Stones and Something about Ducks

Though we completed our training at MTI over 2 weeks ago, we are still processing the experience.  One such thing is ducks.

This pair o'ducks, or paradox, were affectionately referred to as the "Yay Duck" (left) and "Yuck Duck" (right) to demonstrate the seemingly contradictory emotions we're experiencing as we prepare to move overseas.

While it was really great to take some time over Christmas to rest and relax with the Kisslings in a cabin in the mountains of Tennessee, our rigorous travel schedule is picking up again and reminding us of this pair o'ducks. 

It is our hope to apply for our long-term visitor visas in mid-January, pack up our belongings, and move to France by February or March.  We are excited....and nervous.  We need less than $1000/month to be committed before we can depart, but as we spend our final weeks/month(s) in the U.S. visiting friends and family, saying goodbyes, and raising the final 10% of our support, we have countless mixed emotions. 

We are exhausted from our nomadic lifestyle; we are sad to leave the people and places that are so familiar.  We are excited to live in a new city; we are scared to live in a foreign country.  It's hard to give up our stuff; settling into a new apartment with new things will be fun.  Tears come to my eyes even as I (Kate) type these things.

And yet, I think of our final day at MTI when each family took a stone and wrote what the Lord had done throughout the three weeks because, in Joshua, God tells the Israelites to gather stones and remember.

 "And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.  And he said to the people of Israel, 'When your children ask their fathers in times to come, "What do these stones mean?" then you shall let your children know, "Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground."  For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.'"   Joshua 4:20-24

With 2013 beginning, we cannot help but stand in awe of how the Lord has so abundantly provided for us in 2012.  We trust that He will continue to fulfill His promise of being Jehova-Jireh.  May we continue to look and see what the Lord has done, even in the midst of our mixed-up emotions.