Mandi, Author at A Moment with the Millers

Mandi 06/12/2020

We Moved!

We are still near to Pensacola but just closed on a house in Spanish Fort, AL!

Wait, Spanish Fort? What About Pensacola?

When we made the decision to move last Fall we felt it was best to be in a town right outside of Pensacola… specifically Pace or Milton. Moving to the Pensacola area would give us many more flight options for getting to the Caribbean. Plus, it would save us a lot of money on tickets too and we would be within an hour to Sean’s family! It seemed like the Lord was opening doors to move us there so we just kept taking the next step.

And then the Lord shut those doors in a very obvious way.

We listed our house, had multiple showings within 24 hours and received an unbelievable offer! Once we cleared the inspection we decided to find a realtor in Pensacola and make a trip to see some homes… and possibly make an offer. We talked to our lender and were given a verbal pre-approval for an amount that would just get us into a home that would work for our family. So we set up a list of homes to look at and planned to spend the weekend shopping with our realtor.

Right before we left we received the pre-approval letter from our lender but the numbers had dropped considerably. The amount was too low for us to actually move to Pace or Milton. Living within Pensacola didn’t seem like it would work for our family either. So we had to cancel our plans for the weekend. Over the next week we decided to look at Daphne in Alabama.

Daphne is about a 40 minute drive from the Pensacola airport. It was definitely farther than we wanted to be BUT it is in the same area as Sean’s family, has excellent schools and most importantly, homes in our new lower budget. Plus we realized that we would be traveling to the Daphne area several times a month to see family but Sean would only be driving to the airport once every 4 – 6 weeks. The more we thought, prayed and talked about it, the more it seemed like Daphne was a much better option. So maybe God was opening a door in Daphne???

We found another realtor in the Daphne area, made a list of homes we wanted to see and planned a trip down that weekend. Once again, right before we left, we received a call from our lender. This time we were told our budget had gone back up to the original amount he verbally gave us the previous week… and this time we were actually given the pre-approval letter with the higher budget.

We weren’t sure at this point what God was up to but we just took the next step, which was to drive to Daphne and tour homes.

We had 6 homes on our list, one of those homes wasn’t in Daphne… it was in Spanish Fort. We had never considered Spanish Fort because although it is right next to Daphne, it is hard to find a house in our budget.

Extremely hard.

They have some of the best schools in the state and it’s also a 40 minute drive to Pensacola. But this house had been on the market for 30 days, which is VERY LONG for Spanish Fort. They had recently dropped the price putting it within our budget so our realtor really wanted us to see it.

The homes in Daphne didn’t work out… two accepted offers the night before we wanted to see them, another had multiple offers we couldn’t compete with (but it wasn’t a good fit anyway), another needed a lot of work and another was a new build that wasn’t finished.

We were really left with the Spanish Fort house.

And we LOVED it. We were so excited about it! They had no idea why the house hadn’t sold already because it was such a great deal! Maybe God was just holding it for us!

We made an offer, it was accepted, and we closed on Friday June 12th! Buying the house was like a rollercoaster with our lender. There were many times when we worried the entire thing might fall through because of issues with them. So that’s why we were so quiet about the change of plans. We wanted to BE SURE we were really going to buy this house in Spanish Fort before we told everyone about the change of plans. God had already shut the doors for the Pensacola area, we wanted to know He was really opening them for Spanish Fort.

But now that we have signed the papers I hope it’s safe to say that we have officially moved from Montgomery to Spanish Fort! We are very excited about our new home, our girls love it, there are lots of kids in the neighborhood, the elementary school is basically around the corner, Sean’s parents live 5 minutes away and Sean easily gets on I-10 for his 40 minute drive to the airport in Pensacola! We honestly couldn’t have imagined a better set up!

The next step is to move in and get settled. We miss Montgomery so much but we are excited to see what God has for us here in Spanish Fort!

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Mandi 01/24/2020

Pensacola, Here We Come!

When we tell people in Montgomery that we are actually international missionaries and that Sean travels to the Caribbean every six weeks or so, we often get confused looks. Sometimes it’s because people aren’t sure how it actually works but sometimes it’s because they are shocked that we can regularly fly to the Caribbean from Montgomery. I mean, the Montgomery Regional Airport is nice, the lines are short and it is super convenient… but it isn’t exactly a hub for the Caribbean.

