We have ARRIVED!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Tinklepaugh Family!!!!!

We have arrived at last to Kansas 🙂  Thank-you all for your prayers, texts, e-mails, and encouragement.  They have been most beautifully timed and precious to us.

We are so excited to be here!  The area was surrounded with snow when we arrived and the kids LOVED playing in it!  Lewis could play in it all day…and Hannah informed me that it was cold and that she wanted to go “home” now.  She associates her ‘winnie-the-pooh’ mat with “home” and so I am longing to get that out for her when our goods arrive at our new home next Tuesday so her little spirit and body can rest in her new home on her old mat 🙂

We were so blessed to sign for a house the next day after we arrived.  The kids were delighted to run up and down the wooden floors and check out all the fun hiding places in the home.  They were so incredibly cute to watch!  It is a beautiful historical home and we are so excited to call it our new home.  The activities and opportunities to connect with other believers are numerous here…we are most excited about this!

I am excited to be able to get my first doctor’s visit in a week–at 14 weeks.  A sweet lady at the hospital was able to get me seen two weeks earlier than I would have otherwise, so I won’t be 16 weeks at my first appt!  I am beginning to feel better now, but have been often feeling very sick the past few months.  I didn’t experience this with Lewis and Hannah, so it has been a bit of a surprise to me.  This “little bean” is really giving me a whirl!

The past month has been one of constant traveling and staying in different homes/hotels.  Our bodies and spirits are all worn out; we have really taken a toll from everything….BUT we sense the Lord giving us JOY and HOPE to be replenished and to have our MINDS RENEWED for this new year.  We are looking forward to this incredible new location and new home and new wine the Lord has ready to pour into our new wineskins…that we are beginning to step into.

The Lord provided in so many ways during our travels.  He provided mostly through amazing family members that helped us and provided for us in numerous ways.  We are so thankful for all of you!  The Lord continually provided, despite obstacles that came our way…and our silly errors–we almost missed both flights we had scheduled….each child up-chucked right before leaving to go to the airport…one in the stroller and the other in the car (as well as other times in our travels), other travel delays to the airport, little car scrapes and bumps to the truck before leaving Fort Irwin—BUT during each trial, the Lord provided.  I have never seen so many people move aside during a security line at the airport…with no fuss or grumbling…we simply declared we had 15 minutes to get to our flight (at the Atlanta airport…which has many different terminals and trains to get to!)…and every person moved aside….we FLEW through the security line, and arrived two minutes before our flight was to take off…clearly having missed it…as a sweet voice came over the intercom that our flight was delayed a half hour and had moved gates….  We were in awe at God’s grace to us.  We arrived worn out to our hotel and new home here…but were so happy and thankful to be here at last.  The past few days in the motel have given us a bit of rest and focus for the weeks ahead, before we begin the major task of unpacking and moving in.  We were excited to celebrate our new year with a new home and new location….a new season ahead of us…full of promises of JOY, STRENGTH, FAITH, LOVE and HOPE!

These are the verses of encouragement the Lord is giving to me for this new year:

~ “I also know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” -Jeremiah 29:11

~ ‘Give yourself fully to the adventure of increasing attentiveness to My Presence…focus your thoughts on Me…My thoughts embrace you in everlasting Love.’

~ ‘Relax in my Healing Presence…bring your mind back to me for refreshment and renewal…the sacrifice of time you spend with me pleases me and strengthens you.’

~ ‘Hide in the secret of My Presence, even as you carry your duties in the world.  Do not be weighed down with problems and unresolved issues, for I am your burden bearer…in the world you have trials and distress, but don’t let them get you down. I have conquered the world and deprived it of power to harm you.  In Me you may have confident Peace.’

These were inspired by  “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young, a devotional book that several friends had recommended to me in the past.  It has been a wonderful respite and opportunity to focus into the Lord’s heart and voice to me each day for the new year.  And it has been wonderfully pertinent to me at this time.

I love the New Year’s!  So wonderful and full of promise and HOPE…with no mistakes in it YET 🙂  !  May the Lord help us in the little decisions we make each day to grow closer and closer to Him.  May we choose to serve HIM and only HIM through each choice we  make.

Happy New Year FILLED WITH JOY and HOPE to YOU!!!