transformations, transitions and a tentative heart for change!

My family has never been much for change. Good or bad, we'd almost always rather keep it than change it! My sister almost cried the day we FINALLY got rid of the rotting orange and brown plaid sofas after 20+ years of use...not because she liked them, but because they had always been.

The day before I got braces I remember meditating dramatically in each room of the house, the LAST time I would sit in that room without metal on my teeth for years. My mom worked over time to make each Christmas, Birthday, holiday or weekend a BIT better than it has been the time before, but not much, because mostly everyone just wanted it to be like it always had been.

And so, I guess it's not surprising that as we set out to move this weekend (just a 20 minute drive down the road, but STILL!), that I would be a little shook up. The day we moved to Haiti, 7 red plastic tubs in tow, clinging to each other's sweaty hand, Matt and I were dropped off in front of this little house.

We have had what feels like 10 years worth of memories in this house: lots of tears, lots of visits, lots of friends, lots of family, lots of praise, laughter, good (and bad) food, happy days, dark times, date nights, prayer groups, student meetings, sunny breezes, stifling hot nights, lots of music, lots of prayer.

I was sick as I've ever been for months (with Lily on the way) in this house. We have walked the compound 5 or 6 laps an evening for almost every single evening since August 2007. We brought our sweet baby girl home to this house, she learned to do, well, EVERYTHING she can do, in this house.

There is dirt under the tiles, so the bugs come through almost as quickly as the crumbs fall. We can see daylight through some of the cracks in the walls, the electric is so wildly done that we've fried three inverters in this house, and we have rats, roaches, and tarantulas passing through it's many gaps so frequently that we could give them all little names.

Despite it's flaws, it has been "ours", our happy place and our retreat. It has been our sweet sanctuary of much that God has done in our hearts and in our lives, and a joyful dwelling for friends and ministry.

I painted Bible verses on its walls (and then found out that I wasn't supposed to...sorry!) and we have had a thousand good talks in this house:

What does God want?

How can we better serve here?

What restaurant/store/place would you go to if you could go to any restaurant/store/place in the world?

What is He calling us to?

Who in the world thought up the game "Hand and Foot?"

How can we better love His people?

Can tarantulas eat people?

What is truly important?

How many different ways can you fix rice?

What does it mean to be Holy?

Should Lily eat candy corn?

How can we help _____?

How can we make it ALL about our relationship with Jesus?

These chipping dirt walls have been witness to Matt and Stacey: Transformed... by His grace, His people, His word and His voice.

Saturday we will take the "Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Ayars" plaque that has followed us house to house since the day we married (this will be move number 5 since then) and move to Sakenville. Sakenville is the site of the new seminary compound, which has gone from this, when we first came....

to this:

It is ALMOST done, and we are moving a bit in advance in order to better facilitate teams and individuals who are coming, starting Monday, to help us finish it!

We will be moving into this house, which is as huge as it looks!

...and into a neighborhood that is altogether different from where we currently live, in Vaudreil. Sakenville is much more remote and much less built up. Despite some amazing people He has already begun to align our lives with, Sakenville a very dark area, speckled with the flags of many voodoo temples and lined with mud hut after mud hut full of men, women and children living in a darkness so heavy that you can SEE it in their eyes, in their postures, in their faces.

It is the PERFECT place for a Seminary, and, despite my stubborn sentimental heart against change, God has already placed His excitement in our hearts for a relatively un-reached people group that are about to become our neighbors. The few Christians in this area are in great need of encouragement, and the rest are in great need of Light. The Light. The one thing of worth that we will be taking with us.

One of the downsides of Sakenville being significantly more remote than Vaudreil is the lack of internet. Several attempts at getting the new campus "on-line" have failed, and we will not have internet beginning Saturday. We will continue to be commuting here to the current Seminary compound every morning to teach and work at the Seminary, and will receive and send all emails and update the blog then. The rest of the time, we will be off-line. Please extend extra grace, and advance notice for urgent matters, when emailing!

Most, please be praying with and for us! Please be praying for us as we undergo many transitions. Please be praying for His leading on how and when and where and with whom to minister in this dark area. Please be praying that we might be Faithful, that we might be Holy, that we might be like Him, WHEREVER we are planted!

"Behold, I will do something new,

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.

The people I have formed for Myself

will declare My praise." Isaiah 43:19

Because of His faithfulness, bring it on!