Our Next Steps - Leading the Footprints School

Would you laugh if I said we moved once again – yes our 5th living quarter in the past 3 months?!?!  Well, it’s true!  Only, this time we just moved up the pathway to some new “cabins”.  Pictures will come soon (once we get unpacked and more settled).  Josh and I have our own bedroom/cabin, and the kids have their own joint rooms next to us – the girls in one and the boys in the other.  THANK YOU LORD for a room with a door AND lock AND walls for me and Josh!  Our gift from Footprints!  What’s even cooler is that I’ve always told Josh that if we ever built a house, I’d want to have a bedroom that has French doors that open up to a deck/porch.  Well, wouldn’t you know, God has given us just that….only the simple African version of it!  How cool is that?!  We are truly grateful for our privacy as a couple, and at the same time, enjoy having company come visit with us on our porch.  Josh is having a great time with some of the young adult guys here.  In fact, in a few weeks all of the guys on base will be heading back to the farm where our family was last weekend for a “guys’ weekend.”

Our time at the farm last weekend solidified some things for us.  For those that don’t have access to Facebook and the video we uploaded, we announced that the Lord has confirmed we need to stay at Footprints indefinitely until He leads us elsewhere.  That means we will not be heading to Pemba, Mozambique at this time.  The Lord worked differently for me this time in giving direction.  Often times He will give me details for direction and then an answer comes through those details.  This time He gave me an answer without having the details or next set of blueprints.  When we first arrived to Footprints, immediately Josh and I noticed the acronym on the Footprints sign that read: P.L.A.Y.  (Participating in the Lives of Africa’s Youth).  My spirit leaped as God reminded me of the vision He gave me earlier this year regarding a dirt/grass soccer field and Him telling me to “play.”  I wrote more about this vision in a previous blog post on May 24 titled, “It’s Official – Mozambique Bound!”  At first I didn’t want to accept that God was already giving me the answer to where we should be, without having all the details, but looking back I can see that’s exactly what He did.  He continues to teach me to trust Him in greater measures, even when it’s outside my comfort zone or typical way of thinking.  It’s a good reminder for all of us to not get set in “our” ways so that we end up missing how God wants to speak to us in “His” ways.  I remember telling my mom and a few others how God had been speaking to me about “feet” prior to leaving the States.  How many of you know that God will use whatever it takes to get your attention and speak to you?  Yes, even a simple word like “feet” might mean something, and I know it was one dot that connected to the next for our family.

We’ve posted on Facebook that some big announcements were coming.  First off, we’re excited to announce that Josh has taken on the role of Head Master “aka” Principal at the Footprints school here on the base, and I will be assisting him as needed.  I’ve been thinking about my dad A LOT lately, as he was a principal prior to his passing.  He talked about coming to Africa someday, and I wish we could call him up right now for some wisdom and advice.  He was great at what he did!  We are praying for more long-termers to come that have a passion and desire to teach children, so we thank you for covering this great need in prayer with us.  Josh will be involved with teaching 4 older girls, while I will continue to teach Gracie and some other children that are at her educational level.  We will both continue to play a role in Christian’s education, but his primary teacher will be one of the single adult ladies whom has a degree in Animal Science.  Jade will continue to do her independent studies for Math and Language, but she will begin attending a few classes with some of the other children that are close to her age.  We’re seeking wisdom on how to integrate our own children into the Footprints school, as it’s a bit tricky since our kids are only 2 months into their schooling and the other children are just about to end their school year.  We’ll continue to use our curriculum to teach and assess where the other children are at, at least for the next 4-5 weeks.  Once the next school year begins in January, things may look completely different, so prayers for the Lord’s blueprints to be downloaded to us would be greatly appreciated.  Our children will also be changing from a 4-day school week to 5 days.  When we shared with them the news about mine and Josh’s involvement in the school and how it will affect them, they all seemed pretty excited – especially Christian since he’ll get to join some of his friends.

Some prayer points to cover:

1. Creativity for building relationships with the children and keeping learning fun!
2. Peace over all the children - that they would adapt well to the changes both emotionally and psychologically.
3. Wisdom and organization for all teachers – successful assessments for the next school year.
4. Unity amongst Josh, myself and others on the team.

Tomorrow is a big day for us, as that is when we will begin to be involved with the school.  We’re excited, but at the same time, I’m being stretched as I feel somewhat unprepared for the changes that are coming.  Please cover us in prayer that nothing would come and distract or detour us from what the Lord wants us to do here.  Thanks and much love to you all!

And, on a side note, there is another announcement coming……….but you’ll have to wait until it’s time for that!