Many are wondering why we left China. It has been the
first question that most people ask. I have a feeling that because we
love China and were very sad to leave that people think that something
happened that caused us to leave.
I just want to clear things up, we were not asked to leave,
nothing happened that caused us to get hurt and want to leave, we really
just felt because God was leading us back to America. We do love China
and we will always have a special place in our heart for China. We loved
the experience, the culture, the people and the friends and
relationships we built there. We have so many great memories there.
(All three kids were born in China!) So it's easy to understand why
someone might be asking . . . "Why did you leave?"
I believe it was a year ago that my husband was really feeling
unsettled in his job and began to seek God for guidance. My Husband
knew he wasn't going to sign another contract at his job, but we really
wanted to stay in China. So we began to pray that God would bring
something to us. There were several things that did come up, but as we
looked into them and sought God's guidance, we didn't feel that those
were the things that God had in mind for us. Time was running out, our
job was coming to an end and God still hadn't made anything clear yet.
So we planned to pack up and head back to America. When we made this
decision it was made evident to us that that was what we were suppose to
be doing. Oh, how God provided for us!
We moved to China about 6 months after we were married and have
been there ever since. Spending all that time away, our families really
haven't had a chance to get to know the respective spouse and us as a
couple. We also had three kids who don't really know their grandparents
and cousins. We want to spend time with our family and our family to be able to spend time with our children. We also want our kids to get to know America!
We had been in China for almost 8 years! It was a great time of
learning and growing, but it was about time for a break. Life can be
hard in China, if you want to cook Western food, you have to make things
from scratch (sometimes even making the ingredients from scratch, ---
one time I had to make corn syrup). All the attention we and our kids
get because we have white skin and light colored hair can be very
overwhelming. Because of the language and culture, anything we do ends
up taking a lot more time than you think. We enjoyed the challenge of
learning and using another language, but that can also be tiring, It's
hard work!! And no matter how well you know a culture there is always
something that happens that just makes you go "huh?!". After 8 years we
have learned to expect the unexpected, because it will happen! So I
say all that to say, we need a break from it all and come back to America and
rest.
So as we began to make plans to head back to America we were given a
financial gift which was such a huge blessing!! We were able to bring
stuff back from America and then have some money to live while we looked
for a job and also buy a car. Also, once we got settled into my
mother's place, my husband began to look for a job. He did not look for
very long and it was only 2 weeks when he was offered a job that he
really wanted! It's amazing that during this time when people are
losing jobs, or jobs are very few that we find a job in just 2 weeks!!
It is the perfect job for him and he is loving it!! We really feel
that God has had his hand on us through this whole thing and as things
work out, we really feel that we are exactly where God wants us to be.
God is taking care of us!! and we are so blessed and thankful.
We don't know how long we'll stay in America. We hope to rest and
spend quality time with family. We would love to go back overseas, but as of right
now we don't have any plans set for that. We will continue to seek God
and listen for his voice to lead us.