Got to share our heart and vision at church breakfast this morning. What a blessing.

Now to hang shelfs and watch rugby :)

A small gray radio and an old blue table

Moving from one house to another is a lot of work.
Moving into a home and starting from scratch is difficult.
Moving to a different culture and starting from scratch can be scary...

Thank God we are blessed with a church family here in the UK who have welcomed us with open arms. Not to mention we have a God that knows us and wants good for us, even in the chaos and scary times he gives us little moments of His love.

As Eric and I have been learning the roads and visiting the surrounding areas one difference we noticed was that our car was silent - there was no music in the background slowly lulling Stephen to sleep. That is because they don't have a Christian radio station on the FM dial. So we drove to the big mall (actually named 'the Mall') a few towns over and found a music store... they don't stick Christian music anymore. We tried pandora online but that doesn't work over here. How discouraging.

We shared this with our pastor here and the next day he stopped by with a small gray DAB radio that could pick up some Christian stations.

The blessing of having praise music flow through the house is unbelievable.  What a gift from God - it felt like home.

As we've been furnishing our home we've tried to stick to local shops and mainly charity shops (goodwill). As we have been shopping I've been secretly (only because it feels shelfish) praying for a wow piece. A piece of furniture that makes me say wow, that is beyond typical, that will .Akers me love home when I see it.

Last week we walked into the one charity shop we haven't visited and there it was. A Robin blue wood table with chairs and polka dot cushions.... it was the perfect piece for our conservatory.  The wow piece I was looking for. The blessing I was asking God for.

God loves his children,  he wants good for us. He let's us know in little ways. While I was trying to feel at home he brought it to me through a small gray radio a d a wooden blue table.

Reaching the outskirts

As Eric and I prayed and dreamed about the ministry in England we always said we wanted to find a way to give support and education to the outlining countys.
We got to see God use that dream today. Spent an amazing morning with pastors in Bishop-Sutton planning for a USA mission team coming in summer. As well as laying foundation for community events to reach the youth and young families in the area.

So excited for summer to come!

We Landed!!

Hello Friends -

     Thank you for all your prayers as we took off from Chicago last Thursday.  We landed Friday morning (30minutes ahead of schedule) after a wonderful flight. There was some turbulence but it was all on the outside. We knew that God had the plane and no amount of shaking that satan would try could stop us from landing in England. Inside the plane things were great, Stephen was amazing.. He played and talked for a bit but then slept a majority of the flight.  We were praying that put him on his normal schedule... He seems to be doing ok - he is up during the day, naps at his typical nap times (uk conversion applied) but bed time seems to be tough. Please pray he smooths his bed time transition and that we learn how to best support him.  He is struggling with staying asleep the whole night, something we haven’t dealt with since he was 6 weeks old...

Once we landed we were able to claim all our bags, while two were damaged (one beyond repair), all of them made the trip and landed with us :)  Please pray for our shipping, there is a missing customs number and they won’t ship our pallet till we figure it out, delaying it from reaching us by weeks.

We are so blessed to have the help and direction of Pastor Kelton while in town. We feel very put together, directed, and although tired, excited as we start to build our life here. A big thank you to all our partners who made this possible.

We have our house sorted and we sign papers to rent on Friday, we have an appointment to open our bank account on Monday, we get to sneak a peak and take measurements of our home on Monday and we will be purchasing our car that day as well... Monday will be busy but grand! After that it will be purchasing the furniture and putting our home together as a a safe havens for us and the young adults we get the privledge of serving.

We are looking forward to tomorrow , our first sunday with our new church family as we focus on building relationships and starting to reach out to get to know the young adults that Kelton has connections with.

Well jet lag or not, I need to try and sleep for tomorrow. Goodnight, and God Bless :)

It's a good thing when saying good-bye is hard

So this is it... this is the end. And the beginning.

I've waited years to write this post, I've dreamt of what I would say, of how excited I'd be... greatful the day came. And I am. But I am not as well.

During our training in N Carolina we talked about saying good bye well and mourning what we are sacrificing so that we can fully embrace what God has next. I'm so glad we were warned - because when it's far off and your planning and you just want it so bad, it's easy to over look what you are leaving behind.

I recently read an article that talked about our skewed view of God's plan for us. How we think he wants us to just be happy and comfortable.  That he wouldn't call us to something that would cost us.

 But he does. Sometimes it's a big cost, like leaving all you love and sometimes it's a small cost, like not watching a movie you want because of the content. But there's a cost when it comes to following God.. and why shouldn't there be. Let us never forget the cost that was paid for us.

It is hard to say good-bye and how blessed we are that we have something that makes it so hard to leave. And how blessed we are that there is a reason so wonderful that it is worth leaving for.

We can't wait. As a little 9 year old girl I prayed God would use me and through out my life he has put me at the beginning of adventures that he has used to show me his glory. I can't wait to stand amazed.

As we prepare to leave tomorrow our little family wants to thank yours for your love, prayers, support, grace, and being a part of what makes leaving hard.

This is it! As much as I have cried I have also jumped up with joy. God has been faithful and has kept his promise. He has walked with us each way, guided us through each lesson, and stood with us in each trial. We know we don't go alone, but we go proclaiming the name of him who paid it all.

Let's go!

Jesus take the .... pallet?

Confession time.. why, because I believe that it's important to be real. If you can't tell from my other posts I believe that as a christian we are called to be preared with an answer for our faith, we are called to let light shine, we are not called to be white washed tombs.. making people believe we have it all handled when we are messy and hanging by a mustard seed of faith... especially following Paul's words that God's power is shown through our weakness. 

That being said these last few days have been tough. The whole visa paper work alone has caused me sleepless nights.  However, the way things have happened, the timeline of events.. finding the great airline tickets during the few days GEM officials would be able to welcome us, getting shipping started, finding the perfect house to rent all happened so easily. The scary part is it happened at the exact time we were applying for our visas. I wasn't aware you should leave soo much time for your visa to process..

So here is where my stress comes in. What if the visas don't come in time? What if they get denied doe some reason? What if the money that is invested gets set lost?

This has caused me more unrest than I like to admit and I find my self suffering physically - I feel sick, I don't have much apatite, I have bad dreams and have woken up almost frozen with fear.

After calling out to God on many occasions and in many ways, praying and fasting, and praising (what an amazing way to over come worry) God reassured me in such a 'God' way.

Yesterday Eric and I drove down to chicago to drop off our pallet to start it's 6 week journey overseas.
I was tired, stressed, and over worried praying God would come and strengthen my faith.

Well we were handed back our booking form and do you know the name of the person who literally took our bagaget from us? JESUS.
It reads "all goods received in Jesus"

It is such a small thing, but in that instant a peace that is indescribable washed over me. I was calmed and serene. Nothing in my situation has changed.. all the real concerns are still existent. BUT God used this small moment to show me that HE is the one handling things.. that HE is the one taking care of everything...that HE is there to do what I can't.

Mayer Family Farewell Open house

  In the business of applying for visa, packing our suitcases, and deciding what we can't do with out and need to ship over.. we don't want to forget the most important thing... YOU... our family and friends ... the partners who with out we couldn't go serve.

We wish we had the time and opportunity to meet up with each of you, but this has happened so much quicker than we ever thought.

So please come and stop by, even if only for a bit, so we can have a chance to give a hug and thank you for your part in all of this.

This Sunday (December 30th)
1 - 5pm
2930 Big Timber cir
Suamico wi

Thank you!