This... it's happening!

It's happening....

It is really happening!

J

We didn't just graduate from college and we didn't just get married but we are starting over. 

As we approach 20 years of marriage with 4 kiddos in the mix, we are smack in the middle of a whole new beginning. It's scary and exhilarating at the same time.. kind of like riding a big beautiful horse!!

As we've begun to process starting over here in the States several of you have contacted us to ask what we need and/or inquired about how you can help so we wanted to let you know that we created a New Beginnings amazon wish list. --Please know that we are not asking any of you to purchase items for our family but we believe that having this list will make it much easier to answer the questions we get regarding our needs.-- If you would like to purchase an item from our wish list please visit the link below. And if you'd rather not purchase an item or even look at the list, we want you know that is fine, too!

Amazon link: New Beginnings

Thank you for all the continued prayers said on behalf of our family! We are giddy and looking forward to what lies ahead on these paths He's making straight. 

"Strength shows...

not only in the ability to persist,

but the ability to

start over."

Monday Monday

John rocked his first week on the new job like a champ. He was in training in Indianapolis for 5 days and is now back in Florida. We miss him like crazy and long for the day that we will all be together living the "normal" kind of life people talk about.

This 'divide and conquer' thing is nothing new but danggit, it doesn't get any easier no matter which country we're in or how many times we do it.

Clinging so tightly to these words today,

Let us not lose heart and grow weary

and faint in acting nobly and doing right,

for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap,

if we do not loosen and relax our courage...

Galatians 6:9 AMP

 And remembering,

"...draw on HIS strength and not your own." (God's, not your rockstar husband's. *smile*)

I know the saying...

...but we are so ready for the journey to our own housing to be done already.

Thanks for your continued prayers as we keep on going! J

There is an exchange in God where we come, 'limited', and He responds with all the things we never knew we could have while feeling grossly weak. He responds...with Himself. 

-Sara Hagerty

Captivate us

Two painters were once asked to paint a picture illustrating his own idea of rest. The first chose for his scene a quiet, lonely lake, nestled among mountains far away.

The second, using swift, broad strokes on his canvas, painted a thundering waterfall. Beneath the falls grew a fragile birch tree, bending over the foam. On its branches, nearly wet with the spray from the falls, sat a robin on its nest.

The first painting was simply a picture of stagnation and inactivity.
The second, however, depicted rest.

Outwardly, Christ endured one of the most troubled lives ever lived. Storms and turmoil, turmoil and storms - wave after wave broke over Him until His worn body was laid in the tomb. Yet His inner life was as smooth as a sea of glass, and a great calm was always there.

Anyone could have gone to Him at any time and found rest. Even as the human bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets in Jerusalem, He turned to His disciples, offering them a final legacy: "My peace."

Rest is not some holy feeling that comes upon us in church. It is a state of calm rising from a heart deeply and firmly established in God.

- Henry Drummond

~ With evil ever growing and hate showing face everywhere we look these days, 

may we learn to land where true rest can be found. ~

   Captivate us, Lord Jesus
   And set our eyes on You
   Devastate us with Your presence falling down

   Rushing river, draw us nearer
   Holy fountain consume us
   And captivate us, Lord Jesus, with You

   Your voice is powerful

   And Your words are 

   radiant bright
   In Your breath and shadow
   I will come close and abide

   You whisper love 

   and life divine
   And Your fellowship is free
   Draw me closer 

   Oh, my Lord
   Draw me closer 

   Lord, to Thee

   Let everything be lost 

   in the shadows

   Of the light of Your face
   Let every chain 

   be broken from me
   As I'm bound in Your grace

  Your yoke is easy, 

  Your burden is light

  You're full of wisdom, 

  power and might

  Every eye will see You

  Captivate us, Lord Jesus
  And set our eyes on You

      Captivate us with You

                     (lyrics written by Nathaniel & Christy Nockels and Charlie Hall)

*photos from the beautiful waters in Haiti

Take Thirty-One

Transitions...

...take 31!

Some transitions are embraced enthusiastically...
     but honestly, sometimes we'd rather just eat sand instead of being forced into others.

Why? 

Because transitions mean change. 

And change can be exhausting and hard and painful and messy and uncomfortable and overwhelming. 

Change can bring with it a sense of panic. It can make your heart race with fear. It can make you cling to unhealthy familiars because they are...familiar.

Change can be ugly and gross.

It can make you cling to stuff and people you might not ordinarily cling to.

Despite feeling like "full-time transitioners", we Chaps have worked really hard throughout the difficult seasons to cling to the only ONE who doesn't change in the midst of change. 

When we felt forgotten, He faithfully proved we weren't.

When we were broken, He ushered in healing.

When we were hurt, He loved us through and through.

And now, as we face transition again, God is leading us still.

We've prayed and prayed and we asked you to pray with us.

Without fail, many of you poured out encouragement and voiced numerous prayers for our family and after a year of travel and an emotional trip back to Haiti last month, we are ready to embrace the next...

...to shed the luggage and kick the packing and unpacking of suitcases to the curb for a while.

The constant traveling and house-sharing is drawing to a close, praise the Lord! 

We praise Him for His faithfulness and we are pressing hard into His sufficiency as we leap again, with 'new skins'.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new chapter for this 6-on-a-journey!

John starts a new job tomorrow in Davenport, FL, just outside Orlando.

I will finish packing our things, at my parents home near the coast of Mississippi, over the next couple of weeks and while we feel ALL the feels, we covet your prayers just as much now as we ever have!

Here's to
   following the ONE who's CONSTANT
       in ALL the change
           as we:

And sometimes...

against all odds,

against all logic,

we still hope

because

"...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." 

Isaiah 40:31