Unexpected Blessing

I forgot to mention one little thing in my last post...we have a special prayer request to share with you all. During our time in Virginia, we found out that we are expecting baby #3. Yep, you read that correctly. It probably goes without saying, but just to be clear, this was a complete surprise to us! We certainly were not planning this and to us it seemed like really bad timing, but we know that God has a plan and a reason for everything!

God is amazing in the way He prepares us for things without us knowing it. We found out about the new baby one Thursday evening at FPO, and that very morning we had a session that was focused on being flexible and recognizing that our own plans are secondary to God's will. The key passage was James 4:13-15, which says:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

We were also reminded that no matter what surprises may come in our first term, nothing catches God by surprise. These were all great encouragements to me and I filed them away knowing that at some point on the field I would need those words of encouragement. Little did I know, I would be relying on those words that very evening!

It took us a few days to work through the shock and figure out whether a new baby would change any of our plans in getting to the field. The leadership at FPO was very supportive and encouraging, and thankfully it didn't affect any of our timing. Clearly, we were still able to come to Vancouver, and we will arrive in Bucharest on October 7th as planned. We will get started with language school shortly after that, then in January we will have a short detour when the new baby comes, sometime around January 18th. In keeping with the surprise nature of this pregnancy, we have decided not to find out the gender beforehand, but to be surprised by that as well!



We would appreciate your prayers as we continue through this pregnancy...that the baby will grow strong and healthy, that my body can get the rest it needs during this busy time, that we can get settled quickly in Bucharest and prepare for the arrival, that we can find a doctor quickly and that the delivery goes well, and finally that God will give us the strength to handle 3 kids and language school while adjusting to a new culture!