The Sunrise

This isn't a usual habit of mine, but I thought I would share excerpts from my journal this week:

What an amazing week! It started with a fun celebration with my sisters and parents. They helped me purchase some great new shorts and then we shared a lovely lunch together. Nathan’s baseball games started this week and Rob planned a surprise party for me on Monday night after the first one. I really enjoyed sharing with the friends that came. Anne had her Honor Band Concert on Tuesday—a really fun and enjoyable event. Wednesday the family dropped everything to help Rob with his landscaping jobs that day. His usual assistant was sick, and we dove in with our manual labor to help him. I’m still sore, ;-) but it was just what I needed to help me overcome my stresses. That evening was Rob’s Skype interview with Laurent LA (and another baseball game for Nathan).

We have been praying quite a bit for assurance in the decisions we are making. When Rob called me at the game to say the interview had gone well and that he had the job, it really was like the sunrise (as one GC speaker described today), so peaceful, so beautiful, and so much more amazing, even mind-stretchingly so, than I had ever anticipated. The dawn had been slowly approaching for some time, and now I no longer deny the joy of this new day.

Saturday we enjoyed Conference and began the process of sorting our possessions. Oh, and we began studying Mandarin. I deeply hope that we can stay unified and loving with each other through this adventure. Tonight, we had a great evening with Mom and Dad sharing our new adventure to China along with dinner. It was SO awesome to feel the spirit as we shared the story of how we decided to take this position. I will never forget the comments that Dad made, particularly when he told us his feelings that we were doing the right thing. I know it will be hard for them and us, but we’re one very important step closer now that they know. Now I really hope that I can sleep well tonight. Love—Verena