A Season of Goodbyes

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This season has been filled with many goodbyes.  Being committed to this life of international work we will invariably have many more, but recently the goodbyes have been rough.

Our family is in the midst of saying goodbye to the Simpson family as they leave for Ethiopia this week. They of course are in a huge season of goodbyes to all their family and community here as they prepare for to start a new life in a new place.

Why are we saying goodbye to our partners? Well, the Yates and the Simpsons families are on slightly different timelines to get to Ethiopia. The Simpsons will be go ahead to prepare some very important work for our team: our house! Taylor will be starting his first construction project in Ethiopia, a Duplex that will house Missionary families at Soddo Christian Hospital. The project is really exciting and will be a valuable asset to the work of SCH for generations! We have the honor of being the first families that live in the Duplex, so we are particularly excited to see the project go smoothly. The Simpson family will be living in temporary housing while construction commences, delaying language school for a little while to make sure the project gets a good start. The Yates family will be coming soon behind them.

This goodbye is especially challenging because our plans before were to go together and support each other through the many transitions. God had different plans and we are blessed to see them unfold. Michelle and I have had a sweet time of preparing our hearts and our marriage to withstand the challenges of over seas life and ministry. God has been so sweet to bring us to a closer bond and deeper trust for the tasks ahead.

One sad, but ultimately blessed part of all this new schedule is that we were able to be focused on our family in the month of December. At the beginning of December, Adam's step mother, Penny, was diagnosed with Leukemia. After a short and brave fight against this disease, she died on January 1st. We were able to focus our energy and time on supporting his Dad and Penny through a challenging hospitalization and being their for his Dad after Penny passed.  Last week we gathered with our family to remember Penny. Even as I write this, I know there is so much more to be said about the past month, and about Penny and her love and support of our family. We are both so sad about this loss and my words seem like only a shadow of the whole story.

We thank God for his gracious plan to delay our leave date, so that we can face this family tragedy with our full attention. We thank you for your love and support and prayers as we go through this journey.
Penny and Mark loving their grandson Cole at Thanksgiving. Penny is already sorely missed.

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