Team Palm Beach has arrived

Palm Beach arrived safely to the camp this afternoon. Tonight, David & I did orientation, we have sorted medicines for the clinic and packed them and shortly we will have dessert and call it a short night before we load the buses at 2:30 to begin our travel to the island. Thanks for all those who prayed for their safe arrival. Continue to keep us in your prayers as we minister here in Costa Rica.

Adjustments, adjustments, adjustments....

We've been feeling a little bit "under the weather" as we adjust back into our Costa Rican lifestyle and food. We definitely overindulged while in the U.S. because of missing so many different types of foods and are paying the price now, feeling a little queasy. Jordan has had a difficult time adjusting back to the "no toilet paper in the toilet" routine and keeps his Dad busy unclogging the septic system. We miss daylight savings time and are having a hard time adjusting back to it being dark here at 5:30 p.m. and then of course, the U.S. is two hours ahead of us, and we are adjusting back to a different time zone altogether (we were all in bed at 7:30 last night, though our bodies told us it was 9:30). Other than that, we have been working on the finances of the team that arrives next Friday for a week of medical ministry and thankfully we have no rental group for this weekend. Much to ask you to pray for:

1. Our continuing adjustments.
2. The safe arrival of the team of 30 from Palm Beach Atlantic University next Friday.
3. For the medical clinics that we will be doing on the remote Chira Island where there is much poverty.

Thanks for praying!

Packing, eating and letting go!

It's been a very busy week of dinner get togethers with church family, friends and celebrating Danielle's 18th birthday, packing, and unpacking, and uh, packing (too much weight in our bags!) Today, I cried though, out of sadness. A family friend thankfully took our dog, Cassie Layne, and it was hard. I know that she is in a good home and will be loved on like we had loved on her and even then some! She's an ole' black lab, 11 years old. She was My Girl and I will miss her! Funny how we humans get attached to our pets! Well, I have to say, I feel like I am just about ready for my Costa Rican diet. I've enjoyed way too much good food the last couple of weeks! I am looking forward to shedding some pounds.

Some good-bye fun!!!

Last night we were invited to Elizabeth & Robert's house for dinner. Shortly after we got there Jessica & Jason arrived too. It was a lot of fun to get to know the "J" Family a little bit better. Altogether there were 10 kids, at least 5 of which were on the couch with Heather or in her lap. She had a great time! I have never eaten better hot dogs and cheeseburgers. We sold our grill in a garage sale in November, way before Thanksgiving. It was amazing to me how good something cooked on the grill tastes when you have not had one for four months. A simple pleasure taken for granted. I suspect that in the coming weeks and months there will be many other things that we realize we have taken for granted when we no longer have them available to us. So, to Elizabeth & Robert and to Jessica & Jason...thanks for the tears... from laughing so hard! We were blessed, but "ya'll ain't right"!

Opposites!

Tomorrow is the last day of school before spring break starts, but for Heather, Kyle and Jordan it is their last day of school in the U.S. I was talking with Heather last night and she expressed concern that she would get to say good-bye to all of her friends. I guess, for some, tomorrow is an early dismissal seeing as though it is prom night. So, today and tomorrow, she will be trying to make sure she gets to speak with all of her friends. Kyle and Jordan on the other hand, well, they just keep breaking into their brotherly rendition of, "Schools Out For the Summer" - not quite I remind them...just until we get settled in Costa Rica!

Hanging in there!

Thank you to those who have thought about us today and called or sent an email! It really blessed our day as Ken and I worked on getting loose ends tied up just to know that you were thinking about us and praying for us!

The Struggle...saying good-bye

We got a phone call at the beginning of this week inviting us to a dinner party in our honor hosted by two of our neighbors and one of our supporters. The dinner is tonight. Last night we got a reminder phone call. Could it be that they have mental telepathy and knew our thoughts over the last couple of days? It would almost seem easier not to show up than to have to endure the pain of having to say good-bye. I shared that with our Pastor on Wednesday night as he discussed our final Sunday here; I wish there was a way out of attending that last service. It is gut wrenching! But then of course, God stepped in and the very next day as I was roaming around on Missionary-Blogs I came across this missionary prayer by David Livingstone on a blog (ugh...I forgot to write down whose blog I read it on): "Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties, but the tie that binds me to your service and to your heart". Enough said!

21 days and...

...and I dunno. Seems like we've waited so long to go and now the days are passing really, really fast! Things are getting checked off "the list", but it seems like new things mysteriously appear in the middle of the night because when I wake up the list still looks long! This week Danielle is on spring break from her college classes and the poor kid has no idea all that I have planned to get accomplished with her. She will be "drug" (said in my best Southern drawl) all over the county helping to get things set up for her independence. Three more weeks. It hardly seems possible...