(If you want the basic summary of why we are moving then skip down to the last section).

Flying from Montgomery…

For Sean to get to…. let’s say, Antigua… he has to get up around 4am so he can be at the airport early enough to catch the 6am flight to Charlotte. (There are NO flights to Miami from Montgomery). Hopefully this flight is on time (which it seems to often NOT be) because he has an hour before his next flight to Miami where around noon he will head to Antigua. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room!

On the way back home he often has to stay the night in Miami or if he can get home in the same day, it’s not until 11pm (and that’s on a good night). It can be a hassle and it costs us extra time and money. We are so grateful that Sean can do his job from Montgomery though! But unfortunately the flight issues have only become more difficult… we really hoped as time went on it would get better.

Missing Family…

Also, we are sooooo much closer to family living in Montgomery than we were in St. Kitts and Turks & Caicos. But over the last four years we’ve realized that living three hours away from all of Sean’s side of the family is still far. (Mandi’s family is in Texas and South Dakota.) We are so grateful to spend holidays with our family… something that wasn’t always possible when we lived in the Caribbean. But we would love to see them more. Our girls want to see their grandparents and play with their cousins more than just a few times a year.

Moving to Pensacola!

Moving close to Pensacola will help with both of these issues! Sean’s family lives about 40 minutes away! And not only does Pensacola offer the same three Charlotte flights a day as Montgomery, but also 5 – 7 daily Miami flights!! How awesome is that?! Flying out of Pensacola will make traveling to and from the Caribbean so much easier. Sean will have OPTIONS! He won’t always have to get up at 4am or get home at midnight… and no more overnights in Miami. PLUS, flying out of Pensacola will save us about $300 per trip!

The cost, time and family make this a good decision for us but there is one more reason to go…

Changes in Schooling

Our girls are already facing big changes for 2020… Maddy will start middle school and Riley-Grace will start Kindergarten (time please stop). Maddy’s current school stops at 5th grade so she will have to make a transition no matter where we live. So when thinking about when to move, it seems wise to do so this summer. This way neither of them will have to change schools unnecessarily.

And about the schools….

We are actually looking at moving to Pace or Milton right outside of Pensacola instead of living in the city. This would give Sean easy access to the airport but also allow our kids to be zoned for Santa Rosa County schools (which are excellent).

As for Charlotte, she is still young enough that moving wouldn’t be a difficult adjustment… especially because it would mean she gets to see her grandparents regularly!

How You Can Pray!

Please pray for us to make money from the sell of our house. We made several upgrades to our home over the last few years and the market is much more expensive in the Pensacola area. So we need to make a larger down payment to be good stewards!

Also related to selling our home, please pray that it will sell before the summer. We are staying in Montgomery through the end of Maddy’s school year but would like to have our new Pace/Milton address so the girls can start at their new schools in August.

So also pray that we will be able to find the right house and close on it before the 2020/2021 school year begins.

And of course please pray for our family as we say goodbye to our friends, church and life here in Montgomery. Moving is never easy. We know this decision is wise and we want to go but we are sad at the same time. Montgomery is where we lived when we were first married. All of our kids were born here. Our church home is here. We loved our life here so much that we chose to move back after leaving the Caribbean. So please pray for us to have “good” goodbyes.

Basic Summary (for those who skipped ahead):

We are moving to the Pensacola area this summer 2020.

Nothing is changing with our CEF ministry. Sean is still the Area Director for the North Caribbean.

It costs us extra time and money to fly out of Montgomery to the Caribbean.

We will be much closer to Sean’s side of the family (40 minutes) instead of the three hours we are now.

Pray for our house to sell before the summer.

The housing market is more expensive near Pensacola. Pray for us to make enough money from the sell of our home so we can make a larger down payment.

Pray for us to find the right house and to close on it before the next school year begins.

Pray for our family as we say goodbye to friends, our church and our life in Montgomery.

