As I sit here and write this blog I realize we only have 8 days left here in Kosova. So weird. My mind and spirit are a mix of emotions. On one hand I am so incredibly excited to see my family and friends...but on the other hand I am extremely sad to be leaving our wonderful students and new friends we made here in Kosova. God truly blessed our time here and I would not exchange it for anything. Being here is Kosova has made a huge impact on my life. I now see Jesus in a totally different way. Being the church means more to me than it has ever before. And being a wife and mother has taken on a whole new meaning. God is good and I am thankful.
I am so excited to see what God has in store for us in our future. There are TONS of unknowns and at times it is a bit scary and overwhelming, but I know that our God is in control and because of that I can put my whole trust in HIM.
This week will be crazy for us. Not only are we in the midst of packing and trying to crunch our life into 6-8 suitcases we will also be attending lots of parties and dinners. It will be so much fun to have one last hoorah! with a few of our good friends here.
Kyler is changing so much. I am so excited for our families to see him. He is talking so much and he is so funny! I think we might have a comedian (or class clown) on our hands. What a joy to be his mommy! In the midst of all of my health stuff and very frustrating moments he can always bring a smile to my face. I love that little guy so much.
I am sure that I will be updating again soon. Just wanted to check in to the blog world!
Until next time....
Much love,
Tiffany
PS...dont forget to check out Richard's amazing website... www.hisnamenotmine.com
(he is so humble and doesnt want to make a big deal of anything but let me just share...he has been approached about submitting a couple of his posts to various magazines for publishing.....i am just a LITTLE proud of him!!!)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The journey continues.....
Hello friends and family,
We seriously have the best supporters, friends and family ever. We love you all so much. The flood of emails we have gotten with encouragement from you all has been amazing. But we realize not everyone knows what is going on.....so let us share.
Since Tiffany's gallbladder surgery she has continued to be in a lot of pain and began experiencing some other serious health issues. After a couple of months of these issues we realized that she needed help so we told some trusted friends here what she was dealing with and all three of them gave the name of a Christian British doctor who is in Kosova to train fellow doctors. We felt confident in seeing her because she is one of the top doctors in her field in Europe thus knowing that her facility/instruments would be sanitary.
We went expecting her to be able to look at Tiffany and tell us what the problem was and then be able to prescribe some medication to heal her. What happened instead is she told us the seriousness of the issue and that Tiffany would need another surgery. So we thought we were going to be making another trip to Greece, but when we told her this she said Greece was not an option. She explained that given the sensitivity of the area in need of surgery and seriousness of complications we had to go back to the States. We couldn’t believe it and tried to talk about other options, but she emphatically said over and over that the only option was to go back to the States right away to receive the proper medical care. Even waiting till May she said would result in serious lifelong consequences.
We left the visit and went to a nearby restaurant to debrief the news we had just been given. We both cried sitting there. We had resolved to our motto “endure through the suffering” and fully believed that we would press on through our commitment here even though things have been tough (school situation, health, and other issues we shared with many of you). Our prayer has always been, “God we are not going anywhere unless you clearly tell us to go.” And now that is exactly what is happening and we are sad.
We have sadness because we don’t want to leave Lide (our nanny) and her family. They have become part of our family and it breaks our hearts to leave them so soon. We also are sad to leave our students and miss out on opportunities to share the Gospel with them. For example last week I a student point blank asked me how I could be so confident that I was going to Heaven…if that is not an open door then I don’t know what is. In this time we hold on to 1 Corinthians 3:7-9:
“It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God's workers. And you are God's field. You are God's building.”
We realize how we have been and how we will respond to this tough time will speak volumes to those looking on about our hope and faith in God. When we suffer the spotlight is on us. People are looking to see if we respond in a way that will validate our faith or will we respond like those with no hope?
We are also very scared. Because we know that by coming back to the US the suffering is not going to stop. In fact in some ways the suffering will be simply changing shape. Yes it will be easier by having you all and family nearby but we thought we had 5 months to line up a place to stay and places to work but now we only have 2 weeks.
So the craziness begins. Today we were able to secure plane tickets for Dec. 21. We will be flying to Indianapolis where we will spend a few days with Richard's family before heading down to Joplin to be with Tiffany's family for Christmas and shortly following....the surgery. Some VERY dear friends of ours, the Winstons, have been helping us raise money to get back to the states, have some for medical expenses, and hopefully still have some extra to see us through for a few months until we find jobs. These dear friends also have been in contact with a great doctor for Tiffany. He is willing to see Tiffany for free if the insurance doesn't pan out. Tiffany's health issues where explained to this doctor and he is familiar with the type of surgery Tiffany needs....although he said it is very delicate and if he cannot do it, he will refer us on. We are SO thankful for our friends and how they have help support us in so many ways.
At this time we are simply trusting in God. We know that HE is in control of what is going on and we trust in HIM completely.
We will continue to keep this blog going...but it will just change directions!
Continue to follow us here to find out what is next with the Jett's.
We love you all so much!!
We seriously have the best supporters, friends and family ever. We love you all so much. The flood of emails we have gotten with encouragement from you all has been amazing. But we realize not everyone knows what is going on.....so let us share.
Since Tiffany's gallbladder surgery she has continued to be in a lot of pain and began experiencing some other serious health issues. After a couple of months of these issues we realized that she needed help so we told some trusted friends here what she was dealing with and all three of them gave the name of a Christian British doctor who is in Kosova to train fellow doctors. We felt confident in seeing her because she is one of the top doctors in her field in Europe thus knowing that her facility/instruments would be sanitary.
We went expecting her to be able to look at Tiffany and tell us what the problem was and then be able to prescribe some medication to heal her. What happened instead is she told us the seriousness of the issue and that Tiffany would need another surgery. So we thought we were going to be making another trip to Greece, but when we told her this she said Greece was not an option. She explained that given the sensitivity of the area in need of surgery and seriousness of complications we had to go back to the States. We couldn’t believe it and tried to talk about other options, but she emphatically said over and over that the only option was to go back to the States right away to receive the proper medical care. Even waiting till May she said would result in serious lifelong consequences.
We left the visit and went to a nearby restaurant to debrief the news we had just been given. We both cried sitting there. We had resolved to our motto “endure through the suffering” and fully believed that we would press on through our commitment here even though things have been tough (school situation, health, and other issues we shared with many of you). Our prayer has always been, “God we are not going anywhere unless you clearly tell us to go.” And now that is exactly what is happening and we are sad.
We have sadness because we don’t want to leave Lide (our nanny) and her family. They have become part of our family and it breaks our hearts to leave them so soon. We also are sad to leave our students and miss out on opportunities to share the Gospel with them. For example last week I a student point blank asked me how I could be so confident that I was going to Heaven…if that is not an open door then I don’t know what is. In this time we hold on to 1 Corinthians 3:7-9:
“It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God's workers. And you are God's field. You are God's building.”
We realize how we have been and how we will respond to this tough time will speak volumes to those looking on about our hope and faith in God. When we suffer the spotlight is on us. People are looking to see if we respond in a way that will validate our faith or will we respond like those with no hope?
We are also very scared. Because we know that by coming back to the US the suffering is not going to stop. In fact in some ways the suffering will be simply changing shape. Yes it will be easier by having you all and family nearby but we thought we had 5 months to line up a place to stay and places to work but now we only have 2 weeks.
So the craziness begins. Today we were able to secure plane tickets for Dec. 21. We will be flying to Indianapolis where we will spend a few days with Richard's family before heading down to Joplin to be with Tiffany's family for Christmas and shortly following....the surgery. Some VERY dear friends of ours, the Winstons, have been helping us raise money to get back to the states, have some for medical expenses, and hopefully still have some extra to see us through for a few months until we find jobs. These dear friends also have been in contact with a great doctor for Tiffany. He is willing to see Tiffany for free if the insurance doesn't pan out. Tiffany's health issues where explained to this doctor and he is familiar with the type of surgery Tiffany needs....although he said it is very delicate and if he cannot do it, he will refer us on. We are SO thankful for our friends and how they have help support us in so many ways.
At this time we are simply trusting in God. We know that HE is in control of what is going on and we trust in HIM completely.
We will continue to keep this blog going...but it will just change directions!
Continue to follow us here to find out what is next with the Jett's.
We love you all so much!!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
There is SO much to be thankful for during this holiday season.....as I sit here and think about this amazing journey that God is taking me on I get goosebumps. It has not always been easy, there has been MANY tears, lots of pain, lots of questions and lots of prayers. But one thing that has remained....the thankfulness in my heart. This journey to K has awakened in me something that I am not sure that I was (or even am) ready to deal with. I have been completely stripped of all comforts and normalcy. Things that have been lingering in my past have begin to resurface because of the vulnerable state that God has allowed us to be in. It has been exhausting, frustrating, and at times almost unbearable. The other day I received an email from a friend here in K and they reminded me to find JOY in all circumstances. That I must endure...that I must press on. That night as I opened my bible I was reminded in James of that exact same thing. James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God has a purpose for us here in K....sometimes it seems that purpose is just to survive while other times it seems that he wants to refine us and build character....but then some of the most exciting times are when I have a conversation with 2 of my students about Jesus Christ and why he is my Savior. Again...I don't know the exact reason that God brought us here...but I am thankful. I am thankful that HE trusted us with this mission.
So as I sit around a HUGE Thanksgiving table this Thursday and I look at all my fellow friends who have given their lives to the work in K, I will remember and be thankful because I am blessed, I will have Joy, and I promise to endure.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love you all,
So as I sit around a HUGE Thanksgiving table this Thursday and I look at all my fellow friends who have given their lives to the work in K, I will remember and be thankful because I am blessed, I will have Joy, and I promise to endure.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love you all,
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Giveaway!
Check out this awesome blog and giveaway.....just in time for the Holidays!
http://teamchase4andcounting.blogspot.com/2010/11/team-chases-first-giveaway.html
http://teamchase4andcounting.blogspot.com/2010/11/team-chases-first-giveaway.html
Thursday, November 4, 2010
This week.....
We survived an earthquake, midterms, and crazy warm weather (after having snow last week).
Yes you read that sentence correctly....this past Wednesday morning at 2am a 5.3 earthquake shook Prishtina.....and Richard and I slept right through it! It was quite the talk around school the next day and we had no idea that it had even happened. Most of our friends where awakened by the shaking while Richard and I were sawing logs :) Apparently since we have been here there has been a total of 4 earthquakes, but this past one was the largest. Didn't realize when we moved to K that we would have to think about earthquakes!
This week was midterms at the school. Most of my students did very well....the average score was a B+, so I was very pleased. Richard's students struggled a bit more (but they tell me he is a hard grader....ha ha!) We are now one-fourth of the way through the school year. This next term will go by very quickly because we have both Thanksgiving and Christmas break! yay!!! (one of the many reasons I LOVE being a teacher)
Last week, as many of you saw on my facebook, we had our first snow. It was CRAZY. It lasted for about 4 hours and was a constant stream of huge flakes. It didnt stick because the ground was so warm but it was beautiful. We thought we were going to be welcoming Winter a bit early this year...but we were wrong. This week we have had super warm temps (for this time of year). Tomorrow (Friday) it is supposed to be 70 degrees. Crazy! But unfortunately we were told not to get to excited....within the next 10 days we will be back down into the 20s and 30s......BRRRRRRRRRRRR. I hope my body can handle this!!!!
We are looking forward to another great weekend. Tomorrow night we are having some friends, who live here in Pristina, but are originally from Scotland over for dinner and then on Saturday Richard is going with a group of people to hike the tallest mountain in K. He is very excited, but a bit nervous. We have heard it is a very tough hike, but I know he can do it. They will be going again in the Spring and I cant wait to join them. I am just not quite healthy enough to make the trek....boo...so Ky and I are going to have a "mommy and Ky" day. I have some fun things planned for us...hopefully the weather cooperates!
All is well here in K! We love each of you! Thank you for joining us on this journey!
Much Love,
Tiffany
PS....For those who havent heard...Richard's sister, Rachel, got engaged over the weekend! YAY!! So we will be having a wedding in June once we return!!! So exciting! CONGRATS JOSH AND RACHEL!!! WE LOVE YOU BOTH!
