First TIme...

So I feel like I'm a little late to the "Blog" scene... but it's been on my heart for a while now. Honestly I have been a little intimidated by the thought of starting something new, as I have my hands quite full with our three wonderful exhausting children; Thomas, 4; Mila, 2; and Olliver at almost 10 months. Also, I know my ignoble habit of starting things and then lacking the diligence to continue them. But, I think that if the Lord puts a pebble in our shoe we eventually have to come to the place where we acknowledge that it is there and take the time to deal with it. So, as we start this blogging adventure I hope it blesses someone's heart.
I am excited to use this blog as a platform to share our lives as missionaries in Split, Croatia. Maybe give a little glimpse into what our every day life is like, what excites our hearts and what can be discouraging, and most of all how very faithful our Jesus is to be our I AM, the provision for our every need.
So, a little background is probably in order... Tim and I met at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Vajta, Hungary. Tim is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada and I am from Hayfork, California (no, there couldn't be two places that could be more different!), Big City meets Small Town in an obscure village in Hungary. After being friends for a year we started dating, then after six months of dating Tim proposed on a bridge in Budapest and I said yes, or rather "yeah" (that would be the Hayfork in me coming out). We were engaged for four months and then married in California, two months after that we returned to Europe, beginning our wonderful adventure in Split, Croatia.
It has now been six years since that adventure began, our first year of marital bliss was spent on the 10th floor of a building that was built at a time when the Communist government was trying to get people from out in the villages to move into the city, a small little place that had an incredible view of the Adriatic Sea and and filled with memories that are still very dear to our hearts. Now, three places later and three children later we have settled into an apartment that is on the outskirts of the city and a short walk to the sea.
Why Croatia? Tim and I arrived at the place of desiring for the Lord to use us in whatever way He saw fit individually and before we started dating. As the verse in Proverbs says, "A man's heart plans his ways, But the Lord directs his steps." Well, our hearts planned to serve the Lord and He directed our stepts to join a team that had formed to come down to Split to plant a church. As I look back, I'm again blessed by the way the Lord leads us if we want to follow. Yes, there was a time of waiting and that time always seems longer when you are in it, but oh how precious as we look back and see the gentle hand of our Savior guiding us to the place He purposes for us to be, giving us those altars of remembrance that encourage our hearts in times of doubt.
I hope that as we share our lives someone will be encouraged that if the Lord can use us as His vessels, He can use anyone.