Wait, you’re moving to Spain?
If we’ve met at some point over the past 4 years, it’s likely I mentioned a possible future move to Spain. If it seemed unreal, it’s because, at the time, it felt pretty unreal. Loose. Like a distant, unlikely dream.
In the background of running a business, raising a family, and taking some major pivots and career changes along the way, our dream of Spain has been on our hearts and in our prayers, shaping how we’ve made decisions and made ourselves available to whatever God wanted to do.
Open Doors
During our family trip to Spain this past May, we had one primary revelation and also experienced crazy open doors.
Revelation: We don’t have to wait to move until the plan for a hospitality/retreat center is fully developed, funded, and built. Jonathan and I are both hardcore planners. We like feeling in control, prepared, and capable of executing our plans. We’re both first-borns, after all! However, when it comes to this dream, it is so much bigger than us, and God put it on our hearts to simply trust Him and go, even though we don’t have all the answers.
Open Door #1: A couple of days before we flew to Spain, I got a call from a friend asking if I would be interested in a remote job in a new industry. I have known for years that this move would require us to have jobs of some kind, and this sounded like a dream come true. While in Spain, I interviewed with this company a few times, and accepted the job offer a few weeks after returning home. In my new role, I’m working with a company creating custom board games for brands. As hard as it is to close the door on Sherwood Media, it has all been a blessing, and I’m sure video will reappear in my future, whether in this job or in our ministry.
Open Door #2: I applied for and received my Spanish ID card the week we were in Alicante, so in addition to my passport, I can now take care of a lot of business, like opening a bank account, so we can be a lot more prepared for life/admin before we arrive. If you know anything about Spanish bureaucracy, you’ll know what a crazy miracle this was. The Spanish passport is a crazy enough miracle story that it deserves its own post, or to be shared over jamón and wine.
Open Door #3: We found an area where we want to strategically position ourselves and trust the Lord to do what only He can do. The school is good, the community is small but close, and there is a beautiful abandoned property we fell in love with. And a friend in the area found the phone number of the guy who owns it.
So we started wondering about making the move next year. The more we have sat with this idea, the more peace we feel about going for it. Our tone and even vocabulary around the move have started shifting into more settled confidence and trust.
It’s wild. I think it’s really happening.
What will this year of preparation look like?
We want to begin hosting intentional time of sharing and prayer with people who are interested in learning more about our heart for cross-cultural workers and hospitality.
We will be talking with international tax experts about setting up life in Spain.
We are praying about where we will live, whether to keep our home or sell and buy in Spain.
We will need to sell most everything we own, especially furniture and household goods.
We will need to get several official documents from our state and federal government, plus the Spanish consulate in Houston.
At some point, we will need to purchase our one-way plane tickets.
Why Spain?
My dad grew up in Spain. He was one of six children, and his parents were Christian missionaries (his mom from Tennessee, and his dad from Alicante, Spain). They had a dream, bought some property by faith, and built onto it for years. It’s now a Bible school that has hosted hundreds, if not thousands, of students who have come to grow deeper in their relationship with God.
Spain has always been close to my heart. I grew up visiting and hearing stories, longing to feel more connected to my own family’s roots. I spent 3 months volunteering at the Bible school. I studied Spanish through college and have made many dear friends from Spain that I still keep up with.
Plus, we want our kids to grow up in a more global context, knowing another language, experiencing challenges and overcoming them.
But the deeper reason why we are planning to move is actually connected to the burden God gave Jonathan back in 2011 on his return from Cambodia.
I’ll let him tell that part of the story.
We know this journey will be difficult, and it has been in many ways, but we don’t want to do it alone.
We need your prayers, we need community to send us on this journey, to check in with us, to ask us hard questions, and to encourage us.
Would you join us?
