Miller Update

We are writing today to update you all on our family situation. After 5 ½ years of life at Hopi, we are currently planning to end our time here at Hopi, effective around June 1^st of this year. This has come about through a process of evaluation and prayerful consideration of both our personal family situation and the nature of things at Hopi.

A few of you have been aware of some parts of this process, and we thank you for your prayerful support during this time of change. Last year, due to some specific issues of stress in our family, we were encouraged to take a period of sabbatical in order to “get out of the heat” and evaluate things. We were finally able to do this for a three month period, from mid-November to mid-February. During our time away we were able to travel and visit several communities, friends, and family. We traveled through Kansas, Texas, on the way to Georgia, where we spent one month, then on with stops in Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin before heading back to Arizona.

The sabbatical period was a learning process for us. For one thing, we learned that we really didn’t know how to “do” a sabbatical. But, in spite of some of the mechanics of taking a break, we had some blessed times together as a family to re-group and re-grow together a bit. We did not so much feel that the sabbatical “fixed” the things that need mending in our lives, but rather the time helped to make it clear that there are indeed things that we need to attend to, and that more than a few months away from Hopi will be necessary to allow time for this. For this reason, as well as several others, we have sensed a clear invitation from our Lord to finish up our experience at Hopi, and transition back to the Goshen, Indiana community, where we have family and church relationships.

We are looking forward to this time as a new challenge and assignment. Jim plans to re-join his dad in the heating, cooling, and electric business. At this point in the process, Jim is working on bringing all his work projects at Hopi to a landing and desiring to make some good hand-offs for others to run with things in the future. Also, we are house-shopping for a place to live, in or around Goshen. Our first choice has been to rent initially, and buy something down the road if God provides clarity on that. We are finding, though, that there are not many affordable homes for-rent in the area that are of adequate size for our family of seven. We do have several leads that we are chasing, and trust that we will have a roof over us when the time comes. All of this adds to the excitement of the journey!

In many ways we feel like life will never be the same again, after the experiences we have had at Hopi. God has shown himself strong and caring in so many times and ways. Sometimes we look back with some regret that we missed opportunities and instructions, but we do believe that God has been patient with us and has taken our weak spots and demonstrated his ability to make good out of it, while for some situations we are still anticipating what good may come forth in the future. We trust in and appreciate His mercy and grace, and we desire to again learn more of His nature as we work through the transition back to Goshen, then as we work to build the life and relationships that He desires for us there. At the same time that we are excited about the future, we are finding some difficulty in trying to “un-tie” ourselves from the community here at Hopi. Un-tie from activities, etc. that we have been involved in, while strongly desiring to maintain relational ties with our Hopi friends and neighbors, as God sees fit.

Also a short update on our children:

• Bryce recently turned 18 and is looking forward to finishing his High School education sometime later in this calendar year. His senior year of school has had some setbacks with travel time and some health issues. He has interests and talents in music, outdoor activities, and is excelling in computer security, such as protection from hackers, etc.
• Tara is nearly 15 and I think she has surprised herself with enjoying Algebra. She is growing into an all-around home manager, and is a crochet wiz, whipping out projects quicker than I could untangle the yarn. Her specialty is making animals. See some of her work at her Etsy.com shop "AnUpsideDown Rainbow"
• Seth is 12 and is really learning to apply himself to his work. Currently he is spending a lot of time learning all about flying aircraft and all that goes with it. He likes sportys.com as a resource. Maybe someday I will even fly with him……He also really enjoys nature, especially bird watching.
• Sharayah is 10 and always full of excitement. She also does some crocheting. She’s a crafty, people person and really enjoys interacting with all her friends here.
• Matthew is 2 ½ going on 15. He is full of energy and spunk. I am thinking he must have gotten all his mischief from his mom’s side. Recently, after breaking something of Bryce’s and being reluctant, but encouraged, to say he was sorry, said “I wanted to, but I changed my mind.”

Again, we want to thank all of you for your support over the past 5 or 6 years as we first worked on the process of moving to Hopi, then life at Hopi, and now as we anticipate another transition.

Yours in Christ,

Jim & Roxane Miller and family