The Cuevas Family

[karen cuevas]

Hi everyone! I am new to this group and am still trying to figure out
this discussion page, so hopefully you will get this message. We are a
family of 4 living in Fort Collins, Colorado. Caleb is 9 and Mackenzie
is 7..... Marco and I? well... getting close to the big 40:) We have
been accepted and are preparing for a two year stay in China with our
organization. Marco will teach and I plan on staying home with the
kids to homeschool and connect with students outside of the classroom.
We are really hoping to have an apartment on campus so we can connect
with students regularly.

We are excited, but of course... we are going through gammets of
emotions. Sometimes sadness about leaving everything behind, sometimes
fear about what we might be getting ourselves into, and sometimes
doubt... We are coming to the Father in prayer, constantly:) We do
feel He is providing for our daily bread and we must trust in His
calling and provision. Little by little, we receive support and
partnership and things are being checked off the list towards our
journey. The sadness, fear and doubt are not from the Father and we
are becoming more aware of that:) We find that they are normal
emotions to be having, but we are not allowing ourselves to be
consumed by them. The Father is the ultimate provider and our eyes are
being pried open to His love, grace, and peace.

We are starting to seek partnership and in the process of getting all
of our paperwork for visa's, etc... completed. The days are busy
prepping for our journey and still trying to maintain our daily
activities and commitments. I look forward to being fully supported
and finally making the move into China! I am excited to pursue
homeschooling with the kids and have begun looking into material.
Many, many times Marco and I will discuss what our lives might be like
at this time next year. Who will be our new friends? Where will we be
living? What will our kids be involved with? What is the Father going
to do with us? The mystery of the unknown sometimes haunts us, but
mostly excites us:) We are soooo excited to travel! None of us have
ever lived abroad and both Marco and I have had short stays in Italy
and Australia. We cannot wait to connect with the college kids and we
truly cannot wait for our children to be surrounded by the loving
environment of people from our organization. We hope this experience
will be positively life changing for us all!

Things I need your advice on: #1 How do we make this move/transition
as painless as possible on our parents? They are so sad to see their
grandkids go away. My parents do not completely see the big picture of
why we are going and are hesitant about our journey. I think this may
be harder for them than it will be for us. I want to infiltrate them
with love and grace and would love to be sent off by them in the same
way. #2 The kiddos. We welcome any tips, advice, encouragement that we
could share with them that would help them cope with leaving the
comforts of home (our dogs) and friends behind. They are so scared
that they won't have any friends to play with in China and are sad
about leaving grandma and grandpa. They have moments of excitement,
though, and I think the fear of the unknown is something we are all
trying to cope with. #3 What is your favorite homeschooling material?
How did you get all your material to China since we can only bring two
bags each? #4 Did any of you ship boxes from home to your apartments
in China? What would you suggest we ship?

Looking forward to connecting with you all.

In Him,
Marco, Karen, Caleb and Mackenzie