The Only Constant is Change

Although many of you have heard this news already, we wanted to let everyone know that we recently made a very difficult decision to leave Lithuania earlier than expected.  For those who would like to know more about the reasoning behind our decision, we’ve written a (relatively) brief explanation of the decision itself and the next steps for our family…

Most of you know that we came to Lithuania in August of 2012, so that Ken could take the position of Chair of the Social Sciences Department at LCC International University (a Christian liberal arts university modeled after North American institutions such as Messiah, Malone, Wheaton, Gordon, etc.).  We made a three year commitment to LCC and tried to do all that we could to be able to stay for three years, or even longer.  We enrolled our children in a Lithuanian-speaking private school within a few weeks of arriving in-country.  We also paid for Lithuanian lessons for the children; this resulted in the children spending all day in a Lithuanian-speaking environment at school, then returning home in the afternoon to meet with their Lithuanian tutor, who also assigned homework (as did their school).  We also tried to do our part.  We took two Lithuanian classes and spent hours most weeks studying in the evening.  Ken arranged to teach on-line at Malone University; this allowed us to bank some extra money in order to save for retirement and to pay for airfare so that we could visit our family and friends in the US over the summer.  In short, we did everything we could think of to settle in quickly and to make service in Lithuania sustainable for a long-term period of time. 

Despite our best efforts, our plans didn’t work out.  Our children came to the end of their first year in Lithuania understanding some simple Lithuanian phrases and sentences and knowing a lot of vocabulary and grammar rules, but far from being able to study and communicate in Lithuanian.  This meant that they had learned almost nothing in terms of academic content for a whole year and were facing another year with similar prospects.  We also saw that both children were isolated socially; they spent much of the year either playing by themselves or living in “adult world” while interacting with us and our friends.  After trying two different schools and exploring various home schooling options, we realized that staying in Lithuania would mean that our children would miss out on important educational and social experiences.  After a lot of thought, discussion, and prayer, in June 2013 we decided that Ken would begin looking for employment in the US, with the goal of transitioning back to the US during the summer of 2014.

 

The job search consumed a lot of our summer, but we are happy to announce that Ken recently accepted a position as the founding chair of the Social Work Department at Samford University (in Birmingham, Alabama).  Because Samford’s administration and trustees are making a big push to start a number of new professional programs, the university wanted to hire a social work chair as soon as possible. In light of this, they offered Ken the chair position contingent on him starting in January of 2014.  So, we will fly back to the US on December 22^nd and will spend about ten days with family in Lancaster, PA, then we will drive to Birmingham so that Ken can start work on January 6^th.  The university has agreed to provide temporary housing until we can find a house.  As life-long Northerners, we are obviously facing another huge transition.  In fact, we’ve never even been to Birmingham.  However, we are really grateful for this opportunity.  Samford is a mid-sized Christian university that has a strong history of academic excellence and financial stability.  The university made a very generous offer, which will mean that Amy will not need to be employed and can focus her time and energy on helping the children through the process of adjusting to life in another new place.  As things settle down, Amy will also have the freedom to discern what is next for her (further education, a job, volunteer work, etc.) without the pressure of needing to take a job quickly in order to help keep us afloat financially.

 

The past months have been a confusing and bittersweet time for all of us.  In the midst of being immensely grateful for our new opportunity in Birmingham, we find ourselves mourning the fact that things at LCC did not work out as we planned.  It will be very difficult to leave colleagues who have quickly become close friends, students who are bright, motivated, and often searching spiritually, and a university that is truly unique in its mission.  We have struggled to understand why so much of our Lithuanian experience has gone smoothly, but one of the key things that needed to work out (our children’s education)  just didn’t.  From the very beginning, the process of coming to Lithuania has required us to relinquish our illusions of controlling our own destiny and rely on God to meet our needs; in the midst of our ambivalence and sadness, we’ve had to once again recognize our lack of control and our utter dependence on God.

We will post again before leaving Lithuania in December.  In the meantime, though, we want to thank all of you who have prayed, Skyped, emailed, Facebooked, visited, sent care packages, etc. while we’ve been here.  We sincerely appreciate the love and support we’ve been shown during our time in Lithuania.  Please keep us in your prayers as we enter another time of transition.