Yes you read that sentence correctly....this past Wednesday morning at 2am a 5.3 earthquake shook Prishtina.....and Richard and I slept right through it! It was quite the talk around school the next day and we had no idea that it had even happened. Most of our friends where awakened by the shaking while Richard and I were sawing logs :) Apparently since we have been here there has been a total of 4 earthquakes, but this past one was the largest. Didn't realize when we moved to K that we would have to think about earthquakes!
This week was midterms at the school. Most of my students did very well....the average score was a B+, so I was very pleased. Richard's students struggled a bit more (but they tell me he is a hard grader....ha ha!) We are now one-fourth of the way through the school year. This next term will go by very quickly because we have both Thanksgiving and Christmas break! yay!!! (one of the many reasons I LOVE being a teacher)
Last week, as many of you saw on my facebook, we had our first snow. It was CRAZY. It lasted for about 4 hours and was a constant stream of huge flakes. It didnt stick because the ground was so warm but it was beautiful. We thought we were going to be welcoming Winter a bit early this year...but we were wrong. This week we have had super warm temps (for this time of year). Tomorrow (Friday) it is supposed to be 70 degrees. Crazy! But unfortunately we were told not to get to excited....within the next 10 days we will be back down into the 20s and 30s......BRRRRRRRRRRRR. I hope my body can handle this!!!!
We are looking forward to another great weekend. Tomorrow night we are having some friends, who live here in Pristina, but are originally from Scotland over for dinner and then on Saturday Richard is going with a group of people to hike the tallest mountain in K. He is very excited, but a bit nervous. We have heard it is a very tough hike, but I know he can do it. They will be going again in the Spring and I cant wait to join them. I am just not quite healthy enough to make the trek....boo...so Ky and I are going to have a "mommy and Ky" day. I have some fun things planned for us...hopefully the weather cooperates!
All is well here in K! We love each of you! Thank you for joining us on this journey!
Much Love,
Tiffany
PS....For those who havent heard...Richard's sister, Rachel, got engaged over the weekend! YAY!! So we will be having a wedding in June once we return!!! So exciting! CONGRATS JOSH AND RACHEL!!! WE LOVE YOU BOTH!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Adoption.....
For some reason since I have been in K there has been one thing that has constantly been on my mind and that is ADOPTION. Adoption is something I am very passionate about....it has been something that I have always been passionate about. I remember when Richard and I first started dating and the topic of children came up. (At this point in our relationship we did not know that G had chosen adoption for us as a way to have a family.) But we were both totally in sync. We knew that no matter what at some point in our married life we would want to adopt at least one child. Now looking back.....G was preparing our hearts for what lay ahead!
Richard and I have often talked about the adoption of a second child (a little girl) but for various reason...and Gd's perfect timing...it has not worked out yet. We have seen many of our friends who we adopted Kyler with adopt their second babies and it has been hard but we continue to wait on the Ld and HIS will for us. So until then I have been praying about how Gd could use this burning in my heart.
Everyday on our way to and from school we pass by an orphanage here in K. It is ran by Germans. This morning on our way to school I told Richard that I would love an opportunity to just go their and hold babies. One of the other teachers heard me say that and he said you should talk to our Vice Principal she has connections there....so I did. So tomorrow afternoon myself and our Vice Principal are going to meet with the director of the orphanage to discuss how I can serve there. I am so excited!!! Now many of you are probably thinking...."she is totally going to fall in love with one of those babies and want to bring it home"....yes that probably will happen BUT sadly K has very strict adoptions laws and the chances of us ever being able to adopt a baby from K are slim to none. My purpose in going to this orphanage is not so that I can scope out the babies, it is because I have a passion for the orphaned children of the world and if I can shed a little love into just a few of their lives....then my "mission" is complete.
I am so excited to walk you through this journey with me over the next several months. Prayerfully everything will work out tomorrow and I will begin to serve there very soon! I am so thankful that Richard see's this passion in my and is in total support of me volunteering some time each month to this orphanage.
Please pray for me and for the children!
As I close out this post I want to leave you with one thought....
"Lord Jesus, break my heart for what breaks yours"
Richard and I have often talked about the adoption of a second child (a little girl) but for various reason...and Gd's perfect timing...it has not worked out yet. We have seen many of our friends who we adopted Kyler with adopt their second babies and it has been hard but we continue to wait on the Ld and HIS will for us. So until then I have been praying about how Gd could use this burning in my heart.
Everyday on our way to and from school we pass by an orphanage here in K. It is ran by Germans. This morning on our way to school I told Richard that I would love an opportunity to just go their and hold babies. One of the other teachers heard me say that and he said you should talk to our Vice Principal she has connections there....so I did. So tomorrow afternoon myself and our Vice Principal are going to meet with the director of the orphanage to discuss how I can serve there. I am so excited!!! Now many of you are probably thinking...."she is totally going to fall in love with one of those babies and want to bring it home"....yes that probably will happen BUT sadly K has very strict adoptions laws and the chances of us ever being able to adopt a baby from K are slim to none. My purpose in going to this orphanage is not so that I can scope out the babies, it is because I have a passion for the orphaned children of the world and if I can shed a little love into just a few of their lives....then my "mission" is complete.
I am so excited to walk you through this journey with me over the next several months. Prayerfully everything will work out tomorrow and I will begin to serve there very soon! I am so thankful that Richard see's this passion in my and is in total support of me volunteering some time each month to this orphanage.
Please pray for me and for the children!
As I close out this post I want to leave you with one thought....
"Lord Jesus, break my heart for what breaks yours"
Friday, October 29, 2010
Did you know....
November is National Adoption Month! As I think back to 3 1/2 years ago on April 11, 2007 when we got the call about our little warrior my heart skips a beat! He has brought so much joy to our lives and we are so blessed to be his parents!
We love you.....KYLER MILTON SYANG-HUA JETT.....may you always love G and serve HIM in all you do!!!!
We love you.....KYLER MILTON SYANG-HUA JETT.....may you always love G and serve HIM in all you do!!!!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I am so glad that I am finally starting to feel better! I was actually able to get out of the house this weekend and hang out with friends/fellow teachers. :)
Friday night we went to a place called Pacific Rim....it is the only place in Prishtina that we can get Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew....so we LOVE it. The food is pretty good and they actually had a few things on their menu that I can eat (low/non-fat). Several of the other teachers went with us...we had a great time. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop called Barista's...it has become one of our favorites! It is really cheap and they have a HUGE coffee menu!
Then on Saturday night we went over to a fellow teachers house for a going away party for another teacher. We are so sad to see this teacher leave K but we know that G has big plans for her back in the US. It was "home-cooked" potluck and it was so yummy! The librarian at our school is from Japan and she made home-made sushi...I was in heaven! My mouth is still watering when I think about it! It was so nice to be able to eat something other than soup!
Today (Sunday) we are just relaxing as a family. Getting ready to start another week. I am starting back teaching tomorrow. I will only go half-days just to ease my way into to it. I am excited to see my students and be back in the classroom.
It has been a great, refreshing weekend!
Also wanted to mention that Richard has started a new website! Check it out....you will be blessed!
www.hisnamenotmine.com
Friday night we went to a place called Pacific Rim....it is the only place in Prishtina that we can get Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew....so we LOVE it. The food is pretty good and they actually had a few things on their menu that I can eat (low/non-fat). Several of the other teachers went with us...we had a great time. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop called Barista's...it has become one of our favorites! It is really cheap and they have a HUGE coffee menu!
Then on Saturday night we went over to a fellow teachers house for a going away party for another teacher. We are so sad to see this teacher leave K but we know that G has big plans for her back in the US. It was "home-cooked" potluck and it was so yummy! The librarian at our school is from Japan and she made home-made sushi...I was in heaven! My mouth is still watering when I think about it! It was so nice to be able to eat something other than soup!
Today (Sunday) we are just relaxing as a family. Getting ready to start another week. I am starting back teaching tomorrow. I will only go half-days just to ease my way into to it. I am excited to see my students and be back in the classroom.
It has been a great, refreshing weekend!
Also wanted to mention that Richard has started a new website! Check it out....you will be blessed!
www.hisnamenotmine.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Surgery Pictures!
I thought I would post some pictures of before and after my surgery (since some of you don't have facebook)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Give Me Your Eyes...
This past Saturday we had our 2 month anniversary here in K. Wow, A LOT has happened in those 2 months. I am hopeful that the next several months that we are here are less "bad" eventful and more "good" eventful. (Sorry english majors if that is poor grammar.)
I have been struggling since the surgery. Physically I am doing okay. I have some pain here and there but over all am healing very nicely. But the emotional and mental side of healing....not doing so good. Going through the surgery made me realize how alone we are here. When we came home, there was no help, no support system, no nothing. We had just wished for one moment that someone would have brought us a meal or two or that someone would have offered to take Kyler for a few hours so we could rest (this has been as hard on Richard as it has been on me). But none of that happened. Back in the states we would have had family and friends who would have dropped everything to help us and to provide an extra set of hands or a few meals. But coming home to an empty house and being thrown right back into "life" was very hard (and continues to be) on the healing process. The first day back in K I overdid it. I was unpacking, cleaning, getting laundry started, and attempting to cook us something decent to eat (especially since I am on a strict diet). Therefore the next day I paid dearly...I was in so much pain and was pretty much useless. Being home was nice because I had my bed and my stuff, but it was hard. For one day I sat and just cried because I hated the loneliness feeling. I hated feeling I had no one....I was frustrated that we were here and I was frustrated that I had to go through all of these health problems here (alone). As I sat their in my self-pity....I realized something, these emotions weren't simply because someone didn't show up on my door step with a casserole dish, no they were from something so much deeper, something that has been plaguing me for a while. I HATE being alone. I hate feeling like I have no one to turn too. I live in my own selfish world and I want it all to revolve around me. When I am not getting the attention that I want I get upset. Instead of turning to my Heavenly Father to fulfill me and fill that loneliness void, I turn to people or things to do that.
Over the past several years I have been so caught up in myself....teaching, working out, shopping, planning fun things for our family to do, worship team, parties and events and the list goes on....they often I have forgotten to stop, look around, and realize that their are people right in front of me that are lonely. They don't have a Heavenly Father to fill that void. They don't have someone to help with their kids, to make them a meal (because they have had a surgery or just because)...I am so caught up in "Tiffany's world and Tiffany's life" that I dont put others needs before my own. THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE. I am right now beginning to pry that G will give me the eyes that I can see those in need around me, that he will allow me to see when someone is hurting, or needs a meal, or just needs a break.....that HE will allow me to be the on JC they might ever see, to guide them to the only thing that can fill their loneliness void....our Heavenly Father.
The music side of me always relates everything to a song....there is a song by Brandon Heath called "Give me your Eyes". Here are the lyrics....I hope they bless you and touch you as much as they have me....(listen to it on YouTube if you get a chance)
Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time
I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you’ve seen the people all along
So the healing and being alone....yes it stinks....but as my amazing husband reminded me last night. I need to use the 2 weeks of medical leave from school as a chance to dig into the word and allow my Heavenly Father to speak to me and guide me so that I can have the eyes of HIM!
I have been struggling since the surgery. Physically I am doing okay. I have some pain here and there but over all am healing very nicely. But the emotional and mental side of healing....not doing so good. Going through the surgery made me realize how alone we are here. When we came home, there was no help, no support system, no nothing. We had just wished for one moment that someone would have brought us a meal or two or that someone would have offered to take Kyler for a few hours so we could rest (this has been as hard on Richard as it has been on me). But none of that happened. Back in the states we would have had family and friends who would have dropped everything to help us and to provide an extra set of hands or a few meals. But coming home to an empty house and being thrown right back into "life" was very hard (and continues to be) on the healing process. The first day back in K I overdid it. I was unpacking, cleaning, getting laundry started, and attempting to cook us something decent to eat (especially since I am on a strict diet). Therefore the next day I paid dearly...I was in so much pain and was pretty much useless. Being home was nice because I had my bed and my stuff, but it was hard. For one day I sat and just cried because I hated the loneliness feeling. I hated feeling I had no one....I was frustrated that we were here and I was frustrated that I had to go through all of these health problems here (alone). As I sat their in my self-pity....I realized something, these emotions weren't simply because someone didn't show up on my door step with a casserole dish, no they were from something so much deeper, something that has been plaguing me for a while. I HATE being alone. I hate feeling like I have no one to turn too. I live in my own selfish world and I want it all to revolve around me. When I am not getting the attention that I want I get upset. Instead of turning to my Heavenly Father to fulfill me and fill that loneliness void, I turn to people or things to do that.
