…So the song says.   Actually, we have been amazed at how much courage and freedom we’ve needed since we got home.  Where’s home, you might ask?  Good question; after all, the USA is pretty big.

 Most of you probably know this, but I (Suzanna) grew up in Chicago, where my parents still live.  OJ spent most of his growing up in South Carolina.  Tacoma, WA, which we now call “home,” has been the context of our entire engagement and marriage.  When we say Tacoma, we really mean our church, Newsong.  God brought both of us from thousands of miles away to get to partake of the eruption of a spiritual volcano there in Tacoma.  During one of our recent visits, someone asked us over dinner, “So what did happen in Tacoma?”  It was fun to try to tell the story in 15 minutes.  Would you like a drink from a fire hose?  But that’s another blog.

So while Tacoma’s home (still is, can’t imagine when it won’t be, spiritually speaking), and Newsong’s our church family, our precious and godly parents and most of our brothers and sisters have never been closer than 3,000 miles away, except on the all too infrequent holiday visits.  OJ’s brother Judson is the pioneering exception.  With Angel baby due in 10 weeks, the Lord has led us to take a “divine pause” in the international ministry during which we would settle our family and some business issues, preparing to be free to go more permanently.  When we left for Europe, we weren’t sure where we’d settle for the birth, but as we’ve sought the Lord, we have felt Him tell us that it’s Kansas City, MO!!!

This surprised us since we figured we would probably go back to Tacoma!  My oldest and youngest sisters are there in KC, and it’s a mere 8 hrs drive from my parents.  While we can’t pretend it’s close to South Carolina, it’s definitely closer than Tacoma.  We are delighted to be near family, but not going back to Tacoma threw us from the category of “needing some help from the Lord with a few things,” into the category of “utterly dependent on Him for numerous miracles in just about every capacity.”  So we need you to pray for us!  We really, really do!  We are totally confident that the Lord will provide, just as He did while we were overseas in Europe.  Why would the miracles stop now?  But now we are looking for a house, job, doctor for delivery, car, furniture, baby stuff, etc.  in a new place.  God continues to use our lives to make people nervous (i.e. glorify Himself).  Pray that we’d continue to be brave and free here in the good ol’ USA.  For more specific ways to help or pray, check our prayer page.

OJ’s headed to Tacoma on an early flight tomorrow, so excited to see our friends there!  He will settle things with the business which is still up for sale in Tacoma, and bring a vehicle and a few items of furniture that we kept. The kids and I would love to be with him, but flights for all four of us wasn’t an option.  Also, we’ve driven between Chicago, Kansas City, and South Carolina in the last couple weeks, and I don’t think the kids could handle the drive back to KC from Tacoma that will close out OJ’s trip.  They’ve been troopers, but Ariel has said on almost every leg of the trip, “Why didn’t we just fly?”  This, from a three year old! 

For all our beloved Newsong family, we will miss seeing you dearly and would love to hear from you.  I have a fairly certain feeling that we’ll be seeing some of you visiting the House of Prayer (oh yeah, and us) in KC, and OJ and I are already praying for the provision of a place large enough to host you.  But not all at once.  I can’t clean a place that big.  :)  Anyway, we love you so much…please walk up to OJ at church and claim a huge hug from me, by proxy!  We’re as much a part of the team and family as ever, and look forward to advancing the kingdom together for many years to come! 

Friends, I’m sorry!  This is so delayed, but here’s an update to catch you up! 

From the Netherlands, we went on to Herrnhut, Germany, where we spent two weeks.  This trip was really different from the others.  We were there to support a couple who for more than thirty years have been carrying the torch for the vision of young people taking the gospel into all the world.  Instead of leading the charge, we got to serve them by teaching and praying for the staff as they saw need.  This husband and wife were so easy to serve.  They were those rare breed who can weave in and out with folks 30 years younger (like us), and 40 years younger (like some of the young people on the base), without losing any authority.  They were so loving and comfortable they might as well have been college sophomores, but they walked in wisdom and stability like parents.  Their humility was astonishing.  The kind of humans who are the opposite of humankind…the greater their treasure trove of wisdom, the greater their hunger for more.  We were so blessed by them. 

