The last few months have been a bit of an emotional and mental rollercoaster. In mid-December Baden finished his las workday at Moody Aviation and on that same day we moved out of our home and into my parents’ house. In this process we greatly downsized our possessions. This was a great opportunity to help our kids learn that material possessions are temporary and it’s nice to bless others by giving things away! They did a great job and had really good attitudes about getting rid of their things. But I didn’t think to include them in the decisions of what to get rid of our of the kitchen. So, when someone bought our waffle iron from our yard sale last summer Anna had a little meltdown. Oops! So many things for us to learn as parents in how to move well.
After getting into my parents’ house, it took a few weeks for the kids to settle. They were very emotionally heightened, extra loud, extra sad, extra excited, … by the time we were all settled it was time for Baden to leave for two and a half weeks. The 1st few days were rough. Baden is such a help especially at bedtime. Being the only parent for 3 littles 24/7 is so much work! Then Evan and I went to join Baden for one week, to support him through the most intense portion of his testing. The kids did great! Evan slept on both of the flights and the girls were very good for Grandma and Grandpa. (we felt all the prayers for us that week!) well the week ended and Baden passed his TE (technical evaluation) with flying colors! TE is a big test that lets you know either yes you are ready for flying on the mission field or no you don’t have what it takes yet. We got back to Spokane and delt with lots more extra emotions from the girls. I kind of think that they bottled up their emotions waiting to let them out when mommy and daddy got back. We have so much to learn about parenting these sensitive little souls through big changes. How to balance discipline, grace, boundaries, and keeping some sort of consistency for them as well. How to give our children the love they need (snuggles, words, gifs, helps, time) and teaching them to be godly, obedient, respectful, kind, etc…
In addition to taking care of kids in the 2 weeks after returning to Spokane we had meetings and lots of planning as we tried to figure out our next steps. We went from one day thinking we would be delayed a year to a few days latter thinking we could do our Pre-Field Training (PFO) this spring and finish support raising afterwards and leave for Kenya in the fall. Then a few days latter we were told that the last plan was not an option, it would leave to much time between PFO flights and starting to fly in Kenya. Baden would start to lose too much flight proficiency. Since we were not fully funded yet we will need to wait till the next PFO which is March-July 2024 then leave for Kenya July 2024. We found out this final decision just days before we were planning to leave for a road trip to this years PFO. Needless to say, we had a bit of emotional whiplash.
Amidst the disappointment of not leaving this year we still needed to make a plan for what we would do till march next year, besides the obvious support raising. We certainly hope that will only take a few months and not the rest of the year. As the disappointment wore off and a plan started to form, we started to see the positives of staying in Spokane a little longer and having a little slower pace of life for a bit.
We have been running full speed ahead for quite a while now, working and ministering at Moody Aviation. Moody was a wonderful place to be, but it was very busy and draining especially with the addition of preparing to go to the field with AIM (Africa Inland Mission). So there was little to no breathing room in our schedule. Now we have a bit of time to stop, think, relax and bit, and just be family. We can take the time to really say all the goodbyes and build some healthy family habits to help us with future transitions.
Now we plan to be in Spokane till May, at which point we hope to have all or almost all of our monthly support. Then we will take a long road trip all over the U.S to visit friends and family and end up in North Carolina in July to work at JAARS until our PFO next spring. JAARS is the aviation department of Wycliff Bible translators and the training facility for our PFO. Baden will be able to do some maintenance work for them, and possibly some flights as well, to increase his experience and keep his proficiency. You can be praying especially for Baden as this is a lot of changes for him. I have the advantage of the consistency of my job/role through all of this, to school and take care of my kids and the home that we are in at any given time, to be a support to my husband and to keep us all fed. The lack of change in my role does leave me feeling a bit unhelpful at times and like I should be doing more specific things for our support raising and other preparations for going to the field. But I have to keep reminding myself that being a wife and mother is a high calling and definitely one that God has given to me, so it really can and should be my first priority.
