the next step

Writing this first post is overwhelming.  There is much to say.  Sitting here and staring at the screen, I feel almost the same way I feel when I talk on the phone to a dear friend that I haven’t connected with in a long time.  In those moments I feel the heaviness of all of the life that has been lived between conversations.  The good and the bad, the mundane and the life changing, the obstacles and sweet moments of grace.  It’s hard to know where to start.

But you have to start somewhere.  And although the conversation often feels stiff at first, soon you hit your stride and you fall into the well known rhythms of life together.

Details will be missed in this first post (and many that come after) and the story will have to be fleshed out along the way, but we have to just jump in ,and in time, the pieces will come together.

Chris will be graduating from North Park Theological Seminary in just 55 (!) days.  Three and a half years ago we moved into student housing with two tiny children in tow and a van full of furniture that we had pleaded for on Facebook.  We were unsure of where life would be taking us after putting down roots in Chicago for a time, but knew that for this season, Chicago was were we needed to be.

The process of figuring out what comes after graduation has felt long at times.  But the process has been good.  There are lessons to be learned in the murky waters when nothing seems clear that are hard to learn anywhere else.

So with that, we are excited to share that our family will be moving back to Quito to partner again with the Covenant Church of Ecuador (IPEE).  About a year ago, we began the process of pursuing long term missionary status with Covenant World Mission and hope that a year from now we will be writing these blog posts from a couch in Quito.

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This step in our family’s journey comes with a million emotions.  Even posting this blog adds another layer of “realness” to what we are walking into.  We need people to walk this road with us.  We need to you to join the conversation, to pray for and with us, to encourage us, to challenge us and to partner with us and our brothers and sisters in Ecuador.So we invite you to check back often.  Hear more of the story and share yours.  Let’s see where they overlap and identify those  places where there is a disconnect.   We want to continue to learn from each other  and friends around the globe  to see where and how God is moving and how we all get to play a part in this kingdom he is building here and now.  We are excited to be a part of a community woven together through blog posts and Facebook chats, Skype calls and visits, financial support and encouraging snail mail and to see how God will use us all to continue to show his love and grace to the world as we all commit to one another.