Yours, mine and ours: Tennessee, Kentucky & North Carolina

We have been all over the place in the past few weeks! Our bodies are tired but our hearts are so very full from seeing so many people we love. First stop was Raleigh/Wake Forest!

Our niece, Colby. We enjoyed time with David's brother's family while we were there! 

Lumpy's ice cream with great friends?! Yes, please!

Three friendships that have played a huge role in David's life the past three and a half years. We love these guys.

Three friends who are gifts to me and continue to encourage and challenge me, even from a distance. Grateful for time with them! 

We were grateful to be able to be a part of our Raleigh fellowship family while we were in town as well!

Next stop: Dresden, TN! I (Anna) made a quick trip to Dresden for a baby shower for my sister, Shelly. It was a bitter sweet day getting to celebrate our nephew Cohen, but also say goodbye to my extended family. Wow..so grateful for supportive family all the way around!!

My grandmothers: two women who love HIM and are so graciously supportive of us!

Cohen has some aunts & a "Bunny" who cannot wait to meet him!

Because that's how we take a family picture...with a selfie stick. :) Also pictured- our brother-in-law Matt's family (on the right).

And finally, we just returned from almost a full week in Louisville, KY. A fear of mine deep down since we were in college or so was that my best friend growing up would get married while we were overseas. HE allowed for us to be stateside for her big day- so thankful!! The weight of this day was significant as well because the morning of the wedding was when the US Supreme Court ruled for the definition of marriage to be changed. With a spirit of defeat, we were encouraged to end the day with a celebration of marriage- the way HE has intended it. It was a beautiful day celebrating what HE has joined together for HIS kingdom!

My beautiful best friend on her wedding day. 

These two made for beautiful junior bridesmaids! :)

We had a down day in between things while in Louisville, so we took advantage  and did a little sightseeing of my hometown! 

Thankful for cheap tickets, minor league soccer and a beautiful night to enjoy together!

We were BLESSED immensely by so many old friends while in Louisville. We were grateful for the opportunity to be with my fellowship family I grew up among and for their graciousness in letting us share what HE has allowed us to be a part of. We left Louisville with quite full hearts. Thank you to everyone who so greatly loved on us!

Now to today...we were green lighted to order our plane tickets to Ft. Collins for training in just 4 weeks! (!!!!!!!!!!) We will make one more trip before then, spending most of our days ahead packing up our house, preparing, working on class work, communicating with our teammates (many of you!) and making final preparations. We will also be spending some quality time with family. Please petition for us as we begin to say goodbye. We are petitioning for you, our partners in the work. We are grateful for such a supportive network and team to be partnering with.

Update and a little Q&A

Wow, we have been blown away watching our Father work the past few weeks as we have become full-time in our team building. We have met with many of you and we are so grateful for you taking the time to hear our story, strategy and upcoming move, as well as hear your stories. We are so grateful he has allowed us to even experience this process of team building. It has stretched our dependence on him and given us the opportunity to watch him work so clearly. Wow. We are overwhelmingly grateful! We are encouraged by you and thankful for your partnership! Remember- this is not you just helping us fulfill a dream or a call. This is us and you partnering together. Thank you for taking interest and being directly involved in the work.

We have received some questions that we would like to answer, for all who have asked.

1. Where will you live?

We will live in an international teacher's building our school provides. This has been a huge gift!! (Helloooo western toilet!!) It will be a roughly 800 sq. foot, two bedroom apartment with simple furniture. This is more than most have in our situation- we realize this and are grateful!

2. What will you be doing exactly?

We will both be teaching English in a local university. We will be part-time so we can be intentional with our students outside of the classroom. David and I both will have 4-5 classes with anywhere between 30-50 students in each, per semester!

3. How often will you be coming to the States?

Because we are teachers, we will be stateside for the months of July & August. Our winter break will be in February for Chinese New Year. We will remain in Asia during February.

4. Isn't it cold there?!

Yes....yes it is. (insert petition request here for Anna)

5. Will you have to learn Chinese?

Yes and no. We desire to learn Chinese. David speaks conversational Chinese and I used to be able to..hopefully it will come back somewhat from my college days studying there! Our students will be at a high English level already. So we will be able to talk to them as we build relationships. We desire to learn Chinese so we can interact even beyond our university contacts and with the community around us.

6. Do you do ok with the food?

YES! We love genuine Chinese food! Some of it is a little difficult for our western bellies...but oh, we cannot wait to get back to those Chinese dumplings!

7. Will David be able to get diabetic supplies there?

Yes- we will be taking a year's supply of insulin and supplies with us, and if necessary, major cities Shenyang and Beijing are not too far away. We will travel into one of these cities every few months for his endocrinologist appointments. This really isn't difficult to do in China because of excellent public transportation options. We are about a one hour train ride to Shenyang and five hour ride to Beijing.

Thank you for keeping up with us! We have a lot to do in these next few weeks. Please ask that we use time wisely as we spread it across travel, meeting with friends and partners and spending time with our families. We are grateful for you!

Season of preparations: 7 weeks to go

First of all, we want to say THANK YOU again to those who have already committed to joining our team! We have been so overwhelmingly encouraged to see how our Father has provided already. Many told us that during this process of building a team and preparing, we would see his hands work in ways we never expected. They were certainly right!

These are exciting days! We have been in contact with our China team, which consists of five other Americans and Canadians who will be teaching at our university as well. They have already been such a blessing to us. We will meet with this team weekly when in China for accountability, encouragement and lesson planning for our classes.

Just an update on where we are at- we are 7 weeks away from our July 26 departure date for Colorado for training. We ended our Knoxville jobs about two weeks ago and have been meeting with individuals, working on partnership building and traveling since then. Building our team is now our full-time job until we leave. Over the next three weeks, we will be in Raleigh/Wake Forest, west Tennessee and Louisville. We will be meeting with family and friends for time together and discussing partnership. We have begun our classwork for our Colorado training as well. Please petition for us as we prepare to pack up our house, travel and continue to build our stateside team. Above all, please petition for the students and locals we will be meeting and building relationships with in just two short months. They are all already so heavily on our minds and hearts before we have even met them.