It Takes a Village

An old proverb goes a little something like this, "It takes a village to raise a child."  I must admit I was always one of those women who didn't think she needed the village.  Wouldn't ask for the help.  Couldn't possibly impose on someone else for something that she should be able to do herself.

But being a mom, being a wife, being a "missionary"... I've learned a lot about the village it takes.

The village of supporters.
The village of surrogate families.
The village of helpers for Cade.
The village of friends and encouragers.

All who truly care, desire to help, enjoy rejoicing with us and express their deepest sympathy when we mourn.  The village of people with whom we do life.

Over the past year our village has been in Georgia, with our blood relatives, Pete's parents, my parents, Pete's sister and her family, my best friend and her wonderful husband, the amazing amount of people who have come alongside us in ministry and in life... to help us raise Cade... to help raise us.

Right now our village is in Nampa, at MAF headquarters.  It consists of amazing home staff who love seeing how big Cade has become, who help as we prepare for our big move, who want to form memories we can hold onto and relationships we can return to in four years.  It consists of four wonderful, rowdy, older boys who love to show Cade the ropes, ask him for a fist bump every time he see's them, and teach him new games with the ball.  And it consists of other MAF families preparing for their big moves.  Some going to Indonesia, like us, others to Africa, all of us mourning the distance we are about to put between us and our villages here, yet eager to go to the land God has shown us.

In a matter of months our village will change again.  And we can't wait to see who the Lord allows us to encounter, the village of people He will put us in, the ways He will grow us and raise us in Indonesia, and the people who will come alongside us to help raise our son into the man God desires him to be.

It takes a village to raise a child... to raise a family... to raise missionaries...  It takes a village and we couldn't be more privileged for the village God has provided!