Preparing to Leave

THE PREPARATION
Many of you know that we are returning to Salerno on August 28th. So in about 2 months we will hopefully have raised all of our financial support and packed up our house. Financially we have seen the Lord do amazing things! We have been blown away by the generosity of people and it only continues to confirm that this is definitely the Lord's will even if it seems crazy to everyone else (and even us at times). We have seen 90% of our monthly goal come in and hope to finish it up in the next few weeks. Our one time need is still pretty large. Only at 20% on that so please pray. I have no doubt that God will finish what He has started though. Turner is asking everyday when we are going to Itawee. He saw a suitcase of his favorite toys leave our house and is now ready to play with them again. He doesn't care if it will be far away. Collins and Ivey are just along for the ride... poor babies.

I think God has really used this time to take me to the end of myself. My natural reaction is to whine and complain about how hard it is. I tell the Lord that he has me confused with someone else if He thinks I can handle a new baby, packing a house, raising support, finding an apartment, a husband who is required to travel a good bit, a 26 hour trip with 3 kids 3 and under...and I'm sure there is more I'm not thinking of. But he has been showing me that I am an Israelite at heart. He is leading us through a wilderness time but we are going to the promised land. We WILL make it there! We can do it joyfully or kicking and screaming and asking to go back to where we were. The latter didn't turn out well for the Israelites and it probably wont for me either if I continue in that mindset. So I am praying for a change of heart and to daily just trust the Lord and his provision for that day. That is extra challenging on little sleep and a lot of crying babies in the mix. Just another way I need Him all the more!

THE APARTMENT
Jim just got back from Italy a week ago and man did the Lord do amazing things on that trip. It is a challenge to find an apartment in Italy... especially one to meet the needs of a family of 5 with 3 little kids. And 2 families at that. It isn't like America with an abundance of apartments to choose from. Plus the landlords are very very picky about renters since Italian laws protect renters and not landlords. They are skeptical of foreigners and our job is very weird to them. "People give you money to come here and tell people about Jesus?" You can see why it doesn't seem legit to them.

With all of the odds stacked against us, Jim saw our apartment on the very first day! It is a 3 min walk from the Valiquettes (family planting the church), right across the street from a park, it is spacious for the kids to play and run, and is nicer than we expected and costs less than we planned. The landlords... an elderly Italian couple.... live next door. The wife grew up in these apartments and lived through WWII. They immediately loved Jim and by day 4 the contract was signed. On day 2 Jim and Kevin found the Shoemaker family an apartment as well. They are a 2 min walk from us. Jim and Kevin saw tons of apartments but those were the only 2 that would work at all and they were perfect. It was the Lord just handing us what we needed and much more. We are soooo excited!

Keep checking back and we will be updating the blog as we get closer to leaving.

Siamo Qui! (We are here)

After about 27 hours of traveling we finally arrived in Salerno! What a trip! God was really gracious to us throughout the whole thing. When we went to the airport in Atlanta we soon realized that the travel agent didn't tell us that everyone in our group was going through another city... all except the four of us and 2 students. So much for our plan for having lots of help. When we boarded our flight not only did we not have a bulkhead for collins to sleep but we were in the middle 3 seats of the center section of the plane. Then one of the 2 students traveling with us sat down next to Turner and said that as they scanned her ticket they told her she had a last minute seat change. That was God's provision for us because she had an aisle seat. Out of all the seats on that huge plane, she was placed next to us! Collins slept all but 1 hour of the flight. Turner slept 5 or the 9 hours and it really turned out better than we thought. We all met up in Rome and everyone's bags made it... also a big blessing. We boarded a bus for Salerno and about 15 min away the driver stopped. He informed us that his union contract said he MUST stop every 2 1/2 hours for a rest. We were 15 min away! Welcome to Italy! I have to say that so far, though physically exhausting this has been a trip filled with blessings. The last time I slept 1 hour was in college... couldn't believe we kept going. After 1 day we are all adjusted and no jetlag... that's amazing. Please continue to pray for everyone... especially as the go on campus monday to start talking with students. Pray they would not be afraid to share the Gospel with them. Thanks to all of you who prayed so much for our flight!

Countdown to Take Off

We are boarding a bus in Starkville May 10th and heading to Atlanta for a 2 day briefing with students from all over the southeast going on a summer missions project to Salerno, Italy; Rome, Italy; Durbin, South Africa; Argentina; Paris, France; and East Asia. We will fly out on the afternoon of the 12th with 32 students. This is the one of the largest international summer projects in Campus Crusade history so we are anticipating watching the Lord do some incredible things. Pray for our family.. especially the boys as we bus from starkville to atlanta- fly from atlanta to chicago- chicago to rome- and bus from rome to salerno. Pray we make it with our sanity! We are really excited that the Lord has called us to return to Italy once again. Already He is showing us daily how he is providing for us and keeping us safe. That helps calm all our fears and anxieties. Check back as this will be the main way we share what is happening while we are there. (You can see this tends to be a summer blog instead of year round)

Week 2 & 3 in Miami

We have had a busy couple of weeks as the students have arrived and things are in full swing. Turner has been in the pool everyday and is getting more comfortable. We finally made it to the beach and he had a blast playing in the sand and throwing rocks in the water. It has also rained every day! In fact, it flooded the street outside our window. Here is a picture of me at 12 weeks.. starting to show.

Miami - Week 1

We have had a great week in Miami! It has been an interesting adjustment for all of us from our life in Starkville to living in a downtown Miami highrise. We have had a lot of meetings this week in planning for the students arrival. We love the other staff that are here and are enjoying having great quality time with turner since this will really be the last time its just him and us.

hotel view in Miami

On our way to Miami via Orlando

We spent 6 days in Orlando with the Davis' on the way to Miami. We had a ton of fun! Our car was so packed that we barely had room for Sterchi... hope we can fit Turner in on the way back! Turner spent most of the time in orlando in the pool, following Daisy around, and playing with KK and Bob-o. Also Sterchi got a summer haircut and t looks like she lost 2 pounds! We had a great time!