Where are they now?

Do all of you know the "Where's Waldo?" children's books? If you
don't, you should! It will provide hours of entertainment or
frustration. The famous Waldo is hiding in tricky places through the
whole book on his travels around the world. It actually causes me
great frustration but my kids love the anticipation of where they will
find him!
I don't exactly know how this will connect with where in the world
the Locke family is, aside from the fact that these last few weeks
have caused me great tension/frustration in wondering where we are and
where we are going to end up! And I guess if you've been searching
for us in the last 7 weeks, we have been a bit in hiding!!

THE LAST YOU HEARD:
Heath was headed to the States to try and resolve our visa problems.
That was September 11th.

WHAT TRANSPIRED:
Heath RETURNED to South Africa on October 4th about 3 weeks later:
. . .with lots of trying and yet we were still stuck with the same
visas: ones that required our entire family to fly out of the country
every 30 days. We just couldn't do that due to a baby coming in a
little over a month and the great expense it would be for a family of
5 to fly out of Mozambique that frequently!

HOW TO RESPOND??!!
Do we FIGHT to get back to Pemba NO MATTER WHAT because that's what
we said we were going to do? Or do we look at other options and see
if there are doors opening that we would've never been able to walk
through in any other circumstance?

At first we thought maybe it was the enemy hindering our return to
Pemba. We were in FIGHT TO GET BACK MODE. But after several
unconnected confirmations, Jesus began to show us that He was
orchestrating a NEW LOCKE ADVENTURE . . . AGAIN!!

WAS THIS AN EASY DECISION TO EMBRACE?
NOT AT ALL (at least not for me!). About 3 months ago, Heath began
to sense that maybe we wouldn't be in Pemba for 2 years. At that
point, I was adamant that we were going to stay, because that's what
we said we were going to do! But 2 weeks before we left for VACATION,
I was praying about our time in Pemba and began sensing the same
thing: maybe this wasn't for 2 years.
Though the Lord did BEGIN to prepare us, I could've never been
prepared for what has transpired in the last 7 weeks. I have wrestled
through pride (I want to fulfill the thing I set out to do), fear of
man (wondering how our teammates at Iris would perceive this drastic
change and not wanting to let people down even though we feel that we
are obeying God), and fear of failure/people pleasing (not wanting to
look like we've failed and struggling with people's opinions of our
situation.)
I don't know if I would've truly been able to embrace our change of
direction had the visas not been such a decisive issue in the matter.

SO WHAT'S THE DECISION?
After release and blessing from our leadership at Iris and our
teammate in hospitality, I felt we were able to walk through the other
door that opened up to us while Heath was in the States. The house we
lived at for our 2 week "vacation" and then for my 3 week South
African stranding, is a ministry of hospitality, though much smaller
scale than what we were doing in Pemba. It is a guest house for
missionaries and 3 months out of the year it is used for a small
school of ministry. Kent and Shay, the directors of the house, had
planned to leave for 3 months to rest, renew visas and be with family
in the States. People were lined up to care for the property and run
the ministry. . . . until the week we had to decide what direction to
go with our time in Pemba!! That same week, both of their people fell
through! So, they approached me with the idea of Heath and I staying
to care for the ministry and property until they return in January or
February!

Remember, I'm 8 months pregnant and desperate to figure out where we
are going to have this baby! When the option to stay in South Africa
opened, at the very home we were already used to, doing the very
ministry we were just doing, with housing, a car, and utilities
provided for, I was ready to jump for anything as long as I could
start nesting!! But I knew Heath had to be on the same page or he'd
go way too stir crazy being on this property for three or four months.
But he had peace about it too.

Sooooo, that's the decision, not made in a vacuum or without loads of
prayer and counsel, tears and stress. We are living in Nelspruit,
South Africa for the next few months, having a baby, being a family,
TRANSITIONING AGAIN, and caring for tired and transient missionaries!
Heath flew to Pemba on the 9th of October to say goodbye, bring a bit
of closure to the Pemba chapter of our lives, kiss his dog goodbye (he
really does love me!!!), and pack as much of our things in 3 big bags
that he could! It feels so strange to me that I will not have the
opportunity to physically say goodbye to our home and people in our
lives for the past 6 months! I never dreamed, when I was packing for
a 2 week vacation that we would not be returning.
Heath was back in South Africa on Sunday, the 14th. Kent and Shay
left on Monday, the 15th, and our family moved into the main house on
the property that day.

I have found a midwife/doctor team that will come to our house to do a
homebirth. That is the plan as of now and it feels good to finally
have something set for Elianna Charis' birth. Her name means, "My God
has answered me" with "Grace." We are certainly in need of His
ANSWERS and His GRACE.

I have so many emotions and thoughts about the whole thing but I am
not going to overload you all now. Heath has different emotions and
a very different experience in coming to this place so I'm sure he
will write His perspective at some point. We will also be updating
what life in South Africa is like for us and our kids.

There are many details I could not include. Please feel free to ask
questions! You know I'm never short on words!! We love you all and
look forward to hearing from you now that you know where in the world
we are and what in the world we are doing!!
Blessings to you,
Emie