Over the past several years I have been so caught up in myself....teaching, working out, shopping, planning fun things for our family to do, worship team, parties and events and the list goes on....they often I have forgotten to stop, look around, and realize that their are people right in front of me that are lonely. They don't have a Heavenly Father to fill that void. They don't have someone to help with their kids, to make them a meal (because they have had a surgery or just because)...I am so caught up in "Tiffany's world and Tiffany's life" that I dont put others needs before my own. THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE. I am right now beginning to pry that G will give me the eyes that I can see those in need around me, that he will allow me to see when someone is hurting, or needs a meal, or just needs a break.....that HE will allow me to be the on JC they might ever see, to guide them to the only thing that can fill their loneliness void....our Heavenly Father.
The music side of me always relates everything to a song....there is a song by Brandon Heath called "Give me your Eyes". Here are the lyrics....I hope they bless you and touch you as much as they have me....(listen to it on YouTube if you get a chance)
Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time
I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you’ve seen the people all along
So the healing and being alone....yes it stinks....but as my amazing husband reminded me last night. I need to use the 2 weeks of medical leave from school as a chance to dig into the word and allow my Heavenly Father to speak to me and guide me so that I can have the eyes of HIM!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Day One of Recovery...always the worst
This morning was a rough day but ended on a better note.
I should start off saying that Tiff is ok but we are staying one more night in the hospital. The reason they are keeping her longer is because her Oxygen count has been low, but by the end of today we found out why.
Tiff called me this morning at 7am to get there asap so I did. It had been a rough night for her just with the pain and them coming in to check on her every two hours. A doctor came in shortly after I got there to talk to her about trying to get her Oxygen count up. We were wondering if the numbers they were getting where her normal but they didn't know that because they don't have her medical records, but they said the numbers where low for anybody. So they ran tests to see if it was her lungs or heart but they both came back normal. Then her surgeon came in and began saying that he thought the problem had something to with her medical past. That sent us both into a panic...it was our worst fear coming to life and we were thinking that we were going to have to come back to the states.
I went back to our hotel to email and try and get a hold of the Chesnuts. As I was contacting them a team of doctors came into see Tiff and they examined her and talked with each other in Greek...very scary for Tiffany laying there.
Then, Ruth and John Chesnut (who we followed down here because they were meeting and vacationing) came by, and just having familiar faces was such a relief. Ruth being an experienced nurse knew instantly what was going on and what we needed to do. She told us that the day after a surgery is ALWAYS the roughest and worst. Since she was under for three hours and went through so much of course her recovery was going to be rough. She explained that the reason her numbers where low is because of what her body/lungs go through during surgery. In surgery you take very short breathes and thus don't use your lower lungs. Thus when you come out of surgery you have to begin exercising that part of your lungs by standing up walking, taking deep breaths, and coughing. They kept telling us to take deep breaths but we never understood why until then. So she said to start doing it every two hours. They were just about to leave when three doctors came in. One of the doctors introduced himself as the director of ICU which we all got big eyed about because we thought they were going to move Tiff to ICU, but he said he was there because he had been looking over her stuff and after looking at that and her in person he said there is nothing seriously wrong with her. He said that what was wrong was what Ruth had just told us and it was common and she would be fine. He and the other doctor kind of apologized for all the tests by saying, "We get paid to worry. So we always start with the the most serious issue and work our way to the common reason by process of elimination."
That put us at ease but still we want her to get out of there asap. We hate that this is keeping us away from why we are here and don't want to spend our time here in the hospital. So we appreciate your prayers and need you to keep doing so. Pray that our spirits stay up and that Tiffany gets better soon so we might be released so we might get back sooner to WHY we are here.
Love you all
I should start off saying that Tiff is ok but we are staying one more night in the hospital. The reason they are keeping her longer is because her Oxygen count has been low, but by the end of today we found out why.
Tiff called me this morning at 7am to get there asap so I did. It had been a rough night for her just with the pain and them coming in to check on her every two hours. A doctor came in shortly after I got there to talk to her about trying to get her Oxygen count up. We were wondering if the numbers they were getting where her normal but they didn't know that because they don't have her medical records, but they said the numbers where low for anybody. So they ran tests to see if it was her lungs or heart but they both came back normal. Then her surgeon came in and began saying that he thought the problem had something to with her medical past. That sent us both into a panic...it was our worst fear coming to life and we were thinking that we were going to have to come back to the states.
I went back to our hotel to email and try and get a hold of the Chesnuts. As I was contacting them a team of doctors came into see Tiff and they examined her and talked with each other in Greek...very scary for Tiffany laying there.
Then, Ruth and John Chesnut (who we followed down here because they were meeting and vacationing) came by, and just having familiar faces was such a relief. Ruth being an experienced nurse knew instantly what was going on and what we needed to do. She told us that the day after a surgery is ALWAYS the roughest and worst. Since she was under for three hours and went through so much of course her recovery was going to be rough. She explained that the reason her numbers where low is because of what her body/lungs go through during surgery. In surgery you take very short breathes and thus don't use your lower lungs. Thus when you come out of surgery you have to begin exercising that part of your lungs by standing up walking, taking deep breaths, and coughing. They kept telling us to take deep breaths but we never understood why until then. So she said to start doing it every two hours. They were just about to leave when three doctors came in. One of the doctors introduced himself as the director of ICU which we all got big eyed about because we thought they were going to move Tiff to ICU, but he said he was there because he had been looking over her stuff and after looking at that and her in person he said there is nothing seriously wrong with her. He said that what was wrong was what Ruth had just told us and it was common and she would be fine. He and the other doctor kind of apologized for all the tests by saying, "We get paid to worry. So we always start with the the most serious issue and work our way to the common reason by process of elimination."
That put us at ease but still we want her to get out of there asap. We hate that this is keeping us away from why we are here and don't want to spend our time here in the hospital. So we appreciate your prayers and need you to keep doing so. Pray that our spirits stay up and that Tiffany gets better soon so we might be released so we might get back sooner to WHY we are here.
Love you all
Day of the Surgery
Hey Everyone,
First off I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and would appreciate the prayers as Tiffany continues to recover. Here is how the day played out:
We got to the hospital around 7am and we went to her room where they got her ready. Around 8:20 they came and picked Tiffany up and took her to surgery. It was at this time that I found out there was no WiFi in the hospital (that's what I get for assuming). So I texted a friend to update my Twitter/Facebook. Kyler and I proceeded to wait in the room we found Mickey Mouse Club House and Jungle Junction in Greek on one of the stations...then later on I found the Greek version of Dora the Explorer except she had a dragon friend...so the cartoons made Kyler's day.
Around 10:30 the surgeon came by to tell me that they were all done and everything went amazing. He then handed me a jar with two tiny stones in them...yup...her gallstones (great souvenirs). He also handed me a DVD of the whole surgery (Somebody say Movie Night?).
An hour later Tiff came to the room. She proceeded to rest the remainder of the day. When she would come to because of the pain medicine she would say some pretty funny stuff. Being the loving husband that I am...I egged it on. I asked her if I could share the top two remarks...she agreed (whether she realizes it or not).
#1- The Oxygen reading wasn't coming in right but then they switched fingers and it was normal. So I told her that was the problem and she said, "The doctor said to be here at 6pm. I told him we were at Taco Bell (She HATES Taco Bell)...I don't know about the egg...Kyler LOVES scrambled eggs!"
#2- All of a sudden she looked at me and said, "I would rather stay at a hotel right on the sea. It is to far to walk from here."
So those were the fun things. However as good as she is doing she is still super nervous and I hated leaving her there tonight. While the staff is amazing we are still in a foreign country and that is always a little unsettling no matter how state of the art the hospital is. So we appreciate your prayers and love.
We will keep you informed as she recovers.
Richard
PS I will be posting pics of the stones and more on facebook asap.
First off I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and would appreciate the prayers as Tiffany continues to recover. Here is how the day played out:
We got to the hospital around 7am and we went to her room where they got her ready. Around 8:20 they came and picked Tiffany up and took her to surgery. It was at this time that I found out there was no WiFi in the hospital (that's what I get for assuming). So I texted a friend to update my Twitter/Facebook. Kyler and I proceeded to wait in the room we found Mickey Mouse Club House and Jungle Junction in Greek on one of the stations...then later on I found the Greek version of Dora the Explorer except she had a dragon friend...so the cartoons made Kyler's day.
Around 10:30 the surgeon came by to tell me that they were all done and everything went amazing. He then handed me a jar with two tiny stones in them...yup...her gallstones (great souvenirs). He also handed me a DVD of the whole surgery (Somebody say Movie Night?).
An hour later Tiff came to the room. She proceeded to rest the remainder of the day. When she would come to because of the pain medicine she would say some pretty funny stuff. Being the loving husband that I am...I egged it on. I asked her if I could share the top two remarks...she agreed (whether she realizes it or not).
#1- The Oxygen reading wasn't coming in right but then they switched fingers and it was normal. So I told her that was the problem and she said, "The doctor said to be here at 6pm. I told him we were at Taco Bell (She HATES Taco Bell)...I don't know about the egg...Kyler LOVES scrambled eggs!"
#2- All of a sudden she looked at me and said, "I would rather stay at a hotel right on the sea. It is to far to walk from here."
So those were the fun things. However as good as she is doing she is still super nervous and I hated leaving her there tonight. While the staff is amazing we are still in a foreign country and that is always a little unsettling no matter how state of the art the hospital is. So we appreciate your prayers and love.
We will keep you informed as she recovers.
Richard
PS I will be posting pics of the stones and more on facebook asap.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Surgery
The following is an email we sent out to our monthly supporters! But I attached it here so I wouldn't have to write it out again! So obviously a lot has changed since my last post on the blog. We decided to go to Thessaloniki, Greece to have the surgery to remove my gallbladder. Here is what happened today when we went to the hospital. (I was SOO nervous and very uneasy about having surgery in another country but Richard and I pryed G would give us very clear signs if he wanted me to have the surgery here...and boy did HE ever!)
Hello,
Just wanted to let you all know we made it to Greece safely. It was a beautiful drive down here and Richard and I enjoyed talking and prying. We got to the hospital and the director (yes, as in the CEO, president, big-wig...as we would call it in the US) of the hospital wanted to personally meet with us and talk about my situation and my possible care. The first question he asked us was "are you m*ss*onar*es?" I answered yes and he said "I appreciate what you do so much". This was totally unexpected, he began to tell me a story of one of his best friends and how he used to be a "M". Anyways....he then asked what exactly was wrong. I told him and he immediately called a Gastronologist/Liver Specialist to meet with me. (We later found out that, that doctor had been in surgery when the director called him and told him to quickly finish the procedure because he had a high priority case for him to attend too....that high priority was me). So I met with the doctor and he calmed every nerve that I had. He was VERY knowledgeable about my liver condition and working with the gallbladder. He actually has treated a few people with my same liver issues and he strongly urged me to seek a second opinion in the US. I left his office feeling very confident and so happy...I am going to finally feel better!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9am I meet with the surgeon to get my surgery time. They told me to go ahead and fast....so we are hoping they do the surgery tomorrow afternoon. I am also going to meet with a Urologist about my kidney stones. The liver doctor was concerned that I am getting them so frequently and he wants me to meet with the Urologist so he can blast the ones I currently have and maybe do some exploring to find out why I am continually getting them.
So that is what we know for now. I am going to bed tonight very hopeful! Thank you so much for your pryers. We will send out another email tomorrow letting you know where we are at and what is happening!
