It Is Official...

We greatly appreciate all of you who have been praying for us, since we have been in the States, dealing with the discovery of Gideon’s developmental delays. Today, we received the final reports on the Gideon’s evaluations and the IMB has recommended that we take a leave of absence, in order to best deal with Gideon’s delays. From the perspective of living in the United States, his delays do not seem to be a serious issue at all, but in a foreign country, the resources and opportunities are limited. The length of our leave of absence will depend on how Gideon develops, which we cannot predict. We will remain in the states through the end of this school year and reevaluate Gideon’s progress at that time. We have enrolled Gideon in Kindergarten in the Oklahoma City Public School, where we are currently living. He seems to be adjusting well and his teacher, Miss Cook, has already seen a great deal of progress.

With this difficult decision comes sooo many questions that have yet to be answered...where will we live, what will we do and what about all of our stuff stranded in Russia...not to mention our sweet, little guy and how to best meet his needs...are just the tip of the iceberg!

This is difficult news, but we trust God is in control of it all. We know from an eternal perspective, this is really just a minor, temporary adjustment in our lives. We are honestly in shock that what has been our dream, our life and our hearts desire, since we have been “The 2 Sullivans” has indefinitely, but hopefully only temporarily, been postponed.

I know that throughout our journey as The 4 Sullivans, and especially in the past few months, we have brought you many prayer requests. Once again, we have a burden so heavy and needs so great, we cannot carry alone. Please pray for our family, our future and our son. Pray that the decisions and details will be clear and that we will rely on God’s grace to meet all of our needs. Please continue to pray as we seek what the Lord has for our next steps. Pray we will know where to live. We are so grateful that Village Baptist Church in Oklahoma City has provided us a place to stay in one of their mission homes, however, this is not a permanent situation. Pray we would have wisdom and direction on what kind of employment to pursue here in the States. Pray for Gideon, that he would grow and develop according the full potential God has given him.