I can hardly believe it. An eight-year dream is coming true. When Nathan and I were dating we talked quite a bit about life goals and dreams. We found out that we had pretty similar dreams. God had put it on both of our hearts to live overseas and be a part of helping others think through what they believe and why they believed it. We'd both had the opportunity to mentor others and had seen the value of being able to think through difficult life questions. Does truth matter? Is God real? Does what you believe really affect how you live? After we were married we began pursuing this dream together. We wanted to be in the university. Where else do you find so many people coming together from different backgrounds to discuss views of life and the world? So we worked towards Nathan's various degrees with teaching and being at the university in the forefront of our minds. As Nathan has continued his studies of the cultures, languages and history of the Near East, the relevance of his studies to the kinds of life questions facing our world today became more and more obvious. Given the current tensions between many groups, cultures, and religions, being able to contribute to the discussion among these groups (especially Christians, Muslims, and seculars) became an important part of our goals as a family. Now we are coming to the end of our preparation time. As I'm writing this Nathan is eagerly typing beside me. He's finalizing the content for his PhD dissertation. Graduation is just around the corner! I feel like we are in the last 2-3 miles of a marathon. Once we cross the finish line, a new chapter in our lives will begin. We'll be moving to Germany where Nathan can teach and interact with students, I'll be opening our home for discussion and movie nights, and we'll be able to join the conversations there as we meet new students, faculty and our neighbors. It's such an exciting time. It's been so many years in coming that it almost feels surreal. On the other hand, I'm so excited that I'm ready to start packing moving boxes now! The countdown is on.
