Biz Türkiye'ye hareket ediyoruz!

We've got big news!  No, the baby's not here yet (thankfully)! She needs to stay put until December. But this past month has been an exciting one for Team Shirey.  We've been blessed with great family time and safe travels around the world (for Jono).  And, best of all, we've made a BIG change in our future plans that we are thrilled about!  Ready for it?

We are moving to Turkey!

Though this piece of news may seem completely out of the blue, the possibility of our family being in Turkey actually first crossed our minds when we were there in December 2003.  Jono and I were newly engaged, looking at all the possibilities in front of us, and ultimately decided to walk a different path. The second time we seriously considered it was in February 2010, just before we left the Middle East. But for many reasons, we felt like our family would not thrive there at the time.

Spring chickens!  Barely engaged in Turkey in 2003!

Last month Jono returned to Turkey for a conference that was scheduled months ago.  It was his fifth trip to Turkey in the past nine years.  When he landed at the airport, he asked himself, "Why do I always end up here?"  Over the next ten days it was as if the pieces of a puzzle started to fall into place. He saw clearly that the obstacles we had always seen in regard to living there either weren't relevant anymore or weren't as daunting. Don't get me wrong, there are still obstacles. (Gas is $10 a gallon!)  But there are many reasons why Turkey is a good fit for us. 

For the past couple of years we have prayed for clarity regarding the best place to move our family, however we never felt like God was leading us to a specific location. In fact, last spring I clearly felt like God told me, "I don't care about your location. I care about your character." So we settled on Spain. There were several good reasons we decided to move there--our leadership encouraged it, we could easily get visas (or so we thought), there is a pretty significant Arab community there, and another couple we love and respect is already working in Granada. 

If you don't know already, obtaining our visas for Spain has been much more difficult than we anticipated. Though Jono and I have been approved, we are still waiting on the boys' visas. In addition to that, we have been recruiting others to come work with us. They have not even started their visa process which could delay them for months and months. Our vision for the future involves bringing many others alongside us to serve and train, and we have seen significant obstacles on this issue when it comes to Spain.  A couple of months ago we began talking to our leaders about other possible locations for our family, but there didn't seem to be another clear alternative.

In many ways, the difficulties and obstacles that we've encountered over the past year have shaped this decision.  The issue of visas for ourselves, along with several others, has made us realize what a great open door is in front of us with regard to Turkey. Not only can we get visas, but we'll be back in the Near East, which is the part of the world we deeply care for. It has always been on our hearts to move back that direction, but we thought it would be several years until the door reopened. There are more details that we'll be including in our next newsletter/Christmas card, so look forward to getting that in the mail.  (Send us your address if you want to receive one! teamshirey@gmail.com)

Why did we feel like Turkey wasn't the place for us in 2010? The truth is, WE were not ready for Turkey three years ago.  We aren't the same people today who we were then. God brought us back to the U.S. in order to do a significant work in our lives.  He healed our son!  (see blog post here)  He changed and restored our attitudes.  He has taught us a lot about Him and ourselves. We've established and developed many relationships.  Even in the past month God has connected us with people who we feel may play an important role the future.  We've been stretched.  We've grown.  And we are more willing now to follow Jesus wherever He leads than we've ever been!

We've spent the past two weeks running all of this past our leadership, our team members, and others who we look to for prayer and guidance. Everyone has been supportive of our decision, and some have expressed outright enthusiasm.  Not once has anyone said 'I don't understand.' or 'This doesn't make sense.'  Everyone has been encouraging, and we have ultimately decided that Turkey is the best place for us to be. 

Jono and I are thrilled, nervous, and excited. We're also laughing to find ourselves back at square one after a couple of years!  But we're different people today!

Our timetable to move to Turkey is the same as it was for Spain. We will leave once Lu is born, stable & healthy, and when she has her passport.  Unbelievably, many of our bags are still packed!

Stormy coast along the Mediterranean with Antalya in the background

Turkey has awesome fruits and vegetables!

Expect the Unexpected

We've made a lot of plans over the last two and a half years. Some of those plans have worked out beautifully. Others, most even, have not turned out as we had hoped. I don't feel at all doom and gloom about this. In fact, I've come to see that plan B, C, D, and even X were often better than what I came up with in the first place. But it's a steep learning curve for a self-professed "planner" like me.

A few weeks ago we sent out a newsletter detailing our plans to move as soon as our visas are in hand, along with our first steps once we arrive in Spain, which should have been October at the latest. The very next week I had a heart to heart with my obstetrician, and asked him what he felt would be the last possible date that we could safely move during this pregnancy. He turned the question back to me and simply asked, "If you don't leave before the baby comes, will the door to Spain close?" Because the answer is no, he highly recommended that we stay put until she arrives, regardless of the date. Our previous preterm delivery with Sims makes me a top candidate for another one, and this week marks the start of my third trimester. 