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Mandi 08/09/2019

Our Crazy But Fun Summer

Now that our family is tied to a school schedule it makes traveling during the year harder. Between school, having babies, moves and of course our normal work with the Caribbean, we haven’t been able to see many of our out-of-town partners and churches. So this summer we made up for it AND threw in extra ministry work too! It made for a very busy summer that we spent mostly away from home. I think the easiest way to recap the last few months is to start at the beginning and go from there…

Riley-Grace Turned 5!

Memorial Day weekend we packed up and drove to Sean’s parents’ home in Spanish Fort, AL (near Mobile). Riley-Grace wanted to celebrate her birthday by going to the beach… which is her happy place. So we had a small family birthday party and then went to the beach! Her birthday is actually on June 4th but we wouldn’t be in Alabama then (more on that later) so we celebrated a week early.

CYIA of Florida Training

We spent the first two weeks of June in Orlando… nope, not at Disney, but at Florida’s CYIA training. CYIA stands for Christian Youth in Action and is a program with CEF where teenagers teach 5 Day Clubs throughout the summer in their local areas. It’s how Sean got started with CEF! We were honored to be picked as Florida’s focus missionaries for this summer and were asked to attend their training camp so we could really get to know the teens. Whenever those teens taught the missionary portion of the clubs they would share about us and our ministry to Turks & Caicos! Our girls had a BLAST hanging with the teenagers for two weeks! It was fun for us too!

This class was specifically for the teens who would be teaching the missionary stories.

How we tried to keep them quiet while Daddy was teaching! (It didn’t always work).

After the first week we actually drove ALL THE WAY back to Alabama to drop Maddy off at Camp Victory. We stayed the night in Enterprise and then drove ALL THE WAY back to Orlando. We couldn’t really go to Disney World while we were in Orlando so we did the next best thing. On Riley-Grace’s birthday we went to Disney Springs (Downtown Disney = free), met up with some of my family (from Texas!) who happened to be on vacation at Disney World and ate at the T-Rex Cafe! Riley-Grace said it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.

Riley-Grace LOVED this tiny Aladdin cake!

This was her birthday present that she picked out from the “Giant Princess Store”.

It was so fun getting to hangout with cousins from Texas!

Maddy all set for a week at Camp Victory… she had a blast!

Seattle

After Florida’s CYIA tranining was over we drove back home, picked up Maddy and then a few days later Sean went to Turks & Caicos to train the new National Board. He will fill you in about how awesome his trip went on the next blog post! He was only back for one day and then we left again, this time for Seattle! The ticket prices for flying were ridiculously expensive… the cheapest by far was out of New Orleans. Thankfully Sean’s parents only live a couple hours away so we stayed the night there and then drove to New Orleans. Thankfully, our flight was non-stop because we arrived in Seattle at 10pm (our time)… our girls go to bed at 7pm. I’m sure you can easily guess how things were going at that point haha. But it was so exciting to be back in Seattle again! The last time we were there was in 2014 when I was still pregnant with Riley-Grace… we hadn’t even moved to Turks & Caicos yet!

In case you are wondering why on earth we went to Seattle, we have had a partnership with Evangelical Chinese Church (ECC) for several years. They sent two mission teams to work with us in St. Kitts and still pray for us, support us and even send us the coolest notes and origami! They are one of our strongest church partnerships, we really do love them! We were able to hangout with several people who were on those mission trips to St. Kitts six and seven years ago, Sean had the opportunity to preach on Sunday morning at ECC’s Seattle campus, we shared in Sunday School and we were able to meet with the missions committee over dinner.

For some fun while there we wanted to go downtown, checkout Pike’s Place market, visit the first Starbucks, eat some Russian and Turkish goodies and checkout the zoo. Charlotte however, was exhausted and wanted none of it haha. Sean bought some Turkish Delight and we rode the ferris wheel downtown then had to leave. We made it through about 1/3 of the zoo and had to leave that too. Let’s just say a busy schedule + not enough sleep + a new place + a two year old… it doesn’t equal anything happy. And on our flight back to New Orleans we were definitely THOSE parents with THAT kid on the plane. Once we were back and she had a few days of good sleep, she was back to normal… still very much two years old, but much happier!

Meeting with the St. Kitt’s crew (you can see our kids were done haha!)

They were all very excited to ride the ferris wheel!