Love you all,
Tiffany
Hello,
Just wanted to let you all know we made it to Greece safely. It was a beautiful drive down here and Richard and I enjoyed talking and prying. We got to the hospital and the director (yes, as in the CEO, president, big-wig...as we would call it in the US) of the hospital wanted to personally meet with us and talk about my situation and my possible care. The first question he asked us was "are you m*ss*onar*es?" I answered yes and he said "I appreciate what you do so much". This was totally unexpected, he began to tell me a story of one of his best friends and how he used to be a "M". Anyways....he then asked what exactly was wrong. I told him and he immediately called a Gastronologist/Liver Specialist to meet with me. (We later found out that, that doctor had been in surgery when the director called him and told him to quickly finish the procedure because he had a high priority case for him to attend too....that high priority was me). So I met with the doctor and he calmed every nerve that I had. He was VERY knowledgeable about my liver condition and working with the gallbladder. He actually has treated a few people with my same liver issues and he strongly urged me to seek a second opinion in the US. I left his office feeling very confident and so happy...I am going to finally feel better!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9am I meet with the surgeon to get my surgery time. They told me to go ahead and fast....so we are hoping they do the surgery tomorrow afternoon. I am also going to meet with a Urologist about my kidney stones. The liver doctor was concerned that I am getting them so frequently and he wants me to meet with the Urologist so he can blast the ones I currently have and maybe do some exploring to find out why I am continually getting them.
So that is what we know for now. I am going to bed tonight very hopeful! Thank you so much for your pryers. We will send out another email tomorrow letting you know where we are at and what is happening!
Love you all,
Tiffany
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Update
Hello Friends and Family,
Many of you have asked about what is going on with my health. At this point we do not know exactly. We are in the (slow) process of figuring it out. I have been very sick since we have gotten here but it got really bad this past week. I got blood work done this morning and am going for "another" ultrasound tomorrow. As of now we know that my spleen is enlarged (a normal persons is 12cm by 6cm....mine is 19cm by 8cm). So that is great concern. We should know something more on Thursday night and then on Friday we will begin to make decisions and to what needs to be done. We will be in touch with all of you soon, via email, facebook, or the blog.
Much Love,
Tiffany (and Richard)
Many of you have asked about what is going on with my health. At this point we do not know exactly. We are in the (slow) process of figuring it out. I have been very sick since we have gotten here but it got really bad this past week. I got blood work done this morning and am going for "another" ultrasound tomorrow. As of now we know that my spleen is enlarged (a normal persons is 12cm by 6cm....mine is 19cm by 8cm). So that is great concern. We should know something more on Thursday night and then on Friday we will begin to make decisions and to what needs to be done. We will be in touch with all of you soon, via email, facebook, or the blog.
Much Love,
Tiffany (and Richard)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Can I be transparent????
To say that I haven't struggled with "our new life" would be the understatement of the year. Almost everyday at some point I think "what in the world are we doing??" I have talked to a few friends who have been in our same situation and they say this is normal....but it doesn't feel normal. I typically adjust very well to new things. I have no problem making friends and I try to make the most of all opportunities but since the day that I have arrived here I have felt SO attacked by s*tan. At least once a day I find my self in tears and wanting to hop on the next plane home. Just as I never in a bazillion years thought G*d would bring us to a foreign country....I never in a bazillion years thought I would feel this way when coming here. I have already been pulled and stretched beyond what I ever thought possible....and boy is it exhausting.
I tell you all of this not because I want sympathy but I want to be transparent. I want you all to know that this is not easy. BUT as I sit in my self pity and wonder if I am going to make it through another 9 months...I am reminded of some Paul's last words to encourage Timothy to persevere.
"But, you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your m*ninstry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:5-7
So....as I daily continue on this journey in K...I know that there will be trials...I know there will be days that I dont want to do this anymore...but I also know that G*d see's the bigger picture and HE has it all under control. A little stretching and pulling never hurt anyone....right!!??!? :) We have no doubt that G*d called us here and that is what keeps us going when we feel like giving up!
*Disclaimer...please do not take this post as being negative towards anyone or anything here. I am just sharing what is on my mind! Love you all!
I tell you all of this not because I want sympathy but I want to be transparent. I want you all to know that this is not easy. BUT as I sit in my self pity and wonder if I am going to make it through another 9 months...I am reminded of some Paul's last words to encourage Timothy to persevere.
"But, you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your m*ninstry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:5-7
So....as I daily continue on this journey in K...I know that there will be trials...I know there will be days that I dont want to do this anymore...but I also know that G*d see's the bigger picture and HE has it all under control. A little stretching and pulling never hurt anyone....right!!??!? :) We have no doubt that G*d called us here and that is what keeps us going when we feel like giving up!
*Disclaimer...please do not take this post as being negative towards anyone or anything here. I am just sharing what is on my mind! Love you all!
Friday, September 24, 2010
So excited!
I am so excited because I am going to begin teaching a Zumba/Step-Aerobics class at the school on Tuesday's and Thursday's! Yay for cardio and outreach!!!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Something I want to share...
Above is a link to a blog of a dear friends of Richard and mine. We went to OCC with this beautiful couple and then Sheyenne and I worked at LifeChoices Crisis Pregnancy center for a year together. Please take the time to read through their blog. It will touch your heart and your life!
Love,
Tiffany
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Top 10 things I will never take for granted again....
So after being here in K for almost 4 weeks there are several things that I will NEVER-EVER take for granted again.
10. Having a car....we love walking for the exercise but not everything is in walking distance and taxi's can get expensive.
9. Bathtub...we only have a shower and it makes bathing Kyler VERY difficult (I am typically drenched by the end of the whole ordeal and I am pretty sure our neighbors think that we are beating him.)
8.Walmart/Target....I miss the one stop shop on every street corner!
7.Dryer (we have to hang out all of our clothing or drape it in our living room if the weather is nasty)
6.Dishwasher (not that I mind washing dishes...but I will never take a dishwasher for granted again)
5. Drive thru's, delivery, and take out food. We are spoiled to get this kind of service in the US.
4. Being able to drink water from the faucet....it is getting quite expensive to keep drinking water in our house...for those of you who know my husband he is a VERY heavy drinker :)
3.My bed (mattress)....my back has continually been hurting since I have been here...they dont really have mattresses.
2. A crushed ice Diet Dr. Pepper (from Sonic, QT or Babes)...there is no explanation for this...I just really miss it!
1. Being able to call my family and friends anytime I want too! I miss them all so much!
Disclaimer:
I obviously can live without all of these things (well #1 is debatable) BUT I miss them all terribly and when we do return to the states I will praise G for them daily!!! :)
Love you all,
Tiffany
10. Having a car....we love walking for the exercise but not everything is in walking distance and taxi's can get expensive.
9. Bathtub...we only have a shower and it makes bathing Kyler VERY difficult (I am typically drenched by the end of the whole ordeal and I am pretty sure our neighbors think that we are beating him.)
8.Walmart/Target....I miss the one stop shop on every street corner!
7.Dryer (we have to hang out all of our clothing or drape it in our living room if the weather is nasty)
6.Dishwasher (not that I mind washing dishes...but I will never take a dishwasher for granted again)
5. Drive thru's, delivery, and take out food. We are spoiled to get this kind of service in the US.
4. Being able to drink water from the faucet....it is getting quite expensive to keep drinking water in our house...for those of you who know my husband he is a VERY heavy drinker :)
3.My bed (mattress)....my back has continually been hurting since I have been here...they dont really have mattresses.
2. A crushed ice Diet Dr. Pepper (from Sonic, QT or Babes)...there is no explanation for this...I just really miss it!
1. Being able to call my family and friends anytime I want too! I miss them all so much!
Disclaimer:
I obviously can live without all of these things (well #1 is debatable) BUT I miss them all terribly and when we do return to the states I will praise G for them daily!!! :)
Love you all,
Tiffany
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Update on life in K!
Hello friends and family,
I know that it has been a week or so since I have posted...and I am so sorry about that. We started school and it has been a bit crazy, but hopefully we will get into our routine and things will slow down.
So much has happened and I have some very neat stories to share!
LANDLORD:
Kyler has made a few new friends. Our landlord has grandchildren and they come and visit often. So when Kyler heard children outside playing he immediately wanted to be a part of the action. He is now friends with Blend and Blerona (pronounced Blair-own-a). They are a few years older than him but they love him as much as he loves them.
Today was the end of Ramadan. So we have today and tomorrow off school because it is a national holiday. This morning at 9:00am our landlords son showed up on our front door step with a huge tray full of food (rice, chicken legs, peppers, roast beef and flee) it was delicious. At first I was like I so cannot eat this at 9:00am but they were not going to leave until we took our first bite. Then about 2 hours later they showed up again with a huge plateful of desserts. Fortunately they didnt wait around to see if we would eat any of it. So we can save it for later. They are very generous to us and we appreciate their willingness to make sure we are comfortable in a new country.
Below is a picture of us with our landlord and his wife.
SCHOOL:
School is off to a great start. We have felt a bit overwhelmed with lesson planning and preparation but we are well on our way to having success in our classrooms. Richard has already had some major breakthroughs with some of the kids (most of you saw the email he sent out). We P that those relationships continue to grow and that those students will get the counsel that they need. Richard has also began a relationship with a man, F******, at our school who is asking questions about "our father" and wanting to seek answers and truth. He is very devote in his religious beliefs so this has proved as a great challenge for Richard....yet one that is very exciting! Please continue to keep F****** in your P.
HOME:
We are all adjusting very well. G is blessing us so much! Richard and I had the opportunity to go out on a date last night while L*** stayed late to care for Kyler. It was so nice to have some time alone to talk and process life in K (so far).
We are very excited that we get to go to Orllan (a village) on Saturday and Sunday to visit some very dear friends. They just got back from the states and we are excited to take a break from city life and enjoy some country living! We appreciate their willingness to open their home to us. We know that Kyler will love running around on some green grass!!! While there we will also get to meet L*** family. She has been such a blessing to us so far and we are excited to meet the people who are responsible for raising a wonderful young lady!
L*** and I had a wonderful conversation this morning. She found out this past week that she passed the exam that allows her to attend University. We rejoice with her and are very excited for her. We talked this morning about her goals and dreams for her future. She would love to become a nurse and a mi**ion**y (do medical work in other countries). How exciting is that??? We P that G will make a way for her to do both. She is such a wonderful young lady who loves JC with all over heart and her desire is to serve him.
Our newsletter will be coming out tomorrow so look for that in your email inbox! We have been so blessed by our friends and family. We appreciate your generosity, love and support to us while we are in K.
Love you all!!
Tiffany
I know that it has been a week or so since I have posted...and I am so sorry about that. We started school and it has been a bit crazy, but hopefully we will get into our routine and things will slow down.
So much has happened and I have some very neat stories to share!
LANDLORD:
Kyler has made a few new friends. Our landlord has grandchildren and they come and visit often. So when Kyler heard children outside playing he immediately wanted to be a part of the action. He is now friends with Blend and Blerona (pronounced Blair-own-a). They are a few years older than him but they love him as much as he loves them.
Today was the end of Ramadan. So we have today and tomorrow off school because it is a national holiday. This morning at 9:00am our landlords son showed up on our front door step with a huge tray full of food (rice, chicken legs, peppers, roast beef and flee) it was delicious. At first I was like I so cannot eat this at 9:00am but they were not going to leave until we took our first bite. Then about 2 hours later they showed up again with a huge plateful of desserts. Fortunately they didnt wait around to see if we would eat any of it. So we can save it for later. They are very generous to us and we appreciate their willingness to make sure we are comfortable in a new country.
Below is a picture of us with our landlord and his wife.
SCHOOL:
School is off to a great start. We have felt a bit overwhelmed with lesson planning and preparation but we are well on our way to having success in our classrooms. Richard has already had some major breakthroughs with some of the kids (most of you saw the email he sent out). We P that those relationships continue to grow and that those students will get the counsel that they need. Richard has also began a relationship with a man, F******, at our school who is asking questions about "our father" and wanting to seek answers and truth. He is very devote in his religious beliefs so this has proved as a great challenge for Richard....yet one that is very exciting! Please continue to keep F****** in your P.
