Tag: The Journey

I don’t have much time to write these days and that is probably a good thing. Little blurbs will pop into my head, but I’ll forget what I wanted to say by the time I get a chance to sit down. There’s honestly not much sitting down that goes on without someone asking me to read a book, or someone pulling my hair (Katie likes to do that a lot), or someone asking me to pretend with them. And that, as I said, is a good thing. It feels messy and crazy sometimes, but it is all so good.

But I did quickly want to share about God’s faithfulness before I forget what I wanted to write.

More than 2 years ago I typed something into the Google search engine: “Green areas around Chicago”. We had started to talk and pray about moving to the States so that we could stay together in case something ever happened to my husband’s job. With two different passports, the chances were high that it would be difficult for us to move quickly together in an emergency. So, that was part of the reason I typed that into the search engine.

Somehow I was immediately on a page looking at parks in Palatine, IL. I thought, “Wow- this looks really nice.” The other reason I had searched for this specific thing is that I had been craving some open fresh air, green lawns (maybe rolling), and nature. I had been in the desert for 8 summers and my heart was ”hartseer”. Literally “heart sore” in Afrikaans. After seeing the pictures, I realized that I had gone about my search backwards. So I redirected my search that afternoon to look for a good church and I found one guess where? In Palatine.

Well, 2 years go by and we are in the States looking for a job and a place to live and the Lord opens the doors to move 15 minutes away to the rolling hills that I saw and the church that I found.

Today, I was thinking about this and praising the Lord for his goodness. Not because the results of my internet search were a sign or a promise or a certainty- I never felt that it was and day by day through this transition He has been teaching me to trust Him no matter what happens. Instead, I was praising the Lord because He was so good to show me his kindness in the intimacy of my relationship with Him. And that is something I will always remember and that I know he will use to stir up my heart in thankfulness and praise to Him.

I love that each time I ask my son to pray in the morning after we read the Bible together and before we start our school day he prays, “Father, Thank you for giving Pappa a job and for giving us this house.” It is such a lesson for me to keep praising my Heavenly Father for all that He provides. To remember and recall all that He has done in my life- in physical provision, and even more in spiritual provision. Praying that you have some time to recall these things in your own life today, whether or not you have seen them before. And that the Lord will tune your heart to all that He is doing and how good He truly is.

It has been a busy month with my husband accepting a job, sorting out the details of moving, and then actually doing it. When I think about it, I am very grateful that our transition to the US was ordered by someone other than ourselves. Thinking about the details of it all, we would have never been able to perfectly plan everything that needed to happen. But there is One who knew and who did.

We found out that we could all move to the States in January, almost a year and a half after starting the process through paperwork submittal, but even longer when you consider the conversation and prayer that went into it.

In February we began to think about packing up our house because we knew our little baby would come in April.

Meanwhile, we were hearing news that Covid19 was actually a bigger deal than everyone expected.

April 2020: many things were happening in Dubai which made it easy and hard to have a baby in the pandemic. We were receiving the best health care from my favorite doctor, who helped me through 3/4 pregnancies. We felt safe as the government was doing an excellent job in the midst of the pandemic. But of course, our parents couldn’t fly in to help like we hoped they would be able to and so that was very difficult. Thankfully, we had wonderful friends who helped and all came right when we met our little Katie girl.

After having our little one, our thoughts and prayers shifted to being able to fly to the US and move before our entrance would expire. And by God’s grace, we were able to fly out mid May.

And then we spent four months catching our breath in the beauty of the Upper Peninsula reconnecting with people that we hadn’t been able to see in person in years, our family was so supportive and we are so grateful for the soft landing they gave us. And for the miles that they traveled to say hello at a distance.

And so begins the next stage. I admit that there is fear associated with being in a foreign country, even when it isn’t actually foreign to me. But for 10 years I was building a life in another one. I knew the way it works and how to figure things out. And now we are learning how to do everything again. But we are excited that we get to do it together.

After almost exactly three months and our friends’ help we were reunited with our dog Nellie yesterday! We took the two little girls with us on a day of road tripping to and from Chicago O’Hare in order to pick up our favorite little fur ball. It is so nice to have a little piece of home back with us. We are reunited and it feels so good!

Almost ten years ago, I left to move overseas. Initially, my senses were overwhelmed as I walked out of the airport and found myself in a new country. However, I quickly learned that I could find many comforts from home in the United Arab Emirates, the hub between East and West. While this was true I still deeply missed my family and friends, who could not be imported.

My plan was to spend 9 months there and to return home, but the Lord had another plan. After being there for a few months I was introduced to a man who a year later became my husband. A year after that we got pregnant with our first child and now 7 years down the line, we just had our fourth. Although roots don’t hold well in the sand, Dubai became my home because it was where our family started. Neither my husband nor I had a real desire to move away and we loved being in the middle of our childhood homes and family, South Africa and the United States, and being a part of such a wonderful church in Dubai.

Because my husband and I were from two separate countries, friends would always ask us where we would want to move next. But neither of us really felt called anywhere else so we really didn’t have an answer. However, while we were living in Dubai we saw many of our friends separated because of having two different passports and no residency permanence in their spouse’s country. So after much prayer we found ourselves applying for my husband’s green card, which took almost a year and a half to get. Fast forward to the global pandemic of covid19, and we are so grateful that we started the process when we did, it was truly the Lord who led us according to his timing. We got my husband’s IR1 visa in January, had a baby in April and prepared to move as soon as we could with country shut-downs and travel restrictions. By God’s grace, we were able to move to the US in May.

The next steps are uncertain as we wait for the Lord to lead us, but we are so grateful to be safe and to be together during this time. We always knew moving would be culture shock, and the pandemic has definitely added a different twist to that experience. But every day we are grateful that the Lord provided a place for us to be together at my parents’ house. And now we are awestruck as we are living in a forest, so different from the desert we left. There are beautiful trees, rainstorms, bird calls, chipmunks, cool breezes, and flowers growing everywhere around us- it is a special treat for us as a family. So come along on our adventure around the spinney and we’ll definitely share some laughs together.