I'm here!

My life has drastically changed since seven days ago. I have gone from living in West Knoxville to living in a desert village in Jordan. As I think about the crazy contrast of the two- I am reminded that He who calls us is forever faithful! That phrase, "forever faithful" has marked my first little bit here, and I am sure it will continue to!
Maddy and I each had empty seats next to us on the plane, we arrived in Amman on time, all of our bags came, and we even had time to grab a coffee before our Jordan family arrived to pick us up. It was a smooth trip, which both of us were thankful for after many hard goodbyes. We drove out to our desert village, where we got settled into our room. 
The transition has been very smooth and there has been a lot of joy in the process. Being back among Arabs feels like one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. They are such beautiful people, full of hospitality and joy even in the midst of so much conflict. 

For the past week we have been focusing on how to live well as a family; how to honor one another in the way we talk, joke, clean up after ourselves, and engage in conflict. Normal community life type stuff:) We also have spent time sharing dreams and our hearts for this community. It has been a joy to sit under the people here and learn from them! Every single one of them offers so much truth and life to our Jordan family. 

Even though we have spent most of our time as a family, I have still gotten to experience some of what The Hope Project is up to around town. I have sat with multiple refugee families and learned their names, and bits of their stories. I have laughed hard with young children, colored lots of pages, and learned little arabic songs with fun dance moves. I have loved it!

The other night four of us went out to give some heaters to refugees living around us. When asked why we would do that for them, we got to simply say that we love them and their people with a love that is not our own. Love looks like something, and during the winter it often looks like a heater with a full gas tank. Heat is important for these families! They are cold, and often their food coupons barely cover their food for that month, much less their heat. Every house we go into feels humanly impossible, and that is why feasting on his faithfulness is so important.

There is an abundance of hope and joy here! 

I am forever grateful that I get to be Jordan sitting with refugees.

I need to go and study Arabic now, I have my second lesson tomorrow.

Much love friends and family!

and thank you for your prayers!

[A LITTLE REMINDER: please be very intentional with the words you use. I work for The Hope Project, which is a psycho-social company working among refugees. We do not say our political views- so please do not post yours on any of my social media or e-mail. A good rule of thumb is don't say anything that I do not say in my updates. Thank you for being careful.]