HOME:
We are all adjusting very well. G is blessing us so much! Richard and I had the opportunity to go out on a date last night while L*** stayed late to care for Kyler. It was so nice to have some time alone to talk and process life in K (so far).
We are very excited that we get to go to Orllan (a village) on Saturday and Sunday to visit some very dear friends. They just got back from the states and we are excited to take a break from city life and enjoy some country living! We appreciate their willingness to open their home to us. We know that Kyler will love running around on some green grass!!! While there we will also get to meet L*** family. She has been such a blessing to us so far and we are excited to meet the people who are responsible for raising a wonderful young lady!
L*** and I had a wonderful conversation this morning. She found out this past week that she passed the exam that allows her to attend University. We rejoice with her and are very excited for her. We talked this morning about her goals and dreams for her future. She would love to become a nurse and a mi**ion**y (do medical work in other countries). How exciting is that??? We P that G will make a way for her to do both. She is such a wonderful young lady who loves JC with all over heart and her desire is to serve him.
Our newsletter will be coming out tomorrow so look for that in your email inbox! We have been so blessed by our friends and family. We appreciate your generosity, love and support to us while we are in K.
Love you all!!
Tiffany
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
We are blessed! We were able to purchase a new computer! PTL! Once again we were shown generosity! Thank you for those who helped in purchasing the new computer! It cost just a bit more than we originally thought but it was all taken care of!
We will be posting our first newsletter this weekend! Due to the craziness of school starting we will not be able to put it all together until this weekend!
Thank you faithful supporters! We appreciate your generosity and your prayers! Without you this journey (that we love SOOO much) would not be possible!
Love,
Richard and Tiffany
We will be posting our first newsletter this weekend! Due to the craziness of school starting we will not be able to put it all together until this weekend!
Thank you faithful supporters! We appreciate your generosity and your prayers! Without you this journey (that we love SOOO much) would not be possible!
Love,
Richard and Tiffany
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
To the supermarket I go.....
Finally after a week of eating whatever we can find at our corner market I was able to take a taxi and go out to our BIG supermarket. It was a great experience....and probably quite comical to those watching. I went with 2 other teachers from the school. Richard stayed home with Kyler because I needed to be able to focus.....focus??....yes, focus! Do you realize how hard it is to grocery shop when you do not know one bit of the language?....it is crazy. In the states grocery shopping typically takes me 30-45 minutes...depending on how much I have to get. Here it takes double that. I am slowly starting to learn and THANK GOODNESS for pictures but...wow...it is a job in itself! Anyways....I was able to get enough stuff to hopefully last us 2 weeks. We might be eating the exact same thing each night....but we wont starve :)
The first week of orientation at the school is going great. I have felt a bit overwhelmed but I know that G is watching over us and that we will get everything accomplished! I am excited to meet my students next week and get the year in full swing!
I also wanted to give an update on our "computer fund". We have $125 of the $500 that we need to purchase a new computer. Please consider joining us in this effort?
We are all doing well! We love K and look forward to the weekend so we can do a bit more exploring around the city. We have a holiday on Sept 9 and 10 so we plan to go out to the village to stay with our "friends" for a night or two. We are REALLY looking forward to that!
Please continue to P that we sell our car!
Love you all!
Tiffany
The first week of orientation at the school is going great. I have felt a bit overwhelmed but I know that G is watching over us and that we will get everything accomplished! I am excited to meet my students next week and get the year in full swing!
I also wanted to give an update on our "computer fund". We have $125 of the $500 that we need to purchase a new computer. Please consider joining us in this effort?
We are all doing well! We love K and look forward to the weekend so we can do a bit more exploring around the city. We have a holiday on Sept 9 and 10 so we plan to go out to the village to stay with our "friends" for a night or two. We are REALLY looking forward to that!
Please continue to P that we sell our car!
Love you all!
Tiffany
Sunday, August 22, 2010
An Update!
Mirdita! (Hello!)
Si Je? (How are you?)
I decided to share a little of the Albanian that I have been learning with you! We have realized that it is a very hard language to learn (there are 36 letters in their alphabet) but we will take it a day at a time. :) Tomorrow we are start at the school. We have one week of training and work in the classroom and then the students come next Monday, Aug. 30. We are very excited to get started. We are also blessed because we know that Kyler will be in good hands. We met our "nanny" on Friday. She is going to be such a blessing to us. She loves the L very much and she and Kyler already hit it off. We are so thankful! We P that it will continue to be a good situation. She is a from a village about an hour (by bus) from us and she will take the bus in each morning. She is the only member in her family who will be working and providing a wage for them to live on. Her parents are not C....but her sister and brother are. Her brother attends college in the states (on scholarship) at CCU. She told me on Friday she would love to come to the states to attend college because she would like to be a doctor (or nurse) but it is too expensive. I am going to begin to P now that G will make a way for her. Will you join me? For the past 4 years in school she study pharmacy and is going to be taking a test next month that would allow her to come to the states if she wanted.
We had the amazing opportunity of attending church this morning here in the city. It was much like our church service back at home....familiar songs and great teaching. It was a bit difficult to follow at times because of the service being translated but we felt so comfortable and it was great to lift our voice in praise to our father in English, while they sang in Albanian.
We have a praise.....RICHARDS LUGGAGE WAS FOUND! While we were at church this morning our vice principal got a phone call from the airport saying that they had it. PTL! We were so happy.
We do have one need that has been brought to our attention that we would like to share with you. We hate to ask for more, since many of you have already given SO much. They had told us that each teacher would need a computer in their classroom to take role, lunch count, and do lesson plans on, so Richard and I thought that we could just share one. Unfortunately that is not going to work. Our classrooms (as of now) are not even on the same level and there is no way that we can each take role and lunch count each morning on one computer. It was also decided that Richard is going to teach the students in his Speech class how to use Powerpoint with their speeches and so he would need a computer in his room almost daily to be able to teach this concept. We thought that maybe the school would have an extra, but found out today that there are not any computers available for our use. So we need to purchase a new computer. We are going to talk to the IT guy at our school tomorrow but there is a DELL store here in K that we can purchase a computer from (and we would still be able to use it in the US). The rough estimate cost for a fully-equipped computer here is about $500.....they are considerably cheaper here than in the US. We ask that you would take some time to P about giving towards this need? Or maybe you could ask your church to take up a love offering to cover this need? We feel very humbled by all of your generosity so far and know that it is only by G grace that we are here getting to serve here.
How you can P?
*That we sale our car in America.
*Kyler and his relationship with our "nanny"
*G will supply us with a computer
*Teachers....as we begin the new school year tomorrow.
*Students....as they prepare to come back to school.
We love you all very much!
Faleminderit! (thank you)
The Jett's
Si Je? (How are you?)
I decided to share a little of the Albanian that I have been learning with you! We have realized that it is a very hard language to learn (there are 36 letters in their alphabet) but we will take it a day at a time. :) Tomorrow we are start at the school. We have one week of training and work in the classroom and then the students come next Monday, Aug. 30. We are very excited to get started. We are also blessed because we know that Kyler will be in good hands. We met our "nanny" on Friday. She is going to be such a blessing to us. She loves the L very much and she and Kyler already hit it off. We are so thankful! We P that it will continue to be a good situation. She is a from a village about an hour (by bus) from us and she will take the bus in each morning. She is the only member in her family who will be working and providing a wage for them to live on. Her parents are not C....but her sister and brother are. Her brother attends college in the states (on scholarship) at CCU. She told me on Friday she would love to come to the states to attend college because she would like to be a doctor (or nurse) but it is too expensive. I am going to begin to P now that G will make a way for her. Will you join me? For the past 4 years in school she study pharmacy and is going to be taking a test next month that would allow her to come to the states if she wanted.
We had the amazing opportunity of attending church this morning here in the city. It was much like our church service back at home....familiar songs and great teaching. It was a bit difficult to follow at times because of the service being translated but we felt so comfortable and it was great to lift our voice in praise to our father in English, while they sang in Albanian.
We have a praise.....RICHARDS LUGGAGE WAS FOUND! While we were at church this morning our vice principal got a phone call from the airport saying that they had it. PTL! We were so happy.
We do have one need that has been brought to our attention that we would like to share with you. We hate to ask for more, since many of you have already given SO much. They had told us that each teacher would need a computer in their classroom to take role, lunch count, and do lesson plans on, so Richard and I thought that we could just share one. Unfortunately that is not going to work. Our classrooms (as of now) are not even on the same level and there is no way that we can each take role and lunch count each morning on one computer. It was also decided that Richard is going to teach the students in his Speech class how to use Powerpoint with their speeches and so he would need a computer in his room almost daily to be able to teach this concept. We thought that maybe the school would have an extra, but found out today that there are not any computers available for our use. So we need to purchase a new computer. We are going to talk to the IT guy at our school tomorrow but there is a DELL store here in K that we can purchase a computer from (and we would still be able to use it in the US). The rough estimate cost for a fully-equipped computer here is about $500.....they are considerably cheaper here than in the US. We ask that you would take some time to P about giving towards this need? Or maybe you could ask your church to take up a love offering to cover this need? We feel very humbled by all of your generosity so far and know that it is only by G grace that we are here getting to serve here.
How you can P?
*That we sale our car in America.
*Kyler and his relationship with our "nanny"
*G will supply us with a computer
*Teachers....as we begin the new school year tomorrow.
*Students....as they prepare to come back to school.
We love you all very much!
Faleminderit! (thank you)
The Jett's
Thursday, August 19, 2010
We have arrived....
Wow...what a crazy past few days we have had. To say we are tired is the understatement of the year. We arrived in K on Tuesday night 11:35pm as planned. The flights were very smooth and Kyler did GREAT. He is such a trooper! The 9 hour layover in Croatia was a bit LONG....but we had the opportunity to meet a girl (she is 25 years old) that was from K but now lived in Sweden (to study). She was not a believer but we had a great conversation with her....we even taught her a fun American card game. She loved it and we loved having her to visit with and pass the time. Unfortunately we do have one thing for you to P about....Richards suitcase was lost in travel and we still have not received it :( We have no idea when it will arrive. The fortunate thing was that Richards suitcase had been over the weight limit and so I had to pack several of his jeans and shirts in my suitcase so he has had some clothing to wear and we just went to our local store and bought him the other necessities.
Yesterday we went around town and pick up a few things for our apartment. We love where we are living. Our landlord is very nice and helpful and we are in a very convenient location. It has been a bit more expensive than we originally thought to get the necessities for our home but it will all work out! Today we got to go see the school. It is so nice. We will find out on Monday where are classrooms are.....but we met several of the other teachers and we are very excited about the team we will be working with.
Something very cool about are apartment is, is that we live behind a church. It is a C church and we are going to attend there on Sunday. We met one of the couples that "work" there. They are so nice and our age. They are both from K, but speak very good English. The wife is also pregnant and due in Feb.....so I am excited to be here for the birth of the baby! Get my baby fix :) We do plan on going to church with our "friends" that introduced us to K but they are still in the states and that church it is about an hour away so we will probably only go once or twice a month. We will just have to see how all that works out!
Our first impressions of K are good. Prishtina is a very busy city. The roads are bad, there is ALOT of construction, and we do not understand what anyone is saying to us....but we feel
Okay this is SOO random...but our landlord just came into our apartment and said something in Albanian and left with our stove. Richard and I are laughing because we have NO idea what just happened. Anyways....back to our impressions...oh wait he is coming back in. I guess he just bought us a new stove AND refrigerator. Wow....we thought the stove worked great. Our old fridge was small (it was the size of the one I had in my college dorm room) but apparently because of the "baby" (Kyler) they wanted us to have nicer stuff. Wow, another blessing.
Okay back to impressions (for real).....we feel very blessed and know that it is by G grace that we are here and that we get to serve here. We know THERE WILL be hard times...(I cried myself to sleep the first night) but we also know that there will be good times. We are just so thankful that we get to experience this as a family and we thank each of you for being a part of this journey with us!
