Our Run for the White House

Ok, well we didn't actually run for the presidency but, as big as this step was for these small town kids, I guess it felt at times like we were. Maybe it helped condition us for a life of "being in way over our heads."

Immediately after graduating college, my husband was accepted to an internship program working for the Clinton administration at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Being yesterday was such a big memorial day with the anniversary of 9/11, I began to think back on our early days living in Washington. Seeing the pictures cycle again on the news of all the people who lost their lives and the capture of the twin towers falling....you can't help to go back and remember the feelings that you felt then. I also remember being so grateful for President Bush and the heartfelt compassion he displayed in attempting to calm the nation on that fearful day. 

I started going through some old pictures of our time at the White House and time in D.C. and thought I would share the story of another incredible step in our journey of life and faith.

My husband is an absolutely phenomenal writer...he doesn't think so but he is. From his writings regarding our missionary journeys to his public speaking events...I believe you would agree as well. He graduated from our undergrad program with a double major in public relations and journalism. He wrote countless editorial pieces for our college newspaper. A couple of months prior to graduating we became aware of an opportunity to apply for a White House internship. We applied, submitted his portfolio and began the process of security clearance. A few weeks prior to graduating we heard the news he was accepted and that we would be making our way to Washington, D.C. in a month! Yikes. Here we go again.....

Was I scared? horrified? petrified? You bet! But if there is anything I know deep within....it is you have to push past fear to get the most out of life. When you do that you gain a greater awareness of what's really good and a deeper understanding of everything by pushing through the challenges, faith leaps, frustration, pain and the hardness to find extraordinary joy in each new adventure. Do we want to live a life outside of our comfort zone? I honestly believe most of us do, but most are also too afraid of what that journey holds to take those steps. You really have to depend on the Greater One inside. Faith...it's how dreams are built and life is explored. People want the experience without the faith, without the challenges and without the frustration. But the journey of life and faith can't be understood without the obstacles we face along the way. If steps of faith were not challenged then what would we really learn? Every step of faith we have ever taken in the last 26 years of our life, we have looked back to see God's hand in the middle of it all along the way.

There were many things about our time in D.C. that were extraordinary, like the time I stepped into the West Wing with B for the first time to catch a glimpse of the oval office (visitors don't get to see this) or talk to a colleague of my husbands that was so full of patriotism and belief for what they are doing. There were also many times of discouragement that we went through along that journey as well. We had just graduated college and were moving to the first large city we had ever lived in but had no idea where we would stay. It took a few weeks to find a place. Of course it all worked out, but living with roommates, the hour and a half commute, learning how to navigate all the stresses of such an overwhelming environment...it was a difficult time. I had almost lost my sanity with just trying to get through my undergraduate program. I was so relentless with keeping my grades up and paying for school that it wasn't until I graduated that I realized I had pushed myself too much.

The times I remember the most are our train rides to and from our work in D.C. My husband would talk about his day. He would talk about walking through the halls of the West Wing and the political figure he would encounter that day. He was placed in the office of presidential correspondence which would require him to correspond and write letters to foreign officials, heads of state, dignitaries and famous actors and actresses. It was called M.I. (more important) mail. Of course, it went through a rigorous review process before the president signed it, but he was one of the writers that initiated those types of responses. Each train ride would hold a different story of the day but it wasn't always about the White House as you never really knew what kind of scenario would come about from a routine train ride out of the beltway (i.e. bomb threats, etc).

However, out of all those conversations from those days, the ones that stand out are the times he would talk about the passion, sense of purpose and patriotism of those White House staff members. I am not sure your party affiliation and honestly to me it doesn't really matter. I do, however, know that this girl is very grateful to call this nation my home. Because of those conversations and experience early on....getting to know people who don't really think the same as me (at least politically) and seeing their passion shine through... to now getting to go into some of the most hostile places of the world that currently have no freedom at all, we understand very well what this nation represents and we are grateful. We are grateful to call it home but we are also grateful to have the freedom to leave and explore. We have the freedom to travel, to work toward our dreams, to explore our faith, live without limits, break out into new adventures and GO do something big. And because of our freedom, we each have the possibility to do meaningful things that could even CHANGE OUR WORLD! Let's never pass up the opportunities which could lead us to do just that. I never regretted the daring plunge of faith into the unknown and neither will you. The Greater One was and is always there with us. Jump! Face down fear, GO and do something amazing with your life! Dare to live the adventure...dream the dream! We did, and I am amazed where we have been and what God has done.

Here we GO!

Me & my boy in St. Petersburg, Russia.

My husband and I have always been driven. Early on, at the beginning of our 26 year marriage, we moved away from our small town in Tennessee to go to bible school together. Upon graduation we sensed Gods leading for us to go on to college. These steps would wind up being the best and most difficult decisions, but this would ultimately shape us and play a key role in the organizations that we founded and are leading now. 

We began our journey believing that we could accomplish anything with hard work and a do not quit attitude. You can...it just always cost more than you could ever imagine along the way. We had moments of very good highs as well as very significant lows. 

There were a ton of sleepless nights in college, as we were both working full time and taking a full load of classes. We made our way through in a little over 4 years, applying for every scholarship we thought we qualified for and paying for the rest with student loans and our full time jobs. Upon graduating a masters program, we left our college life with both of us having only $19,000 in student loans. Success!! It was an amazing feet as most of our friends were graduating with a minimum of $50,000. But it almost cost me my sanity...more on that later. 

There are lots of highs and lows in this story that I'll eventually get to. But what's so tremendously significant is that we didn't really have any idea how much of a key this season of our life would wind up being until years later as we began developing our first organization...Project 1615. Each step of our life and journey adds to the next step we take. If we don't listen to our heart and the witness of the Holy Spirit and take those steps, even if the cost seems too great, we will not have the tools we need to go to the next step of our life. 

The tools we received in those early days of our life and marriage would initiate a whirlwind of faith steps and activity that would thrust us into over 30 nations over the years, printing books & bibles, inspiring new church plants in Asia, exploring different cultures, helping underprivileged children in Asia gain access to an education, working with underground churches, meeting countless people from all over the United States and touching lives all over the world. 

My husband is an amazing guy. I don't say that just because he's my husband. I say that because of the journey of faith he's taken us on and what he's accomplished by simple obedience, pure raw passion and steps of faith that sometimes made this "rules girl" teeth cringe and hair twist so much that I didn't have any left. Ha. He's lived on the edge of life and faith so many times I have began to lose count. His deep passion for Jesus and the people of Central Asia is so beyond natural. He's resilient, caring, generous and a lot of times doesn't know when to stop and just take care of himself. It's cost him more than we've ever shared, more than we ever thought it would and those things I will also share in the blogs to come. It took 26 years to create this story so it'll take time to open it up. Ha. 

This blog is an open window into our life with our underground missionary efforts, life as an entrepreneur, our personal life together. It's me and I am being vulnerable about relationships and love lost, painful regrets, lessons learned and those awesome moments when you reach that mountain top. All of this has defined who and what we are today. 

We are different, we are seasoned and we are about to embark on the best and most fabulous Next20 years of this amazing life & mission. One.Thankful.Girl.