A place not too far from here, two hours by plane. A place Sean and I have visited twice without kids (the only place) in the last four years. A place I was resistant to consider...a place with massive amounts of trauma and grief but also eye opening resilience and rapid growth, a place that is beautiful and clean and has chimpanzees and gorillas and lions, zebra, giraffe, elephants...A place where there is a bright Christian school that our kids will attend and opportunities for me to work. Any guesses...In August we will move our family to Kigali, Rwanda.
The World Vision office in Rwanda, has asked Sean to lead their work as the national director. He is wrapping up his global role as World Vision's senior WASH director in a very strong place. A few weeks ago he is celebrated with colleagues in Zambia who are working around the world in water. Only 4 of the 120 leaders at the conference were there when Sean started 7 years ago. The team has surpassed anyone's vision regarding the number of people reached. I am so proud of him. To give you a taste of the rapid progress, the 5 year goal the team made just 18 months ago, to reach 7 million people, has already been achieved! Thank you to all of you who have contributed to making this possible. Bringing people safe water to drink will continue to be a focus of ours, it is just narrowing to one country and will be only part of the portfolio Sean will be leading in this little but exciting and dynamic country. If you know me, you will not be surprised that I have NOT been the first to be on board (surprise surprise) with this move. As usual I am the naysayer in our family, the last one to get excited about a move, the one who would pretty much always vote, for comfort over adventure. But God...I am increasingly convinced he just might know more than I do.
We arrived in Addis, 4 years ago this month and next week are wrapping up our time here. God has brought us through a journey here that I am still processing. Our kids were 4, 4, 2 and 9 months when we arrived. We have enjoyed this beautiful country with its rich history very much. We are so thankful to know it better, and we are also thankful that Ethiopia will always be an important part of our family's history and identity. The kids are now 4, 6, 8 and 8, and next year they will ALL be in school. I can also say that our friendships here are some of the deepest I have experienced and it will be hard to leave them. I have enjoyed our time here so much, our church, the kids school, our community has been better than I could have ever imagined!
So our next adventure begins! Tuesday our movers came and we moved into a furnished apartment for the next week. We leave for Rwanda on Monday to show the kids the school and look at houses. We then are in the US for the next two months, visiting and reconnecting with family and friends but moving every week until mid July. In mid August we return to Africa and start a new life in a new country. Please be praying for this transition, we all have various reactions of sadness, nervousness and excitement. Thank you for your prayers as we begin this journey.