Confession: Transition is Messy — James & Molly Bass

Hello friends,

It's been awhile, a good long two months have gone by since we've gotten to give you an update on our life. Sorry it's been so long. I would love to tell you we haven't written because we have been too busy, lost track of time, or didn't have much to say. None of those would be true though, we've thought about doing this blog for the past few weeks and months and kept putting it off. We were waiting for this elusive finish to our transition season. An opportunity for us to come to you and blog about our life all nicely un-packed into Dallas. The thing is we kept waiting and waiting for that to happen, and surprise, surprise it hasn't happened yet.

So we've finally come to the conclusion that maybe this transition won't end all wrapped up in bright, shiny paper with a bow on top come Christmas time. That maybe this season of transition is messier than we expected, yet still full of God's faithfulness in the midst of it. We would love to invite you into this crazy, messy, and hopeful season with us and let you know a little more what that looks like for us. If you're game, we're ready to lay it out there...

What We've Jumped Into

I want to start out with what's been happening since we last talked. In the few months since we moved back to Texas, there are a few things we've jumped into head first. One of those things is our church community here in Dallas. We have a sorta long, awesomely involved story about how we chose to go to our church here in Dallas, that I'd love to share someday. For right now I do want to say that from the first day we visited our church, we felt covered, welcomed, and pastored. They cared about us and our story in a way that showed such genuine love in a time when we really needed a church that would wrap us up in a huge hug. They did that and since the first Sunday, our first night at lifegroup, it was abundantly clear we were home.

During that time we were invited to join Antioch's year long discipleship school. When we first were offered the option of joining in we felt fairly overwhelmed. We had just come off the mission field a month ago and if we joined we would be committing to a year long school that met weekly, along with attending discipleship group, homework and reading, and a international mission's trip to cap it off in the summer. As we prayed about it separately and talked about it together we felt like this really could be how God heals us and trains us up coming off the mission field. At the beginning of this year when we did our yearly dream date one of the things that we had written down was the desire for mentors in our next church once we returned to the states. This discipleship school has provided that for us in ways beyond what we could have dreamed. Not only do we get an awesome, experienced, married couple as our discipleship leaders through ADS, but the people that are enrolled in school with us are people that we are learning from and challenged by with every conversation we have and every class we attend.

We are almost done with the first semester of our discipleship school and truly finding our groove as we work, go to school, and figure out day to day life here.

Where We're Hanging Out On The Diving Board

We are currently living the dream of every pioneer family back in the late 1800's. We're living on our parent's land, or more specifically we are still living with James' parents. That being said, we are entirely thankful for the space to figure out our life and finances while we're here. We also admittedly eat very well, because both of my in-laws are fantastic cooks.

James is working a few different part time jobs while he continues to look for a full time job. He has constantly amazed me with how hard he is working and how diligent he is in the job hunt. This job search has had more twists and turns than an episode of Downton Abbey, but we are believing God that for every job that hasn't panned out or we've felt led to leave on the table, there's a greater thing coming.

I've been at my job for a little over two months, I'm now on a regular schedule and in my assigned units in the arthritis and pediatric developmental disabilities clinic at my hospital. I'm continually growing and learning in my job and have been blessed with an incredible team of ladies who are supportive and encouraging at every turn.

Prayers, Please

We most definitely could use all of your prayers during this season. Here are a few ways that we would love for you to partner with us in prayer...

A full time job for James
Financial provision to move off the land ;)
Continued humility and healing as we continue in Antioch's Discipleship School
Healing for James' body (he has poison ivy all over his body from doing some yard work last week)

We love you guys! Thanks for walking with us through this transition season, mess and lack of updates and all. We couldn't do what we do without you!