On the ferris wheel and Charlotte is happy!

Our flight back to New Orleans gave us a close up of Mt. Rainier!

July

After Seattle was our vacation time. A very generous friend allowed us to stay at their beach house for a few days. We are incredibly grateful because we would absolutely not be able to do this on our own! And after such a busy June we were all needing a break (especially Charlotte). We spent our time doing a whole bunch of nothing… just resting and enjoying our time together… and letting Charlotte catch up on sleep.

The respite was much needed because we were only home for less than a week before leaving again. This time we drove to South Dakota and back but stopped all along the way up and down to meet with partners, friends and co-workers. We spent a few days at CEF Headquarters in Missouri… Sean was in meetings most of the time. It didn’t occur to me to actually take pictures for some reason so I don’t have that many to share. But I do have this picture of Sean and Maddy getting to be part of the flag raising ceremony. Each week they raise different flags in front of headquarters and pray for those countries. While we were there Bermuda was one of those countries!

Sean and Maddy got to be part of raising Bermuda’s flag and praying for them!

My (Mandi’s) mother and aunt moved to South Dakota last year… which actually worked out great because CEF of South Dakota is also a strong partner with us in the Caribbean! Their teens raise money for the Caribbean each summer and they have sent several mission trip teams to help us in Turks & Caicos over the years.

We hadn’t been to South Dakota since 2016 when I was still very early pregnant with Charlotte (we hadn’t even announced it yet). We were able to meet with people who were on some of the mission trip teams to Turks & Caicos and we got to speak at Camp Good News! It was so fun to hang out with the kids! Many of them had heard about our family and Turks & Caicos for several years so it was awesome to actually get to meet them in person.

Camp Good News in Aberdeen, South Dakota!

Sean sharing with the kids about our life in St. Kitts and Turks & Caicos. They loved hearing about the monkeys and bugs the most!

Before we left South Dakota we were able to do something we weren’t able to do when we visited in 2016… we went to Mt. Rushmore! Even though it was partially closed for construction we were still able to see it well. We also drove through the Badlands on the way there and we all decided it was the coolest thing we have ever seen. Out of all the places we visited this summer Maddy said the hour we spent in the Badlands was her favorite!

We all loved getting to see Mt. Rushmore!

The pictures don’t show how high up we really were in the Badlands!

God is such a creative God, this place was so beautiful!
(Also, we didn’t see any rattlesnakes but we could definitely HEAR them!

On our way back down to Alabama we stopped again at CEF Headquarters. Sean had several meetings, Riley-Grace got to be filmed in the studio, we had dinner with friends who partner with us, and we were introduced at CEF’s chapel service.

Instead of driving straight to Montgomery we made our way over to Indianapolis. We stayed the night with friends and fellow missionaries who lived in St. Kitts, The McGaugheys. Although we have known each other for several years now, our kids hadn’t actually met. They moved to St. Kitts just a few days after we moved away… they even bought our van from us! We were also able to have dinner with our dear friends The Graysons. After living in St. Kitts for eight years they recently moved back to Indianapolis. Our daughters were best friends and we have missed their family so much. We ate dinner and let the kids play at the church playground. We even got to see other friends at the church we have made over the years because of our friendship with the Graysons!

Riley-Grace being filmed in the studio at CEF. She was so excited! If you have spent any time with her then you know exactly why they wanted to get her on camera!

Audri and Maddy catching up on life in America (and Riley-Grace trying to tag along).

Wendi and me… we were so glad to see the Graysons again!

Back Home

We were only back four days before Maddy’s open house and as I type this she is at her second day of school! The summer was a whirlwind. We had a lot of fun seeing so many friends, supporters, churches and co-workers. We loved the opportunities to speak in Florida, Seattle and South Dakota. We are so grateful to the Lord for getting to serve the way we do. And we are grateful to all of the people He has brought to partner with us over the years. Some may think we were on vacation all summer and I can assure you that is NOT the way we’d like to spend a vacation haha! For all of the fun family stories we made, we have an equal amount of “not so fun” stories about what it’s really like to travel all summer as a family. I can assure you, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows! But as a whole, the work, the ministry, the friends and family and even the stress made for an amazing summer… one that at least 2 out of our 3 girls will always remember.

