Weekend Funnies

The boys really kept us laughing with some of their comments this weekend. I thought I'd share a couple of especially interesting and amusing ones here. After all, everyone needs a laugh on a Monday morning!

William said he wanted to build a cross in the back yard that says Jesus is risen. Daniel said he would build a robot next to it that says I heard that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were watching TV Sunday morning before church and there was a tampon commercial on. It was one of those that doesn't really say much about the product. It just talked about being active and all the awesome things you can do and how it improves your life. After it was over, William just sighed and said, man I need that!

 

 

Hope you have a great Monday!

Ordination



Last Sunday night, our home church (Cross Pointe Church) ordained Zack as a pastor/elder. It was such a special evening for all of us. We were surrounded by about 75 friends and family.

Dr. Merritt delivered a beautiful charge to Zack and our family, and was so affirming in his words and message. We have been extremely blessed over the past (almost) 8 years while a part of Cross Pointe. It has been an honor to be a part of a church that is actively seeking to live out Jesus' call in so many ways, locally and globally. We are also very touched by how incredible the staff has been as we prepare to go overseas. This service is just one of many ways that they've been ministering to us. 



After his message, Dr. Merritt invited any men in the group who were ordained to come and pray over Zack. In addition to Pastor Larry and Dr. Merritt who were presiding over the evening, eleven other Godly men stepped up and spoke words and prayers of encouragement.



After that, Dr. Merritt closed by speaking some very appropriate and comforting words to our extended family. He then had them surround us and there was a final prayer.

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported Zack - and all four of us! - in this important step in our journey. And thanks for all you've done and been a part of to get us to this point.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the church I realized our camera battery was dead. Thankfully, several others took some pictures for us. I haven't received them all yet, but I've included a few we've received so far.

 



  

   

I just had to share this picture - for some reason, Caitlyn sticks her tongue out every time Zack holds her! :) We are so thankful for her, and for her awesome parents - who just happen to be some of our favorite friends & the wonderful realtors that sold our house!

This is So Not Us!

As we've been sharing our story with family and friends over the past 18 months or so, we've gotten the comments. If you've ever gone on a mission trip or done volunteer work, you've probably heard similar statements. "You guys are so awesome." "It's great that God has people like you to do stuff like this." "It's amazing that you guys are willing to do this, I don't think I could do it."

I would be a bit more upset about these comments, but I realize that we were once the ones saying similar things. But I want to make something clear.

We are sinners, saved by grace. What is happening in our family is the result of a God who is patient and faithful, who does not give up on arrogant, hard-headed, stubborn, self-centered people.

We are not the kind of people that sell everything and move to a country where we don't know the language, customs, and norms. We are not the kind of people that I think of when I consider those who move overseas.

But we are learning through all of this that God can use anyone for His purposes. We aren't the best Biblical scholars or avid theologians. In fact, as I think I may have mentioned before, we had used our lack of knowledge and intellect as an excuse. But as our friend Lindsey once reminded us, God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called.

Maybe one of the best and easiest ways to say what I'm trying to say is by showing this video. It was part one of the missions emphasis videos (I posted part 2 earlier this week). It's three people talking about the fact that we're not special people. We're not in some elite category. We are ordinary people, but we listened to God, we stepped out in faith, and we said yes. Sometimes God asks you to say yes before you even know what the whole question is.

But that's what faith is all about: trusting Him and knowing that He will provide.



I've said it before: had He given us all the answers and details up front, it would have probably been more than we could handle. Instead, God simply asked us to follow Him. We said yes.

There are plenty of people who can do something. The important part is going from CAN to WILL.

