Today, July 5th, Nate and I are celebrating our 1st anniversary! I can't believe we've been married for a year already! We've had a wonderful year, a year of learning and growth, laughter and tears, joys and challenges. I calculated that we've called 9 different houses or apartments home during our first year or marriage, in Kenya, Canada, and the United States. Sometimes it's been for 3 months, sometimes for 3 weeks. It hasn't always been easy and neither of us prefers such a transient lifestyle but I think we've learned to be "home" for each other in a unique way, a way that we'll need during our years in Africa. All year I've carried around in my suitcase a framed wedding picture of us, which I take out and put by our bedside when we get settled at each location. That has also created a little bit of home for me, wanting to remember our main reason for being in North America this year, and that is to build a strong marriage before we return to Sudan to begin a new ministry.
The beginning of July also marks a different anniversary for me--2 years ago I arrived in Nairobi for the first time on July 1st as a new missionary to Sudan. As a single missionary, I believed God had me in that position in life for His own purposes, to glorify Himself through my life. I felt fulfilled in Him and enjoyed my early days of learning in Sudan. However, it didn't take me long to begin sensing that the Lord wanted to do a new thing in my life, and that that might involve marriage. The more I interacted with Sudanese mothers and children, the more He gave me a deep desire to minister to them as a wife and mother myself. I waited...
I didn't need to wait long! I met my wonderful husband Nate on an airstrip in Sudan at the end of that October. If you'd like to read the whole story, see my posts from Oct. 23rd, 2008 and following, written a year after the exciting events!
So here we are, married a year and expecting our first baby in about 8 weeks! I believe the Lord has given us to each other and wants to glorify Himself through our marriage and our family. When you pray for us, please pray for His blessing and protection over our marriage and our little baby as we get ready to return to Sudan.
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