30 days and...prayer requests

Jordan has the flu. Ugh! People are curious as to how you prepare for leaving the country. Well, since we've been traveling, we are behind. Things that we will be doing this week include, but are not limited to, filing our taxes, composing an up-to-date newsletter for our supporters, looking for more luggage (we can take 2 bags per person) which amounts to 10 suitcases. I think we have 4. Heather has an eye exam this week and we will at least try to get her contact prescription filled for this whole next year, plus get a spare pair of glasses. Set up a bank account for Danielle since we are still financially responsible for her. Update addresses, name changes on our support list to send back in to Global and send out a letter through them. So yes, there is much to do. Please keep us in your prayers! We really don't need to get sick. Pray that we can get things checked off our list every day! Our house is still on the market, but we trust God in all of that. Just pray that we will remain in His perfect peace!!!

Four Friends and a very small church....

How the Lord met our support needs recently...

Four friends who meet for coffee and hot chocolate in Syracuse, NY (our hometown) who have a connection with my twin sister; a year and a half ago while visiting my sister invited me to their meeting place. A McDonald's not far from my sister's home. We sat for about 45 minutes and while I was drinking hot chocolate I shared about Costa Rica and answered their questions. Recently, they all decided to pool their money together and signed up for monthly support.

Then there's the small church in N.C. They barely have enough money to pay their Pastor on a regular basis. If you stood on the outside of their church you might think from a distance that they didn't have much to offer. No BIG programs! Not a lot of bells and whistles! If you had the opportunity to go inside like we have had so many times, you would observe a church that prays, and prays hard, for their church body, and for their community. It is a church that serves the community around it, and has passion for introducing people to Jesus Christ. They have stepped out in faith to support us.

Less and less money is given in support of missionaries every day and there are many who can never raise enough funds to get to the field.

To all of you, four friends, a small church, family, friends, our supporting churches: Thank you! We are overwhelmed with your generosity! We are so blessed, so grateful and so encouraged!

The REAL update...

After contacting our immediate family and our Pastor; we are leaving for Costa Rica on March 31st. We do have 100% of our support. That alone is a modern day miracle! As you can imagine, there is much to say and to do. We will be working on a newsletter to send out and as I collect my thoughts a little better over the next couple of days, I will post more on here. The most important thing right now that needs to be said is, "To God be the Glory".

On winning the Super Bowl...

::snicker::

Our Pastor said last night he was eating "humble pie" and he had gotten some "phone calls". I refrained from calling him to rub in his loss. (See, us loud mouthed Northerners can on occasion exercise restraint). I chose to take the "high road", though I must say, I had "amusing thoughts" of placing a sign in his front lawn proclaiming him to be a "Giants Fan". I thought that would be a hoot to have him wake up, drive out of his driveway on the way to his office and see that banner in his front yard! Ghastly, I know (hanging head low)!

"One more sleep"...and Ken will be home! (That's how Jordan keeps track, by the number of times he has to sleep before someone arrives home or until an exciting event happens). We arrived home from church last night to have an interesting email from Ken half composed in English and in Spanish. My immediate thought was, "alright, he has an interpreter sitting next to him because there's no way". Needless to say, I have no clue what half of it said, so I hope it wasn't too important. Today, he is driving around getting things lined up for our transplant to Costa Rica (post office box, grocery card for the camp, meeting the landlord) and I am not sure what else.

Yesterday, I had to leave the house and the company came in with the realtor to shoot our 360 degree house tour. It's not on-line yet, but that should be interesting to view. No new showings this week or last week, either. That's okay though, since I really had not been feeling that good. I have that lingering cough and sinus stuff that everyone seems to be carrying around. We are praying about dropping the price into the next bracket. We trust that God has a plan in all of this for us and we are content to wait and see how it all unfolds! It also gives me more time to enjoy the fresh paint :)

Well, let the Nascar season begin!

And....a new kitchen floor!

We put down a brand spanking new kitchen floor yesterday afternoon and evening. I missed another Kodak moment (ugh!) of everyone sitting on the old kitchen floor eating dinner since our kitchen table was outside on the patio. Come to think of it, the stove was out there too...hahahahaha! We had the refrigerator in the livingroom, of all places, on plywood! Well, today we will put back the molding around the base of the cabinets. Yesterday, we also secured a real estate lawyer that we will use since our other lawyer has left his practice since we bought this house. I see light at the end of tunnel!!!

