Sundays are for family, but I didn’t know how it was going
to work out for us to get together. Our plans got thrown out the window when my
middle son woke up with a fever for the second day in a row. We had to cancel
driving up to church, and driving down to Arvada for our family get together at
my sister and brother-in-law’s apartment.
We did end up hanging out though. They decided it was better
for them to come over to gramma and grampa’s house. That worked out nicely
since that’s where we are staying too. Gramma and Grampa’s massive house (we
think its big) is split nicely between the floors as if it is apartments. We
have a lovely space upstairs that is about the same size as a comfy apartment. They
don’t use that bit of the house either. So that’s perfect.
Anyway, our family fun time did happen! My middle guy was
able to rest while his cousins and two brothers played together outside. We
spent hours in the shade of our big trees in the backyard, and he spent hours
resting with inter-mitten hang time with his cousins.
My sister and I sat with our mom at a pretty little iron
table under a tall cotton wood (it’s cottonless – thankfully) Gramma asked us
if we wanted to start over at a new house with no trees. We all laughed. They did
try selling this house for a long time in 2013 and 2014. It was on the market
off and on for a few months at a time but it didn’t sell. They felt like it was
better not to sell after we told them that we were going to have an extended
furlough in the US. They offered the upstairs floor of their home to us rent
free for a year. That was an amazing offer. We thought we were going to spend
about a year or 18 months in Colorado. We were super happy to stay with my
parents.
Then, to our delight (sarcastic delight, but ended up being delightful) we found out that the Green Card process for my hubby
was going to take a LOT longer than that. It all seemed kinda difficult to
understand. We knew Jesus had directed us to spend some time in the US. We felt
like he didn’t give us a solid time frame, but the Green Card was supposed to
take a max of 18 months for us since we are missionaries. That changed. Our
blessed friends who were able to get a Green Card in under 18 months started
the process before the Immigration laws changed in 2014. We started his process
about 2 weeks too late for the expedited process. Our family has been here just
over 18 months, minus our trip to Europe last summer, and Mozambique just now.
We don’t know exactly how long we are going to be here, but
we are blessed to have a tiny rent with our parents, and a good school for our
kids while we go through this process of waiting and changing. We knew that God
was speaking to us about me finishing my Bachelors degree while we are spending
time in the Us to get my hubby a Green Card. Our spiritual parents and pastors
gave us similar prophetic words and advice. We’ve been married for what seems
like forever, but never lived in the US - until now. That looked weird to the
immigration officers. They asked if my hubby likes the US. We told them we live
in Africa. They let us know it was important for us to go ahead and get a Green
Card, and after he has it we can live where ever we want again. We had
previously stayed in the US for less than six months at a time . My hubby had a
visitor visa that allowed him to stay for six months. We did a bunch of
interviews with immigration officers and learned that that would not work
anymore. They said that protocol would only allow him to renew a visitor visa
so many times. The Green Card was the next step. He needs a Green Card – not to
start a career here or to relocate permanently here, but in order to have good
standing with the US immigration office. We scratched our heads, did research,
and wondered why? We knew it was going to be a change of lifestyle, but were
informed that after about 3 years he should have a Green Card and not be
restricted to living the majority of the year in the US.
In the meantime, God spoke to us a lot about our sons’
education, and furthering mine and my husband’s education. We’ve both done different ministry classes
online. I’m furthering my formal education. I have had to add a few classes
into my degree plan, so I’m not finished with my
Bachelors, but I am already
looking into Masters programs. I wanted to get into a Master’s program after I finish
my BA, but I didn’t imagine that we could spend the time it requires in the US.
Well, our time frame has changed. It looks like I can finish my BA and more. My
hubby can get a Green Card and we can travel to Mozambique as needed now that
he has ‘advance parole’. He even has a social security number.
Our plans got thrown out the window. They were very flexible
anyway. But we have seen how God works out all the details to be a major
blessing! We’re so so blessed to have such an amazing growing team on the
ground in Mozambique. We hear from our team and have leadership meetings via
Skype or other social media every week. We have great people on the ground
loving our kiddos and leading important projects. We are finding out that we
need more time in the US as little things, like a Green Card, and BA and MA Degrees
require more time than we initially thought. We are settling into a life here
in Colorado, and continuing to lead the Iris Chimoio ministry base at the same
time. Its working. Its different from other ministry bases, but it’s working. The
stories we have to tell. I better save that for tomorrow. The plans that God
has are working out so much better than ours!
Just like today’s plans got thrown out the window, but
everything worked out better than we thought it could. We did end up getting to
hang out with family and have our fun day. The ladies manned the grill, while
the men worked on a car. The kids kept the fun level to a high, and we all ate
to our hearts content. My middle guy joined us for our meal, and then they all
watched important gaming videos on you tube together. My sister and I even got
to sing our favorite duet together, and in worship to our good God who loves to
bless us with family time, fun, and fellowship; here is our duet:
We love how God sees the big picture. We were stretched
today in little details, like sorting out the fire on our dad’s grill. But it
worked out fine. Sometimes it’s better to lay down our plans and ask God for a
better one. He has a perfect plan. He loves to walk with us on the path. He
loves to surprise us with fun times, and answered prayers.
I was praying for a special time to sing with my sister.
Most of the time when we are together, the hours are full of cooking, cleaning,
taking care of kids and a little humming together. Today we got to sing our hearts
out. Hope you enjoy. The song is saying how wonderful our Lord is, and how we
adore him.
Lots of love and Blessings,
Missionary Momma Mia
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