2015 - I (Jenn) graduated residency and started my first post-residency job at Kids' Care in Anderson, SC. Michael still had 2 more years to complete his residency. We also added Amelia to our family :)
2016 - Michael and I started seriously talking about where we thought we felt God was calling us since we knew we felt called to some sort of long term missionary work. Michael always felt called to PAACS, so we started looking at programs. The PAACS program in Cameroon seemed like a great option for us (and our growing family) so we decided to take a vision trip the last year that Michael was in residency. During that trip, we felt like God confirmed our calling there and when we came back we started moving forward.
2017 - We completed our pre-field training (multiple training programs with our sending agency - SIM) as well as a two-week cross cultural training program. We also started our support raising process. Michael graduated from residency in June and we still had a few more trainings to complete. Our initial plan was to move to Cameroon in April 2018. We started preparing big things such as what we were going to do with our house, our cars, and our stuff. We gave away/sold/donated everything we didn't want to or couldn't take to Africa.
2018 - The weekend before the movers (the movers who were going to pack our shipping container to move to Africa) came, we received an email stating that the violence in Cameroon was to the point where our leaders believed it would not be safe for us to come at that time. So in April we canceled the move and flights that were supposed to occur in the next two months and started thinking about other options. We still felt a call to Cameroon at that point and were not sure how things would play out there (i.e. could things get better after the elections in October 2018?) so we decided to go to language school to learn French for a few reasons. 1. French would be beneficial (but not mandatory) in Cameroon as many of the patients speak French. 2. If for some reason the door was closed for us to go to Cameroon, having French in our tool belt opens up more opportunities in Africa where we feel called.
Today, May 14, 2018 - Over the past 4-5 months we have been discussing/praying about/seeking counsel about what our next steps will be. We've been in France for 8.5 months and have 1.5 months left here in Paris. The PAACS program in Cameroon was officially temporarily suspended in February and so we knew at that time we needed to make some decisions. It was a very long process of truly asking God where He wanted us to go. At the end of the day, we feel as if God is leading us to Burundi. As of this moment we plan to visit Burundi for a few months after language school, return to the States in September to deliver baby #3 (due early October!), and then return to Africa. As stated in our most recent newsletter, many details have to be worked out for us to go to Burundi long-term and it's still not set in stone, but that is our current trajectory! We are holding loosely to all of these "plans" as we know they can all change at a moments notice!
Et pour les personnes qui parlent le français, bonne soirée a tous! Aussi, je me demande combien de personnes vont chercher cette phrase dans google translate.... ;)
*****
UPDATE:
Well, those few months went well in Burundi so we returned to the good ol' US of A to deliver Mark. Good thing... the birth was a doozie. But everyone went home in good health! We spent time with friends and family from Sept 2019-Jan 2020 and scooched right back into Burundi before the world exploded. We've been nestled in the hills of this beautiful country ever since. We plan to take our first "home assignment" or "furlough" in Jan 2022.