mark + ange guinn » leaving

A Quick Update

Mark — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:15:19 +0000

Well, we made it home safely and smoothly. The flights all went well and we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with Ange’s family. The house we’re staying at in Kokomo is amazing. Jetlag hasn’t been too bad, but we do feel a bit sluggish. While we’re in good spirits most of the time, we can feel the emotional strain for the last few weeks. It’s been such a whirlwind and there are so many strong and often opposing emotions – happy to be with family and friends, uncertain about jumping into the US medical system at 8 months pregnant, relieved to have a break from ministry, missing our good friends in Ireland, sad to be pulled away from what God is doing there, shaken up with the suddenness of it all, very peaceful in God’s care and provision. Sometimes it changes from minute to minute. But it’s good. It’s real life and it’s an adventure.

We’ve been taking it really slow and have mostly kept to ourselves so far. We really want to see everyone, so please don’t be offended if you haven’t heard from us yet. We’ll get around to everyone eventually and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re going to be in our neighborhood!

The day we've been waiting for.

Mark — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:51:43 +0000

In about nine hours we’ll board the plane that will take us to Chicago and then on to Dublin. In less than 24 hours we will have landed in Dublin, taken a bus up to Newry, been picked up by our friend Campbell and shuttled on to our destination. We will probably be thinking about things like apartment listings, cell phones, and used vehicles.

It’s a strange thing to know that a momentous life change is so emminant. We couldn’t be happier.

Mark and Ange

Last night in Indy

Mark — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:55:36 +0000

Tonight is the last night we’ll sleep in Indianapolis for a long time. Tomorrow we move out of our cozy room at the Woodruff House and drive to Kokomo to spend a few days with Ange’s parents. This is so exciting…

Well…exciting and sad…

Exciting, sad, and fun…

Ok, exciting, sad, fun, and bittersweet…

Exciting, sad, … well you get the idea.

Sudoku

Mark — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:31:33 +0000

We finally figured out the perfect metaphor for trying to move overseas. It’s like playing Sudoku. You know, where you have to figure out where the numbers 1-9 go on the board and a number can’t be repeated vertically, horizontally, or in the same cell. Ange and I used play Sudoku at the laundromat, before we got our washer and dryer. Now we feel like we’re playing it again.

There are so many variables that depend on each other: you’ve got to know A before you can do B; you’ve got do C before you can know A; but you’ve got to do B before you can do C… It’s mind bending (and also fun and addictive), and the only way to win is to find the few pieces you do know and go from there one at a time.

On that theme, we recently found out that we had a few numbers placed wrong – a bit of bad information about the visa application process and some new choices to make. So it looks like we won’t be leaving in January after all. We are hoping this won’t delay us by more than a month or two, but it is a setback. We are in good spirits and are still excited about going, but please pray for us. We’ll need a lot of wisdom to get the right pieces in place over the next few months.

Mark