House Finalized, Packed and Ready!

I must apologize for the ME centered posts these last few weeks, and that my posting has been few and far between. Of course, we have been busy with finishing packing, as I said, for the next two and a half months. I've never had to pack for that length of time. I guess this just gets us ready for packing for 3 years! Up really late last night getting all the bags the right weight, which means we needed to unload some things.

The house was finalized yesterday, and we handed over the keys to the new owners. We also finished our wills and signing over power of attorney to close friends that will take care of things while we are over seas.

We have said our goodbyes this weekend here in our home state. Everyone has been very generous towards us as far as prayer support and some monetary gifts. We cannot believe the generosity of our church family, as well as the church families that have committed to praying for us that have given us love offerings to cover upcoming expenses. God has truly blessed us with an incredible community of prayer partners. We thank each and every Sunday school class, small group and church family members and staff who have blessed us and lifted us up to Jesus these past few weeks. We'll need your prayers now more than ever as we head toward the journey that was planned before we were formed in the womb.

We will be on vacation in another state visiting family and saying our goodbyes here before flying to Richmond on August 7 to start 2 month orientation. I hope to be able to blog more from there as we should be settled when we get there. Thank you to all who read this and continue to pray for our travel and continued preparation to go to South Asia. Once we get out of all this ME stuff, things will get much more interesting to read!

God bless,
SAM

Packing, Moving, Closing, Collapsing

What a crazy, tiring couple of days it has been. The date we have been looking towards for the last year- closing sale of the house- was preceded by moving all our remaining furniture and contents of the house to prepare for the transfer. You never know how much JUNK you have until you move. We gave much stuff to Goodwill and threw away much that we could not give away. We filled our 10x15 storage almost to capacity. We have enough room in the front to store a little more just in case. We have also packed for our trip to FPO and have had a tough time deciding what to bring, so we have packed all of our clothes in the suitcases. We will consolidate the things we will take to the field when FPO is over and we have about a week at home before heading to the field.

Our minds and bodies were already reeling and exhausted from yesterday and today moving, and then the closing, which was scheduled for 4PM, hit a snag. Our end went fine, all the papers were signed and the buyers were supposed to close on their end at another location. But their paperwork was not correct. Closing may not happen and we would not get our money until Tuesday or possibly closing may not take place for a week or two. My wife and I sat in the car outside the title company and prayed that all would go smoothly. We will still get our money that is leftover from the payout wired to us on Tuesday morning, but all this was quite the crisis for a couple of hours.

Needless to say, we are out of the house, staying with church family members until we fly out of town to visit family for a week and a half next Wednesday. We have some last minute legal things to do before, as well as spend time with my wife's parents who are visiting from Arizona and who helped us immensely while being here (thanks Ma & Pops!) They will fly back home Monday.

We also may have a buyer for our van, which will give us some more emergency fund money. We'll really be dependent without a vehicle!

It's time to collapse. I'll post some pictures of packing to get an idea of our last couple of days. Hopefully now we can relax some! Anyone who thinks their move will go smoothly, talk to me! I'll prepare you for the bumps with our story!

Things starting to set in..

..as in, things are happening now. Last Friday, my wife finished employment where she worked for the last 9 years. She has been home this week getting some stuff finished and packed. Today is my last day at my job. Next Friday, July 20, we will be jobless and homeless as our house is sold. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? But things are starting to set in for us that this whole adventure we have been talking about for the last 8 months is upon us! My daughter said it very well a couple of weeks ago: "All this time it has been a year or 8 months or 4 months away, and now its here." She is excited to go, but is starting to get sad that she will miss her friends and that they will forget her. My 4 year old son, on the other hand, thinks that every time we get into the car, we are going to the country we will be living in. That country could be down the street for all he knows! He'll know he's there when we get there! Last night, my wife and I spent a dinner together thanks to our best friends watching my son for a while. It was nice to sit together and talk without being interrupted. We talked about what we need to pack, what will be stored, what will be given away. Its really hitting finality for us, but we are so ready and willing to start now. We praise God for His timing, and bringing us through all He has brought us through these last few months. Now starts the painful part of our journey. The goodbyes. I'm sure there will be some tissues used the next couple weeks. My advice, buy some stock in Kleenex!

True Hero

Check out this touching video from CBS News of a true hero. (Haven't figured out yet how to put the video directly onto a posting.)
Warning: Contains some disturbing footage.

This story makes me think of how our Heavenly Father loves us, unconditionally, even with all of our faults and sins. As bad as we look to Him and as helpless as we are, He accepts us even though it cost Him everything. Jesus left a comfortable place in heaven, experienced all the things we experience here on earth, and suffered a horrible death that He did not deserve. Why? Love for His Heavenly Father, and love for His children. You. Me. Us.

Scott Southworth is a true hero here on earth. What a witness to the world! May we all be heartbroken to love the unlovable.

Faith

This past Sunday, my wife and I spoke at a church to raise prayer support. The associate pastor, Eddie, took us up on stage during the service and interviewed us about our decision and what to expect. He asked us an interesting question:

"How has your faith been/being stretched as you follow where God is leading you?"

Any of you who know us or have been reading my postings for the last few months know exactly what our response was. THE HOUSE!!!

However, further thinking about this question, I realized that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our faith has been stretched during the crazy house selling process, but we haven't even gone anywhere yet! We know that we are going to be tested and stretched and challlenged in the next years to come, so we haven't even started yet. We think we have had it hard, but we know that things will get harder. We have a large mountain to climb ahead of us, but God knows what we are ready for and how much we can handle. God let Job suffer, but He knew how much Job was able to handle and still be faithful.

How is your faith being stretched? Are you prepared for it to be stretched to its limits?