Farewells and Long Goodbyes

“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.”


 ~Robert Southey~

The past few weeks have been very busy. We have packed our apartment, moved my father down to Abilene, TX, visited my grandparents in Kansas, and then went to Carlsbad to see Kendra’s grandparents. In addition we have been saying our goodbyes to our friends and family. I have really struggled with this. All of the emotions that I have been feeling are so overwhelming. Saying goodbye is so difficult.

When I am uncomfortable or nervous about something my natural reaction is to by silly or funny. I met with some of my friends (Adam, Abby, Lauren, and Lezlie) at “All about Cha” to say goodbye. We had such a wonderful conversation, but when it was time to say those words I had trouble finding the correct way to tell them what I was thinking. I started making jokes or laughing when I needed to be saying what I was feeling. After some failed attempts I finally managed to say the right thing.

Family is another thing altogether. On August 24, 2010 my grandfather, who has been fighting cancer for several months now, passed away. Fortunately, Kendra and I had a chance to spend a week with him in Kansas. One of those days we sat outside and laughed and talked about some of our memories together. We remembered the guys’ nights when we would go to the Cavs basketball games (Oklahoma City’s CBA basketball team before the Thunder) and racing radio-controlled cars that we built.

Goodbyes are hard. Whether you are in control of them because you are moving away, or they are out of your control because a loved one is sick and they pass away. I guess I am just thankful for everyone that God has blessed me with, that have shaped who I am and played a role in my life. That I therefore have goodbyes to say.

Joel

Francis

This is a painting of St. Francis of Assisi done by our dear friend Loren O'Laughlin (http://www.livepainters.com/). Joel and I have both loved this painting for a long time and have been privileged enough to "store" it in our dining room for several months now. We are not only drawn by the aesthetic beauty of this work but continue to be encouraged and convicted by the life of the person it depicts. To St. Francis love was the truest of all truths which was exhibited in his deep sense of personal responsibility to his fellows. He found in all created things, however trivial, some reflection of the Divine perfection, and he loved to admire in them the beauty, power, wisdom, and goodness of their Creator.

We will miss you Francis and all you have meant to us. May our lives if even minutely have such an impact as yours.


"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Francis of Assisi "

"R.A.F.T."'s, red cups, & reunions

One of the things we talked about extensively in our HIM class (basically a missions prep class) is leaving well or building "RAFT"s.

RAFT is an acrostic denoting a pre-departure process developed by the late Dave Pollock and stands for:

R- RECONCILIATION
A- AFFIRMATION
F- FAREWELLS
T- THINK DESTINATION

Although we have not been doing as well at this as we should be (insert every possible excuse: work, busyness, traveling, denial...), for the past few weeks we have been making a more concerted effort to do so. Today we said some farewells to places that have been important to us or that mean something to us. One of those places was the Red Cup. For those of you in OKC, you really should visit there if you never have. The food is delicious and it has the most diverse patronage. Joel and I have had many great & important conversations there and actually went there for one of our first dates.



This second picture is of the family reunion we attended in Dallas last weekend. My dad's uncle Floyd Stumbo turned 80. We had around 70 (!) family members in attendance to celebrate our commonalities and particularly his life. He is a very phenomenal individual. It was nice meet everyone and hear stories, meet children, and find out where everyone is and what they are doing. I feel so blessed to now be part of TWO wonderful families!

Interdependence Day

"Independence. That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth. "
George Bernhard Shaw

I absolutely love this quote. Not surprising really seeing I appreciate many of the ideas systems theory. Don't get me wrong, I'll root for Germany at the top of my lungs in any World Cup match and we held our obligatory BBQ and flew our American flags. However, on this day we have deemed "Independence Day" let us not forget that we are not only citizens of this country but citizens of the world. We have been created to be reliant upon one another and *gasp* none of us are more important or valuable than anyone else (that's a hard pill to swallow!). What I do, what WE do has an impact on more than just those in our immediate vicinity. Furthermore, the mere fact that we are not aware of impact does not relinquish us of our responsibilities. (Here's an interesting article by Shane Claiborne for some more eloquently written inspiration: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-claiborne/this-july-4th-lets-celebr_b_633710.html)

Please share your thoughts.

It's been a lovely weekend. Germany winning (yessss!), spending quality time with some good friends, and now cuddled on the couch watching Star Wars on TV.

Enjoy your day off, those of you that don't have to work tomorrow. May the force be with you.

Reality Check

We bought our tickets yesterday. We will be leaving from DFW on August 29th and arriving in Berlin on the 30th.

We decided to postpone our trip for a couple of weeks in order to spend some quality time with Joel's parents and our grandparents (in KS & NM). The flights for late August were also much more affordable than those at the beginning of the month.

For those of you wondering, do not despair, our darling Maggie will be traveling with us as a carry-on and has already been approved by Delta.

This weekend is going to be a big one for the World Cup. I'm so excited that I'll actually be able to watch the games rather than sneak peeks at the play-by-play between patients at work. :)

Let's get this party started...

Neither Joel nor I have ever been avid bloggers. Furthermore, we are not well-versed in any form of web-design, or for that matter computers... We ask you to therefore bear with us in our (feeble) attempt to share our lives with you in this way. If you have any suggestions feel free to help us out. You are more than welcome.

Although we have both been excited about our decision for a long time, it has really just began to become 'real' in these past couple of weeks. This past Sunday in particular was a very eye-opening day. Our friend Morgan flew to Germany today to complete her TEFL practicum. She kindly agreed to take a suitcase for us. Getting out the suitcase was the easy part, however, deciding what should go in it and what shouldn't was the hard part. If only we could (cost-effectively) pack our entire apartment into a crate and transplant it to Germany unaltered... We did manage to pack most of our sweaters, coats, boots, scarves, & a few books though. That will alleviate *some* of our future packing woes.

Our church has been participating in the "One Prayer" series. On Sunday our sermon centered on the concept of "unstoppable courage." As cheesy as it sounds, I felt as though this lesson was written for Joel and I. He talked about our fears in following Gods call for whatever our individual reasons may be and what we are missing out on by doing so. Therefore, in his reasoning: Playing it safe is risky. Being courageous is a demonstration of faith. Moving across the world completely reliant that God will provide challenges my courage. He reminded me that MY God is big enough to shut the mouths of lions and I can do all things through him who strengthens me.