The Wait Is Over!

Have you ever prayed for patience and then soon after regretted it severely?  I've surely made this mistake in the past, but this time it wasn't my fault, I'm blaming Jon. I don't know why he would make such a request, he has plenty of patience, maybe he was praying for an improvement in mine...

Anyway, God sure has been teaching us, or testing ours.  Yesterday, we celebrated one month of marriage.  And by "celebrated" I mean we said "Happy one month anniversary," via email, because for the past 19 days we've been in different countries.

Seriously, one flesh cannot stretch this far.  I have no idea how you military families do it, but I have a new respect and serious empathy for you.  Being a single parent seems far more difficult when I'm not supposed to be doing it alone anymore.

When we found out we had to return to Bolivia we hoped Jon would be able to work remotely, we even rented a 3 bedroom apartment so he could have an office, but that was not to be.  Next, he asked the bank where he works if he could take an unpaid leave of absence, but his boss couldn't guarantee his job would be there when he got back.  Finally, we applied for a Family Medical Leave through the FMLA, since the cause of his absence was adoption. We were told the decision was usually made in ~5 days.  For the past two and a half seemingly endless weeks, many of you have been pleading with God for this small miracle, that would allow Jon to join us in Bolivia for 12 weeks without the added stress of the imminent job search awaiting him upon return.  Jon has been impressively proactive the whole painfully long wait, calling the woman in charge of the approval almost daily, and considering flying to her office in Dallas to hunger strike until the final verdict came through, proving how much Bolivia has already influenced him before he's even arrived.

Praise the Lord, last night the leave was approved!!  Today, I'm heading to see my husband for the first time in far too long.  Life is good.  God is good.  For the next 11 days I'll be traveling around the Southeast U.S. Today, in Kansas City, CVM's annual Shortcourse begins. A time when Christian veterinarians come together to share about workplace ministry, short-term missions, long-term missions, and serendipitously this year there's a day on Christian marriage. I'm stoked to introduce Jon to my CVM family and fellowship with lots of friends also serving around the world. This weekend is the national CVC, a veterinary continuing education conference where we'll have a booth, a CVM breakfast, and a dinner focused especially on Bolivian ministry. Then, next week, I'm excited to visit my alma mater, traveling to Auburn, AL for some time with Auburn and Tuskegee's Christian veterinary fellowship groups.  Finally, I have three fun-filled days of wedding activities for one of my best friends, Sami, before returning to Angie and Bolivia to prepare for Jon's arrival a week later.

Thank you for your prayers for all these activities, the leave approval, my work, Angie's time without us, sweet Sami's marriage, and all the transition.  But please don't pray for more patience!