great! Mia in particular thrived in the classroom. She adored her teachers, loved her classmates and eagerly anticipated each new day. One morning she woke up, came over and hugged me and then the first thing she said was, “Can I go to my classroom now?!”. I am so thankful for this experience and the glimpse it gave me into the experiences Mia will get to have during our time in France. It felt like a literal pat on the back from God as He assured me that He will care for our children whether they are home with me or not.

Second, our class for Avant Go was made up of people we had met last July at Avant Start as well as some people we were meeting for the first time. During the day our classes were filled with studying Scripture together, learning about what it looks like to move and work overseas and growing in appreciation for how God has uniquely created each of us. Each evening many of us gathered to play games together and share food and laughter. By the end of our week and a half of training it was hard to say goodbye to these dear friends. What stood out about this to me is that God knew who was going to come to this training. He knew each of our personalities, strengths and weaknesses. He provided fellowship and community and so much relational joy. And all of that in a mere week and a half. One of the biggest sorrows for me with our upcoming move overseas is leaving our community here in Midland. Almost all of our family lives near us, we have an amazing church family and tight knit friend group. As we drew close to people we had just met at Avant Go I felt God comforting me that He is the one who provides for us and that includes our relationships. Again, it was a gentle embrace from my Father who knows my desire for community and chose to show me so clearly that He is able to provide it, wherever we are.

I am so thankful for our personal God and the assurance that He hears our prayers and responds. I pray you know Him personally as well and get to experience the wonders of His love!

-Selina

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He is Worthy

Today is July 9th. As things stand we will leave for France in less than 6 months. This has been such an interesting year of emotions. Sheer excitement that our hopes and plans for overseas work is becoming reality, deep sorrow over the short time left living in a town we love close to family and friends we cherish, uncertainty over all of the details involved with moving our family to another continent (and then doing it all again a year later), eagerness to use our remaining time in the States well – for His glory and for the eternal good of those we are in contact with here. Ultimately though I think we have experienced a peace beyond explanation amidst all those emotions as well as an ever-growing closeness to the Lord as we learn more and more what it means to surrender all to Him and trust His leading.

In particular I feel He has been giving me such encouragement through my quiet times with Him in His Word, reminding me of how infinitely good He is and how incredibly worthy He is of anything I would perceive as sacrifice in pursuit of His call on my life. May you be encouraged today to press hard after Him – He is worth everything!

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Philippians 3:7-14 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

-Selina