The answer is both. Plain and simple.
Buuuuut, I know the people in our lives like details, so here it is:
In October, Jay and I spent a week apart. He was in the States for his grandfather’s funeral. I was in Romania leading E Squad. We decided to us that time to individually seek the Lord for guidance on our next steps praying for confirmation when we came together.
Over a cup of coffee in Budapest, we discussed the things the Lord had laid on our hearts. We both felt that the next steps included these five things in no particular order:
- Be near family.
- Reduce debt by paying off student loans.
- Move towards our long-term goal of medical missions.
- Live a life of ministry in community.
- Start a family.
With all of that, we also knew before squad leading that I would most likely pursue a pharmacy residency. It was a dream I had all through school. I participated in the interview process five years ago and through a crazy chain of events, I didn’t match with a program. It was ABSOLUTELY the Lord’s intervention though I couldn’t see that at the time. I wasn’t a healthy person then and residency would not have been the best thing for me. I would have missed out on so many opportunities had I matched then. I might not have married Jay, moved to Alaska or gone on the World Race – three very significant things in my life. So, while that dream had to die for a little while, it remained tucked in my heart. A pharmacy residency is optional, intensive, post-graduate training for pharmacists that is one year in duration. My goal through pursuing residency is to become a well-rounded pharmacist practitioner with the ability to pursue more clinical opportunities with more patient interaction and relationships as well as becoming better prepared for medical missions someday in the distant future.
As we discussed being near family and reducing debt, we decided that meant we obviously had to be stateside for a season of 3-5 years minimum. We also felt like we couldn’t return to Alaska as much as we BOTH loved it there. We made a tier system (making my planner husband very happy) of where we would pursue next steps:
So I did some research and the day after we landed in the States, I attended a huge pharmacy residency conference in Anaheim and talked to approximately 25 programs I was interested in to narrow down my application list. As I waded through the application process our hearts hardened and doors closed in Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington, DC. I think that was the Lord’s way of letting us know that those had been our plans and not His before we even spent the money to apply. I ended up applying to 11 programs. Every single program in Oklahoma and South Carolina that I applied to invited me to interview and not a single program in North Carolina did. God is pretty good at getting our attention and directing our steps. I interviewed at five programs in three cities in 14 days. Factor in travel time and working part-time and you can imagine how crazy February was for us! My last interview was the day before we left for South Africa to debrief E Squad. The day we left, I certified my Match Rank Order List of the programs I interviewed at; the programs ranked their interviewees as well. And on March 20th, I’ll find out where/if I matched with a program that would start in July. We have complete peace about it and view the Match a little like casting lots. That’s how the 11 chose Judas’s replacement, so it’s credible.
We thought steps 4 & 5 would just kind of happen naturally wherever we end up, but God had different plans for “start a family.” When we were in India, I had the opportunity to visit a team at a children’s home for ten days. During that time, I grew to know and love a precious little girl. Jay got to visit a few times and he fell for her too. We have always thought we’d adopt some day because we so clearly see the Father’s heart for adoption in scripture and in our own lives. As we talked about this precious little girl, we fell in love with the idea of adopting from India specifically. Jay’s grandparents served there and his mom grew up there so we loved the idea of having someone who could continually pour our child’s culture into them. We also love that we are far from unfamiliar with India. We’ve been there twice now and have a good handle on the culture ourselves. So this sweet, precious two-year-old who quietly sings and said her first words while I was there inspired us to pursue adoption. As much as we feel like she specifically is supposed to be our child, we have been told multiple times that it is nearly impossible to adopt a pre-identified child due to the Hague Convention’s efforts against child trafficking. Due to these regulations, we won’t be posting her name or any pictures and cannot have any contact with her including being a financial sponsor. We still feel like this is the road the Lord has for us to walk down, so we’re taking it one step at a time down an estimated two-year process and trusting that He will match us with the child He has for us.
So the easy answer to “Does this mean a residency?” or “An adoption?” is YES, both.
While the details on these things are still up in the air and we aren’t yet matched with a residency or a child, it’s what we know for now. In the meantime, my parents are graciously allowing us to live with them. I’m working part-time for an independent pharmacy I started working at in high school while Jay stays busy getting our lives back in order from time overseas. We’re still leading E Squad from afar. We get updates from them weekly reviewing their celebrations and challenges, read their blogs, “like” their pictures, remain in a position of prayer for them and claim the promise that they will finish strong! We’ll be reunited with them in China in May for their final debrief. Upon returning, we’ll move wherever I match for residency and Jay will apply to nursing schools and Bible classes using the GI Bill for tuition and housing allowances. We’re excited about the things to come and trust the Lord to place us exactly where He would have for us to be.
“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” – Proverbs 16:9
-Jenn Dannelley
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