Packing up (in more ways than one)

I have started packing up our belongings for two different reasons as you have probably read. I have begun packing our things for the impending move, we will have 2 weeks when we get back to move, but I wanted to get some of it taken care of now. In our kitchen gadget drawer I found 3 can openers and 3 potato peelers, all of verying quality! It has been kind of fun to begin the great material purge.

Secondly, I have already packed a tub and two suitcases for our trip. I have all of my things ready (except the jeans I am wearing right now) and I have Jacob's clothes all ready to go as well. We also have completed a list of supplies we are brining over to the Cash's and that stuff is packed in a tub (except for the beloved cheese since it needs refrigeration). We have some laundry to do before we can get started on Billy's clothes and we have to wait a few days before we can pack our carry-ons. Less than one week to go before we leave!

Thanks to so many of you faithful givers we have received our fundraising goal of $8000! We are incredibly blessed and well taken care of. Thank you all so much for all of your support!

Hopefully my next posting will be from the field after a wonderfully peaceful day of travel...

Slight Complications

Back when we first decided to go to Uganda for a survey trip we had a few hurdles to overcome. One was clearing the amount of leave with both of Billy's jobs. His full time job said we could take up to 6 weeks of unpaid vacation and the apartment he manages said it was no problem. Then his boss moved on to other work and it took Cascadia a few months to replace him and then another month before Billy's new boss came along to introduce himself. Billy again mentioned the trip to make sure that everything was taken care of as the previous boss had indicated. We found out last night that Cascadia decided to deny his request for a leave of absense saying that the amount of time was too much. They are giving us two weeks after we get back to be out. We are praying that this knowledge is not going to cause us to worry while we are on our trip. The situation has potential to be irritating because we were originally going to only take 2 weeks for this trip, but since both jobs gave the go ahead we planned it for a month, and they told us about the problem when we are supposed to leave in a little over a week.

There are a few blessings that can come out of this: we have two weeks after we come back, we don't have to get out right now. We have no washer and dryer right now, so maybe our new place will come with them. I was planning on getting a part time job when we came back to help more with bills anyway.

We are determined not to let Satan bring us down, we are ok with this decision and the new posiblities that lay ahead. Please keep our living situation in your prayers.

We got the email today! Our tickets are in the mail. I was hoping that they would be emailed to us since they are e-tickets, but they are on their way. Hopefully they will get here by the end of the week, but probably more like the beginning of next week. I also realized that I was slightly mistaken about the baggage allowance. For some reason I thought that it was very small suitcases that they allow, but as it turns out it was an unusually large suitcase I was hoping to take along. We have been granted an extra baggage allowance, so we are going to be able to bring an extra checked item making our grand total 6 checked bags and 2 carryons. I want to bring a suitcase full of boxed food items to share with the Cash's and then we will have an empty suitcase for suveniers (or to spread all of our other stuff around because you can never repack the same way for the journey home)! At this point in our journey we are in a holding pattern really just waiting for the time that we can pack our bags and go. It is very difficult to put the trip out of mind and go on with day to day activities, but it must be done!

We have been feeling especially blessed and supported by family and friends the last few weeks and thank God for every person who has touched our lives in some special way. Thank you all, we love you!

We were sweatin...

it out over here waiting on enough funds to come in so we could purchase the airline tickets. Our travel agent lady said that the quoted price could be held until the end of the month. We were encouraged to go and check the PO box for Pump (since it is only checked once a week). I went down there today and there it was, the check we have been waiting on! I called down to the travel agent lady and found out that she is on vacation, so I had to speak with someone different. That turned out to be a blessing because she gave me a lot more information than I had been getting from the original lady. I told her we were ready to pay for the tickets and she confirmed our reservation for us. Now all we have to do is send the check to pay for it.

On a slightly different note, I am not sure if i have mentioned this before, but we have underestimated our budget for this trip. There were a few expenses that we thought would be much lower than they turned out to be. We are hoping to raise an extra $1000 to help cover those extra expenses. It is not that much of an increase, I have faith that God will provide what we need one way or another!

We feel so blessed and supported by everyone who has taken a part in helping us reach several of our financial goals. We are not there yet, but definitely a lot closer than yesterday!

1 month to go...