David and I met in high school. Our first date was prom at Fernbank in Atlanta. We decided after that night to pursue a relationship with Christ at the center. We dated throughout that summer and the college years that followed. He asked me to be his wife at Frost Chapel on Berry College campus. We stood in the exact same spot 15 months later and said “I do” to forever.

Amazingly enough, at 21 years old we were certain of two things: we loved each other in a forever kind of way, and we knew the Lord was leading us to overseas medical mission work. After our wedding day, we started our journey to the field. It took us 10 years, but after 4 years of med school and nursing school, 3 years of residency, 1 year of “work” and 2 years of seminary training and application process, in 2010 we were finally appointed by the International Mission Board (IMB) to serve in East Asia!

By this time the Lord had doubled our family by adding Hannah and Jacob, ages 5 and 3. We loaded up the kids, their legos and a lot of faith and headed for East Asia! Our assignment was to spend the next 3 years learning language and participating in a village medical ministry that would open doors for the gospel.

(And at this point in the story I will take a break from the narrative to tell you what is going on with my blog – you won’t see anymore pictures for a while until I can”t figure out how to get WordPress to link to my Google photos. It worked for a minute – as you can see there are two pictures above and various pictures throughout other posts – but now it keeps telling me it can’t connect. So, for now, words it will be. I can be wordy. )

The transition from life in America to life in East Asia was difficult to say the least. Everything from language to food, from schooling to transportation was new and “weird” to our western minds. Thankfully we had been well trained in how to handle this culture shock and it only took us a few months to adjust to the newness. The children adjusted better than we had even imagined they might. Jacob started attending a local East Asian preschool, operating completely in the local language from 8-3 each day. They potty trained him and taught him how to eat noodles with chopsticks! Before long, he was ordering food for us at the noodle shops and being complimented on his local “accent”. Hannah started kindergarten at the International School and began her journey in education in this foreign country. She was brave and eager to try new things as they came her way: riding on the back of a bike around town, going to church in someone’s apartment instead of a large building and making new friends in our neighborhood. We were thankful for those who prayed for and invested in our family to help make this transition smooth.

David and I were so happy to FINALLY be on the field, serving in a place the Lord had provided for us! It was a LONG process to get there and we were soaking it in. There were very long, frustrating days along to way: language learning, manipulating cultural differences, team issues, homesickness, pregnancies (x2!!)…We had to lean on one another and on the Lord through these 3.5years. One of the biggest things I took away from this time in East Asia is from 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “His strength is made perfect in our weakness”. I would pray:

“Then make me weak Lord! I rejoice in my weaknesses because I need YOUR strength! A strength I can’t understand or explain. A strength that surpasses anything I could come up with on my own! Be my strength!”

This verse is what got me through language study! After 1.5 years of full time (40+ hours a week) of language class, tutoring, studying, and practicing, we finally passed the language exam, releasing us to more ministry time. We poured ourselves into some local medical school students, offering an English bible study once a week where we walked verse by verse through the book of Matthew. The students would ask questions like, “What does it mean to take up your cross and follow him?”

David spent time in the local hospital building relationships with the students and the doctors who supervised them. He found that this was a unique “people group” that most Christians do not have access to. His position as a US trained medical doctor gave him privileged access into this community of people. He also had a few opportunities to travel for medical clinics, often traveling for 2-3 days, working for 2-3 days and then returning home. These clinics, while effective and helpful to the local people, were difficult on our family and unsustainable long term.

As I mentioned above, one of my “weaknesses” was TWO pregnancies! We didn’t exactly plan to have a newborn during our first year on the field, but the Lord likes to surprise us when we least expect it. Emma Kate was born just over a year after we arrived in East Asia. Two years and ten days later, He gave her a little sister, Rebekah Taylor.

As you can imagine, my days were filled with all things baby: feedings, diapers, walks in the neighborhood, making baby food and folding baby clothes. I found my focus shifting from outside my home, to inside my home. Even though I knew my very important role as mom and wife, I still felt very called to the lost world around me there in East Asia. I had to purposely pray and intentionally seek out relationships with others. I had to schedule my day to accommodate late night Starbucks meet ups or weekend get-aways to nearby towns in order to keep these friendships. As a result, my language soared and my opportunities to share the gospel did too. My language tutor eventually accepted Jesus, and my neighbor friend heard the truth multiple times. God was faithful to give me pathways to be used by Him – both inside my home and out.

Our daughter Rebekah never actually lived in this part of East Asia outside of the womb. We moved to Thailand when I was 36 weeks pregnant with her, with the intention of transferring to another part of the world to continue our ministry. The last year of our time in East Asia had revealed to us that medical ministry in this part of the world would be nearly impossible to begin and maintain in a way that would work for our family. We didn’t want to continue traveling DAYS away to be able to access unreached and medically needy people groups. We wanted to live WITH them. But the government wouldn’t allow us to move closer. We had to make a decision that would serve our families needs and our call to ministry. We started praying and researching.

We discovered a job opening in Central Asia – a place where deep medical need and deep spiritual need intersected. And guess what? They needed an ER doctor and a NICU nurse. After a vision trip to this country to meet the team and see the work firsthand, the Lord revealed to us that this was where He was leading.

When Rebekah was two weeks old, we travelled back to America for the first time in 3.5 years! We had a 2 week old, a 2 year old, a 6 year old and an 8 year old, and boy were we tired! We had 12 bags of belongings left from what we had sold or given away. The legos, our FOUR kids, and our faith, were packed and ready for the next adventure!

I hope to spend the next few blog entries diving into some of the “treasures” that the Lord revealed to me while serving the land of “Tai Chi”. These will eventually lead to the lessons learned and treasures earned while serving in the land of “Chai Tea’. Other parts of this website will eventually contain random things like travel tips, recipes, random thoughts and vacation reviews. Who knows what else will show up as I learn to us this blog and build this website. Thank you for your patience and your interest in my sweet little life 🙂