We're moving back to China!!!!!

As I look back over the last few things I've posted, they seem a little flat and shallow. The reason is because all that I have wanted to really say, relates to us going back overseas, which was the one thing that wasn't internet-posting public yet. But today is the day. James met with his Associate Leadership Council yesterday and his entire office today to break the news. He really wanted to make sure everyone in his office heard from him first, which is why we tried to keep the news off facebook and such. UNTIL TODAY!

Now, I can share that we've been moving in this direction since November....or since we came back to America....or since we got married...or since we became believers, I suppose. For the purpose of this blog post, we'll just start in November :)

When James took the job as the broker of his office, it came with a verbal commitment that he would stay for 3 years. Although we had talked about going back overseas at various times, when he committed the job, in our minds, we committed to be here in OKC for that duration of time. We would continue serving in our house church, continue hosting international students, continue attempting to build relationships in our low-income neighborhood, continue our internet-based business, and continue to follow as God leads us here in OKC.

The first weekend in November when I went to CT to visit my sister, James went to Tulsa to visit a cousin. I'll let him tell his story as he wants, but the gist of it is that James heard something from God while he was there that made him feel like it was time for us to begin praying about and moving forward with our plans to return overseas. About that time, he and the owner of his office were talking about the current state and future plans of his office and both mutually decided that the office could be better with someone else in the Team Leader role. This was our first big obstacle to overcome....release from James's job and therefore release to the 3 time commitment (that we are about 1 year into).

Since then, we have prayed, talked, fasted, and sought counsel from those closest to us. We were open to going anywhere, but at this point feel led to return to the city in China where we both served previously.

Our plan moving forward is to sell our house sometime after June 24th (so that we don't have to pay back the $8000 tax credit) and arrive in China sometime before the fall semester begins on the first Monday of September. James will study Chinese for year and then we will decide what's next, which will more than likely be some business venture.

My heart is so excited that each day it gets harder to stay connected here. But it has also given me a renewed energy to initiate relationships/make contact with old friends (which is something I haven't had in a long while) since I know the loneliness of being on the other side of the world with limited contact to friends here.

I'm also so excited about going that for every pleasant, exciting, and hopeful thought I have about returning, I try to temper it with one not-so-pleasant memory so that I'm not totally romanticising our return. For example, I think, "I won't have to drive anywhere and I can ride a bike where ever I want." Then I also make myself remember that 90+% of the male population smokes and non-smoking areas don't exist. Then I remember all the delicious foods I love to eat that I haven't gotten to eat in almost 4 years. Then I make myself remember all the foods easy to come by in America that I won't have access to there (cheese and hearty whole grains will be missed the most).

So these days I'm busy with our internet-based business, tyring to increase the traffic there so that it can serve as a means of support for us while we are there. Check us out at http://www.languageandculturalservices.com/ and show some love to our google-ad-supporters while you are there :) And I'm busy sorting everything in our house (if not physically, at least mentally) into 4 categories: give away, sell, take, store.

There will definitely be ways you can support and help us in the future, but for today, just rejoice with us!