David Finally Writes a Blog!

As you can probably tell, all of our Blog posts thus far have been written by Amy. I think it is finally time that I write one. We are not in Nairobi. We are not in Dar es Salaam. We are in Jersey. Hurricane Irene gave us a little surprise, and there just aren’t that many flights to Kenya, so we will be leaving Saturday. We were ready to go. We are ready to go. A week of YAV orientation got us prepared. Will a week of sitting around unravel us? We just want to see where we will be. We want to know where we are going. We want to start language school...etc. etc.

Last night I forgot all about these concerns. Last night at dinner Amy and I watched as one of my idols came in and sat down at the table next to us. Last night I got to shake hands with Dr. Cornel West. Dr. West is a professor at Princeton University. Amy and I knew this, and thought there was a slim chance we might see him on campus somewhere. We never dreamed we would be able to talk to him. It was worth an extra week just to shake hands with this great writer/orator/(and now) radio personality.

"To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely - to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give you and no empire can take away."

—   Cornel West

"Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public"

—   Cornel West

"The country is in deep trouble. We've forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that's the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word."

—   Cornel West

And a week in.... Princeton.... not Nairobi

      We are suppose to be somewhere between Zurich and Nairobi right about now.  Flying around 550 mph to go learn a new way of life and hopefully make some kind of difference while we are doing it.  I prayed during this week of orientation at this year, God would bless David and I with His Way.  I was not pleased (and did not feel very blessed) when His Way was apparently canceling our flight Monday and rescheduling us for Saturday!  Another week at Stoney Point????  With NO ONE THERE???? Pass. 
     As Monday slide by and our plane did not magically uncancel as we all prayed it would, we got word that another YAV's father generously set us up to have a week in Princeton; staying at the seminary housing for free.   OK we reasoned, we could be a train ride away from NYC and Philly... better than just a small gas station.  Monday night we were on our way after a tearful goodbye to Rebekah and Lydia (whose plane also got canceled and rescheduled for Wednesday).
     This is how I find myself at beautiful Princeton.  I took a run around campus today and was asounded by the campus's beauty.  What a lovely hiatus from the stress of this year so far.  OK... not bad God.
    
  

deflated

      The first few days of this week, in a word, has been OVERWHELMING!  I have never felt that I could not do something, I know I need God to be able to make it through this year.  We are at orientation this week at Stoney Point, NY.  My perception of orientation was it was going to be a little training, some encouraging words and music, and then off we go ready to learn, serve, and be.  No so.  So far almost everyone has just spoken about how hard their year was as a YAV.  How nothing worked out, they talk about how lonely, depressed, and difficult the year was.  This shocked me!  What have we signed up for???
     I came back to my room tonight deflated and anxious.  I wanted to check my first YAV email before I went to bed to see if our email was sent, who David and I missed, and whose emails we mistyped. I was humbled and touched by what I found.  Family and friends had already sent us many emails, supporting us, surrounding us.  Thank you for making me remember I have all of you!  That you will support and love us even if this year is a disaster for us.
      Psalm 139 says "...even if I settle at the other side of the sea- even there Your hand will guide me."  I AM settling at the other side of the sea.  Like Ruth, I am leaving what is dear to me and that has been harder than I can sometimes bear.  BUT I have the promise that God will be there regardless of my experience.  Was this the right decision?  I don't know.  All I know is it is a leap of faith, something I have never really had to do before... and I am afraid.

Cousin Rachel to the Rescue!!!

I was already in Bay View Michigan when I started to worry about the passports. We had been so many places already that summer, DC, Cleveland, Louisville, Nashville, Chicago, and Cleveland again- could they have slipped out in one of those places? David had mentioned that he had not seen them but I reassured him they were in Louisville safe and sound. I had been organized up to this point, I was sure they were in that blue backpack along with the prescriptions, receipts, and visa. Or was I sure?
We arrived in Louisville Thursday, August 11th, after a lovely trip up to northern Michigan and some great family time. The first morning after arriving I headed upstairs to look for the passports while David returned the rental car. I looked… and looked… and looked- NO PASSPORTS!!!
Trying to breathe normally, I faced my husband- Oh by the way, no passports sweetheart! David enjoys working with his hands and therefore was in charge of getting our DC apartment ready for the move out while I did all the organization work and YAV paperwork. In the move I had one job- DO NOT LOSE THE PASSPORTS! David, to his credit did not yell or even slip in an angry comment, he just started looking. An hour later, the house ripped apart, we decided that they were not in Louisville. They must be in Cleveland??
As David continued to search, I begin to calculate how long it would take to get a passport and visa. We had five more business days until we needed to leave for orientation. We would need to go to the DC passport office and then the Kenyan embassy. Lets see, 6 hours to Cleveland where the search would continue, then six to DC and twelve back to Louisville. That would be a tough week and a lot of money!
Just when hope seemed lost, I remembered… cousin Rachel is in Cleveland! A quick call to Rachel sent her to my family’s house where she quickly located the important documents. Pa sent them overnight shipping and they are now kept safe somewhere by David. I am not allowed to move them.

Thank you God for cousins!