Still.....painting

I have really dreaded having to paint the kitchen, but thankfully tonight I am almost done. It has been a long day of tedious taping around kitchen cabinets and countertops to start the painting. There does not seem to be a full wall anywhere in this kitchen, so it seems to be taking so much longer than any other room with the added excessive taping in the broken up lay-out of windows, cabinets, etc. The other day I found out that my brother, Dick, who is a missionary Pastor is coming home from Scotland for a short visit. This is great news since we were talking on the phone wondering how and if our furloughs would ever coincide with each other's. He will be at home in Syracuse, NY just a few days before we need to travel there in February and then on to Global's offices in Buffalo and St. Catherine's for some last minute meetings. I think it has been two years now since I have seen him and so I am really thankful and excited, but that is so understated, that God has uniquely orchestrated his return and our travel to collide and I will get to see him and his wife, Sue. This family visit will be difficult as it will be our last before departing for Costa Rica. So, it is to visit, but also to say good-bye to my parents, two sisters, three brothers, Ken's sister and his brother too. We have someone interested in looking at our house when we have it ready and before we sign a contract with a realtor to list it. If you could add that to your prayer list for us that would be wonderful! Thank you so much!

Scary scaffolding

I shoulda' took a picture! We got the stairway leading up to the second floor of our home painted last night without injury. Ken did that is, and Heather and I stood guard over the "make-shift scaffolding". (There is no way we were gettin' up there)! The only way to do it was to stand up the ladder and run boards from the stair steps to the ladder step. Then Ken placed a piece of plywood over those and he painted fast, really, really fast first cutting in the trim and then with the roller; Heather holding and watching the ladder to make sure it was not moving and me at the top of the stairwell...praying and helping him reload the brush and roller! I believe there will probably be more "make-shift" contraptions to make ahead in Costa Rica as we begin to work there. The downstairs hallway is done and the upstairs hallway. Today, we shampooed all of the carpeting in the house and began to put furniture back in it's place. Ken also replaced a door yesterday and cut his fingers up a bit. The pantry in the kitchen got a new coat of paint. We really NEED to finish our house by this weekend so that we can list it! It will require us to continue in a pattern of working our jobs and working at night until late trying to get things done. Please continue to pray for us as this is really getting exhausting, but things are truly shaping up around here. Okay, off to have a simple supper...hot dogs!

Busy in preparations

I've decided that the one thing I have always really enjoyed doing, I may now actually hate! We've been painting the last two days. Perhaps it is because I am doing it under "pressure". Yesterday, we began and finished the boy's bedroom. On Wednesday we began and finished the livingroom. This afternoon and evening I hope to finish the hallway and bathroom upstairs, tape up the hallway and kitchen downstairs and hopefully (fingers crossed until they are white) be done with all the painting tomorrow! I love the color, "Moroccan Moonlight", neutral, but very warm and inviting. Our house was still in the standard "builder's white" color. I wish we had done this for ourselves a couple of years ago. (scream!). Ah well, :) We're alive here. Just busy!

An answered prayer.

In our December newsletter that went out about a week and a half ago or so, I had mentioned a prayer request for our passports (Ken & I have ours, but we applied for Heather, Kyle and Jordan's). We were just asking for prayer that they would be processed in a timely fashion and that we would receive the kids original birth certificates back without a problem since if there was one, two of the kids birth certificates are out of New York State! On Christmas Eve we received their passports in the mail and their birth certificates were enclosed. We did not pay extra to have the "expedited" service, but we received them exactly three weeks from when we applied for them! We were told they would return in six weeks, about the middle of January, which would have been absolutely fine, we just hoped that we wouldn't have any long, extended delays in processing. Thank you to all of you who did pray for that need! We greatly appreciate it and we are so thankful to have the passports earlier than expected!

The Phone Call!

We got a phone call on Thursday, 12/20 and the voice on the other line said, "get your house sold we'd like you there on February 1st". The exact numbers have not been crunched, but we believe that we are at about 95% of our monthly support now since people have been communicating to us that they have sent in pledge cards. Global believes, and we do too, that the rest will come. Please continue to pray for our family as we prepare to go. I will do my best to keep this better updated on exact dates and travel as the time gets closer.

He is faithful!

$400, that's all folks

$400 of pledged monthly support is all we have left to raise. That breaks down to 13 people committing to $30 a month or 8 people committing to $50 a month. We continue to step out in faith trusting that God is going to provide for our needs by getting our house ready to be placed on the market. Two days ago we were at 88%. Today, we are at 90%. An amazing God!

Garage Sale! Preparing to Go.

Hmph...I'm tired. Today was our big garage sale. What didn't get sold we hauled off to Good Will and the dump. We brought nothing back into the house. It was a bittersweet day. Things were sold that we have had since we were married 22 years ago, though seeing someone else buy things and knowing they will probably be put to good use makes it easier. A reminder of how much we have here in the States and how much we "hold" on too sometimes without even meaning too. We still have stuff to go through, mainly clothes, and the dishes we kept to be able to eat and cook with until we can go, but rooms are begining to echo around here. We won't have another garage sale. What is left will be donated to With Love, From Jesus which holds a special place in our hearts. Well, a few more steps closer to being ready to paint and put the house on the market.