What Happens?

What happens when you take your children on the mission field? When you make them get rid of most of their things, sell their home and furniture? What happens when you show your children that obedience to our Heavenly Father is the most important thing?

When Lee first shared with me about moving to Belize, I really fought it. We had the perfect life, our kids were in the perfect public schools and we had worked hard to establish a wonderful home to raise them in. We were serving God with all our might and raising our children in those morals. But when God called us, we had to be obedient, or everything we taught them was all just “talk”. If we wanted to continue to walk in His Will, we had to continue to follow Him. No matter what.



I remember a very special weekend about a year ago. Our church was having a Marriage Enrichment, but we decided instead of attending that to spend the money and to take our children away for a special weekend. I was very nervous for us to tell them what God was calling us to do. And to make them not be able to talk about it for a couple of months until the time was right to tell the church.



We found a beautiful hotel with an indoor pool and an Olive Garden next door, which we had been blessed with a gift card to. We enjoyed a nice dinner with the kids and then went and enjoyed the pool. It was getting late, so we told them it was time to go upstairs. After everyone was in their pjs, we lined them up and gave them each a backpack for their laptops that we had just bought them for Christmas (knowing they would need them) and a special suitcase for Erika. And told them their lives were about to change and our family would be moving around and traveling a lot….in preparation to move to Belize. Their hearts blessed me. They kind of looked stunned, a little teary eyed. Josh’s first words…barely a whisper…were “I always thought I would be a missionary” and Tori said “so we will live close to Shemira”, a friend she has made on her many trips here. They expressed concern about leaving their close friends. But right from the start, they had willing hearts and many questions. But a willingness. And a maturity far beyond their years.



And thus, this has been our journey. Our children have had to walk away from the only home they really have ever known, live in an apt, then with family, sometimes sleeping on couches, squished in beds, not having their own rooms for almost a year now. But they have been flexible. God loves flexible. He can use flexible. And now, we are on the brink of having a home again, establishing their rooms, sleeping in their own beds again. And they have survived the transition. They are better people for it.

A sweet lady who owns a bed and breakfast here, who has blessed and blessed us, has just brought us some homemade coffee cake. She knows Josh’s love language, that is for sure. My children are thankful and blessed by this love so much. More than if they had not walked through this past year. My children are blessed and thankful for the way we have love poured on us this past year. I am thankful for them realizing these blessings.

So, what happens when you take your children on the mission field? You see everything you have poured into their spirits, everything God has poured into them, that is there, that it is for real. Take your kids on missions trips. Not everyone is called to do what we did. But you can take your children to foreign lands and expose them to the bigger world. You have to plan. Maybe give up cable. Maybe it is something else. It is something we did. Both Josh and Tori have been to Israel once and Belize a few times. Because that is how we chose to use our money, and others helped. And so when God called, they were ready to listen. Because Lee and I were not the only ones called…the whole family was called.

Erika's new friend.  They live walking distance from our temporary apt.  She is 6 and in school, but Erika thinks they are the same age.

Our friend's two year old and Tori.  We ate homemade pizza there last night.  Josh insisted I get the recipe:)

Every night our living room converts to the kids' bedroom.  They were so tired when I took this picture, although Erika is totally faking being asleep.