We made it to Kapsowar!! Praise the Lord!

Hello everyone! We are so thankful and excited to finally be in our new home in Kapsowar. I could go on and on and on about how gracious and good our Lord is. He has provided so much for us along this journey. I will try to highlight a few things. I'm sure I am forgetting some, but these are a few that stick out to me.....
*on our first LONG flight, there was a lady next to us whose tv screen wasn't working, so she requested to change seats. that left us with an extra seat, so layna could lay down flat and sleep.

*the girls did SO WELL! they both slept for good amount of time on the airplane and behaved themselves very well considering the crazy schedule and long hours we had.

*The guest house we stayed in was such a blessing. We were all able to stay in the same "room", including Kathy, which made it more convenient. They had a great swing and little slide there that the girls really enjoyed. We had one evening of "down time" there, which was much needed.

*On the second LONG flight, there were a lot of empty seats in the back of the plane. Aaron was able to go lay down on a row of seats and actually get a few hours of sleep. Then I rested for a little while too.

*Our travels were all safe and nice. Everyone has stayed healthy!!!!

*Vanessa Jones (one of the other missionary wives who lives in Kapsowar) was able to pick us up in Eldoret and help me do a month's worth of grocery shopping!! It was SO helpful to have her there to show me what i needed and which brands were better.

*We recieved ALL our luggage!! Even after one piece was delayed in Nairobi, we were able to locate it Friday morning and send it along with all our other luggage in the van. (our luggage was driven to Kapsowar separate from us).

Braelyn said it well when we pulled up to our new house here...."Praise the Lord for our new home"!
I think we are all so happy to finally be here and to get to be settled in to a routine and family life.

We are so thankful to have Kathy, Aaron's mom, here with us. She has been so helpful in so many ways.

Pray for us as we get adjusted to this new life. Pray that we can get settled in and makes this "home" soon. We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you all for the encouraging words and love you have showed us.

Looking forward to posting some pictures soon of our journey here!

It's Go Time

Wow what a whirlwind week...or year for that matter. In the last week we have successfully packed all 15 suitcases and Rubbermaid boxes for our next two years. We have moved out of the mission house and into my (Aaron) parents house for 3 nights. We had our last round of shots and Sonya was diagnosed with Graves Disease! Yes that's right it actually all happened in the last 5 days. Not to go into too much detail, Sonya had been feeling bad for a couple of months. Weight loss, to which I attributed to stress ( we have moved 2 times in 3 months and now moving again to Africa!), heart palpitations to which I told her she needed to exercise (I admit I was wrong!). Nausea and near passing out some mornings (no not pregnant). So we thought it would be a good idea to have her thyroid checked before we leave although she has never had any thyroid problems in the past. Labs were drawn Wednesday (6 days before we leave), results called Thursday, special trip to Bristol (2 hours away) for part of a thyroid scan then a return trip the next day for the rest of the scan, a meeting with an endocrinologist and 2 medicines later she is starting to feel a smidgen better (yes, no thanks to me).  We know this was allowed by God and for a couple of days last week we weren't sure if we would be able to keep the flight tomorrow but God worked and allowed us to get 2 months worth of waiting and appointments and test done in 2 days! Dr. Beasey (the endocrinologist) encouraged us to go so here we go. leaving for the airport in 10 hours! Just a few requests before we go:

• please continue to pray for our health as we go and for Sonya as she adjusts to these meds.
• We will need to have her thyroid checked in a month or so to see whether to go up or down on the dose of meds and I'm sure this can be done in Kenya but we have not been able to nail down any details of where it can be done.
• Please pray for the kids to sleep and obey and the flights/connections to be smooth.
• That all our luggage would arrive when we do...intact!
• Grace as we adjust to all the changes we have been experiencing and will be experiencing 
• Pray for our families as they adjust to us being (a little) further away

Thank you for praying and thank you for giving. We are blessed over and over by you. We are SO excited to go and see what God has in store. It has been a long time coming and it is finally here! To God be the Glory, Lord Willing next update will be from Kenya!

Yay! Progress in Packing!!

Just wanted to give an update on how our week of packing has been going. First of all, thank you all so much for your prayers. This is a tough process, but it is encouraging to know we are being prayed for.
   The first of the week started out slow, but I was glad that my Mom was able to come and help me out some. Another highlight was that my good friend Stephanie offered to bring us dinner Tuesday night! What a blessing it was to have a good meal and get to see her too.
   Today, my sister and my brother and his wife (Carla, Michael & Katy) were able to come to the mission house and help us with many things. My sister has become my personal shopper the past week trying to help me locate random things like sippy cups and make up at several wal-marts and targets. She has been such a great help.
    The most exciting news I would like to share is that after working hard all day today, with the help of my family, we were able to pack SEVEN pieces of luggage!! Woohooo!
    It felt so good to see this progress. I am SO thankful that they were able to come and help. We could not have gotten it all done without them. To top it off, Aaron's mom surprised us by bringing over homemade vegetable beef soup!!

    We are not sure how many pieces of luggage we will have altogether....maybe 12 or 14. That means we are hopefully halfway done!
 
    Tomorrow night we will celebrate Braelyn's 4th birthday! I am thankful that we get to share this special time with family before we go. 
     Praising God for such amazing provision today! And here are some pictures of the process. Actually, these were taken after we got them all done, so the floors are actually much cleaner than they were!

  

New look

Yes, because I have so much free time...I decided to change the look of the blog a little bit :). Really I just didn't like the other one that much. So, hope you like it. Thanks for keeping up with us!

Prayer Request: I have blocked off all of next week for "packing".....real packing, like in action packers and suitcases! So, we would really appreciate your prayers for that process. Pray that I can be quick in my decision making and not get overwhelmed. Thanks!

Tickets... check!

Well it's official we are leaving September 25th 2012 for Kenya! We booked our tickets last week. We will be leaving on that Tuesday at 2:30pm from Knoxville then to Atlanta and on to Amsterdam. Then Amsterdam to Nairobi...scheduled to arrive at 8:15pm on Wednesday night. Total of about 24 hours of travel time. Spend the night in Nairobi then pick up a few items Thursday in Nairobi and spend the night again there. Then Friday morning flying to Eldoret where we will do the grocery shopping and be picked up by the hospital ambulance and ride to Kapsowar. We are told it's about 2 hours unless you take the "scenic route". I'm not sure we want to find out what that means!
My (Aaron) mother is taking the trip with us to give us an extra hand (or two) on the way there and while we unpack. She will be in Kapsowar about a week with us, which is such a blessing!

Still lots to do here. We are still gathering the last few "needed" items. It's hard buying so much but at the same time I'm pretty sure we won't be buying much in the way of clothes and shoes while we are there. No amazon free shipping there!

Please pray for Layna she has another ear infection and started antibiotics yesterday. That stinker ran a fever of 105.5! Last night was much better.
Also pray for our packing. We NEED wisdom! How to pack, what to pack in. How much to pack and what to take.
Please also pray for all of our health (including my mother) as we prepare and as we travel.

We are so thankful to be able to go! Thank you for your prayers and love. 20 days from now we will be checking in at the airport!

I heard a quote in college that really stuck with me that I want to share.
"If being named an ambassador for your home country in a foreign land is considered an honor in this world, why should we consider being an ambassador for Christ in a foreign land a sacrifice!"
Thank you Lord for the privilege to serve!

A few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

                                         Camping with Sonya's family over Labor Day Weekend

                                                                      Cousins!

                                            Braelyn staying warm after playing in the river