Honestly, his advice relieved me. I have no fear about delivering this baby in another country. But the thought of moving our family across an ocean, trying to find a home, get settled, find a doctor (who hopefully speaks great English), and delivering a baby in the next three months (IF she is full-term) was leaving Jono and I feeling stretched.  Our contact at the Spanish Embassy had already informed us that she will hold our visas until we are ready to travel, and that if we had the baby here in the U.S. it would not be a problem to push her visa through.  So, on the way back from the doctor's office, I settled it in my heart that we'd go ahead and leave after Lu is born. 

Of course, 15 minutes later Jono called me and said that his and my visas were ready, but the boys' are still pending. Go figure. The possibility of an immediate departure stirred in our minds, but it's really not reasonable to take off without G and Sims. So we are staying our current course and waiting to leave until baby girl has a stamped passport, which we are guessing will be around February. 

Until then we have plenty to fill our plates. Thankfully the boys are in a good routine with preschool, church, family and friends around. Jono will be going to Turkey in October to do some work. He'll also be able to visit some of our best buds who live there now. I'd love to go too, but we've obviously decided traipsing around the world is off limits for the next few months. And then there's Discipleship Beyond, which we are establishing as a 501(c)3 nonprofit as well as working on its curriculum development. We'll probably even dive into Rosetta Stone and practice our Spanish lisp.  

We're thankful that in all of our waiting that we've had a clear sense of His purpose and obvious, productive work in front of us!  Though our plans keep changing, our moments in life are rarely confused. God keeps saying, "Do what is before you."  True to the past two and a half years, I am sure that the next five months will speed by, and we'll be landing in Spain before we know it. Until then, we will try to savor our next few months--anticipating this new baby, enjoying the beautiful fall weather, celebrating two of our favorite holidays, and relaxing (or not so much) on football Saturdays. We have a lot to look forward to, even if we are on plan Z.

We feel really safe with two super heroes in the house.  Note, if you will, G's grey tooth, which was severely knocked on Sims's head. We're still waiting to see if it makes it or not. 

The two of us on a date. Go Braves!

I can't believe he's four! We celebrated the life of this sweetheart on September 15. Talk about time flying. 

Time to Rest

A few hours after posting our last blog, we received a phone call from a woman we have never met.  She is the mom of a friend who will be working with us in Spain, and she told us that God woke her up at 4 a.m. that morning to pray for us for two hours. I am so thankful for people willing to lose sleep in order to be obedient.

I can think of several words that describe how Jono and I were feeling after our trip to D.C. But I think the one that tops the list was CONFUSED. What do we do now? Do we stay put? What if the visa is delayed for several more months? Should we move somewhere other than Spain?  Why does it feel like we can't hear God clearly?

So when our friend's mom said, "You and Jono are in such a heightened state of alert that you cannot even hear God clearly," I knew that I'd better pay attention to what she was saying.

Here's a summary of what God put on her heart to share with us: We must learn to discern when we are to war and when we are to rest.  Now is the time to let God war for us. He wants us to rest and stay at peace. True rest is freedom from excessive reasoning, struggles, fear, inner turmoil, worry, and frustration from working to do what only God can do. Rest is the difference between having faith and trying to have faith. God is working it out. He is setting it up. He wants to speak directly to us, but we must step back, rest, and hear directly from Him.

We have warred in prayer for this visa for months. I have prayed for it every day, several times a day. It was like God was saying to me, "I've heard every one of your prayers. You can stop and rest now."  We were weary and heavy-laden, and Jesus was offering us rest and peace.  We took Him up on it.

Since then we've been trying to make decisions based off of what would be the most restful. For us, that means minimizing the number of times we have to move our family and change our plans. So on Saturday morning, the boys and I will go back to Georgia and wait for our visa. Jono will finish packing and cleaning in NC and follow early next week. We continue to have hope that the visa will come soon. But we also trust that it's totally in His hands and timing.

Yesterday a friend sent me a text and asked "Are you stressed?"  I wholeheartedly answered her "No. I have peace."  I think that's pretty amazing. Even when our circumstances are unchanged, His grace changes everything.

A (hopefully small) Change in Plans

Sometimes when G gets all worked up we tell him to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and say "Life is a cookie."  Though he probably has no idea what "life" really is, he definitely knows about cookies. And cookies make him happy.  We have no parenting strategy in doing this. It's just funny for us to watch, and saying it makes G giggle.

So last night, after a difficult, whirlwind trip to D.C., I found myself in the shower, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and saying "Life is a cookie." Guess what? It worked. I even giggled.

Nothing went as planned for us this week.  I could innumerate the details, but the bottom line is that we are back to waiting.  All of our paperwork is in the hands of the Spanish Embassy. It will go back to Spain for another round of approval and then the visa will be granted. For various reasons, we thought this would take from 1-7 days. The difficult news we got this week is that they expect it to take from 1-3 months. 

