It happened. We left St. Kitts Monday morning… our plane took off at 9:30am. Our first two days in Turks and Caicos have been overwhelming and we plan on updating everyone in the next week or so.
Our last week in St. Kitts was emotional for all of us. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to our home for the last two years and to all of the wonderful friends we have made. We are excited to be in Turks and Caicos and are really looking forward to spending the next few months with our family and friends in America but we already deeply miss St. Kitts. Maddy wants to go back. It’s the first time she really understands what it means to “move” and that she won’t be able to see her best friend Audri for a long time. FaceTime and Skype are wonderful but just aren’t the same.
And saying goodbye to the people we’ve worked with? Very hard. When we first moved to St. Kitts we thought we might need to stay beyond our two-year commitment. But we’ve seen the Lord work in mighty ways. We knew after just one year we would make our goal. As difficult as it was to leave, it’s what we came to do. We came to leave so to speak. We truly were no longer needed and we know the future CEF Ministry in St. Kitts will do big things.
National Board Goodbye Part 1 – The Fire
Last Tuesday the National Board had a dinner in our honor at a restaurant/guest house/conference room downtown. It was a small gathering with a few pastors, board members, volunteers and other friends of CEF. It was a sweet time. As the dessert was being served we started to smell something burning… like when you turn the heater on for the first time of the season. It got stronger and stronger but most of us weren’t worried… and everyone really wanted to finish their dessert! A couple of people did go check on the smell and one person calmly told us the staff wanted us to evacuate the building. No big deal! We all assumed they were just taking the proper precautions. As we left the conference room and turned the corner, the hallway was filled with thick black smoke! We couldn’t really see where we were going but we just followed instructions that thankfully did lead us outside! Once we got outside we could see the smoke billowing out of the building! The place was truly on fire! I tried to snap a few pictures but it was hard to see the black smoke at night.
Everyone was fine but the kitchen was gone. One of the board member’s parents owns the building. She showed us pictures of the pipes with huge melted holes in them, a melted cash register and soot over everything. The entire kitchen will need to be replaced. Needless to say, we had to call it a night at that point!
National Board Goodbye Part 2
On Friday evening the Board got together again… and this time without any fires breaking out! After a few sweet words from several people the Board gave us a few gifts from shell works… a beautiful picture frame, a really awesome napkin holder and a huge shadow box with three beautiful shells displayed in it! These are gifts we will absolutely treasure for years to come! Even more special was simply getting to spend time with them one last time.
We Are Having A Girl!!!
The next morning Sean and I went to my last doctor’s appointment in St. Kitts and I had an ultrasound. We saw our little one flexing her arms and legs and rolling over. We found out she is a girl, our little Riley-Grace, and that she looks healthy and right on track!
CCF Send Off
On Sunday we had to say goodbye to our church, Caribbean Christian Fellowship. This church has meant so much to us for the last two years. We were very involved… Sean preached a few times and led the Men’s Bible Study. I ran the children’s program for the last year and helped out with Ladies’ Bible Study too. Our time in St. Kitts just would not have been the same without this church family. After service we all went to a restaurant at one of the beaches to eat and hang out. It was extremely bittersweet.
That evening we swam at the Marriott and ate dinner with the Graysons. Saying goodbye to them was the absolute hardest. They have been family to us for the last two years and are some of the best friends we’ve ever had. We cannot even express how much we will miss their family.
Monday morning we loaded up, went to the airport, flew to Miami and then made it to Turks and Caicos around 8pm.
It’s all still very surreal. It will take a long time for us to process the change. We are having a good time in Turks and Caicos but our hearts hurt. So please pray for us during this time of transition. We have so much to look forward to and we are trying to stay focused on all of that… being back home, seeing family and friends, having a sweet new little girl and eventually creating a new home here in Turks and Caicos. We know we are making the right decision and that this is where God wants us, but saying goodbye is difficult and we will need some time to heal.
Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers and staying up to date with our time in St. Kitts. We truly appreciate the support from everyone. This experience has permanently changed our family (for the better) and we are grateful to God for giving us the opportunity to serve overseas.
