Our BIG update!

I guess I have some explaining to do since its been nearly 3 months since my last update.

There is a verse in proverbs that says "many are the plans in a persons heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." I'm beginning to think this is a theme in my life for the last several years, and I'm so thankful for that. Tomorrow we were set to leave the US and return to Australia but we won't be on that plane. About 7 or 8 weeks ago we were in the midst of our travels in the US. We had been spending time with my family in Memphis, visiting friends and seeing the sights in Nashville and then found ourselves in my former town, Little Rock catching up with friends. Long story short, I was offered a teaching position at the school I used to teach at. Not a classroom teaching position but the gifted and talented teaching position. That was something I had always thought about doing later "down the road," when I had taught for a few more years and gone back to school to get my masters. But God had a way of blessing me with my "down the road"a lot sooner than I expected. We had been praying for quite a while for the next season in our life, not realizing that our prayers would be answered while on our American holiday.

I started work just a few weeks later. We bought a car and found an apartment in Little Rock to call home. I enrolled in graduate classes at Harding University to complete my endorsement in Gifted and Talented Education. We are now in the process of changing Ben's visa to a green card. And of course we are trying to tie up loose ends in Australia, sell our cars, cancel phone plans, trying to figure out what to do with our stuff! All not easy things to do from 10,000 miles away. Those are just the major things going on, there are of course a ton of little things that come with starting over. I heard someone say that moving is one of the most stressful things a person can go through. They are right, and try moving across the world when you weren't planning on it! But we're making it. We are overwhelmed by the ways God has been blessing us throughout the last several weeks and months.

We miss Australia and our family and friends there but knowing that God has brought us here gives us such peace. I am so thankful to be doing a job that I love! I love it even more than I thought I would! To be back at my old school has been a wonderful blessing. For some reason I feel drawn to work with those kids. I don't dread Sunday nights anymore and having to go to work on Monday because I love what I'm doing.

Starting over is busy, stressful, hectic, overwhelming, but completely wonderful when its God's timing.

So, there is my explanation as to why I've been MIA for a while. I'm sorry to our friends we haven't been great at keeping in touch with, but we've been more than a little busy! Things are starting to slow down a bit and we are getting settled and into a routine. Please keep us in your prayers over the next few months as we still have many big obstacles to overcome with getting Ben's visa, finding him a job once he has working rights, etc. We also hope to buy a house after the new year so we'll have plenty of room when our Aussie family and friends decide to come visit! (There's your invite!)

To our amazing family and friends, thank you so much for your love and support. I can't even begin to say how thankful I am for my parents and how wonderfully helpful they have been to us as we're starting over. We are incredibly blessed to have so many people that love us, all over the world!