Almost there

What a crazy last 6 weeks it has been!  In that time, we made a two week trip up to Oregon & Washington to visit family, hosted the Hope of the Nations team at their Gilroy stop, packed up our house, moved in with Jenni, Jaron & the girls, sold the house, travelled to Central California to visit 2 of Jim's sisters and preach at Scott & Janet's church, and organized and packed our 40' shipping container.  To say the least, we are exhausted!  It was physically, mentally and emotionally draining, but in the midst of it all, we felt the strength and power that only comes from God.  Truly, His grace is sufficient.

Our time visiting family was very special.  You've heard people say you can choose your friends but you're stuck with your family?  Well, we are blessed to be STUCK!  We have an amazing family, on both sides, who love Jesus and love each other.  We got to share all about the work we'll be doing, we prayed together, we were prayed over and we laughed a lot too!  The difficulty in saying goodbye was knowing the goodbye could be for a long time.  Thank you Jesus for technology -- internet, skype, facetime, magic jack -- all these will help us keep family and friends close.

As we said above, our house has sold and it was sold to a very special couple to us, our pastor and his wife!  It's their first home and they love it's quirkiness just like we did.  Isn't it great to see how God works out all the details?  Our loss (being a short sale) was their gain and we couldn't be happier.  If we didn't have family in the area, we might have to camp out in our old house when we come back to visit!

Container Empty

Container FULL

Probably the biggest, craziest and most difficult thing we have done is get the container shipped out.  Jim's parents very graciously allowed us to store all of our belongings in their barn for the last few months, making it easy to load everything in one place.  You might think you can just load it up and ship it out, but no, it is a time-consuming, grueling process.  Every single item that goes in has to be listed on an inventory sheet, categorized and then valued.  Then comes the fun part in trying to stuff everything in.  It's like a giant puzzle where things have to go in just so in order to fit it all in.  Once again, our Incarnate Faith family showed up and with Jim leading the charge, we got it all packed in just two days!  Sadly, the motorcycle you see being suspended from the container ceiling had to be removed.  Jim bought it to use there, but we have not received the title from DMV and it cannot ship without the original title in hand.  Please pray that we receive the title so it can ship in the container going from Sonora, and keep the whole shipping process in prayer.  There are a LOT of requirements for getting it cleared in Dar Es Salaam.

God continues to lead us in His path, opening all the doors at just the right time.  We finally got word that Jim's jaw surgery is scheduled for March 26th.  He had to have this done before we left, as he has been going through the process leading up to surgery for over 3 years.  There is a very short recovery time, but return checkups required at 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks.  This required us to make changes in our travel plans, so we cancelled and rebooked tickets yesterday.  Unfortunately, ticket prices have increased significantly.  Anyway, I am now leaving on April 20th and Jim will follow on May 26th.  The really good news is that we have a house to rent over there as of today!  It's only a 10 minute walk to the office and Bible College and just a few minutes drive for Jim to the marina.  It is so nice to know we have a place ready and will be able to move right in.

Finally, we are almost at our support goal!  We are only $185 per month short of our need, and we're very excited at how God has provided.  We also have a few days open on our prayer calendar, so if you like to choose a day, we would love to add you.  The purpose of our prayer calendar is so we know that someone is praying specifically for us each day of the month, and in turn, we pray specifically for that day's prayer partner.  We will have a wall in the house with the calendar posted, along with pictures of our prayer partners.

We are blessed daily by so many who have loved, prayed, supported, called or encouraged us.  While we are excited to go, we face the difficult time ahead of leaving family and friends.  Will you pray for us and especially for our kids and grandkids?  We have lived near Jenni, Jaron, Avery and Riley for 10 years now, and have had the privilege of being intimately involved in their lives.  We are trying to savor every moment we have together, but at the back of our minds we know time is flying by.

Praise & Prayer:
1.  Pray for the container's safe arrival and quick customs clearing (due to arrive in DAR in late May)
2.  Pray that we receive the title for Jim's motorcycle SOON!
3.  Praise that Jim's surgery is scheduled.
4.  Praise that we are so close to our financial goal.
5.  Pray for us and our family as the date of our leaving is fast approaching.