Selling Things, Watching God Provide

God has used so many different things to show that He provides, and to affirm and confirm the His will for us. Here are a few examples:

• We had to sell our house to prepare for our move. Our agents (dear friends from church) said our asking price was a little high, but since we had a good bit of time they suggest we revisit it in 4 - 6 months and then consider lowering or even doing a short sale. About 12 days after going on the market, we had an offer. About a month after that, we closed and moved out.
• Next issue: where would we live until it was time to leave? We looked at the one apartment complex in our school district, but it just wasn't an option. And any rental house in our desired price range was snatched up as soon as the sign went in the yard. (And rentals wanted a 12-month commitment, which we couldn't do.) Zack's parents offered to let us live in their finished basement. While it would be tight living, it would be good practice for living in Europe. And it would allow us to really work on retiring student loan debt. So we accepted their generous offer.
• We had several yard sales, and did really well. More money towards student loans, and a tax benefit!
• We had a sweet neighbor come by our yard sale and point out that some of our items might be real silver. I took to our local jewely store, and got a couple hundred dollars - more student loan money!
• We needed to get rid of a lot of our furniture because 1) we had too much and 2) most of it was too big for a European apartment. We put a lot on Cra!g's List. The dining room sold quickly. Same with the living room furniture. But we couldn't find a buyer for our bedroom furniture. There was no way it could go to Europe with us. And we really didn't want to have to deal with moving it into storage, as large as it was. But it didn't seem that there was another option. But about two or three days before we had to be out of our house, a lady came and bought the armoire. And a few hours after that, a family bought the bedroom furniture.
• Our move meant a new school for the boys. We were all sad over this, as we didn't think any school could be better than theirs. But God has blessed us so big. The boys both got teachers that were better fits for their learning style and personality, and the school has been incredible in every aspect.

Questions?

Now that the majority of our story has been posted, I'm sure some of you might have questions.

So leave a comment and ask away. Of course with any personal situation, there are some things we won't be sharing here. But we'll answer as much as we can!

Paperwork & Timeline

The organization warned us about the mountains of paperwork we'd have to do in the application process. But we've adopted internationally twice, and this list of paperwork seemed mild in comparison!

We got to work on it quickly, and for the next several months we received one type of approval after another. We did things like medical evaluations, educational evaluations, doctrinal/belief statements, biographies, background checks, and more. In mid December of 2011, we received the final approval piece we needed.

Now, we would need to be matched to a job, and to be approved by the trustees.

In February of this year, we received confirmation that we were assigned to the job in Norway! Later that month, we received the initial trustee approval.

In late May, we will travel to Tennessee for final, official approval, for preliminary meetings, and to be officially begin with our new company.

Here's what our 2012 timeline looks like right now:

May 19 - 23:   Appointment week meetings & activities

July 23:           Begin 8 weeks of training in Virginia

October:          Begin 3 months of urban training in Canada

January:          Arrive in Norway

We have definitely entered a season of transitions. Will you please pray for our family during the next 9 months, as we live in several different places, begin learning new concepts and a new language, and say good-bye to family and friends? Pray especially for our boys: that they will handle all of this change well: that it will be a time of great memories, and of an even deeper bond as a family.

Now that all of this is out here, I'll share more details about our process, and some cool stories of God's providence as well. But I wanted to at least get the main stuff out there so you could join us in praising God and asking Him for continued guidance.

We'll Go... But Where?

We tried to start the application process in November 2010, but our situation was unique. Because Daniel's adoption was so recent, the organization asked that we wait to begin the application process until Daniel had been home with us for a year.

During those months of waiting, while we continued to work on our family adhesion and on debt reduction, we also prayed for God to show us where He wanted us. We felt like we were being given a clear calling to Europe, but we wanted to make sure that was God's will and not just our own personal desires.

After much prayer, we felt a strong attraction (can't think of a better word right now) to a couple of countries in particular: Norway & Germany. However, from all the research we'd recently done, it didn't look like there were any positions available through our organization in either of those countries.

In July of 2010, one year after Daniel joined our family, Zack and I attended a 3-day expo with the organization. We were there with many others interested in going overseas. We tried to stay open-minded about the WHERE in our going process. When it came time to meet with leaders from each geographic area, we had two time slots to fill. We knew we both wanted to go to the European break-out session. We decided to split up for the first session, and then meet up in the Europe meeting.

Shortly before those break-out meetings, we were given a list of all the positions that were currently available. They were split up, primarily by continent. It was a big list. We were told that there might be others as well, and some of those on the list might have already been filled.

We had about 30 minutes to look over and pray about this before break-outs began. We went through the Europe list. We saw a few other interesting positions, but nothing that stood out to us. We continued through the listings for other continents, but didn't see anything that seemed to fit our skillset or the calling we felt we'd heard so clearly.

