Making this House a Home

"Mommy, where is my home?"

A while back, while visiting a friend, Kaleigh asked them, "Is this your home?"

"Yes it is!" My friend replied. "Where is your home?"

My daughter's eyes glossed over with confusion, and she looked at me. "Mommy, where is my home?"

My heart hurt a little to hear her ask this. I know it's confusing. We have moved every six months for the past two years. 

"Home is wherever your family is. So right now, our home is with your Grandma and Grandpa Wells!" She seemed satisfied with this answer and went on to play with her little friends. 

Home is where your family is. Wherever God has called you to be. But part of my job as mom and wife is to make wherever we are, feel like home. I have little roll up beds for the kids that my friend from church made, we take those everywhere so they have the same bed anywhere we are. Certain toys we bring with, to help it feel more like home. It's the little things. 

I should have taken a before picture of our apartment, with our suitcases and things in piles and disarray . But that would have truly been embarrassing. Instead I took pictures four days later after I finally got all the suitcases unpacked and things tidied up. Ha! That only took me forever! By now the jet lag is starting to wear off and Gideon actually slept through the night. (Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!). We have had one staff meeting in preparation for the school beginning this week. Wednesday Nathaniel will go to look at a van, and we are settling in. This studio apartment with a loft is beginning to feel like home and it's wonderful. Who knows how long we will be here since we are keeping our eye open for places to rent off campus, just in case. But for now, we are happy and content, and ready to make the trek down the hill to the beach. Alinah's first time! 

For a girl who lived in the same home with her family for about 10 years, it was an adjustment to move around so much. We adapt and change and I'm learning how to do this quickly and in every circumstance. 

Here is quick tour of our apartment :). 

My reminder to myself after a long four days of being jet-legged and much to short with my poor family!! 

Salt and Light

Seasons change, life changes, people change... We have gone through so many changes this last year, and as 2016 starts, we find ourselves rolling with the tides of change once again. On March 8^th we will be hopping another plane, headed back to the University of the Nations in Kona Hawaii! I prayed for favor when looking for our plane tickets, and God did even better than just giving us a good price for tickets (we found a great price!), but we also found out that our miles covered two tickets! So blessed and thankful. Last time when we flew to HI it was with two little kids in tow. This time, we have three!

In September of 2015 Nathaniel finished the film school and internship at the U of N, and when we return we will both be staff with this school. I have no experience working with film but I can help in the areas of mentoring or administration. As we have described the vision of being in the film industry, and working with people who are in that field and do not yet know who Jesus is, the word that we are called to be Salt to the Earth and Light to the World is brought up over and over. This is what the School of Digital Film making is all about. Teaching people how to be good at what they do, but also how to be in that industry, making a positive influence on those they work with. Also how to make good quality films that reflect Godly values. Being staff, Nathaniel will get the chance to gain even more experience working in film and of course help the students as well. Our plan is to be there a year and from there, who knows!? Psalms 119:105 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.' If you think about it, a lamp doesn't shine very far ahead, but it shows you your next steps, and that is just what we need. Because when we know God is guiding our steps, then we know we will end up in the right place. Our journey is never boring and sometimes challenging, but it's exciting to be traveling in the will of God.

Here is where I ask for prayer. Please pray for our trip back. This is about 18 hours of traveling and will be Alinah's first time flying so... lots of prayer is needed! Also prayer for grace as we transition once again. We will miss being with my mom and dad and closer to family. The kids especially will have to adjust again to the different time zone and living quarters and that can be rough. Nathaniel will need to find a job on top of everything, and we will be looking for a car and eventually an apartment off campus. Another prayer request we have is for more monthly supporters. The more financial support we have, the more Nathaniel will be able to focus full time on the ministry and developing new projects.

We have been so grateful for the support and love we have received during this time we have spent back on the mainland. It has been such a good time for us to adjust to being a family of five and for our kids to get to know my parents better. It was also really special to be able to have our baby here, with my mom delivering. As hard as it is to leave, we are really excited about getting back into the ministry, and settling into our new routine. It's always a new adventure and we love to take you guys with us though the journey. It's always amazing to see what God is going to do next and such a privilege to be able to be a part of it! I pray that in this new year you will see God's blessings each day. Each day is a new start and His mercies are new every morning!