Please P for us!
*We still need to sale our car in the states.
*We meet our "nanny" tomorrow....we hope it is a good situation for all.
*Our family and attacks that will be brought against us.
*Students at our school
*Teachers at our school
*RICHARD"S SUITCASE ARRIVES!
Yesterday we went around town and pick up a few things for our apartment. We love where we are living. Our landlord is very nice and helpful and we are in a very convenient location. It has been a bit more expensive than we originally thought to get the necessities for our home but it will all work out! Today we got to go see the school. It is so nice. We will find out on Monday where are classrooms are.....but we met several of the other teachers and we are very excited about the team we will be working with.
Something very cool about are apartment is, is that we live behind a church. It is a C church and we are going to attend there on Sunday. We met one of the couples that "work" there. They are so nice and our age. They are both from K, but speak very good English. The wife is also pregnant and due in Feb.....so I am excited to be here for the birth of the baby! Get my baby fix :) We do plan on going to church with our "friends" that introduced us to K but they are still in the states and that church it is about an hour away so we will probably only go once or twice a month. We will just have to see how all that works out!
Our first impressions of K are good. Prishtina is a very busy city. The roads are bad, there is ALOT of construction, and we do not understand what anyone is saying to us....but we feel
Okay this is SOO random...but our landlord just came into our apartment and said something in Albanian and left with our stove. Richard and I are laughing because we have NO idea what just happened. Anyways....back to our impressions...oh wait he is coming back in. I guess he just bought us a new stove AND refrigerator. Wow....we thought the stove worked great. Our old fridge was small (it was the size of the one I had in my college dorm room) but apparently because of the "baby" (Kyler) they wanted us to have nicer stuff. Wow, another blessing.
Okay back to impressions (for real).....we feel very blessed and know that it is by G grace that we are here and that we get to serve here. We know THERE WILL be hard times...(I cried myself to sleep the first night) but we also know that there will be good times. We are just so thankful that we get to experience this as a family and we thank each of you for being a part of this journey with us!
Please P for us!
*We still need to sale our car in the states.
*We meet our "nanny" tomorrow....we hope it is a good situation for all.
*Our family and attacks that will be brought against us.
*Students at our school
*Teachers at our school
*RICHARD"S SUITCASE ARRIVES!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
We are almost there...
One week from tomorrow we will hop on a plane and head across the ocean to K! We are SOO excited and ready for this journey to begin! G has continued to bless us and we are so thankful! As we get ready to start our last week in the US will you please join us in P!
P Request:
*Richard's continued healing and health...as most of you have heard he had to be taken to the ER this morning and had to have a minor surgery done. He is recovering very well....but there is still a risk of infection.
*We still need $350 a month in monthly support...will you please P about partnering with us and giving a monthly gift. If you cannot give a monthly gift please consider supporting us with a one time gift to cover several immediate expenses that we have and also one time expenses that will occur throughout the year!
*Travel
*This week will be full of craziness and I am sure that my mind will just want to explode....pray that I will get some good sleep/rest so that I can be productive during the day! (I havent been sleeping well...too much to think about).
We look forward to taking this journey with you all! Blessings to you!
Love, Tiffany
P Request:
*Richard's continued healing and health...as most of you have heard he had to be taken to the ER this morning and had to have a minor surgery done. He is recovering very well....but there is still a risk of infection.
*We still need $350 a month in monthly support...will you please P about partnering with us and giving a monthly gift. If you cannot give a monthly gift please consider supporting us with a one time gift to cover several immediate expenses that we have and also one time expenses that will occur throughout the year!
*Travel
*This week will be full of craziness and I am sure that my mind will just want to explode....pray that I will get some good sleep/rest so that I can be productive during the day! (I havent been sleeping well...too much to think about).
We look forward to taking this journey with you all! Blessings to you!
Love, Tiffany
Friday, August 6, 2010
Love my blog!!!
Dont you love the creativity of our blog??
Our blog was specially designed by Lacey Baker. She is amazing at design and creativity. If you are interested in using her services please let me know! She is VERY reasonable ($25.00) and is great to work with!!! (She also designed the blog that I mentioned in my last post.)
Our blog was specially designed by Lacey Baker. She is amazing at design and creativity. If you are interested in using her services please let me know! She is VERY reasonable ($25.00) and is great to work with!!! (She also designed the blog that I mentioned in my last post.)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Travel...
We officially have our travel dates to K. We will be leaving Indianapolis on August 16 at 3:12pm and arrive in K on August 17 at 11:35pm....about 29 hours of flying....wow...what a journey it will be! We are so excited!
We also want to thank those who have given one time gifts and also monthly support gifts. We are so blessed because of your generosity. We do still have a few one time needs that need to be met and also we need $400 more a month in support. If you would like information on how you can meet one of our one time needs or if you would like to partner with us in monthly support please contact us at jettsinkosova@hotmail.com
**On a side note...we have some very good friends who are adopting 2 babies from Ethiopia. Please follow there blog and check out the awesome ways you can help them!
http://teamchase4andcounting.blogspot.com
Much Love to you all!
Tiffany
We also want to thank those who have given one time gifts and also monthly support gifts. We are so blessed because of your generosity. We do still have a few one time needs that need to be met and also we need $400 more a month in support. If you would like information on how you can meet one of our one time needs or if you would like to partner with us in monthly support please contact us at jettsinkosova@hotmail.com
**On a side note...we have some very good friends who are adopting 2 babies from Ethiopia. Please follow there blog and check out the awesome ways you can help them!
http://teamchase4andcounting.blogspot.com
Much Love to you all!
Tiffany
Monday, August 2, 2010
$10 Challenge
In deciding to go to K and in all the preparation there is one main lesson that G has been teaching me: Sacrifice. I have been learning to sacrifice my plan for His purpose and my things for His task. One would think that having been in M for 6 years that I had learned this lesson. But somewhere along the way I began compromising by following my desire instead of His Spirit. Then in November of last year He began to stir His Spirit within me letting me know that I was not where He wanted me to be. He was calling me to something else, but I refused to take time to listen because I was comfortable. I was where I wanted be; doing what I wanted to do. Like Jonah I set out to run as far as I could from the still voice and like Jonah G showed me grace by disciplining me (without the fish) and bringing me back to a place where I willingly surrendered to whatever His will might be for me…for us.
I never thought serving overseas for a year was in His plans for us, but here we are preparing to leave for K in two weeks. In this short time of preparation G has been teaching us, but especially me, the joy and peace in surrendering to Him and making the necessary sacrifices. The way He has worked through His people to provide for us has been amazing.
- The day we sent out the call for school supplies people from across the nation have been helping us get all the supplies we will need.
- All of the one time gifts we asked for specifically in our support letter have been answered.
- We have $1,100 of our $1,500 monthly support raised.
We thank G for all that have helped us and that are standing beside us. We praise G for working through everyone and that they were sensitive enough to His Spirit to obey and make sacrifices to so that we might be a witness to those in K.
We do not take these sacrifices lightly. In fact in preparing to go we are making sacrifices wherever we can. For instance we are selling both of our vehicles. I never thought I would sell my truck, but I am so that I can lower the price of our other car so it might sell before we leave. What will we do when we return? We don’t know, but we trust that the sacrifice is worth it and G will provide. Our time of sacrificing doesn’t end in two weeks when we fly to K either. Once we get to K we will be faced with sacrifice everyday like not having the convenience of a Wal-Mart on every corner or a car to use when we need to make a quick run.
But all the sacrifices are worth it, because G is closes when we sacrifice in order to serve Him. He is worth it to us. Knowing Him and making Him known is our greatest desire, and by sacrificing it leads to greater dependence on Him. Sacrifice puts us in a spot where if He does not come through we are doomed. And Scriptures tells us again and again that G loves to show off by providing for His people.
So let me ask you questions that have shaken me to the core of my being: Is He your greatest desire? Is being as close to Him as possible what you long for more than anything else? If so what do you need to sacrifice?
Could it be that supporting us for $10 a month for the next year would be a sacrifice for you? We are $400 a month away from our needed to support. But if 40 people would be willing to support us for the next year at $10 a month we would be at our needed support.
This might mean that every month you will have to sacrifice:
- Two drinks at Starbucks
- Eating out 1 meal
- Subscription to NetFlix
- Going to the Movies
- Buying your favorite comfort food
But in that sacrifice I think you will find what Tiffany and I are finding out…G is closer than you think. You just have to make the necessary sacrifice. Will you?
For Him,
Richard
Information on where to send checks and how to fill them out is found at the bottom of the Support Letter Blog (Click Here).
New Email...
We have a new email address:
jettsinkosova@hotmail.com
Please fill free to contact us there if you have any questions!
We leave the country in 14 days!
Support is at:
$1050 of the $1500 monthly that we need! G is providing! We are still P for a few more individuals who will partner with us in a financial way!!
Blessings!
jettsinkosova@hotmail.com
Please fill free to contact us there if you have any questions!
We leave the country in 14 days!
Support is at:
$1050 of the $1500 monthly that we need! G is providing! We are still P for a few more individuals who will partner with us in a financial way!!
Blessings!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Support Update!
2 1/2 weeks until we leave! Before we know it we will be boarding a plane for our journey! So many emotions cloud my thoughts! But G is good and HE is faithful!
We had a little scare this week with Kyler's passport. We received a call from the Passport Administration saying they needed more paperwork for Kyler's passport. Since he is adopted the needed the Adoption Decree (a paper that proves Richard and I actually are his adoptive parents). I had take the decree with us to the post office when we applied for his passport because it had said on-line that they needed it but the post master that processed our paperwork said we didnt so we didnt send it in....next time I am going to go with my gut! :) We sent the needed paperwork yesterday and they assured us that we will receive Ky's passport before we leave!
Support is still coming in.....we now have $750 of the $1500 monthly support we need. HALF WAY THERE! Please consider partnering with us if you aren't already!!! We have also had some very generous one time gifts and had two couples sent money to pay for our health insurance for the whole year. We are blessed! We are still trying to sell our car...but all in G's perfect timing! (we did drop the price if anyone is interested)!!
Hope everyone is having a great week! Continue to keep us in your prayers!
Much love,
Tiffany
Saturday, July 24, 2010
3 weeks....and counting....
We cannot believe that we leave the country in about 3 weeks. There are so many "things" that need to come together. We where so blessed by the outpouring of support we got for school supplies. We had several generous donations (2 churches are asking for supplies at their weeks of VBS) and several sent supplies as well as donations for us to purchase supplies so our classrooms should be set.
We continue to raise our financial support ($350 of the $1500 we need has been committed). It is very scary but we are putting our full trust in G that the support will come in over the next 3 weeks. If you haven't already...will you please pray about supporting us on a monthly basis? $10, 20, 50, 100, 200??? Every bit helps!! We still feel such a peace about going to K and in that peace we have to trust. We were recently asked....what will you do if the support doesnt come in?? Well we are choosing not to entertain that question (or at least until we absolutely have too). :)
We did get a call today from the Passport Administration wanting to speak with "the parents of Kyler Jett". We weren't by the phone so they left a message. We tried to call back but the offices wont be open again until Monday. We are P that their is not a set back with Kyler's passport. Since he is adopted we had to submit several extra pieces of paperwork. The lady at the post office said everything was correct....so we are P they called just to verify information.
We head out tomorrow for a week in Knoxville. We will be going through our storage unit to get what we will need for the next year and to also spend some time with Richard's sister Rachel and her boyfriend Josh. We are very excited about this visit!
Please continue to P for the sell of our car and for our monthly support raising! If you have any questions or need more information please email us at randtjett@hotmail.com.
Much love to you all,
Richard, Tiffany, and Kyler
Here are some ideas for financial support that we stole from another M. If you do not think you can support a M or M group once a month try doing one (or several) of these...