And then Zack flipped back through the European list once more. And we realized he'd missed the first page.

There, on the top of the sheet, was an open position in Norway.

And thus began our pursuit to get to Norway.

The expo was not a guarantee that we would be hired. Everyone went through interviews there that would determine whether or not the organization wished to pursue you as candidates.

A couple of weeks after getting home, the call came in: we could begin the candidate application process.

Spilling the Beans

On the morning of Saturday, October 16, 2010, Zack met with his accountability at the Rexall Grill in Duluth. As they often did, they met for breakfast, to pray together, and to challenge each other.

On this particular Saturday, Zack was definitely challenged in a whole new way. His two accountability partners, dear friends and the kind of guys that will just tell it like it is, asked him a simple question: What are you waiting for? They could see that God was speaking, and they challenged Zack to listen.

He came home later that morning, humbled and ready. For what, we didn't exactly know. But we sat and talked, and began praying even more, asking God where He wanted us. Our biggest prayer was much like Isaiah's words in chapter 6, verse 8: Here am I. Send me! (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+6%3A8&version=NIV) We didn't know what we were signing up for, but we surrendered to God and said Yes.

God knows what we can handle. He knew that revealing all the details up front would be more than we could take. But He never gives more than we can handle, and He continued revealing His plan a little at a time.

Over the next few weeks, we explored various missions and ministry opportunities. Some looked interesting. Others were immediate shut doors. But through our prayers and our research, one opportunity and organization really stood out.

So at the end of October 2010, we met with a representative from this one particular international missions organization. The initial meeting went great. We agreed that we felt this was the opportunity we should pursue. We agreed that this was in line with what God was calling us to do.

And thus began our journey to find work overseas. We have answered God's call to serve Him overseas, wherever and however He chooses.

What If...

Our Norwegian friends left on October 10, 2010. And they left us with a lot of excitement, questions and uncertainty. God had used them, and Thomas & Daniel, and Zack's 2009 mission trip, and so many other situations, events, and circumstances to speak to us. He kept bringing to mind the Great Commission. Particularly, that one little word: Go.

If you looked at us, you might say we were living the American Dream. A great marriage. Two beautiful children. A reliable car that was paid off, and a company car that also helped keep the bills down. A great house: big enough that we could spread out, but not so big that I hated cleaning it. It was filled with our dream furniture, decorated in a style all our own, loaded with toys and clothes and food. We both had great jobs. Good money, flexible work schedules. Zack was able to get the boys off to school in the morning before starting his day. I got home from work about the same time they did from school. The boys' schools were great. We loved our church. We had friends in the neighborhood, at church, and through other avenues. All of our family was within 2 hours or less from us.

But have you ever been homesick for a place that's not your home?

Have you ever been totally uncomfortable in what was once your comfort zone?

On October 11, 2010, that's where we found ourselves. Our guests were gone and we were back to our routine. But during that week, we both began to admit that something wasn't right.

It's not that we weren't thankful or grateful. But we were suddenly realizing that we weren't where God wanted us to be. We should have been extremely comfortable, but as we are learning, when you're not following where God is leading, He will take care of that.

I think one of the neatest things in this story - and one of the ways that God affirmed that what was going on now WAS his plan - is the fact that He was working on each of us individually, before He brought us together on the subject. I had been praying for a number of months, asking Him what He wanted us to do, where He wanted us to go. He answered my prayers through scripture, through spiritual mentors, through converations and chance encounters. GO. That's the answer that kept coming to me. Nothing more at the time. And yet, those two little letters, that one small word... said a lot.

I'd mention little things here and there to Zack. He'd sometimes have an excuse, like "I'm not smart enough," or "we're too old." Or sometimes, he'd just shake his head. Not in a way that told me "no." It was more in a way that told me that he wasn't ready. So I continued to pray. I knew that if this was God's will, God would also reveal it to Zack.

And on Saturday, October 16, 2010, God did.

International Guests: Catalysts for Change



William & Daniel with
"Big Daniel" & Thomas

September 2010

Thomas visited the US. On this trip, he brought along Daniel, a University student that would become a good friend to our entire family. (We affectionately refer to him around here as "Big Daniel".) Zack had met Daniel while in Jena the prior year, and the rest of us really enjoyed getting to know him.