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Mandi 06/15/2019

Back To St. Kitts

In April the whole family got to go back to St. Kitts for a few days! Sean and I were helping with a CEF training conference in both St. Kitts and Nevis. Many of our dear friends and co-workers hadn’t even met Charlotte yet so it was exciting to see everyone!

The conferences were wonderful. Almost ALL of those attending were new to CEF. In St. Kitts the Lord brought 107 people from 37 different churches to learn more about reaching children. We taught with Mavis and Jewel, fellow workers from St. Kitts. Here are a few pictures of the training!

Sean, Mavis and Jewel also went to Nevis to do a training conference there too. There were 32 people from 18 different churches. Here are a few pictures from Nevis!

On Sunday Sean preached at Mavis’ church, Grace Gospel Hall. There was a terrible rain storm that morning and the roads were flooded. We weren’t sure he would even be able to make it until the last minute. He arrived at the church just in time to preach!

We were able to catch up with our friends the Graysons! We served with them when we lived in St. Kitts, our daughters were best friends. We missed them very much and we pretty much picked up right were we left off. After living in St. Kitts for eight years, they recently moved back to America. Hopefully we will get to see them more often now! Another family we are friends with are the Comers and we were able to see them too! Our daughters are ALSO great friends and the same age. They are Celebrate Recovery missionaries and are doing amazing work in St. Kitts!

The island has changed so much since we last visited in 2016. The grocery stores are so NICE now and there is more for kids to do. There are more hotels being built and some of the roads have been repaired. Our girls really enjoyed our time there! Maddy was happy to be back in a place that is home for her. She wishes she could somehow mix her life in St. Kitts, Turks and Caicos and Alabama all into one. Riley-Grace loved the different fruits and kept asking everyday when we were going to the beach! (We did finally take her for about 2 hours the day we left). This was Charlotte’s first Caribbean trip and she was excited about EVERYTHING the entire time. We worried she wouldn’t adjust well to new people and the heat but she had zero problems!

Our family dearly loves St. Kitts and Nevis. We are so grateful that we get to work with the people there even after moving five years ago. Even now, it still feels like home.

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Mandi 05/06/2019

Back To Turks & Caicos!

In early April Sean and I made a trip back to Turks and Caicos, the girls stayed at home with their Mimi. Our objective was to re-establish the national board. Since 2011 every English speaking country in the Caribbean now has ongoing CEF ministry… at least every country except Turks and Caicos. And yet, we have poured so much effort into Turks and Caicos… we even lived there for a year. We now know a few things we didn’t know several years ago, the biggest being that Turks and Caicos is extremely transient.

The original board had about six members… one passed away, one had to resign for personal reasons and three moved off island. The lack of a national board is really holding back the ministry from moving forward. We have relationships established with most all of the schools, we have volunteers ready to teach and may even have a few potential staff members who could serve in the near future. But none of this can really happen if Turks and Caicos does not have a national board leading the ministry.

For five days we met with 18 people asking them to prayerfully consider joining the national board. Most of them said yes! There is a sense of urgency to reach the children of Turks and Caicos that we didn’t see when we lived there. The people we with met with were telling US how the church is losing the next generation, how they have to do something or the crime, violence, materialism and negative family situations will only get worse.

We are very encouraged and hopeful that Turks and Caicos will finally have a strong, fruitful CEF ministry and that the Lord will use His church there to make a true and long-lasting difference! In June Sean will go back to conduct a training for all of these potential board members. Knowing how transient the population is, we are praying for at least 14 people to commit to serving on the board. That way, even if people move or life requires them to resign, the board will NOT collapse and the ministry will continue!

Harvest Bible Chapel, our church while we lived in Turks and Caicos!

The B.E.S.T Institute, Sean met with the Principal and was asked on the spur of the moment to teach a memory verse. Be ready in season and out of season!

We sent this box of materials to Grand Turk, it went to a new church partnership!

Please be in prayer for at least 14 new board members! And please pray for Sean as he prepares to head back to Turks and Caicos to lead the board training. We want to see strong, nationally led ministry taking place in Turks and Caicos by the end of the year!

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