Chris Tomlin has a song that I have come to love this year. Some of the lyrics are as follows..."Where You go, I'll go. Where You stay, I'll stay. When you move, I'll move. I will follow You." I have thought over and over as I listened and sang along with Chris in the car how I am ready to GO where God leads our family and to serve where He wants us. Little did I realize that this might mean staying where we are a little longer. It has been quite a while since my last post and mostly that is due to the fact that I try only to post when I have news to share about our progress. Unfortunately, these last few months have been a little frustrating as far as getting to the mission field in France. Brandon has been in the process of trying to transition out of his ministry position at FBC Millington into a non-ministry job so that he is able to put in more time and thought into our journey to France. This process has proved to be a lot more difficult than we anticipated. Between the hurting economy and all of Brandon's experience and education being in ministry, he has yet to find something that can support our family of (soon to be) five. A friend told me the other day, "It's just not God's timing". At the time all I could think was, "How can this NOT be God's timing?!" We are finally mentally and emotionally ready to move forward after waiting so long. How can this not be what God wants for us right now?? I don't have the answers to these frustrating questions, but I do trust that God is in control of every aspect of our lives. We have to trust that in His timing, money will be provided...to support our family now and as we do get back to France. Brandon is currently working a second job and hoping that he will either be able to find something to pair with it or something better in the next months as we attempt to spend more time and effort into raising the support that we need to get on the mission field. He has also been working on our "Letter Campaign" which is basically a four-part letter series that will be sent out via snail mail as well as email and will be posted on here. These letters will describe in more detail who we are, who World Team is, what God has put on our hearts as far as ministry and how you can help (whether financially or otherwise). We want you to know that we are moving forward and we hope that you have not forgotten about us. At this point, we have chosen not to change our goal date of getting to France by January of 2012. We know that this will take a huge act of God, but we know that our God can make it happen and we refuse to limit Him. With that being said, we are aware that we may have to push this goal back at some point in the future. Please continue to pray for us and for France. We are, as I posted back in August, expecting a baby boy, Asher Paul Burch, in April. We look forward to welcoming him into our family! We appreciate your love and support and will continue to update you as often as possible. Thanks again!
Karis has been really into dressing up and carrying around her magic wand. She likes to tap on things and pretend to turn them into something else. The kids have been watching a Dora episode where "Swiper" the fox gets stuck in the genie's bottle and sings a song about wishing to get out. Karis and Micah both have been going around the house singing "One Big Wish". It made me think about what happens when you get what you "wish" for. What happens when you have been praying for something for what seems like way too long and then you aren't quite sure how to feel when you get it? That is where I find myself today as I reflect on the changes that have taken place in the past week. Brandon has been applying for secular (non-ministry) jobs for about 6 months now in hopes that he would be able to support our family and yet transition out of his youth ministry mindset and push forward with our progress of getting back to France. We have been discouraged at times questioning if we were going about this the wrong way or if God was just calling us to wait on His timing. Last week Brandon became an employee of Lowe's and along with that he will continue to put in some hours at Top RX. He turned in his letter of resignation to the church and his last Sunday will be February 27th. After that, we will return to Bartlett Hills Baptist Church where our families attend so that we can maximize on whatever time we have left in the states. We are very excited about the changes that we are making and the idea that we will be able to devote more time and effort into our call to missions. With that being said, we have been at First Baptist Millington for five and a half years now and they truly have become our church family during this time. They supported us through the establishment of our family as both of our children have been born into the preschool ministry there. They have been loved on and ministered to by the wonderful teachers and volunteers from Sunday School to Sunday and Wednesday night events. The preschool staff has been an encouragement to me as I was a new mom who had so many questions about what I had gotten myself into. There is nothing more that you can do for a mom than to take good care of her children and I have greatly appreciated all those who have loved my kids like their own. During our time at FBC, Brandon has spent time working with the high school praise band, serving as the High School minister and then most recently as the Mid-High interim. He has not only met so many great youth and adults who have encouraged him in his ministry, he has grown and been stretched in ways that he never would have imagined. We truly believe that this has helped to prepare him for our future as church planters as he will most likely take on many different roles. It is definitely a bittersweet time for us as we say "Goodbye" to our ministry at FBC and move forward to what God has in store for us next. We are looking forward to getting our letters out to all of you so that you can know more specifically how you can be a part of our ministry in France. We praise God for answered prayers and can't wait to see what He will do in and through us next. Be looking to hear from us more often and in different ways in the coming days. Also, please don't hesitate to ask questions or check out the "frequently asked questions" section of the blog if you haven't already. 