Blessings from the Tracy Family!

Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Kaleigh, Gideon, and Alinah

Send offerings and support to:

Good News Christian Center, 2293 Prairie Ave. Beloit, WI 53511.

Make checks payable to: GNCC with the memo saying 'support for Nathaniel and Elizabeth Tracy'.

Or go to www.paypal.com, press: 'Send Money' and enter: soccer_g_p@yahoo.com

Tracy Newsletter - Transitions

Transition

Nathaniel and His Class

On June 30^th (which was also our 8^th anniversary!), Nathaniel graduated from the School Of Digital Film making through the University of the Nations. We are so proud of him! He did very well in the school, and has already been asked to help with several short films while he is doing the next step, which is the three month internship. On the 26^th of June it was 'Premier Night' for his school where they showed all of the short films that were made during the last three months. Nathaniel had two films, and one of them had K as one of the stars. So it was also her debut as an actress! They were both very excited. The films were so fun to watch and it was so great to see all they had accomplished. Of course I am rather partial to Nathaniel's films. His first was entitled; 'The Door' and it was about the trap of falling into temptation and the second was 'Perception', all about a man who threw away everything, simply because he was not realizing all that he already had.

Starting officially tomorrow is the internship for the film school. He will gain more experience in filming, and get to work with people who have more experience. Also he will have a chance to shoot another short film since the equipment is available for him to use while he is doing the internship. This school officially ends on September 23^rd. Our hope, and our plan as of now is to travel back to Wisconsin soon after, visit for a little while and then road trip down to North Carolina where my parents live and have the baby there. We will stop and visit my sister and his sister along the way. (Quickly of course so that we get there in time!)

The Miracle Nap

Right now on base it is 'transition week'. Other schools left on outreach, or went home, and tomorrow is 'arrival day' where all the people for the next quarter show up. It won't be as busy as last quarter though. It's so very different during transition week. The base is so quiet. It's rather peaceful! As I am writing this I just hear the sweet sounds of the birds outside and our fans blowing on me. BOTH kids are napping so I am seizing the moment. We had a couple of days where some friends let us use their car and we were able to go to the other side of the island and see some water falls, a small zoo, and go to a small mall! It was a fun little road trip and good for our family to spend some quality time together.

I was blessed to find a place as staff this quarter. I get to help two times a week at the boutique that I wrote about earlier where God provided a stroller for us! It is such a great ministry and I am happy to do what I can to help. It also helps lower our living costs on base if I am staff. A win, win situation!

Baby bean #3 is doing well (we are 24 weeks along now) and we found out that we will be having a girl! So excited for the fun little girl clothes to come. G is over his whooping cough and I am so grateful for the different things I found to help him through that time. I really felt God's hand over that whole situation. Please keep K in your prayers as she still has a cough that is just not wanting to be shaken. The doctors have no idea what it's from. Part of it could be the polluted air here because of the volcanic ash that is in the air. It can make it really hard for people to get over coughs. We are also trying to keep her away from dairy to see if that helps. Hard for a Wisconsin girl. Prayer for finances is also appreciated as we start looking at the prices for tickets back to the mainland, and the cost of getting down to NC. It can seem a little overwhelming at times, but we really feel that God will provide.

Hopefully soon I will be able to share Nathaniel's short films so you all can see them. I know that makes him nervous, but I think they are wonderful! Also K is such a cute little actress.  We hope you all are doing well!

Blessings from the Tracy family!

Family Selfie On the 4th of July

Send offerings and support to:

Good News Christian Center, 2293 Prairie Ave. Beloit, WI 53511.

Make checks payable to: GNCC with the memo saying 'support for Nathaniel and Elizabeth Tracy'.

Or go to www.paypal.com, press: 'Send Money' and enter: soccer_g_p@yahoo.com