October Update!

Hi Dear Friends,

It is high time for an update! I hope you all have made it through September with bits (and bunches) of joy, peace, and rest amid what is the craziest back to school time I think we’ve ever encountered. And now that October is here, we can welcome some chillier temps (for those reading in the Northern Hemisphere at least) that go along with all the fall things. Here, I’ve begun to sweat again and have a couple of hot months ahead of me!

Well, I was saying it’s time for an update.

Hmmm … Where to start?

This is constantly my question and dilemma- not knowing where to start, what to highlight, what to skip, how much backstory to give. All these decisions make me put off writing, and then more things happen, which then exacerbates the stresses of sharing the goings-on in our life. (For those of you that knew me in high school and college, you know the procrastinator in me is strong!) BUT- I am hopeful that as I share this update, you’ll see that I am going to be writing more often, and the question of “Where to start?” might get a bit easier to answer.

(Just to give you an example, I started drafting this post in September in Michigan, and now am finishing it 2 weeks later in October in Harare 3 weeks later in Matopos. Haha. And because of that, more updates will be added to the end and some present tense sentences at the beginning were changed to past tense. Sigh. I hope I get better at sitting down and writing an entire post in a single session!)

I’ve decided that today I’ll share things I’m thankful for from our recent trip, as well as two verses that are extremely relevant to me in this time. Then I’ll save some observations, confessions, and thoughts for other posts.

First in terms of updates is that Charlotte and I enjoyed 7 weeks in Michigan, and Brierly 4 weeks, and it was so wonderful. Let me just make a huge list of the things we’ve been blessed to enjoy in the last few weeks in The Mitten:

The view in Grand Marais in August, courtesy of Holden's drone

Staying with Gogo and Khulu (“Grandma and Grandpa” in isiNdebele)

Spending quality time with lots of family, even getting to see some family more than once during our stay.

Meeting up with friends - old classmates, roommates, and more

Drinking americano’s with CREAM instead of milk (fresh cream is not available at coffee shops in Zimbabwe)

Visiting the Upper Peninsula

Standing up in my brother’s wedding

Getting blood work done that wasn’t available back in Zimbabwe

Baking with gluten free flour- cookies, banana bread, pancakes, yum!

“Watching” Jeopardy each of the nights we were at the house (Read “heated yelling at the screen and keeping score against cutthroat competition from 7:30-8:00pm Eastern”)

Binge watching The Great British Baking Show

Eating tacos, pupusas, cheesecake, breakfast sandwiches (one of Brierly’s favorites) and so many other yummy things.

Happy hour on the back deck

Charlotte doing many firsts: bubbles, the beach, big slides, getting a haircut, and more.

Michigan Summertime Fun! (Gun Lake)

The list goes on, but I’ll stop there. It was honestly such a nice time and we are so grateful!

And then the week before we left, we got to take a road trip to Nebraska! We got to visit dear friends along almost the whole length of the state- Omaha, Lincoln, Seward, Lexington, Cozad, and Hayes Center.

Humor me as I make another list of things we enjoyed, but from over in The Good Life State:

Introducing Charlotte to many friends who hadn’t met her yet, as well as meeting 3 different friends’ children who had been born since we left Nebraska.

Seeing the beautiful wide open skies (not even a cliche- it’s just true!)

Eating more food and good coffee- The Mill, Cultiva, Banwich Cafe, Coffee Cottage, more pupusas, Farkleberry’s, homemade Indian food, and steak on the grill (more than once- we were in Nebraska after all!)

Riding horses and seeing cows and country

Spontaneously dropping in on a friend

Seeing members of our old small group

Again, we really are thankful for the wonderful memories that are fresh in our minds and will stay with us for a long time.

While we were on all these adventures, we also had a parallel story going on. There were some other objectives we worked hard on while seeming to gallivant from Middleville, to the Upper Peninsula, to the Wild West, and back.

Enjoying the dirt roads of Hayes County, NE

We set out to raise one time funds to help make our house at Ebenezer into a nice home.

We sought support for some monthly expenses from those same family and friends we got to spend time with (and most of you who are reading are those same people- you’re the best support network on so many levels!)

We asked some kind folks that are a few steps ahead of us in life/missions/family/accomplishing goals for their respective bricks of wisdom.

And to summarize, we are simply overwhelmed by your support.

We feel loved, encouraged, and can see that we are fighting the good fight together.

Lastly I’ll just share two small passages that were given to us.

Number one- a longtime supporter sent us a gift before we even officially kicked off the fundraising, along with Exodus 14:14, which says “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Another version says “… you need only to be still.” What a huge sign of affirmation for me, to receive that verse when we are about to ask for support and share needs. And I can testify that the Lord did provide and He did fight our battles. And while we did still have to “talk” with friends and family about our mission, this verse reminded me to not be anxious, busy, or pressured when in those conversations. Rather, to know that the battle is the Lord's and that these folks are precious to be around and I got to enjoy every encounter we had.

The second verse that really hit me was when I was doing one of those let me just open the Bible and pick a random spot to read today things, and I happened upon Jeremiah chapter 29. Now I’m sure many of our minds go straight to verse 11- which is such a great verse. However, the ones that jumped off the page for me were verses 5-7. I’ll add verse 4 here for context:

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’”

This was so fitting for me to hear, as we have been at Ebenezer for only one year, and we feel called to be there long term, but our staff house has been delayed in its construction, and there’s just the general question of “Do we settle down, how do we sink roots?”

Considering we have lived in 8 homes in 7 years of marriage, and being millennials, one can understand the inability to comprehend “settling down” (And really this concept could be a whole blog series in and of itself). But for me to “randomly” read those verses in a time when we were away from our new home and about to raise support to make our staff house into a home, it was so peace-giving.

Build houses …

Settle down …

Plant gardens …

Stick around long enough to see the seeds you planted grow and produce something …

Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile…

And no, we haven’t been forced into any exile, but we are in a foreign place. Even for Brierly, it’s a new part of the country for him. So it is good to know we are where we’re supposed to be.

Landing in Harare, and arriving safely and with smiles back at Ebenezer! Charlie was happy to see Ebenezer friends again.

I think I’ll stop here for now, and save the other bits of advice and take-aways for another post. But I cannot publish this post without saying a heartfelt thank you to everyone who shared a meal, drove to see us, listened to our story, wrote a check, agreed to pray for us- you are all special to us and we pray that God blesses you a hundred times over the way you have blessed us. We are thankful to be in community with you, and thankful that we get to call you our friends and family. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

Okay now I’m tearing up, so I’ll leave it at that!

In the meantime, have a courageous day :) Mackenzie