Ten years ago this week our family moved across the country in a HUGE step of faith from New Jersey to Washington state. We had lived on the east coast (NY and NJ) from the time of Peter and my arrival to the US 9 years prior to that. We were struggling to help Sandeep who was reeling from his pre-adoption childhood trauma. Peter was working and commuting long hours in NY and was unable to spend much time with our kids. I had made the hard decision 5 years before that to surrender my work life at Merck-Medco in obedience to God to stay home with the kids and now Peter was being called by God to surrender his career, to move down from Executive Management to a much lower job at less than half the pay at Microsoft to care for the kids. Sandeep had stayed with my Uncle Sekar Durairaj’s family in CA the year we moved – a huge blessing. So, it was just Peter, Sneha Ruth and me here on a cold, snowy January at the temporary MS housing in Bellevue! Thank you Sydneys for welcoming Peter here!
We look back at the many joys and sorrows, the many blessings and hardships over the past 10 years – all we can say is “May Jesus’ name be glorified through it all – for we are learning to trust in Him and to believe!” Romans 8:28 We had the unexpected little blessing Sarah Rachna join our family that year – a long awaited gift! With that came the blessing of Thatha/Pattima and Palamma who came to join us here in WA. We are very grateful for their love, help and presence in our lives! They had sacrificially retired early and moved from St. Louis, MO to Bellevue, WA just so they could help support us with our struggling children.
Loneliness, suffering, sacrifice and trials have been a huge part of our journey – but we would not have learned to depend on Jesus if not for them! This is our goal for 2014 “Count it all joy…when you meet trials fof various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” So, we thank God for His grace and salvation…..we thank God for sustaining our family over the past 10 years……we thank God for those who have loved us well in our struggles…….we thank God for our churches and fellowships……we thank God for virtual schools and colleges……we thank God for the many opportunities He has given our children and us……we also thank Him for the loneliness, the pain, the sorrows, etc. which have been many……Thank you to our family members who have taken the time to understand our difficult journey and who have encouraged our hearts through your words, acts of love and presence in our lives over the years. Thank you to our NJ friends who have encouraged our hearts over the years and who have continued keeping in touch. Thank you to our dear church friends at Westminster Chapel who welcomed us, faithfully prayed for us and befriended us over the years here. Thank you to TCF and ICF friends we have made along the way. Thank you to Peter and Sandeep’s jobs work colleagues – Peter has had the privilege of working from home the past 4 1/2 years and Sandeep works 5 minutes from home the past one and a half years (huge blessings). We have enjoyed meeting many new friends through the education community and in our wonderful neighborhood too! Thank you to the many FaceBook friends who have sent us words of encouragement. We are grateful for our new church family Mars Hill Church too! A special thank you to the rare, amazing individuals who have spoken into and shown godly love to Sandeep and Ruth Sneha as they have tried to make sense of their losses and brokenness – you have been Jesus’ heart, hands and feet to them! May Jesus bless each one of you our dear friends and family in a new and powerful way this new year revealing more of His love, grace, peace and joy to you! We thank God for each one of you! We stand ONLY by the grace of God……that’s the only hope we can give to anyone out there who is struggling with difficulties in life – God loves you and has a wonderful, eternal plan for you just like He has for us even when we could not see beyond the next moment when we walked in deep valleys. Our kids survive and thrive because He is holding on to them when they can’t. It’s still often very hard but He has promised to continue the good work He has begun in each of our lives and will be faithful to complete when we meet Him in heaven one day!” — in Olympia, Washington.