So we’ve been in Manassas for a few weeks now, and things have been pretty busy for an unexpected reason: my sister had her baby five and a half weeks early!
My sister had been due at the end of January. Her baby was pretty big, so we were all hoping/expecting it to be a little early; my mom was planning on coming up from Florida on January 10th, so she’d be here if the baby came early, or so she could help finish nesting if not. Cassie and I arrived a month before that, with the plan being that we’d use the guest room until my mom needed it, and go wherever God had planned for us when that happened.
But one week after we got here – right when we were settled, adjusted to the time change, etc. – my sister’s water broke. We came here depending on God’s plan and timing, so it was fun to see it play out so clearly and directly. We were able to do a lot to help during labor – like picking my mom up from the airport when she rushed straight here – and have been making dinners, doing laundry, and just a lot of mundane stuff like that while the baby’s been in the NICU. (Everything is fine, he’s just premature enough that he needs a little time finishing development.)
We’re in a bit of a resting period again now as everything has stabilized at the NICU and my sister and her husband can spend all day there sitting with him and can actually hold him, change his diapers, stuff like that; they’re pretty much only home to sleep for now. But once they all come home together, I expect things to pick up in busyness again, and I’m just so glad to be here for it, to be able to help out!
Some people have been asking us if we know where we’ll be going next yet, and like, man, I don’t know how I can possibly worry about that anymore. If we didn’t believe that God had a plan and had control over the timing after this, I think we’d really be hopeless. I will say that my sister and husband have been very glad to have us around to help out and have expressed a desire that we stay longer than the originally planned January 10th end date; so maybe we’ll be here a while yet. I expect we’ll hear something from God just about exactly when we need to know it, and I’m not gonna stress it until then.
That said, Cassie and I both have felt continuing pulls towards Hakodate, so we do still believe Japan is still on the agenda, even if we don’t know whether it’s on the top or the bottom. We’ll continue hoping that it’s soon, without expecting or planning for anything at all.