There are some friendships in life that seem to fall into your lap. You don't intentionally go into them, you weren't pursuing them, but God places them before you and you have an immediate connection. This is how it is with so many of our international ministry friends, like Thomas and Daniel. We always look forward to the opportunity to share with each other, pray for each other, and encourage each other. No matter how short our time together, it is special and cherished. There is little room for small talk in these short visits, so conversations are intentional and very honest.



Outlet mall

October 5 - 10, 2010

In October of 2010, our church welcomed a group of church planters and pastors from Norway. They were visiting Georgia to attend the Catalyst Conference. We offered to host two of them in our home during their stay.



Racing with the boys

So Øyvind and Håkon came and stayed with us in our home for a few days. Most of the team's time was spent in conferences.



But they also had the opportunity to check out some historical sites in Atlanta. And we also all went outlet mall shopping one evening. (If you've ever been to Noway, you know that they were excited about the prices at our outlet malls! The number of bags in the picture above is evidence of this.)



Øyvind & Daniel





Håkon & William

On their last evening, we cooked a dinner for them and just hung out together, enjoying fellowship, games, and music.

We had a great time getting to know them, learning about their lifestyles and their ministries, and just sharing the love of Jesus with each other.



Playing some Johnny Cash



In both the September and October visits (and other encounters we've had in the last few years), it was also encouraging to see how the boys embraced people of different backgrounds, how they were so adaptable to the idea of ministering with people that are here for a short time.

 

On October 10, after attending church with us, they departed and headed for home.

And we were left with a feeling of 'what's next?'

Seeds

In addition to the events I've already shared, God also used many other situations, events, and people to plant seeds, and also to affirm His calling on our family. In fact, as we look back over our lives and our calling into full time international missions, we can see that He's been at work for a long time. Thankfully, He is a patient God who does not give up on us!

SURRENDER
In the summer of 1991, while I (Jenn) was attending CIY (Christ in Youth) camp with my church youth group, I stood up on the stage in front of hundreds of youth from all over the southeast, and I shared that I believed that God was calling me into full time vocational ministry. I didn't know when, where, or how that would happen or look, but I wanted to be willing to do it.

FAMILIE DAVIS
From 2005 to 2008, the Davis family (Jeff, Deanna, Jeffrey, Georgia & Abby) served as a missions family in Jena, Germany. Jeff & Zack have known each other pretty much all their lives. Our paths have crossed multiple times through our adult lives. Always at significant times. It's funny how God works things out like that! An instance that was rather significant was when God led us to a new church in our area (the where we've now been for about 8 years). We learned that the Davis family was there. A few weeks later, we visited. A few months after that, the Davis's departed for Germany, for 3 years of service among university students in Jena. We watched as they left everything familiar behind and followed God's call. We were inspired. We said things like "you guys are great," "it's good there are people like the Davis's that do things like that," and other cliches. But we prayed for them and followed their journey for those three years.

ORPHAN CARE
From early 2010 until this month, I helped start and lead the orphan care ministry at our church. It was an exercise in patience and persistence. It required a lot of time and a lot of organization. It taught us about starting up a new ministry, and also about the unique challenges of doing that in a large church. It gave me the opportunity to work with other ministries and to help children in orphanages all over the world. It is great to look back and see how God has worked over the past two years. It was such a good feeling two weeks ago to hand off this ministry to the new leadership team, knowing that God will continue to work in the hearts of those One.27 comes in contact with, softening their hearts to the call of James 1:27.

CHURCH PLANT/CROSS CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
From the fall of 2010 until just recently, Zack served on the leadership team of a multi-cultural church plant. Again, the experience was filled with lessons on church leadership, the positives and negatives of dependency in a start-up situation, outreach opportunities, cross-cultural varriers, and many others.

ETHIOPIA 2011
I had the opportunity to be a part of a mission team from my church to Ethiopia in the summer of 2011. This was actually my first overseas missions experience. This trip actually came after our big decision, but worked to further affirm God's calling on us. It was also my first time to really do ministry apart from Zack. While I still wish he could have gone on the trip with me, it was a great time for me to really spend some quality time with God in prayer, and see how He's at work all over the world.

