We always joked that if things in Tanzania functioned like the DMV, TZ would be a very different nation. And now I am sitting in the DMV to renew my license, since yesterday I turned 31. Friends, it’s really not that bad of a place, really! This is 31: half way through my pregnancy with our 4th (3rd pregnancy, 4th kid #adoption), 2 months stateside, 2 weeks in our new home, and adjusting to reentry as a family while kids are in school and Brandon is in an intense part of grad school. It’s quite the ride! America is fun and weird and frustrating and fast. We miss our home in Tanzania, and all its ways of life. And yet thankful for things that are very normal/unnoticeable for the average American. We would still love prayer for our family as now having some new normalcy has begun to make all the feels begin to surface. Everything seems a bit like a blur, and even this pregnancy is crawling past at times, but also flying by too. Such a strange tension. Believing God’s purposes for this season and trusting His ways during these days. #takingroute #alifeoverseas #velvetashes #velvetashesafrica
A year ago we were actually in America, at the tail end of a furlough. We were preparing to head back to Tanzania for 2 years with every intention of moving forward with all the big things God had been laying on our hearts for our program, Kingdom Families. We had no idea that a year later we would actually be back in America, because we moved here, no less. It’s been such an interesting, intense, growing year with many surprises along the way. And yet God is allowing this year to end with the most incredible blessings—ones we could have never guessed or anticipated one year ago. My word for 2018 was Freedom, and in different ways that word came to be. 2019 is all about being Capable—capable for all the new things we are embarking on and the new season of motherhood I will walk into as we bring home our sweet bebe this June. 2019, I’m excited to see what is in store!
4 today. 🧡 He was born via a planned c-section as a result of Promise’s birth being an emergency c-section 2 years prior (not what I wanted at all for either). And unknowingly leading up to his entry into the world, his planned caesarean birth was likely the miracle that saved his life. At 38 weeks he was born and weighed 9lbs 10oz, and as the nurse brought him to the warming table and then soon after quickly onto my chest where he immediately latched and I nursed him on the operating table, my OBGYN exclaimed “Oh my gosh! Look at this!” “What, what is it??!” I said, as I lay behind the surgical curtain unable to see. My doctor held up Shepherd’s umbilical cord (the part still attached to my placenta) and there was a massive knot in it. “If we had waited any longer to deliver this baby, with how big he is and how big he would have continued to grow, his birth could have been a very different story....a very scary story.” 🕊 Shepherd’s birth is always a testament to a decision we made to trust God even in the midst of such disappointment (a c-section birth, again). We had arrived back to America from Tanzania too late to have more options for his birth. The time was ticking and the options grew slim, and I grieved not being able to give birth naturally—the way I always wanted and dreamed. And in the midst of that time, trying to decide what to do, God simply asked “Melissa, do you trust me?” Yes, Lord. Yes Lord, I do. I’m so glad we decided to trust. 🕊 Whatever disappointment you are facing, just trust Him. It might actually be the thing that brings about the miracle. 🕊 Happy Birthday Shepherd Aaron, my miracle boy. You have stolen my heart and are one of the greatest joys and blessings in our lives. 🧒🏼🧡
Some of my favorite memories from our first 2 days back in America that I don’t want to forget: + the incredible ways we were supported at each airport we arrived at. When we landed at LAX, we had the happiest, nicest immigration officer helping us (a rare thing) and then an incredible crew of guys collect and push all our luggage up to the arrivals gate. I literally just held my kids hands as these guys pushed our 16 bags, carryons, and dog in his kennel up the steep LAX ramp. It was amazing. ✈️ + the way an airport security guy asked Moses (who was sitting about 10 feet away from me while I stood at the curb of the arrivals section) where his parents were. (He was concerned maybe Mo was alone) When Moses pointed at me and said that’s my mom right there, the security officer looked at me, then looked back at Mo and said “That’s yo mama??” 🙋🏼♀️👦🏾 + the way Dodger saw a tiny dog for the first time, probably wondering to himself ‘what the heck is that thing?’ 🐈 + the way Dodger had no idea what stairs were and had to have Brandon carry him down because he couldn’t figure out how to walk down them 🐶 + Dodger’s first experience with carpet (AKA pooping on it because he thought it was grass) 💩 + my kids asking me “mom, what is that thingy?” “Is that a small oven?” “Is that a toaster box?” It was a microwave. Bless them. 