Abilene, Texas

It is official...we are moving to Abilene, Texas!

This journey really started years ago when Tim was finishing undergrad.  Harding (HU) had a graduate fair and promoted the Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) program. Tim looked into it and even asked me what I thought about us moving to Memphis and letting him go full-time. I said, "NO WAY!" I was so tired of Tim being in school and I wanted to move on to the next phase of our life.

Tim eventually started the M.Div. program at HU and worked at it part-time online. Over the past few years Tim's desire to finish his degree grew and grew. I knew it was only a matter of time before he would ask me if he could go back full-time. Even though I was not huge on the idea a few years ago, God worked on my heart.

Sometime last spring/summer we started to realize that if we wanted Tim to finish before he turned 40 he would have to go full-time in the near future. Although, we still did not know when we would move or where we would go. At first, we thought we would start looking at schools based on geographical locations (ie. Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, etc.) I kept thinking in my mind, "If I have to move at least I want it to be in a great city." Texas was NOT on the list. ha ha....

We looked into schools, but never seriously. We just didn't feel 'right' about it nor was anything really jumping out at us. We put this idea in the back of our minds and went on about our life. We were happy with our church.  In fact, I'm not sure we will ever get to work for a better congregation! We certainly did not want to move.

Labor Day weekend rolled around and we took our annual trip to Wichita to visit my family. My Dad, Tim, Lewis and I went to lunch one afternoon to Chipolte. We got our food and as I was sitting down I saw a familiar face beside me... Richard Foster. I said hi to Richard and his wife Cheryl and we started chatting. Richard was a youth minister at the church I grew up in many many years ago. They now live in Hutchinson, KS (45 mins. away from Wichita), but happened to be in town visiting friends in the hospital.  As Tim and Richard started talking they got on the subject of Tim's graduate work at HU. Meanwhile my Dad, Lewis and I started eating.  I really had no idea what they all they were discussing. After we said our good-byes to Richard and Cheryl I asked Tim, "What were you talking about for so long?" Tim said, "Richard has offered me a scholarship to pay for my M.Div if I can transfer to ACU full-time." I said, "Well it looks like we are moving to Abilene!" I knew without a doubt God had spoken and we would be moving to ACU by next August.

Like I said before... we were very happy and content at church.  In fact, I cry almost every time I think about leaving our church family.  Although, I knew then and I know now... God spoke!

The last few months Tim has been preparing to take the GRE and submitting his application and letters of recommendation to ACU.  December 9th Tim received a letter with his acceptance into the program! It was official.  After months of wondering and uncertainty we were finally accepted!  It was a huge relief.

We know there are still so many hoops we must jump through before August and there is many more months of uncertainty ahead, but we are confident God is with us!

We announced the news to our church December 18th, which was very difficult.  I cried most of the morning.  Once the news broke the church family and teens surrounded us with encouraging words and loving hugs. Thankfully, we still have until August with our church family.

The M.Div. is a 90 hour program. The majority of graduate degrees are 36-60 hours; therefore, we will be at ACU around 3 - 4 years.   Just before Lewis starts Kindergarten. We have no idea where we will go after ACU, but I'm sure we will be looking to God for direction.

Keep us in your prayers and I will keep you posted on our journey.