While in Germany we prayed for pretty much the entire staff of the base, and then a few of the DTS students.  The flavor of this base was much different, raw and real, with something radical right through them.  The hallway that circles up the main stairwell had photos from the base leader’s (who was a professional photographer previous to getting saved) collection around the world, like pieces of DNA threading up a helix.  Blown up to poster size, they were impossible to ignore.  By the time you reach the top floor, without realizing it, one is gripped for the nations and the devastation of humanity apart from God.  I often had tears in my eyes and wordless prayer in my heart, just climbing up to our room.  To see a sampling of his photos, go to http://www.jan-schlegel.com/.  They’re photos of the people they’re trying to reach, actually bringing the gospel to.  This base yearns for the unreached, including the youngest generation of the west.  Their DTS is jam-packed with the real needs of this orphaned lot, raised on secular humanism, video games, and powerless churchianity.  We loved ministering at Herrnhut.  It felt like even when you were just sitting and chatting on the main floor or sleeping in your bed, you knew there was a furnace in the basement roaring with vision, that never stops blazing and doesn’t have a clock.  The spiritual battle was more real and intense there than any other experience we had.  We were constantly fighting spiritually, in the thick of it.  Prayer times were often raw and honest, and it felt like we were exposed to living history as we glimpsed the spiritual inheritances of Germans, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Americans, and others in these short prophetic exchanges with their hearts. 

From there, we stumbled home to Seamill, exhausted.  It was almost the end of the tour.  Pete and Erin both headed home for the States, and we went back to our flat to recover from the bunk beds, heat, and pressing schedule.  It was victorious, but we were tired.  Once again, God’s provision of a place to be at Seamill was perfect.  We cleared the schedule for a few days, rented a car, and relaxed with the kids, visiting petting zoos, lakes, the nearby beach, and Cafe OJ.  OJ even got his sports fix with the UEFA tournament, drawing us all into the European football (soccer) scene with instinctive gusto that surpassed the natives.  Judah and Ariel are both great dribblers, and though Judah’s build is more suited to a linebacker, we’ve got high hopes for those early seeds planted in Scotland.  Hooray!  Right there in our flat, without having to reserve a room or board a plane, we had the best family vacation we’ve ever had.  The Lord’s reward is so much sweeter than anything we come up with ourselves. 

 After the short, restorative break, we collaborated with Seamill base leaders to minister there most effectively in our remaining time.  We finished up the marriage course with lots of prayer for those who attended, and stopped in to the DTS for some teaching and dynamic prayer times with every single DTS student.  That was a blast!  Also, we got to a chance to teach on unity in the staff meeting and move some hindrances out of the way.  After a couple of weeks of finishing up,  it was time to say goodbye.  We’d been in Europe and the UK for more than 3 months, Angel baby had enjoyed a whole 2nd trimester of growth overseas, and God had provided every step of the way.  Oftentimes I’ve found that when a transition comes, it’s either marked by temptation to fear concerning the next step and clinging to the old, or an impatience to finally be done and on to something new.  I have to say, this transition home to the USA was one of the most joyful, healthiest transitions I’ve ever experienced.  We were full up to the brim with the joy and victory of what the Lord had done, and had no negative impetus to hurry to the end, but we were no less excited to be back in the USA for it.  The whole trip, start to finish, was blessed.  Our little family has never been as healthy, happy, whole, and unified as during this time.  There were challenges and meltdowns (just the kids…yeah, right), but the promises the Lord made to us before we ever left on this trip, He kept.  Abundantly.  Financial provision always came just as we needed it, and often not before.  While there were times that we spent our strength right up to the last of it, refreshment always followed, leaving us fuller than before.  Even the pregnancy was covered with grace, my persistent nausea of the first trimester being curbed a little sooner than usual, and the discomfort and lethargy of the last trimester holding off until the end.  Our marriage experience was of being shepherded by the King into green pastures and still waters, and we found that we have never been more overcome by the glory of God in one another than in this full-on, active pursuit of God and His kingdom.  It was like God went overboard to specifically address every fear that might have occurred to us or anyone else.  Praise God!!!!  He is our portion, our exceedingly great reward, and this last taste of Him has been better than wine, better than life, better than anything.