I'll be honest, I've felt like throwing things. But then, Jono reminded me, I'd just have to clean up after myself.  Instead I've asked God to give me His peace and prayed for a thankful attitude.  So here are some things we're grateful for:

1. Very helpful people at the Spanish Embassy. They answered our endless questions, gave us their cell phone numbers and email addresses, and walked us step by step through what we needed to do. They gave good advice and did everything they could do to assist us. Believe me, this is not always the case when working with any government system.
2. We thought we would be homeless in North Carolina as of July 24th. But we were offered somewhere to stay, right next to where we currently live. So now we need to decide if we want to stay in NC while we wait or go ahead and move down to Georgia.  
3. God is able! We continue to pray for the visas to be put in our passports in a miraculously short period of time. A one-month delay really isn't a big deal. Three months puts our move really close to my due date, especially considering how early Sims arrived. 
4. YOU! Thanks for all the prayers (and sympathy). We know that in the big scheme of things that this is not a huge deal. We are all alive, healthy, and in the hands of our good God. But it means so much just to hear people say "I'm sorry. Please tell me if there's anything we can do."  
5. Our awesome kids. We dragged them around and into chaos for four intense days. They had good attitudes and brought us a lot of joy when everything else felt disappointing. 

Please pray with us that we'd have the visas in hand within a short period of time.  And pray for wisdom as we make decisions about what to do in the upcoming days (regarding housing, etc.).  We have to be out of our current home by July 24th.  Pray that God would give us clarity and grace for whatever is up ahead.

In the meantime, we'll be sure to eat lots of chocolate, which makes everyone happy!

A Happy Post

There's nothing quite like a blog filled with great news.  Most of it's old news, of course, with Facebook at our fingertips.  But if you're going have a blog at all, you at least have to write a post when happy things happen. 

Next week we will drive to D.C. and get our visas from the Spanish Embassy.  We like life to be as crazy as possible, so we're going the week Jono's sister and her family (with whom we'll be staying) are moving into their new house. We will also make an emergency stop by the Department of State in order to add more pages to my passport, since we waited until the last minute to make sure those documents were in order. Brilliant! If all goes according to plan, we should have visas in hand and airplane tickets purchased by the end of next week.

So, that means that we're just about ready to move to Spain! And it's a good thing, too, because apparently life in the U.S. does not give me inspiration for blogging. My prayers have transitioned from grace for waiting to grace for chaos as we pack, travel, and move several times over the next month. Our current itinerary has us going from North Carolina to Washington D.C., back to North Carolina, to Georgia, briefly to Tennessee, back to Georgia, and on to Spain (not to mention all that comes with moving to a new country). All in five weeks! With two kids and a baby on the way! 

Oh yes, which brings us to the other good news. We're going to have another baby! This one is scheduled to arrive on December 27th, poor thing. I've never met someone with a late December birthday who likes it. At least we think it's a great Christmas present. G thinks "Simi" is a good name if it's another boy. And we think there is good wisdom in not letting toddlers name a child. 

It's hard to believe that one year ago we posted this video to our blog. In many ways it feels like a lifetime ago that G lived with food allergies. People often ask us if he has any food issues anymore or if any of his allergies have reappeared with time. We are so thankful to answer "No," and heave a sigh of gratitude and relief. Thank you Jesus. 

On a hike with Grannie and Papa during our May visit to El Paso

Building forts with cousin Grey in Snow Camp, NC

Brotherly love. Yes, G does own and occasionally wear shirts.

Visiting with an old friend of Jono's, who is a musician. He put on a concert about an hour from where we live, so we went and hung out with him for a little while. This pic is on his tour bus. It was fun!

The Waiting Game

How it is that we've gone from December to March on this blog with nary a post, I'll never know. Don't panic. Much may have happened, but not much has changed. December found us in Georgia, celebrating Christmas with Jonathan's family. January was full of travel--Jono to various places in the U.S. and then to South Africa. The boys and I held down the fort in Snow Camp and then spent a week with my parents in Florida. February was, quite honestly, a blur. Though I usually think of February as the seemingly longest, often dullest month of the year, I can hardly remember this one for its busyness. It seems unreasonable to summarize three months in six sentences, so I'll list the highlights.

1. Jono spoke over 30 times in various places and settings. I'm convinced he's talked more in this past year than the previous 34 combined.
2. DISNEY WORLD!! Did I say that we went to Florida? Oh no, it was much more exciting than that. We rocked Disney for a week. G is still playing pirates. Sims, on the other hand, dubbed it Torture World. Perhaps it was not the best vacation site for a skittish 18 month old.
3. Sims started walking. Hey, better late than never. He also pretends he's a puppy dog, crawls around on all fours and barks. He may be late on the walking, but excels in imagination :)
4. Paperwork has been filed and a lawyer has been hired to get our visa for Spain!!
5. Time with loved ones. A weekend visit with my dear friend Megs and her baby girl. It was some of the most fun we've had together in 10 years. Lots of family time with parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.

As soon as our paperwork comes through, we'll get our tickets and move to Granada. It is a little crazy that the paperwork could come next week or a few months from now, leaving us in a constant state of anticipation. We are going ahead and preparing for sooner rather than later. This past week I felt the uncertainty of our situation and timing start to stress me, but we continue to trust that the timing is in God's hands. The waiting game continues...

In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, here are some shots of our trip, my three boys, and the crazy weather changes of North Carolina. Snow one day, shorts the next.