Am I Really that Flexible?

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

I am finding myself getting more and more excited everyday for the arrival of Baby Berry in just about 10 weeks!  It seems so far away but as I look at our schedule for the next weeks, my due date is going to approach us faster than we are going to be prepared for!

While I should be spending these weeks setting up Baby’s room, making/painting the cute nursery, and getting all prepared for Baby’s arrival, we actually have no clue where we are going to be living once we return from Cameroon with the baby, so everything is completely up in the air until we know more!  I’ll be honest I feel a little jipt.  Talk about teaching a baby to be flexible from the beginning of life!

Here’s what we know, Wycliffe Associates has asked Blake and I to relocate to Kinshasa, because truthfully, in order to facilitate any work coming in and out of Congo, it must be done from Kinshasa.  All flights into Gemena have to pass through Kinshasa first, any equipment that we need for Gemena must come from Kinshasa, and without having full time presence in Kinshasa, it has made the work that much more difficult.  The thing we are waiting for is our monthly support to increase so that it can support not only a move to Kinshasa, but also our monthly living expenses for that move.  In speaking with many other organizations, Congo is their most expensive place for operations, and we have to be prepared for that reality!

If our monthly support doesn’t increase to $3500/month, we won’t be able to support our move to Kinshasa, which means we will likely transport all of our baby things to Gemena and continue to live there, with an increased need for Blake to travel back and forth to Kinshasa, leaving baby and me in Gemena.  If we decide a stay in Gemena is needed, then we will have to look for a different house, as we have officially outgrown our little tiny 1 bedroom house by adding a baby in the mix.  So now you see my struggle.  We don’t have a house in Kinshasa to set up Baby’s room, but we also don’t have a house in Gemena to set up Baby’s room.

Since we don’t know where we are going to be located, we haven’t moved out of Gemena or out of Kinshasa (all the baby things we brought with us are being stored for us in Kinshasa).  I have a trunk packed and ready to be taken with me to Cameroon when I go for the delivery for some of the initial needs, but luckily the trunk is going to also double as the baby’s bed while we travel throughout Cameroon.  I know, I know, don’t judge!  I already said before, talk about a Baby forced into a flexible lifestyle without a choice!  Actually, it’s probably going to be harder on Mom than Baby!

Pray for us!  I am surprisingly calm and feeling pretty relaxed without having all the details in place.  I know the Lord has called us to DRC.  I know the Lord knows our plan, but some days wouldn’t it be easier if His timing for accomplishing great things was also OUR timing.  I know that no matter the circumstance of the situation, we are getting more and more excited to welcome Baby B, see his (or her) personality, and be our newly formed family of 3!  All in just a few short weeks.