Almost there

Can you believe it? We have a tentative leave date - January 14th. That is only 5 weeks from today! What an awesome journey it has been to get this far, we have grown by leaps and bounds in our spiritual walk. God has been opening our hearts to so many new opportunities, teaching us to trust completely in Him and He has put the greatest people in our lives.

We spent a great Sunday with Hillside church a few weeks ago. We spoke during both services and ran into many old friends. The congregation was very receptive and kind. We will miss traveling each Sunday to different churches in Michigan, but in January we will start traveling and sharing Gods’ word with many villages in Zambia. God has been teaching and grooming us during the past six months on how to share what He has placed in our hearts.

We sold our remaining car and all that remains is the house and we have decided to rent it since the market is so soft right now. We have two or three pieces of furniture left, just enough to get us by until the end of the year. One thing about having little, there is not much to clean!

The emotions involved in selling everything we owned was nothing compared to separating from our kids. We have been so overwhelmed with moms’ illness and passing, wrapping up our jobs, selling things, we’ve been pushing those emotions back… You know, “I’ll think about that later”. We see Gods’ hand in this also; He knew how hard this phase of our journey would be for us. We have been spending as much time with our children as we can. Our granddaughter, Mia, is growing by leaps and bounds. She’s beautiful and starting to smile and make noises. Pictured above is Mia with her dad, Nick.

Thanks to frequent flier miles, I was able to spend five days with our oldest son, Chad, in Colorado. We had a great time and talked non-stop. He took me skiing, or should I say “falling”. I know now why God would never call me to do Alpine rescue work. I took a wild turn and fell right in front of a little girl, the poor thing couldn’t avoid me. We were both okay but I felt terrible. Chad said it was something to see, arms, legs and skis flying everywhere. Great one for the memory book!

Even though our children are grown and have been out of the house for quite awhile, the knowledge that we will not be able to just run over and see them is difficult to grasp. Thank goodness for the internet and cell phones, we will be able to communicate. We are working at looking at all the positives in this and trying not to dwell on the separation. What a great opportunity for them to come visit us and see Africa and the work that is happening there.

Now we begin trying to sort through and pack all we will need to take with us. We will be taking a few pieces of extra baggage and it’s hard to know what we should take with us. We have the “must take” pile on one side of the bedroom and the “maybe” pile on the other. It will all depend how much we can stuff in each bag and what it will weigh. 50lbs per bag seems like a lot, until you are packing up all your belongings.

I have lists, lists and lists of lists. There are so many little things that need to be taken care of before we go. Doctors, dentists, glasses, medications, mosquito netting, bug repellant and then I remembered I hadn’t finished the Christmas cards. I know it will all get done, in His time, not mine. Why do we worry and fret so much when we know He will be faithful and guide us in all we do?

Please keep us in your prayers, this week I will be giving four weeks notice to my employer and soon David will give his notice. It is one of the biggest steps we will be taking, walking away from wonderful jobs and health insurance during this time of our lives. We know this is what we are meant to do but it goes against everything our society has told us for years. The idea of not having a traditional job, after working so many years, well it’s a strange feeling. We will be beginning a new career doing what God has planned for us and that is exciting.

We need your help!!! Currently we are 89% funded and we need to be 100% funded when we leave. If you have considered supporting our work, please pray that God helps you make the commitment to help us financially. We are praying the remaining 11% of our support will come in during the next three to four weeks. Remember any contribution made before December 31 qualifies as a charitable deduction on your 2007income tax return.

We are so blessed to have you all along on this journey. You have no idea what it means to us knowing you are praying and lifting us up on a regular basis. We do know that God is blessing you and honoring your partnership with us. When we step on that plane, you will all be with us. Thank you again, we could never do this without all of you.