Photo Gallary of the last week...

Arrival of all our bags and all of us, without any problems!

Our short stay over in Asia mainland to obtain our visas, it was a success!

Our boys are famous.  Everyone wants to touch, hold and take pictures with them.  They're not as excited about it.

Caedmon playing with grandchildren at our home stay.

Snacks with a granddaughter at our home stay.

View from front door of home stay.

Our bathroom.  Yes, this is the toilet, shower and sink.

The boys' room, the only room with AC.

Our room.

Traditional house at a bi-annual cultural event displaying traditional music and dancing.

Traditional dance.

16 mosquito bites

on my (John's) left foot, in one night. It's one swollen foot. And not to mention the other bites on the rest of our bodies. We did have a rough first night in our home, emotionally, physically. But by night 3 we didn't hear a single mosquito buzz and stayed quite comfortable. This morning we had sausage and chicken broth over white rice. And now I'm heading off to my first 2 hours session, with Erin's being this afternoon. Hopefully we'll be posting pictures soon. Can't thank you enough for remembering us this past few days!

Settling in

We've made it and are settling in to our new city. Our homestay will begin today, and classes begin Monday. We will each be in class two and a half hours per day, 5 days per week. I'll be in class in the mornings and Erin in the afternoons so the boys will always be with one of us, for now. Everything seems to be going well up to now, as we remain healthy and upbeat.
Thanks for thinking of us,
John

Visas approved!

Today after a few minor miracles (not the least of which was we ended up swimming at our hotel pool during our wait to speak with the visa official, which seriously beats sitting in the DMV-like waiting room), all four of us have received authorization to stay in the country for a year while Erin and I study the local language and culture. So Wednesday we'll finish the voyage to our final destination. Thank you for thinking of us.

We are officially off!

All 4 people, 6 bags at a total of 300 pounds (yes we maxed the limit on each), and 5 carry-on bags will leave today for overseas.  We will spend an extra few days in another country to obtain our visas, then travel on to our end destination. 

Our first (stateside) language lesson!

These are some of our props from our time spent with a native speaker today.  We use these to learn the words by auditory repetition.  This is how it works:
step 1: I (Erin) point to the banana.  Our language helper, Max, says the word.
step 2: I add another word by pointing to the mango.  Max says it in his language.  I point, back and foreth, at these two fruits until I am familiar with which is which.  Then I add another one.
step 3: I then have Max quiz me.  He says, "Point to the mango," in his language and I have to point to it.
At this initial stage of learning it is all by listening and responding with actions.  We, John and I, are not learning to say these words yet.
It is amazing how many words you can learn and actually remember.

While we wait...

...We are off to Portland.
Our first task upon arrival in-country will be language and culture learning. But why wait? In the past 3 days we've learned that Portland is home to a community of folks from the islands of southeastern Asia. So we have made a few contacts with people who grew up over there, are native speakers of the language, and would love to spend time with us daily. We plan to invest several hours each day acquiring as much of the language and culture as possible, in Portland. 
We hope our delay is only 1 more week, but for as long as we're in the States, we'll utilize the resources we've been given.  And WHAT resources! Get this: Tomorrow we have dinner plans with a man (and his family) who was born and raised in the town we'll inhabit for our first two years abroad, and he is very excited to share everything he knows. What an amazing development, right?

Caught in a funny place...

We are still awaiting visas.  We are completely packed and unsure whether it will be days or weeks.  Packing was such a big job that I (Erin) do not want to touch any of our bags, but we each only have two changes of clothes.  So, we are exercising a little flexibility and a lot of creativity.  Thankfully we live with family, are able to borrow a few things and wash as often as needed (every night for now).  We already got rid of most of our cold weather clothing as we were headed to a year round tropical environment.  So as John went for a run the other day, he improvised the best he could...

Yes, he wore my jacket and it worked just fine! 

Oh gracious sakes

We just canceled our flights due to a Visa snafoo. We are not sure where the hang up is, nor are we sure when we'll be able to travel, but I've spent much of the day on the telephone trying everything within our power, and as of 4 o'clock we finally realize it's impossible to fly tomorrow. I guess we get to relax awhile. Thanks for thinking of us these past 28 exciting hours.--John

Snow!!!

I (Erin) was so excited to see snow when I woke up.  Not many would be excited to see snow so late in the year, it was March 22nd after all, officially the 2nd day of spring.  It was just the encouragement I needed though. 
The week before I had gotten stressed out about all we needed to do in preparation for our departure.  As I refocused on the where and the why of going, I regained my excitement and realized all that needed to be done was just little steps to get us there.  I was then reminded by a long time leader of ours, not to loose the forest for the trees.  Again reminding me not to stress out about the small details of packing and leaving.  The snow was then the icing on the cake.  John and I were planning on a late aniversary celebration by spending a day snow boarding.  I was lamenting that Caedmon wouln't have an opportunity to play in the snow too, especially as we won't see snow probably for 4 years and there wasn't much this winter.  Then when I woke up on March 22nd, everything was covered with at least 2 inches of snow.  Wow!  I couldn't believe it.  It was the encouragement I needed that the Father cares about the desires of our hearts and our children even more then we do.  When I place my focus in the right place, I know all will be well, all the packing will get done, and all the good byes will be worth it. 

The day's work

3 dozen thank you's, and counting

Believe it or not, we have all but wrapped up our sponsorship building phase. That means thanks are in order! We are so thankful for the partnerships we have formed over the past 10 months.  Erin and I can't wait to see the return on your investments and ours as the adventure launches into a new phase next week.

Any day now

Our bags are packed, finances sufficient, and malaria meds are in. And we're all healthy to boot. Now all we are waiting for is governmental approval and then we will be on a plane within a week! We definitely appreciate every part you are playing in that, including your intercession during our wait: We'd love to be there soon, and as long as we are home we'd love to make the best use of our time.
That includes spending time with you! Give us a call if you want to get together, as our free time is increasing as preparations wind down.

Did we REALLY do that?

Sorting through a pile of receipts 2 months-high is not my idea of fun, usually. But this afternoon I consider myself totally blessed as these pesky pieces of paper remind me of what must have actually happened. I sit here baffled at by the facts staring me in the face...we found a car to drive within 3 days of arriving in Florida. We drove that car several thousand miles without a bit of car trouble, or a single incident with the tens of thousands of cars we must have rushed past at 70+ miles an hour (not to mention the risks we posed to ourselves). And then there's the reality of the funds that must have made that huge trip possible! Just thinking of the dozens of wonderful people we got to visit with for the first time in a long time. Man. So blessed.
Don't ask me if I'd be up for doing it again any time soon, but if these receipts prove we made that trip, and I guess they make it pretty hard to deny, there's not many things I'd trade for the joys they remind me of, sitting here now in my folks' basement office.
I can't help but think of all the so many things that could have gone wrong. Almost makes you think somebody was watching out for us.

Home Sweet Home

Total snowy days we saw from January 15-February 15: 2!