Transtions and Trust

 Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. 

Psalm 37:5

Everyone goes through transitions in life. It's one of the few guarantees - change is inevitable. I will still venture to say that those of us with overseas/expat/missions type lives go through it more often. Or perhaps in just more obvious ways. Instead of shifting steps, we often take monstrous leaps from one thing to another. One country to another. From new hellos to more goodbyes. 

After living here for six years, some of those transitions start to just feel like the normal patterns in life. It can take us some time to realize we are transitioning - that we need to pay attention to what our minds and bodies are telling us. To not get stuck in patterns of denial that avoid the process rather than boldly walk through it. 

Psalm 37:5 tells us that we can trust God. That when we commit all of these plans and transitions to Him, that He will help us. That kind of love and grace is beyond all that anyone or any thing can provide in these shifts of life. I think we are just catching our breath from this last set of transitions, and God has been so faithful to walk us through them. So this is the update of the last four months, told in 10 transitions that the Lord has brought us through:

1. End of the School Year

Dean finished 4th grade and Addalyn finished 7th! Both has such a wild year. Addalyn faced the toughest academic expectations yet. She had upwards of 2-3 hours of homework a day! Dean's class didn't have a specific teacher until January, He was out for almost 3 months with his kidney stone issues and traveling for health,  but finished off strong with the wonderful Ms. McKenzie. At the end of the year, Dean had to say goodbye to his first friend from SKI, Henry. They met on the very first day of first grade and have done a lot of growing up together. We miss Henry, and his family. Goodbyes are probably the hardest transition we face. We finished off the year with a bon fire night for Addy's class and some of Dean's friends as well.

2. First Open Mic Worship Night at CCF

Some transitions are fun! We loved hosting the first CCF Open Mic Worship Night in conjunction with the Ross Vet Christian Club, CVF. Many people tried out new instruments or sang for the first time. It was such a beautiful night of lifting up the name of God together.

3. Visitors!

Aarons parents came to visit! For the first time in 3 years! It was such a blessing to have family here experiencing St Kitts life with us again. They came to our church's chili cook-off (Becky and I competed, but an awesome CCF member, Carson, ended up winning 1st place!), were a part of Life Group, and played with us around the island.

4. Sick Dandelion 

Our cat, Dandelion, got really sick one day. He was panting and crying and couldn't get comfortable. After consulting some amazing vet students, we rushed him to the emergency clinic to get checked out.  He had bladder crystals, similar in many ways to kidney/bladder stones in people, and his bladder had become blocked. They did emergency surgery to unblock him, and we were able to take him home the next day. He ended up being rushed back for the same problem two days later! Thankfully, that time they were able to clear the rest of the crystals and Dandelion has been healthy and happy ever since. It was so sweet to see how much our vet student community loves Dandy, and us. They went above and beyond to make sure that we were all ok!

 5. Saying Goodbye to our Kids (for two weeks)

The kids went on to the US ahead of Aaron and I this year. They got to spend time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They went to church camps, got giant ice cream sundaes, and were thoroughly spoiled and loved on.

6. Saying Goodbye to Friends (for much longer than 2 weeks)

 As we do every 4 months, we had to "send off" some lovely students as they transition to their clinical year of school. Meaghan, Betsy, and Whitney are the biggest group we have said goodbye to since before covid. They are one of the first groups to have spent most of their time in school here on the island, and to have been able to be involved at church for much of that time. Each one of these women brought so much love and laughter to our church, Life Group, and family. We still miss you all!

7. We Said Goodbye to St Kitts (for only 3 weeks) and Hello to the US

The day after we arrive, we hoped in a van and headed to GA for my mom's family reunion. We got to see almost all of my first and extended cousins, aunts, uncles, and even family I had never met in my life. We had so much fun getting to catch up with the Crenshaw clan. We spent the rest of our two weeks in Knoxville. We went to Childrens Hospital for Dean's kidney check up, I was gifted a new guitar so that I can continue preparing to lead worship at our church (another upcoming transition), we celebrated our sister's soon-to-be-born baby girl, and we got to visit the three churches that support us - Midway Baptist, Awaken Old City, and Faith Promise. We squeezed a lot of fun, love, doctor's appointments, and errands into a very short amount of time!

8. We just keep saying Goodbye (but this time for only a few days)

With the US Passport Service just being especially insane right now, we were not able to book an appoint to renew Dean's passport until hours after our flight was supposed to take off. We called the minute that we were allowed to call, but somehow they were already full. This meant rescheduling the flights for Dean and I while Aaron and Addalyn headed on home. After a few more days in the US with family, Dean and I made it back to St Kitts.

9. School Starts Back, We Start Back to Everything

Addalyn started 8th grade and Dean started 5th grade! It's their 5th year at SKI Academy. We got back to work with sermons and children's church, which is now CCF Youth (the kids are all getting old!), Celebrate Recovery, and Life Group. They all ran while we were gone, thanks to our amazing co-workers, but we hit the ground running doing our part when we returned. We started driving one of Addalyn's classmates to school every day since her parents don't drive. Lastly, we were back to celebrate Independence Day in St Kitts with a concert at the kids' school. 

10. I Became an Aunt Again!

I was so thankful to be able to travel back to TN for a week to meet my brand new, incredibly amazing, stunningly beautiful niece - Dami Vi! I spent the entire time snuggling and soaking her in (and trying to make things easier for new mom and dad where I could). I can't wait to have her in my arms again!

New & Upcoming Transitions:

The Hope Closet! Our Life Group and the CVF club from Ross helped us launch our clothing closet with a fun ladies event. Since the event two weeks ago, we have already helped 3 more families with private appointments to "shop" the clothes and food we have available. We are praying God uses this closet to be a light of HIS hope to our community!

The last big transition, in the near future, is that Addalyn will be switching from International School to Homeschool next month! Each year we have asked God what the best place is for each of our kids. This year, even though we are a couple months in, we now know that God is asking us to make this move. We are excited for the next adventure and to see what God does in Addalyn's new education!

We don't know how many, or what kind of, transitions will come our way in the future. We don't know what doors will open, reopen, or close. What we do know is that when we commit these plans to God, We can trust that He will help us every step of the way.