~ Abby ~

May 23, 2014 by sfam4 5 Comments

When we started thinking about the possibility of moving from Victoria we kept coming back to one concern … we have a teenage daughter.  A teenage daughter who was thriving in her Victoria life.  She had wonderful deep friendships with beautiful young women.  She was excelling in school.  She loved her lyrical and jazz dance lessons, and she found so much joy in her involvement in community theatre.

When we approached her with the idea, we were met with the expected response of apprehension.  Why now?  Did she have a choice?

We continued to talk and pray about it as a family, but Abby’s position remained understandably firm, she wanted to stay put.  One evening, after a particularly emotional discussion with her,  Sheldon and I both agreed that unless there was a radical change in her heart, it was clearly not the time for our family to make a move.  We committed it to prayer, and went to sleep resting in the knowledge that Gods plans for us are always better than the plans we make for ourselves.

The next morning Abby crawled out of bed before the rest of the family and wrote Sheldon a letter.  She shared that when she woke in the morning she felt completely different about the idea of leaving.  She expressed that she even felt excited about the possibility.

We were hesitant … Was she saying what she thought we wanted to hear?  More talking, more prayer, and we realized that God had truly changed her heart.  We gave her permission to change her mind, and as time passed we regularly checked in with her about how she was feeling, but she stayed unwavering. She was ready to go.

She was honest; yes she had concerns, and yes she was scared, but she genuinely wanted to make the move.

Ten months have passed since we arrived in our new home and settling in has not been all smooth sailing for any one of us.  And yet, God has shown his faithfulness over and over again.  Abby has stayed in contact with her wonderful friends back home in Canada, but she has also made beautiful new friendships here. We did not think that anything here could compare with the drama and music training and opportunities she had in Canada but again, God’s plans were superior to ours.  This past semester she had the privilege of playing Anna, one of the leads in her school play The King and I, and it was a truly spectacular performance.

Abby never ceases to amaze us.  She is kind, compassionate, adventurous, funny, forgiving, and so so so much more.  We are incredibly proud of her and thankful that she has been able to share her gifts and talents with others in this community.  We are so very appreciative of how others have poured in to her life through prayers, friendship, and teaching.

We can’t wait to see what the next year brings!