6. Feeling the pressure

A number of people have asked that Jason hands the baton for writing the blog to me [temporarily! - ed.], and for me to give insight into my thoughts and feelings of the next chapter in the story. I’ve been assured that this request is in no way a slur on Jason’s writing skills – just in case you were wondering. I confess I’ve procrastinated over writing this – I’m certainly feeling the pressure of following in his footsteps, although I have had minor, albeit crucial, editing rights to the posts; statements such as ‘you can’t possibly write that!’ have come from my lips on more than one occasion. 

So where am I at? To sum it up in a couple of words I would say I am ‘at peace’ with our decision. I’m also really excited about what we are going to be doing, about the positive impact we could make, the relationships we will develop, and also about allowing the very rough parts of my personality to be honed as we adapt to life in a new and very different culture. And I confess that I’m really not going to miss the English weather.

What am I nervous about? Well at the minute I am bizarrely daunted by the task of writing Christmas cards. We have so many good friends, and so many people to thank, that writing cards this year is going to be tough. The annual writing ritual in our household generally requires me strapping Jason down with a list of people and a large glass of wine, then feeding in more wine as appropriate until he stops moping with his head in his hands, declaring he can’t think of anything to write. 

What can we write? I wish I knew. There are those close friends who have walked with us, prayed with us, laughed with us, wondered with us, and cried with us since we were asked to work with J-Life. There are those who have given encouraging words when needed, there are those who have challenged us (in love), there are those in the foreground and background who we call our ‘3am friends’ – those rare and valuable people who you know you can call on at 3am when you need help, knowing they will be at your door at 3.10am. There are those who have helped practically in large and small ways, those who will be supporting us financially in the short term and the long term and those who have committed to pray for us regularly throughout the next 2.5 years. Of course I include family in this, especially our parents, who are truly wonderful. The list is long, and I confess I’m welling up as I write this even now, but it’s safe to say that we are going to miss a lot of people when we go and writing cards will not do justice to the love and respect we feel for them. Without their encouragement the journey would be much more difficult, and I am already dreading the 23^rd of December when we say goodbye to friends in Poole, and the 4^th of January when we leave our families.

But I’m definitely looking forward. The house is now on the market for rent, and whilst our visas haven’t yet arrived, we’ve been told they will be processed in December – so at least we haven’t been rejected yet. We’re still sorting out banking and lots of other bits and bobs, but it feels like things are coming together – we just need someone to rent our house and the visas to come and then we are on our way. And I shortlisted candidates and interviewed for my own job last week – now that was a weird one. Oh and for those following the 4x4 saga, Jason is now driving it around Poole ‘just to test it’ of course. 

As people have been praying for us, we’ve had a few encouraging verses of the bible sent to us to ponder, they will be important in the tough and potentially lonely times. 

That’s it really for this blog, no great philosophical ponderings, no great words of wisdom, no great wit, just and honest and heartfelt thanks – those who love and support us know who they are – thank you.