GERMANY 2011
The Davis family departed from Jena (Germany) in 2008, leaving the Connexxion University ministry in the very capable hands of the Koch family. We got to know Thomas and Anja through Zack's 2009 trip and through some travel that the couple has done to the states. Zack & I offered to come and help them with their beginning of semester activities, and they were kind to let us do so. In hindsight, I'm not sure how much help we were with the Connexxion events that week! But we learned that sometimes a mission trip may primarily be about your presence for the missionaries/leaders: about giving them encouragement and support.

Getting Organized

Those that know me well, know that getting organized is one my favorite things to do! With all the news we're sharing, I thought the blog could use some better organization.

You should now see some headings just below the banner (photo collage) at the top of the blog. There is a link for "Sharing Our Story" where you can go and read all the blog posts about the changes we have coming up.

I also created links for each of the boys' adoption stories, and included their adoption timelines there as well.

Northern & Western Europe



Oslo

For our long-time blog followers, you may recall that in late 2009, Zack participated in his first international mission trip. (Check out some posts HERE) On that trip, he spent time in Norway & Germany. The focus of the trip was Norway. The team was made up of members of our home church and led by our friend, Jeff (yes, the missions-minded guy I mentioned before!). Jeff asked Zack to go. Zack (thankfully) said yes.

The trip was more of a vision trip than a mission trip, exploring opportunities for support and partnership between our church and Norwegian churches, and scouting out future missions possibilities. There are so many other details that play into the story and the original reason why the team was going to Oslo. But rather than go into those details, I will just say that God really showed up on this trip.

While he was gone, I prayed that God would place people in his path so he could share the Gospel. God did. I prayed that God would connect him with people that would result in long-term relationships/ friendships. God did. I prayed that God would speak to Him in a meaningful way. God did.



Zack in Oslo



I hope I can convince Zack to share some of his side of all of this at some point in this story-telling venture. I will say from my perspective and looking back a couple of years later, God was answering prayers in more ways than we could ever imagine. Zack came home with a heart opened wide to the Great Commission. He came home with connections that we still maintain today. He came home with a stronger friendship and accountability relationship with a dear friend. He came home with new friendships that we are so grateful for, friendships that are strong despite distance. He came back to us with a new excitement and ferver for God.

We didn't make any major decisions at that point, but God was definitely working.

With Daniel, Sven, & Jeff at
Buchenwald Concentration Camp



Share Your Story

We've just begun sharing the story of God's amazing work, and patience, and faithfulness through our family. Be sure to read all the posts to get the full picture. You can scroll down to see them (starting with The Cat's Out of the Bag), or go to Labels and click on "Share Your Story."

We Were Looking for Little Boy Dove

While in Ukraine back in 2007, Zack and I spent time with our American friends who work in Ukraine. One Sunday morning they took us to their church - a beautiful, well-furnished building with a good-sized congregation and rather comfortable seats. Great music, great messages (yes, SEVERAL sermons were preached!), and great people.

Later that day, we rode the rough roads to a nearby village. We went into a small music school building that the local congregation rents for Sunday services. We sat in a room without heat (it was about 35 degrees F outside). Most of the congregation either walks there or asks for a ride from one of the few members fortunate enough to have a car.

Just a few days earlier, their seaside town was hit by a strong hurricane. Much damage had been done to their meager dwellings.

And yet, when prayer time came, a few things stood out to me: 1) Before anything else, they asked if they could prayer for us and our adoption. 2) They named so many reasons to praise God before asking for prayer for how they would rebuild after the storms. 3) Some looked weary. Some were in desperate need of a bath. Others had probably never seen a dentist. And yet, each and every one was so obviously filled with joy that can only come from our Savior. 4) They were being ministered to by a man & his wife, both whose backgrounds were steeped in traditions and political themes common to the area prior to Ukraine's independence.

How had this couple come to know the Lord? Years earlier, a group of evangelical workers came to his town to show the Jesus film. They were looking for translators and his wife signed up. In the midst of her translation, she realized that she wanted to know this Jesus. She surrendered her life that very night. And the next night, she brought her husband. The same thing happened for him: that night, he turned away from his former life and embraced the cross. He became a pastor, and began sharing Jesus in small villages through this area of Ukraine.

