Cali at its finest

Family Pic

Livin' it up in Cali.

Where are we?

Okay, so I'm officially changing our updates from Locke Adventures to Locke Life BECAUSE HOPEFULLY we'll be keeping it on the low with adventures! Many of you will be glad to hear that we are landing in the Porterville, California area for awhile. Settling? I hope so, for a few years at least. Working? As always, but this time Heath has been hired at a citrus farm here as a project assistant (project manager). He starts tomorrow. Housing? We'll be staying with our friends Mike and Jonelle for a bit longer until we find a place for our family to settle. As amazing as God has been at providing hosts who are gracious and loving through the last 3 years, we are ready for some space of our own.
Heath and I felt that we may not be back in Portland for awhile as we drove off to the unknown in June. Once landing in Lindsay, CA and staying with our friends, Jonelle and Mike, we felt like we were home in many ways. Ministry has been a lot of fun here and we feel like they are family (as they truly are). Our family is very tired, physically, emotionally and spiritually as we have had to pick up and move every 3 to 6 months for the last year and a half. As you look at our life, there are many ways to interpret the last year and a half and each of you will come to your own conclusions. Some will believe that due to all the upheaval in our lives, it may be evidence that we should've never sold our house and embarked on the adventures of the last 3 years. Others will look at our life and think we had a good adventure. Others will just be frustrated by our constant wandering and gypsy lifestyle. And some of you have lived every step of the way with us, gleaning the good stuff that we were able to pick up through our travels and lessons the Lord put before us. I'm sure there are a variety of other interpretations of our life.
You may conclude what you want, it won't affect us much! What really matters is how we feel that the Lord is looking upon our last 3 years of adventure and what he is seeing for our future. And as much as we have seen plans change, difficulty upon difficulty, and not being able to see what's ahead, we are confident that we have been walking this journey in obedience to the Lord. We are by no means convinced that difficulty = out of the will of God. In fact, as you read Scripture, nowhere is it proposed that when you are obeying and walking in the will of God that life works out as you plan with no difficulty or change.
The future? We aren't sure. But as Paul, sometimes he worked as a tentmaker as he ministered and sometimes he lived by the support of others. All the while, he ministered. Right now, we are being led to a season of stability of circumstance for the sake of our kids and the sanity of their very tired mommy! All the while, we will be ministering. As we get into a routine and gain some structure to our chaotic life, I will be able to update a bit better.

We have no change of address yet and will keep you posted on that. Our cell phone is still 971-404-6128.

***IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE REMOVED FROM OUR UPDATES LIST, JUST ASK. NO FEELINGS WILL BE HURT.

Thank you all for your continued encouragement and support through this crazy journey. We couldn't have done it without you. If you have any questions, just ask. As always, our lives are an open book!

Love and peace to you all,
emie for the locke fam