--Support in a group effort (take up an offering as a sunday school class or a small group, that way each couple or person only has to give $5-10 a month)
--Send your Starbucks allowance :)
--Don't eat out one time during the month and send what you would spend
--Hold a garage sale or bake sale in our honor and send us the proceeds
--Cut the cable on your TV or internet on your phone and send your monthly payment (we have decided not to have TV in our home while in K....we challenge you to do the same for a year)
--Step out on faith that G will provide and commit to giving a gift!
We continue to raise our financial support ($350 of the $1500 we need has been committed). It is very scary but we are putting our full trust in G that the support will come in over the next 3 weeks. If you haven't already...will you please pray about supporting us on a monthly basis? $10, 20, 50, 100, 200??? Every bit helps!! We still feel such a peace about going to K and in that peace we have to trust. We were recently asked....what will you do if the support doesnt come in?? Well we are choosing not to entertain that question (or at least until we absolutely have too). :)
We did get a call today from the Passport Administration wanting to speak with "the parents of Kyler Jett". We weren't by the phone so they left a message. We tried to call back but the offices wont be open again until Monday. We are P that their is not a set back with Kyler's passport. Since he is adopted we had to submit several extra pieces of paperwork. The lady at the post office said everything was correct....so we are P they called just to verify information.
We head out tomorrow for a week in Knoxville. We will be going through our storage unit to get what we will need for the next year and to also spend some time with Richard's sister Rachel and her boyfriend Josh. We are very excited about this visit!
Please continue to P for the sell of our car and for our monthly support raising! If you have any questions or need more information please email us at randtjett@hotmail.com.
Much love to you all,
Richard, Tiffany, and Kyler
Here are some ideas for financial support that we stole from another M. If you do not think you can support a M or M group once a month try doing one (or several) of these...
--Support in a group effort (take up an offering as a sunday school class or a small group, that way each couple or person only has to give $5-10 a month)
--Send your Starbucks allowance :)
--Don't eat out one time during the month and send what you would spend
--Hold a garage sale or bake sale in our honor and send us the proceeds
--Cut the cable on your TV or internet on your phone and send your monthly payment (we have decided not to have TV in our home while in K....we challenge you to do the same for a year)
--Step out on faith that G will provide and commit to giving a gift!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
A new decade...a new adventure....
NEVER in a bazillion years did I think that when I turned 30 I would also be heading to Kosova. Wow....God is so amazing. Today was a very special day. Richard, Kyler and I went to the Lake James School of Missions. What an awesome opportunity to connect with missionaries, see old friends, and make new friends. It was a fantastic way to spend my big 3-0. Next summer we hope to attend the camp for the entire week...instead of just one day.
The financial support is slowly coming in, but we know that God will provide for us and so we are putting our trust in HIM. We are SOOO thankful for the friends and family who have committed to supporting us monthly and with one time gifts. We have $350 of the $1500 we need (monthly).
We need to purchase TONS of schools supplies and other necessities to take with us so if you belong to a Sunday School class, small group, or bible study that would like to partner with us in the effort to purchase these things....please let me know! I can send you a list of everything we need OR you can take up an offering and send it to us for that purpose and we will use it to buy the supplies (if you want to save money on shipping).
Continue to pray for the sale of our car! We have lowered the price to exactly what we owe. God is faithful!!!
Much love to you all....
Tiffany
The financial support is slowly coming in, but we know that God will provide for us and so we are putting our trust in HIM. We are SOOO thankful for the friends and family who have committed to supporting us monthly and with one time gifts. We have $350 of the $1500 we need (monthly).
We need to purchase TONS of schools supplies and other necessities to take with us so if you belong to a Sunday School class, small group, or bible study that would like to partner with us in the effort to purchase these things....please let me know! I can send you a list of everything we need OR you can take up an offering and send it to us for that purpose and we will use it to buy the supplies (if you want to save money on shipping).
Continue to pray for the sale of our car! We have lowered the price to exactly what we owe. God is faithful!!!
Much love to you all....
Tiffany
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Richard's Side of the Story
I know a lot of people are probably surprised by the news that we are going to K for a year to teach, but no one is more surprised by this than me. Tiffany explained her side of how this all unfolded earlier this week (Click Here to read her story), and now I would like to tell my side of how this unfolded.
We decided to take a step of faith and go to the NACC. The day before we were going to leave to the NACC was Sunday and someone had given Tiffany’s mom money to help us. It was the confirmation that we needed that we were to go to the NACC.
On Tuesday we had not been there for even an hour when M that serve as teachers at a high school in K who approached my dad at the IDES booth. IDES had helped the Chesnuts and this school so they came to say that they needed to find some more teachers if he ran into anyone interested at the convention. He pointed to Tiffany saying, “There is one right there.” Tiffany said that she would teach anywhere but it was me they would have to convince. I was on my way to something and just told them to tell Tiffany everything. I walked away thinking in my head that the answer was no.
But then Tiffany told me all the information and introduced me to the M and a stirring began in my spirit. I tried to ignore it and was still convinced that we were going to Knoxville. Then we went into the opening session. I couldn’t enjoy the worship as it started and I couldn’t understand why…until Ben Cachiaras came out and preached. G began to work me over and beat me with the 4x4 He likes to use on me. The sermon was all about how JC calls us to go beyond and to do so we have to drop our fishing nets that we are holding on to. To be a disciple of JC it is all or nothing and we have to dive in. I was getting the message loud and clear.
But the nail in the coffin was the closing songs. The W team led us into singing “I Surrender All.” This song has always spoke to me and as we sang G began to remind me of my Ordination Ceremony where we sang that song. It was as if G was saying to me, “Remember Richard. You decided to surrender to me. Did you mean it?”
I realized I couldn’t truly say, “I surrender ALL” if my ‘all’ had boundaries.
My boundaries had been determined by others for a long time. I had compromised for to long in my walk with G doing just enough to please my conscience and make me look good to others. To others I was living radical, but I knew differently. That night I decided enough was enough and for me to truly surrender all I needed to be willing to do whatever G asked even if it meant going to K. So I replied back to G that if He wanted us to go to K for a year I would go. Instantly there was a peace in my spirit as if He was saying, “Then go.” So as the team went into “From the Inside Out” the opening verse was my reply back to G:
A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out L
Let justice and praise, become my embrace
To love You from the inside out
As we broke from the session I said to Tiffany, “So, wanna go to K?” We talked to our folks and others to gather their input and advice. They all confirmed that we should go. We knew we should because to not do so would be an act of disobedience.
So here we are. We are trying to sell our car and raise the $1,500 monthly support we need in a month’s time, but we know G will work things out as we obey Him. Will you consider joining us in this adventure by supporting us (Click here to view our support letter)?
We decided to take a step of faith and go to the NACC. The day before we were going to leave to the NACC was Sunday and someone had given Tiffany’s mom money to help us. It was the confirmation that we needed that we were to go to the NACC.
On Tuesday we had not been there for even an hour when M that serve as teachers at a high school in K who approached my dad at the IDES booth. IDES had helped the Chesnuts and this school so they came to say that they needed to find some more teachers if he ran into anyone interested at the convention. He pointed to Tiffany saying, “There is one right there.” Tiffany said that she would teach anywhere but it was me they would have to convince. I was on my way to something and just told them to tell Tiffany everything. I walked away thinking in my head that the answer was no.
But then Tiffany told me all the information and introduced me to the M and a stirring began in my spirit. I tried to ignore it and was still convinced that we were going to Knoxville. Then we went into the opening session. I couldn’t enjoy the worship as it started and I couldn’t understand why…until Ben Cachiaras came out and preached. G began to work me over and beat me with the 4x4 He likes to use on me. The sermon was all about how JC calls us to go beyond and to do so we have to drop our fishing nets that we are holding on to. To be a disciple of JC it is all or nothing and we have to dive in. I was getting the message loud and clear.
But the nail in the coffin was the closing songs. The W team led us into singing “I Surrender All.” This song has always spoke to me and as we sang G began to remind me of my Ordination Ceremony where we sang that song. It was as if G was saying to me, “Remember Richard. You decided to surrender to me. Did you mean it?”
I realized I couldn’t truly say, “I surrender ALL” if my ‘all’ had boundaries.
My boundaries had been determined by others for a long time. I had compromised for to long in my walk with G doing just enough to please my conscience and make me look good to others. To others I was living radical, but I knew differently. That night I decided enough was enough and for me to truly surrender all I needed to be willing to do whatever G asked even if it meant going to K. So I replied back to G that if He wanted us to go to K for a year I would go. Instantly there was a peace in my spirit as if He was saying, “Then go.” So as the team went into “From the Inside Out” the opening verse was my reply back to G:
A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out L
Let justice and praise, become my embrace
To love You from the inside out
As we broke from the session I said to Tiffany, “So, wanna go to K?” We talked to our folks and others to gather their input and advice. They all confirmed that we should go. We knew we should because to not do so would be an act of disobedience.
So here we are. We are trying to sell our car and raise the $1,500 monthly support we need in a month’s time, but we know G will work things out as we obey Him. Will you consider joining us in this adventure by supporting us (Click here to view our support letter)?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Support Letter!!!
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope this letter finds you well and having a great summer! Our summer has been full of changes and it has been so exciting to see where G is leading us. A professor of Richard’s once said, “It is easier for G to steer a moving car than a parked one.” That statement has never become more true to us than this past week at the NACC. It was a great time of spiritual refreshment and renewal for our family. G began to work on our hearts and opened a new door for us. Early in the week we where approached by M John and Ruth Chesnut (no relationship to Tiffany) about coming to K for a year to teach in the school that they started. We laughed at the idea and both thought “we would never go overseas”. (One thing we have both learned is to never say never.) Throughout the rest of the convention we continued to feel G tug at our hearts and He kept bringing this idea of going to K to our minds. We had the opportunity to sit down with the M and we were very excited and encouraged about what was going on in K, in particular at the school. So we began to pray and ask G to open doors and He quickly did. After much prayer, sleepless nights, and wise counsel we decided to accept the call and travel to K to commit to one year of teaching at Prishtina High School. Tiffany will be teaching basic level and pre-Algebra math and Richard will be teaching various elective courses.
K is a Muslim country located north of Macedonia and Greece and to the east of Albania. It is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 2 million people. We will be living in the capital city of Pristina (Prishtina).
In setting out on this new adventure we will have to raise a small amount of support. We will need approximately $1500 a month to live in K (which seems like a very small amount for a family of three). In writing this letter we are asking that you please partner with us as we prepare to serve.
Here are ways you can support:
Prayer-
The adjustment for our family to a new country
Protection from spiritual attacks against our family
The students at the school and the relationships we build with them
A caretaker for Kyler while we are teaching
The K people -- that their hearts are open to the message of JC.
Financial-
Giving a monthly gift to help us meet our monthly living expenses of $1500
(August 2010-August 2011).
Giving a one time gift to offset several immediate expenses.
*Kyler’s passport-$160
*Various Traveling Expenses-$500
*Immediate expenses to set up our home in Kosova-$300
*Medical Insurance for our entire family for the whole year-$1200
If you choose to help us financially we thank you from the depths of our hearts and would like to encourage you to not just write a check once a month, but to say a P for us and the K people as you write it. We know that this letter comes with a sense of urgency because we will be leaving the country mid-August (our training begins on August 23 and school begins on August 30), so please do not hesitate to call or email if you have any questions. We will also be blogging about our journey to and in K at www.thejetts.blogspot.com. Please join us on this exciting adventure!
Following HIM,
Richard, Tiffany, and Kyler Jett
Send financial support to:
Forwarding Agent:
Janet E. Bates
1880 N. King Rd.
Marion, Indiana 46952
All monies given are tax deductible:
Please make checks payable to: UCC and write K (the name of the country) in the memo (please do not put our names on the memo)
I hope this letter finds you well and having a great summer! Our summer has been full of changes and it has been so exciting to see where G is leading us. A professor of Richard’s once said, “It is easier for G to steer a moving car than a parked one.” That statement has never become more true to us than this past week at the NACC. It was a great time of spiritual refreshment and renewal for our family. G began to work on our hearts and opened a new door for us. Early in the week we where approached by M John and Ruth Chesnut (no relationship to Tiffany) about coming to K for a year to teach in the school that they started. We laughed at the idea and both thought “we would never go overseas”. (One thing we have both learned is to never say never.) Throughout the rest of the convention we continued to feel G tug at our hearts and He kept bringing this idea of going to K to our minds. We had the opportunity to sit down with the M and we were very excited and encouraged about what was going on in K, in particular at the school. So we began to pray and ask G to open doors and He quickly did. After much prayer, sleepless nights, and wise counsel we decided to accept the call and travel to K to commit to one year of teaching at Prishtina High School. Tiffany will be teaching basic level and pre-Algebra math and Richard will be teaching various elective courses.
