Making Plans

There is so much to do to get ready to move!  My list is a mile and a half long these days. 

In addition I am trying to still squeeze in school--four more weeks before we leave for training and hopefully 10 weeks after training.  Here's to hoping that's enough time to get our book work done. :)

We have decided to pack up our house and take a shipping container.  So we are in the process of picking through our house:  trying to decide what to do with things we know we don't want to take. We are throwing away a lot of junk and trying to decide what to do with the other things.  We are selling some things and preparing some things for storage.  We are also looking at what we need to buy to take with us.  All of this takes so much time!  Especially when, I generally just have an hour every day to devote to it! 

We are also preparing our house to sell it.  There is so much painting to do--everything 4 feet and down needs a new coat plus a few other places.  There is a lot of small fixing to do-- you know--all those things that you think "one day I'll get around to it" and you just never do until it's time to sell.  Again...lots of time needed...not much time to be had...  We feel like we are trying to move a mountain with a plastic spoon.  We hope to have our house on the market by the end of January: a true act of God is needed on this .24 acre piece of earth we call home... 

In February we are planning, Lord willing, to go to Colorado for missionary training.  We will be gone for five weeks.  The training institute has classes for Eric and I in culture adaptation and language acquisition.  They also have classes for the kids in these same areas, in order to prepare them.  We are looking forward to this time of preparation. 

And speaking of time lines, we are looking at packing our container mid-June, making a whirl-wind final tour across the country, and then leaving for Uganda mid-July.

We are also still working on getting a missionary associate-- a young woman to live with us in Uganda and help us out.  We have a few people interested and are praying for wisdom for them and us and for God to provide us the perfect fit in this area.

Despite all this we are still trying to live where God has placed us.  I am trying to not get so swallowed up in details that I neglect the children.  We are also working at finishing well at IRC-- our current church--continuing to work hard and love fully, until the very end.  This is where transitions can be hard, right?  So easy to focus on things and leave the people behind.  And that is so not worth it.  Daily note to self--souls first, things second...God will provide for things when we continue to fish for people (our kids included).

And I am so excited to see how God will provide.  I'm so excited to see how this story will turn out...the great stories we will be able to tell--stories only able to be written by the marvelous hand of God.  That to me, is the best part of living beyond myself: the opportunity it provides to proclaim the greatness of God.  Don't worry--you'll hear it...that's why we started this new blog. :)