Anna is 10!

 Anna turned 10 at the end of May.  On her actual birthday, she was very sick with a bad stomach bug, so we waited until the weekend to celebrate with friends. We had friends over to play (her absolute favorite way to celebrate) and then had cake and ice cream. She and mommy will go on a little trip soon to celebrate her turning double digits. We will be sure to share stories and pictures after we go.  She is the most kind, caring girl and loves her friends and family so deeply. She is as tall as mommy's chin now!  It won't be long before she'll be taller than her. We love you, sweet Anna Grace and are thankful for the many years we've had with you. 

Trip to C. Asia

Phil and I went to C. Asia to explore moving our family overseas. We spent the week there seeing the city, meeting with workers over there to talk about their journeys, see the school where we would be working, and many other things. It was a busy week with lots of meetings. We stayed with the Stonehouse family. We got to know them through Rachel helping to teach their family sign language after they adopted a little girl who is deaf. After being there a week, we decided that and felt much peace from the Lord that this is the direction we are supposed to head. We will be moving our family there in August. We will now begin the process of selling our house and all our things, getting our necessary paperwork, and saying goodbyes. Our wonderful friends, Anne Marie and Nanette, stayed with our kids while we were gone. They did an amazing job and the kids loved being with them!

Adventures Await

Phil and I will leave today to head to Central Asia (near the Caspian Sea) to see if that is where we are to move.  We will be staying with our friends, the Stonehouses, and can't wait to see their home and community and the people they love. Here is the letter we wrote to our friends to share the news. 

Dear friends, 

We are writing to let you know about an opportunity that has arisen for us to potentially move our family to Central Asia (near the Caspian Sea) to partner with an international school and fellowship. Our hearts have always been drawn towards people from other countries and also supporting overseas workers and the prospect of living with this other community seems exciting, however daunting. There are many potential opportunities for us there such as teaching in the school, leading worship, working with the youth, and also working in the deaf community.  With Rachel's expertise as a sign language interpreter, my experience in music, teaching, and administration, and our recent partnership with the youth group, we feel that this unique opportunity fits with our current passions and skills. 

Please know that Rachel and I have not made a final decision about this but are simply walking forward in faith this until the Lord closes the door.

Although we have not made a final decision about moving to Central Asia, Rachel and I will be traveling there May 12th-20th (our kids will remain here with friends) to visit with the people and to seek God's face while we are in the community where we plan to serve.  We will spend the week talking with workers there in the fellowship and school to see if it would be a good fit for us.  As we make this trip in two weeks, please pray that we have clarity and confidence in the final decision, whatever that may look like.

We would love to talk with you if you would like to hear the whole story of how this came about and how the Lord prompted us to pursue this opportunity. 

In order for us to do this, we would need to raise support to live and work there.  Our aggressive goal is to raise funds and settle our business here in Nashville in time to start working in the school this coming August.  While it seems impossible to man that we would be able to raise support and get our family ready to go in three months, we serve a big God that can move mountains. If He wants us there, a way will be made. We are open to waiting on his timing, so it might be that we are not able to raise support as quickly and will go in January of 2019 or even August of 2019. We are trusting the Lord with all of the details. 

We would ask two things of you. 

1. Please pray for us. Pray for direction for our family. If this is not supposed to be, we do not want to force the issue. With that being said, we would love to see God move mountains and for our family to be able to serve in this way. Pray also for direction (if it is a yes) on timeline, when to go, how long to stay, and all the details of moving the family around the world. 

2. Please pray for how you can support us financially.  If we feel that the final decision is to move to Central Asia after our May trip, we would potentially ask for a two year commitment from our supporters with the potential for us to stay additional time if God leads in that way.  Please pray for God to lead you in this partnership with us.

Thank you for joining with us as we seek the Lord. 

Love,

Phil & Rachel 

***Due to the nature of what we would be doing and the sensitivity for the workers there, we are not able to share specifics here and ask that this trip or subsequent trips not be shared on social media***

The Lion King

The girls were in a play at school, The Lion King. They practiced from January until May two times a week for two hours each day. They did so great and the play was amazing!  The costumes were great, the music was fantastic, and we loved it. We also had so many great friends come to see it and support our girls. We couldn't take pictures or videos during the play because it was a Disney play, but we did take pictures after. It was a lot of hard work, but the girls loved doing it. Such a good memory! Mr. Slinkard, Kate's encore teacher, was the director for the play. He is the guy in the picture with the girls.  He did an amazing job!

 

 

The Millers, Hussungs, & Nanette

The McGehees & Nuveen (Anna's friend from down the street and from class)

Kate with Colton Winningham, a boy from her class

Nana and Papa Shouse

Uncle Chris, Aunt Valerie, Charlotte, & Ellie Michel

Mr. Slinkard, the director

Zoo and Baseball

The weather has finally gotten nicer here and it's baseball season!  We took the opportunity to go to the zoo and Phil got to take Anna and a friend to a game.  We are so thankful for the sun and the chance to be outside. It gets pretty hot here pretty quickly (85 F), so we have to take the chance to enjoy these "spring" days while we have them.  It happened to be Star Wars day at the zoo and there was a crazy, insane amount of people there. Having a membership is so nice. We didn't feel bad at all about going to see the new bear exhibit (unfortunately, they were sleeping under a rock) and riding the carousel. We happened to see the Star Wars characters at a tent and stopped to snap a few pictures. John has never seen the movies, but he keeps insisting he wants to have a Star Wars birthday party when he turns 10. =)  The baseball game was Friday night and the zoo was Saturday. After a hot few hours at the zoo, we headed to Plaza Mariachi right down the road to grab some palates.  It is a min-mall designed specifically for the Latino community. It is such a cool place with lots of neat shops and some great food! 

Isaac & Anna 

Plaza Mariachi