We walked away from that experience, our eyes opened to what it means to be on mission. We saw the domino effect of ministry work. We saw what it means to die to self, to leave everything you've known behind, and to wholly surrender to God. Through our American friends and through this Ukrainian pastor, we saw a picture of the Great Commission in action.

And we began to wonder, albeit in a very small & almost insignificant way, that maybe there was something we could do... 

Missions Isn't Our Thing

To elaborate a bit on what we talked about in the video I posted below...

Can you pick us out? Wow, we were so young then!

About 10 or 12 years ago, Zack was serving as a youth pastor in a new, small church plant. It was one of those positions that just kind of fell into our laps. We both had full time jobs, but we enjoyed spending evenings and weekends ministering to kids in middle school, high school, and college. Looking back, that experience provided us many lessons in church planting, church decision-making, operating a ministry, and many other important areas. We also served on the worship team, and as with most start-up's, did whatever we could to help.

One area where we didn't really even attempt to gain experience was missions. When we wanted to get the youth involved in missions, Zack approached his friend Jeff. Jeff was extremely mission-minded, and Zack asked if he'd be willing to lead the students on a local mission project, because "missions isn't our thing."

In 2007, while in Ukraine to adopt William, God began to open our eyes to the ignorance of that statement.

Thankfully, Jeff is humble & kind. He gladly helped us with the missions project. We learned a lot from him that day. In fact, over the years, we've learned so much from him AND his wife. They play a big part in the story of how we got where we are now.

I Can, I Will

I guess an easy place to start is by sharing a video that was shown at our church in November of 2011, as part of a missions emphasis series. It will give you a glimpse into seeds that God has been planting, and a sneak peek into the direction He's leading.

Update: Several people have tried to find more information on the website that it mentions at the end of the video. But keep in mind, this is an older video, so you won't be able to learn any more without staying tuned to this blog :)

The Cat's Out of the Bag...

Many of you have expressed some curiousity as to what's going on with the Dove family. And a few of you have made some very accurate guesses!

Yes, we have some big news to share.
Please be patient with me, as I share our hearts and the journey God has had us on over the past few years. It will take several posts to make it through the story. Bear with me as I try to craft the right words to convey what God has been orchestrating.

And please pray for our family, as there are a number of big transitions ahead for us.

So much to share

We've got a lot going on with the Dove Family, and it's keeping us very busy! I should be able to catch everyone up soon, but for now I hope you'll enjoy some recent pics :)

They love wearing the Ukraine jerseys...

Last Saturday, Daniel scored his very first goal. To say everyone was excited would be an enormous understatement. Daniel is one of the youngest in their age group. There are kids from 7 to 10 years old. He's one of the smallest, too. But he's feisty! And he was playing so hard Saturday, with more determination than I've seen before.

William continues to be such a leader on his team. We're so proud of him!

Relaxing at the lake

Ice Cream!

We really like coffee!

 Hanging out at the Gwinnett Braves game

I should hopefully have more time to blog very soon...

Spring Break & Easter

The boys were on spring break last week, so we decided to take the week off as well. Zack had two wisdom teeth extracted Monday morning, and then we drove to the lake for the week.

We arrived around lunchtime Monday, and after a run to the grocery store, we settled in for a few days of rest and not much else!

Zack was a little under the weather after his surgery, but what better place to recuperate than somewhere away from the every day demands.

The boys played. A lot. They played inside. They played outside. They played soccer. Frisbee. Badmitton. We watched a movie or two. They got in the lake (not for long - it was COLD!). They played with cousins for a couple of days. They spent time with grandparents. We read. We napped.

It was a great 6 days of very few responsibilities, but lots of time to enjoy being together.

We went to church with Zack's family on Saturday evening for an early Easter service - and I neglected to take any pictures :( We went to our church on Sunday morning. Then we headed to my grandparents' house for lunch & an egg hunt Sunday afternoon. Here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday. We praise God, for sending His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. And we rejoice that Jesus is Alive!!!

   

 

At church with two of their favorite friends

Thankful for my grandparents!