And I am sorry about that.
I don't think there is any realistic way for me to go back and sum up the last three months or more since I was blogging regularly, so, perhaps I will reminisce some in the next few weeks and try to recall a few past events, or perhaps I will just start where we are now.
Here is a current picture of our new family:
Okay, maybe that isn't us ~ but we don't have an official picture yet, so maybe this will sum it up for you.
At any rate, today's post will be about where we as a family are NOW, because, as mundane and ordinary as it sounds for any American readers, it is for us very unusual and extraordinary, after living for two years in a place totally different from the USA.
First Extraordinary Event:
For the FIRST TIME IN FOREVER, all 7 Bergs are living under the same roof in Trinity Baptist Church's missionary house on Bluebell Drive. (Also, Here's a big shout out to Trinity Baptist! What a blessing is this house to us! Thank you!)
I say "first time in forever" and mean it quite literally, since last time we were all together, we were a family of 6. This is the first time ever for all 7 of us to be together as a family.
Destin, adopted since June 24, already feels to us as if he has always been a Berg. What a miracle this is - we'd read and prepared for the awkwardness and the adjustment of older child adoption - but it went much more smoothly than we could have hoped or imagined. Still, we are bracing for the end of the adoption "honeymoon" period, and realize that perhaps we have rough waters ahead. Or perhaps not. Perhaps, since we've known and loved Destin for two years already, and perhaps since he already knew us and loved us, perhaps the adjustment will not be the same as if we had only just met one month ago. Either way, we know God is holding us in His hand (Isaiah 41:10) and He has the whole thing under his loving control - nothing will happen that has not passed through Him first.
A few of the other monumental events we've lived since I was posting regularly include:
Stephen graduated from Rift Valley Academy on July 17.
RVA wouldn't have been NEARLY as great an experience for Stephen if it weren't for his wonderful and devoted dorm parents, Tiffany and Corey Carey. Oh, how we thank God for them! We are happy that they will be able to be Sam's dorm parents in two years.
The class gathered on the cafeteria steps one more time to throw their hats together.
Hannah finished her first year of college at Mary Hardin-Baylor University.
Ruthie finished her first year at Rift Valley Academy High School.
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| Old friend from Kerrville, Jack, with Ruthie and some of her New Friends from RVA in Nairobi. What a special treat! |
Ruthie made many friends this year and really enjoyed RVA. We are so happy she has adapted to her new environment so well. One big plus for her this year was when her old neighborhood friend, Jack, came to visit in February with his mom, Chrisie, and his younger brother (Sam's good friend), Shaun. We had a great time, and Ruthie enjoyed blending her old and new worlds for one special weekend!
Sam finished Junior High, and I finished homeschooling. Sam's "school-mates" didn't really exist, until the Lands (thankfully!!) arrived at the end of the school year. So these pictures are of the friends he hung out with between classes.
And, Destin Moses moved to Kibogora, Rwanda from Idjwi Island, Congo, and began attending Kibogora Methodist Pre-School.
On July 24, we moved into Trinity Baptist Church's missionary house. We are so grateful for the gift of this home while we are here in the States. What a huge gift this has been to us! We all have comfortable beds, Destin has a backyard, friends donated and set up a slide for him, and our wonderful public library provided many ESL videos and Barney tapes. Three week checkout periods. Whoop!
So, what are we doing now?
For the next two weeks, we will be trying to cram in as many family times and memories as we can, because starting August 20, our chickens will all be flying the coop once again. Well, almost all the chickens, anyway. At least Sam and Destin will still be in our house.
Starting September, our biggest priority is to share what we are doing in Rwanda with anyone who wants to know! We are available to speak anywhere, anytime we haven't already booked. We are trusting God to continue his PERFECT record of bringing in our needed funding for this mission, so we won't be arm wrestling anyone about funding. :) We just really want to connect and share what God has put on our hearts to do, and to see who He calls to join us either physically, like Jaycee Knoulton and the Land family, or financially or prayerfully. We'll leave that part up to God, and just do our part of telling the story of what we're doing. We have great pictures if anyone wants to see them!
Also, Tim will be working back in "his" old hospital while we are home, to try to replenish our bank account. He is looking forward to working with his old colleagues, even while he dearly misses his fellow doctors and nurses in Kibogora Hospital in Rwanda.
I am signing up to substitute teach in our local public schools, and hope I remember some of my classroom management techniques from the Dark Ages when I took those education classes for my M.Ed., back in another lifetime.
Many of you have asked us when we will return to Rwanda. We had expected to return in late October of this year, but things got complicated when we tried to arrange for Sam's schooling situation. We'd planned to fly both Ruthie and Sam back to RVA for the start of fall term. However, RVA has a policy that we hadn't remembered: new students must have parents ON the African continent for their first term, and we won't be there for the entire first term. So, we are sending Ruthie back, who is a returning student, but Sam will have to stay back in Kerrville with us until we return to Rwanda. For him to get high school credit, he needs to stay in the same school through one semester - he can't just leave midway through the semester. So, we will go back to Rwanda when he finishes the fall term, and he will start at RVA for 2nd term, which begins January 4.
The bad news about this is, we miss our team-mates at Kibogora, and our many friends there in the Kibogora village and hospital. The good news about this is: we have more time to be in Bible studies here, to visit friends and family, to catch people up who want to know about Kibogora, for Destin to learn English, and for Tim and I to work here.
If you want to see any of us, please don't wait for us to call you if you want to get together. We've had phones break and all sorts of other techno glitches (and just plain being overwhelmed with all the moving around we've been doing the last few months) which might be preventing us from reaching some of you. Comment below and we will make a way to get up with you to tell you all about the mission and/or just catch up on life in general! Until school starts, we are pretty busy getting two kids ready for college, getting Ruthie ready to fly back to Kenya without us, and getting Sam and Destin ready for public school here in Kerrville. But after September, we can't wait to meet with, pray with, laugh with and just visit with old and new friends.
Thanks for reading. If you want to pray for us, please pray for the ongoing transition of all the new school situations, the new housing situation, having a 6 year old again, and the emotions coming up with all the changes with school coming and going. It's so hard to say good-bye to our kids all the time. Please pray that we will enjoy some solid, fun, memorable family times these last ten days before everyone starts leaving again.
Until next time!
~ Linda
p.s. One more picture! I have so enjoyed looking at the clouds here. We have such a big sky! I don't think anyone has as pretty clouds as we do in the Texas Hill Country. For anyone who doesn't live here, here is a picture just to share with you.
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