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| Three Pallets ready to be shipped to PNG! |
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| Three of our packing elves with our final crate! |
Our plan was to leave on Friday the 23rd to begin the drive to Florida. On Thursday morning we woke up, realized how much had been accomplished (the packing elves had come!) and thought we could actually pull out that afternoon, drive part of the way and stop for the night. So, I booked us a room at the Hampton Inn in Tifton, GA and with the help of our friends, we finished loading the moving truck and Jeep. We pulled out a little after 4pm on the 22nd and drove to Tifton. We were able to get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast before finishing our trek to Florida. We made it in time for lunch. Granted, there was no one here to fix us lunch, but at least it wasn't fast food!!!
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| Not so patiently waiting on Christmas morning! |
We had a great time with our family for Christmas. Christmas Eve we attended the Candlelight service at First Baptist Plant City. It was one of Andrew's request that I was very excited to fulfill. It was a great time for us to refocus on the meaning of Christmas- the birth of our Savior. After our hectic schedule, we needed it even more this year!
On Christmas morning, the kids were so excited to receive Legoland tickets from my parents and tablets (which have been turned in for Kindle Fires) from Santa and the MP3 players from Mom & Dad that were loaded with their favorite music. Don't worry, there were still plenty of Legos to be spread all over the house. Some things never change!
Our last couple of weeks have been busy with filling out paperwork, verifying travel plans and documents, getting last minute medicines and vaccinations, and of course, packing and repacking all of our goods. Praise God we sold our Jeep yesterday! We got our full asking price!!! Tim literally had buyers lined up. Our God is so good!!! For the first time in our lives, we own no vehicles. Kind of freeing!
How has God worked? Let me share with you a few praises:
- We have met our goal of 100% of our budget! Our God is so faithful!
- We arrived safely in Florida with both kids and our "stuff".
- We sold the truck and the Jeep for our asking prices!
- We have someone that will be listing our house in Snellville and finding us a renter
- We have someone who has already done a fabulous job of getting our house in Snellville ready to be rented and will manage both properties while we are in PNG.
- Our goods that are to be shipped to PNG have arrived at JAARS in North Carolina. From their, they will be put on a crate with everything else that needs to head to Ukarumpa, PNG!
So, what's left to be done? How can you pray?
- We still need to get our house back in Snellville rented out.
- We have to pack and make sure our luggage meets all the airline regulations, which is much easier said than done. We are allowed 8 pieces total without charge and are prepared to pay for an additional piece per person.
- Donate everything that isn't worth saving and won't fit in our luggage.
- Enjoy a full day of fun at Legoland with the kids. (Hey, its tough, but someone has to do it!)
- Finish all the paperwork and banking that needs to be done before we leave the States.
- TAXES- trying to get these done before we leave town.
- Find a little bit of peace and sanity.
- Finish our January Newsletter. It will be the last one for several months while we are at Pacific Orientation Course.
Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement as we have continued on our Great Adventure.
Yea, yea, and yea again! So glad to read all those awesome praises. I was really tempted to ask for an update, but figured you would get to it before too long. :)
ReplyDeleteI had been wanting to update, but every time I sat down to do it, there would be something to distract. Now to get my newsletter done BEFORE we leave.
ReplyDelete