😇 + the way my kids get SO excited about box mac-n-cheese 🍝 + we had received some Sour Patch Kids in our welcome bags from our amazing church The Garden, and Promise asked me while on the drive up to my parents house “Mommy, can I try those gummy children?” 😂 + the way Moses was sleep-eating his In-N-Out burger because jet lag is a beast 🍔 + the way we are freezing our butts off here in CA because we definitely aren’t next to the equator anymore ⛄️ + the most random food items consumed in the last 48 hours because they are all things we haven’t had in almost a year. String cheese? Yes! Cereal? For sure!! Chips and salsa? Absolutely! (All eaten within 45 minutes of each other) 😆 + the way my African son beat my Armenian-American stepdad in backgammon, a game he was raised on and has taught Moses and Brandon how to play👏
Grateful, just grateful. 🕊 Today we leave home to return ‘home’. And all I can think of is how kind God has been to us. Not 1, but 2 places to call Home this side of Heaven. What a God of abundance... of double portion... of doing exceedingly more. Tanzania has been the greatest gift to our family, and understandably so it is through tears we say goodbye for now. But not without this promise: “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.” -Isaiah 55:12-13 🌿 Tanzania, we love you. California, we’re coming for you. ✌🏻
I’m convinced more and more that the Kingdom of God is in the dropping off of a meal, the offering of free babysitting, and the bringing by of fresh cut flowers “because I thought you might need some beauty in this transition.” All of these things have been done for us this week (actually a handful of times), and I am so much more persuaded of the supernatural power of hospitality—to anticipate someone else’s needs and offer help before a word is even needed to be said. Meals are powerful—grilled chicken, baked potatoes, veggies, soup, rice, still warm brownies.... all vehicles of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you can make a casserole, you can do the work of God. And if you can’t make a casserole, well, there’s always take-out, and that works just as fine. There is power in feeding people, it’s the downright truth. 🥘 We leave in 2 days and God is so close—right here, right now, in the tension. In 48 hours we will be headed to the airport to fly away from the home and country we love so deeply, not knowing when we will return. And I have supernatural peace. It’s a miracle. Friends, God is real. His love is real. His promises are real. The finish line of the last 9 years is in sight, and we’re running hard to finish well. He’s the proud Dad screaming His head off in the bleachers; His recognizable voice giving us courage and motivation to finish strong. 💪🏻 Pray for our next 48 hours. We’ve said so many goodbyes over the last several days, and have more to say even still. (And not to mention finish packing.) Pray for us! We appreciate it so much.
We have been crate-training Dodger for the last several weeks, preparing him for his big international move (yes we are taking our dog to America 😂). He was Brandon and I’s first child when he was a 4 week puppy, and now is 7 years old. It just wouldn’t be right for us to leave him here. Our vet here has been amazing in helping us with his immigration process and advised us in the best way to crate-train him. Basically, it’s all about introducing it to him in stages. The crate is imported from Italy (that’s not a fancy brag, that’s admitting this dang thing cost a lot 🤑), and comes disassembled. We first start him off by just getting used to laying in the bottom green section, then after a couple weeks we introduce the top white cover. So now that he doesn’t have a cone around his head (lest we not forget about how he almost became a 3-legged dog recently), he’s getting more of the full experience of the crate life. Last step will be adding on the door. With so much going on, I’m thankful this part of the move has been smooth and Dodger has taken to it well. 🙌🏻 So now we just pray he doesn’t have an anxiety attack on the airplane (it’s a real thing ya’ll) and arrives to America with as little stress as possible. We are flying KLM who is ranked number 1 in animal travel, so we know he’s in good hands! 🐶 Anyone else flown internationally with their pets? Don’t tell me your horror stories!! 🤪 #takingroute #velvetashes #velvetashesafrica
Things I will definitely miss: incredible, local, inexpensive produce. Massive avocados for pennies, mangos falling off our 2 trees by the bucket-full, bananas brought down the mountain each morning on the heads of the banana ladies to sell right around the corner from our house. It all makes me so happy. 🍌 This sight is not unusual (conjoined bananas), and neither are double-yoke eggs. 🥚God has blessed the soil here to be so healthy and we all get to reap the benefits of it. 🥑🥥🍍🍉🌽 #velvetashes #velvetashesafrica #takingroute