K is a Muslim country located north of Macedonia and Greece and to the east of Albania. It is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 2 million people. We will be living in the capital city of Pristina (Prishtina).
In setting out on this new adventure we will have to raise a small amount of support. We will need approximately $1500 a month to live in K (which seems like a very small amount for a family of three). In writing this letter we are asking that you please partner with us as we prepare to serve.
Here are ways you can support:
Prayer-
The adjustment for our family to a new country
Protection from spiritual attacks against our family
The students at the school and the relationships we build with them
A caretaker for Kyler while we are teaching
The K people -- that their hearts are open to the message of JC.
Financial-
Giving a monthly gift to help us meet our monthly living expenses of $1500
(August 2010-August 2011).
Giving a one time gift to offset several immediate expenses.
*Kyler’s passport-$160
*Various Traveling Expenses-$500
*Immediate expenses to set up our home in Kosova-$300
*Medical Insurance for our entire family for the whole year-$1200
If you choose to help us financially we thank you from the depths of our hearts and would like to encourage you to not just write a check once a month, but to say a P for us and the K people as you write it. We know that this letter comes with a sense of urgency because we will be leaving the country mid-August (our training begins on August 23 and school begins on August 30), so please do not hesitate to call or email if you have any questions. We will also be blogging about our journey to and in K at www.thejetts.blogspot.com. Please join us on this exciting adventure!
Following HIM,
Richard, Tiffany, and Kyler Jett
Send financial support to:
Forwarding Agent:
Janet E. Bates
1880 N. King Rd.
Marion, Indiana 46952
All monies given are tax deductible:
Please make checks payable to: UCC and write K (the name of the country) in the memo (please do not put our names on the memo)
An answer to P!!!
One of our P request has been answered and PTL!
We have found a nanny for Kyler. As a mommy I was so worried about this because I wanted someone who would love my baby as much as I do and care for him like I would. Ruth helped me get in touch with L***. She is a 19 year old girl who has been raised around the M family. Her brother actually came into the states to attend college at CCU. She is a C and comes highly recommened from Ruth and family!
We are so blessed!!!
Love, Tiffany
L*** (we are not going to share her name for her own protection!)
We have found a nanny for Kyler. As a mommy I was so worried about this because I wanted someone who would love my baby as much as I do and care for him like I would. Ruth helped me get in touch with L***. She is a 19 year old girl who has been raised around the M family. Her brother actually came into the states to attend college at CCU. She is a C and comes highly recommened from Ruth and family!
We are so blessed!!!
Love, Tiffany
L*** (we are not going to share her name for her own protection!)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Too a land far away...
Sitting down to write this blog is so weird....NEVER in a MILLION years did I think that this would be my journey. So many unknowns, so many questions, so much excitement, yet SO much peace. G is doing something in the lives of the Jett family and I am so happy to be a part of it.
Okay so now that I have your curiousity....let me explain.
It is no secret to anyone who knows us that this past year has been a bit of a challenge. We have had our ups and downs and highs and lows. But we look back on our time in California and would not change it for anything. Afterall it is how and why this next journey begun.
Richard resigned from the church in California in April and in June when I finished up my teaching school year we moved to.....well....honestly I am not really sure where we moved too. (ha ha). Our stuff went to Knoxville, Tennessee but we went to my mom's in Joplin, Missouri. The reason that our stuff went to Knoxville was because that is where we were hoping to end up by the end of July. My mom and step-dad graciously opened their home to us for several weeks and then on July 5 we headed north to Indiana to see and spend some time with Richard's family.
But let me back up a little bit...
Over the past several months Richard and I have been crazily applying for jobs. He hasn't heard one thing and I finally was able to get in contact with a principal at a school in Knoxville who was willing to give me an interview on July 23. We were thrilled!! So we relaxed at my moms and continued to P that G would open doors for us. On July 3 I got an email from the principal in Knoxville saying that the positions that she thought she was going to have open fell through. She still wanted to meet me but wasnt sure she would be able to have anything to offer. I was so upset. I was so sure that this was the job that was going to take care of us...that this was exactly what G was lining up for us. As we left my mom's house on July 5 I was very discouraged. Richard parents had graciously offered to share their hotel room with us, pay for our food, and other expenses if we wanted to come spend the week with them at the NACC. We had orginally planned to attend the convention but only for one day (to hear Francis Chan speak). But since they offered and we didnt have anything else to do we thought "what the heck, if nothing else it will be a nice little vacation". So we met up with them in Indianapolis on July 5. That next morning at the NACC we where hanging around the IDES booth when M friends John and Ruth Chesnut (no relationship to me...but so weird we spell our last name the same) came up and asked Rick if he knew of anyone who might be interested in going to K for a year to teach. Rick said jokingly, "Yea, maybe my daughter in law" (pointing to me). They came over and asked me and I responded "sure I will teach anywhere but you have to convince him" (pointing to Richard). Richard heard the convo but was on his way to do something else so he just said "talk to Tiffany and she will give me the info". So I stood there and listened, the whole time feeling this knot in my stomach. I told them I would talk to Richard and let them know. At that point though, I already knew the answer (NO), but I mentioned it to him anyways. We didnt really talk about it the rest of the afternoon and then that evening headed to the main session (Ben Cachiaras spoke). That message is the message that forever changed our lives. It totally kicked our butts (he even used that illustration). He challenged us to P this P "Dear G, Disturb me!" As I sat there I began to cry, I looked over to Richard and he was crying. We were both saying "G we want to be distrubed" We were tired of living the comfortable life, we were tired of playing it safe, we wanted to go. How could we expect others to go if we ourselves werent willing to go? So as we walked out of the session that night Richard whispered "So, wanna go to K?" We both knew that, that was not the time to make a decision. Our emotions where running high....we wanted to take several days to pray, talk to our families, seek wise counsel, and just listen to what G was telling us.
Over the next several days we meet with the M to get more details and we discussed what this would mean for our family and for our relationship. G was working! We both (along with our parents) felt such a peace about the whole situation. So on Saturday (July 10) we called the M and the state-side representative and accepted the invitation to go and teach in K for a year.
K is a Muslim country that desperately needs Jesus. It is North of Macedonia and Greece and East of Albania. It is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 2 million people. We will be living in the capital city of Pristina. Our plan (besides teaching) is to build relationships with the people through English converstation (they all want to learn to speak English).
We do not know the exact date that we will be leaving the country but we assume it will be around August 16 because school orientation starts August 23 and school starts August 30. We have so much to do in the next month but we know that G is working and HE will provide.
Will you please P for us!
Here are some specific P requests:
*P for our marriage and our family
*P for spiritual attacks against our family
*P that we can raise the monthly and one time giving support we need (if you are interested in being a monthly supporter please email me)
*P that we sell our car
*P for the school, for the children, and for the people that we will be meeting
As we embark on this journey let me leave you with these two thoughts:
"If we are going to be followers of JC we cannot be stuck or stagnet--we have to be on the move"
"If you want to go beyond, you have to leave some things behind"
So I ask you friends and family....
What holds you back? What keeps you from being 100% abandoned to our L JC?
Much Love,
Tiffany
(Please add this blog to your favorites....both Richard and I will be documenting our journey and our thoughts here.)
Okay so now that I have your curiousity....let me explain.
It is no secret to anyone who knows us that this past year has been a bit of a challenge. We have had our ups and downs and highs and lows. But we look back on our time in California and would not change it for anything. Afterall it is how and why this next journey begun.
Richard resigned from the church in California in April and in June when I finished up my teaching school year we moved to.....well....honestly I am not really sure where we moved too. (ha ha). Our stuff went to Knoxville, Tennessee but we went to my mom's in Joplin, Missouri. The reason that our stuff went to Knoxville was because that is where we were hoping to end up by the end of July. My mom and step-dad graciously opened their home to us for several weeks and then on July 5 we headed north to Indiana to see and spend some time with Richard's family.
But let me back up a little bit...
Over the past several months Richard and I have been crazily applying for jobs. He hasn't heard one thing and I finally was able to get in contact with a principal at a school in Knoxville who was willing to give me an interview on July 23. We were thrilled!! So we relaxed at my moms and continued to P that G would open doors for us. On July 3 I got an email from the principal in Knoxville saying that the positions that she thought she was going to have open fell through. She still wanted to meet me but wasnt sure she would be able to have anything to offer. I was so upset. I was so sure that this was the job that was going to take care of us...that this was exactly what G was lining up for us. As we left my mom's house on July 5 I was very discouraged. Richard parents had graciously offered to share their hotel room with us, pay for our food, and other expenses if we wanted to come spend the week with them at the NACC. We had orginally planned to attend the convention but only for one day (to hear Francis Chan speak). But since they offered and we didnt have anything else to do we thought "what the heck, if nothing else it will be a nice little vacation". So we met up with them in Indianapolis on July 5. That next morning at the NACC we where hanging around the IDES booth when M friends John and Ruth Chesnut (no relationship to me...but so weird we spell our last name the same) came up and asked Rick if he knew of anyone who might be interested in going to K for a year to teach. Rick said jokingly, "Yea, maybe my daughter in law" (pointing to me). They came over and asked me and I responded "sure I will teach anywhere but you have to convince him" (pointing to Richard). Richard heard the convo but was on his way to do something else so he just said "talk to Tiffany and she will give me the info". So I stood there and listened, the whole time feeling this knot in my stomach. I told them I would talk to Richard and let them know. At that point though, I already knew the answer (NO), but I mentioned it to him anyways. We didnt really talk about it the rest of the afternoon and then that evening headed to the main session (Ben Cachiaras spoke). That message is the message that forever changed our lives. It totally kicked our butts (he even used that illustration). He challenged us to P this P "Dear G, Disturb me!" As I sat there I began to cry, I looked over to Richard and he was crying. We were both saying "G we want to be distrubed" We were tired of living the comfortable life, we were tired of playing it safe, we wanted to go. How could we expect others to go if we ourselves werent willing to go? So as we walked out of the session that night Richard whispered "So, wanna go to K?" We both knew that, that was not the time to make a decision. Our emotions where running high....we wanted to take several days to pray, talk to our families, seek wise counsel, and just listen to what G was telling us.
Over the next several days we meet with the M to get more details and we discussed what this would mean for our family and for our relationship. G was working! We both (along with our parents) felt such a peace about the whole situation. So on Saturday (July 10) we called the M and the state-side representative and accepted the invitation to go and teach in K for a year.
K is a Muslim country that desperately needs Jesus. It is North of Macedonia and Greece and East of Albania. It is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 2 million people. We will be living in the capital city of Pristina. Our plan (besides teaching) is to build relationships with the people through English converstation (they all want to learn to speak English).
We do not know the exact date that we will be leaving the country but we assume it will be around August 16 because school orientation starts August 23 and school starts August 30. We have so much to do in the next month but we know that G is working and HE will provide.
Will you please P for us!
Here are some specific P requests:
*P for our marriage and our family
*P for spiritual attacks against our family
*P that we can raise the monthly and one time giving support we need (if you are interested in being a monthly supporter please email me)
*P that we sell our car
*P for the school, for the children, and for the people that we will be meeting
As we embark on this journey let me leave you with these two thoughts:
"If we are going to be followers of JC we cannot be stuck or stagnet--we have to be on the move"
"If you want to go beyond, you have to leave some things behind"
So I ask you friends and family....
What holds you back? What keeps you from being 100% abandoned to our L JC?
Much Love,
Tiffany
(Please add this blog to your favorites....both Richard and I will be documenting our journey and our thoughts here.)
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