Update… June 2016

Finally, an update from the Sowma’s!

As you may have noticed, I haven’t really written much this year. I haven’t read much and haven’t written much. I’ve gone through spurts, but nothing of consequence. As I look back at this year though and try to really put together a reason for not writing this update sooner, I think I finally found my answer… I had no idea what was going on, and what I wanted to say about it. So, without further ado, if you’ll let me return to last year, we’ll get to it.

Just a little over a year ago we got on a plane to fly from Korea to the US. The Sowma family said, “God if this is the right thing to do, help us get through all of our visa interviews, have the money for all of our fees, and a place to go.” And that’s honestly just what He did. We got all of our paperwork done – just barely. We just happened to have the money we needed at all the right times. The few problematic items we ran into, God just pushed them out of the way. And coming back, I had four really promising job prospects. We were nervous, but couldn’t have been more excited about what the future was about to bring.

In Wisconsin

We arrived and spent time with my family, and I do a few odds and ends to make money for a little while, while I had interviews, and ultimately visited two different churches, hoping to call one of them home. And boy, were we in for a surprise. We made plans, God changed them, and we packed a moving truck and drove from Wisconsin to Washington! This was not a small move. This was thousands of miles and two very sleepless days I had driven all by myself to this new place. I was excited and ready to get out here and start serving.

As soon as I arrived, I started having these great conversations, building friendships, and preparing for what I thought would be a good long season of serving alongside my new staff. After two months, Da Hye and the kids finally joined me. We tried hard to adjust to all the new changes; Elijah starting 1st grade, Da Hye staying home all day, all the crazy hours I was working to get nested into my new family and home. We came just as the Fall was beginning, so there was more than plenty to do to prepare for this new position as well as all the holiday festivities to come. And, it wasn’t easy if we’re honest; hard new relationships, very little finances, just always feeling tired and behind, but we kept on!

To be honest, the holiday’s were pretty hard on us too. No family here, we didn’t make a lot of connections right away, and we were just focused on being settled in our home. So we chugged onward. Christmas came, we got to enjoy our first Christmas back in the states where people actually paid attention – which was so weird after being in Korea for 8 years. Going from Christmas being a passing shopping opportunity to it becoming people’s whole worlds. So weird to us, but we tried to enjoy every moment of it as people were so generous to us – how could we not.

We Were Here

Here we were, a half a world apart from all that we had known for so long – it was crazy, but it was exciting!