Uh, Miami??

Ok, so we're half way through our big move down to Santa Cruz! The whole thing is a bit funny... We made the flight from Wichita to Dallas, then spent the next 8 hours in the Dallas airport!!! We asked for an earlier flight but apparently, they don't do stand by seats with American Airlines anymore... ? So, after eight hours got bumped to about 9.5 hours, we knew we'd be lucky to make our connection in Miami going to La Paz. And...yes, we did miss our flight in Miami...we ran to our gate just in time to see the walk way being pulled back. :/ BUT I was SO happy to get to spend the night in a cozy bed! I know thats sad...but its true. American Airlines paid for the hotel and meals...so all is well! We had to wait 24 hours for another flight, so we will be leaving Miami this evening on a 10:45 flight to La Paz, Bolivia. I think its about a seven(?) hour flight...then from La Paz to Santa Cruz! We'll arrive at around eight o'clock tomorrow (Sunday) morning...

Flying with a bi-lingual person is SO FUN!!!! The majority of airline workers were Spanish speaking...and so he really really really helped things move along! :) Just a little fun fact... Oh, and we got to meet my mom in Dallas for lunch...she left later from Wichita on her way to California so we got to bring her a Happy Meal from MacDonalds at her gate! That was fun and made saying goodbye a bit easier.

Well, I guess thats it for now, thanks for your prayers guys!

-m

We're In Kansas!

We have made the first leg of our trip!! We managed to pack everything in two cars...(with the help of some friends)...and head to Missouri to a Christian music festival that my mom was speaking at. It was WONDERFUL to finally meet my nephew Tristan who joined us with his Mom and Dad. He is the sweetest little thing and I can't help but love him more and more every day! Andy calls little Tristan "T" which makes all of us laugh really hard. =)

After a weekend of helping my mom with book sales, we said some more goodbyes and made the five hour car ride to Rose Hill Kansas where we will be until next Friday! It has been such a good time of laughter with family! We have missed being all together. My brother Jeff, his wife Sarah and their baby Tristan are headed to Botswana Africa next month so we are all busy packing and giving out prayer cards and talking about mission work...it is so bizarre! We will miss this though, that's for sure.

WE HAVE THREE SUPPORTERS NOW!! The number is growing and we feel so blessed! We are sending out our prayer letter sometime within the next few days so if you want one let us know! =) We have quite a lot of addresses already so we'll be busy with that for the next few days!

I think that's about all I have to say except for some pretty awesome praises to report! I already mentioned that we have three supporters. Praise God for that! Also I have got my passport back, which allowed us to send in for our Visa's, which we received in the mail end of last week!!!! So, we're all ready to go! The only thing left to do is to finish packing, send out our prayer letters, and say our goodbyes. It will be especially hard to say goodbye to little Tristan because I know he'll be so much different next time I see him!

Pray for us!!!! We still need it so much!! Things are falling into place but right now, we're facing the reality of it all...its hard not to think about all the unknowns...But God is GOOD and He'll get us through!


Crossover Festival in Missouri with Tristan!!!


I LOVE this kid...

Our most productive day yet!

Today started out a little rocky... Andy has two more days of work but this morning it was three...and we both just didn't want to face another day of getting things done!

I got up, headed off to work, then headed to my doctors appointment and proceeded to get four vaccines! Yellow fever, Typhoid, Influenza, and Hepatitus A. I had only planned on getting the Yellow fever because that's what I needed for my visa, but the nurse was very persuasive. I have a tendency to be like my mother and can't say no. :) Needless to say my arm is KILLING me right now!!

The rest of the day is a LONG LONG tale of me trying to get money orders to send to the Visa company, forgetting my debit card pin number, traveling BACK to work because one of my schools had an early release, attending a surprise baby shower, FINALLY getting something to eat, going once again BACK to work to do my regular routes and then going to the post office to mail our Visa package to be reunited with my passport that we are waiting on. WOW, what a day...and meanwhile Andy was at work the whole time. =)

Today was also SO relational!!! Even though the morning was a complete maze, I was SO encouraged to go to a baby shower for one of my dear friends. It finally has hit me that I'm saying goodbye for awhile. Also, this evening after the post office saga ended, I got to go see a sort of mentor of mine who has blessed me beyond belief with her friendship!! I will miss both these women terribly!

Some LONG TIME family friends from my childhood in the Philippines showed up here today! We had supper with them and they finally got to meet Andy! I was so proud to introduce him to my "Uncle" Lance and "Aunt" Laura!

We are SO BLESSED with our friendships and family! These past few days have been AMAZING for us to just spend with the people we love and will miss. Its not like we're saying goodbye forever but it still makes you wonder if our lives will really cross again in a year...We have built SO MANY relationships here and just need to look forward to coming back and reuniting with all these wonderful people!

Here are some pictures of some of the many friends we will miss...The Crisostomo family has been such a blessing to us! These are some of their youngest members...




Paul and Connie got married a day before us and are great friends of ours... =)


Love Chicago trips with the girls!


Andy's friends in front of our school...We'll miss this old building too...


Oh I guess I should just re-cap...right now we are waiting on my passport. Now that all our other visa stuff is ready, (vaccines and money orders) all that can be sent in together as SOON as we get my passport back!!!! So, pray that this all gets done before we leave! We are leaving Wisconsin on Wednesday to meet with my mom! Its getting close!

Packing Packing

Its very difficult to imagine this little apartment being completely EMPTY by the end of this week! We have only lived here six months but we have built so many memories here. The first time I shed a tear over this whole moving thing was when I packed away all my decorations above the cabinets. My mom helped put all that up there and she put twinkle lights all around it. It was so inviting an beautiful. Now its completely empty up there. Just made me a bit sad...
Andy is still working quite a bit and worked all this weekend which made it a bit difficult to get the things done we had really hoped to do together. So I did as best I could with hoping I packed his stuff in the right places. :) I'm sure we'll have a few discussions later about what got packed where. He is SO GOOD about keeping me motivated and relaxed. It is so easy for me to get overwhelmed with the job at hand and he just reminds me of the goal and then I feel better. Just a little bit at a time. Everyday we get closer and closer!!!!

We have been so blessed to be able to take all our storage down to my Mom's house in Kansas between two cars. One of our friends is taking a load down for us and then our car "Billy" will have the rest of the load. (We like to name our cars). Our mattress, tv and air conditioner will be lent out to some WONDERFUL friends who were kind enough to help us out! We are so blessed to have friends around willing to help! This feat would not be possible without them!


Continue to pray that everything will get done in time! We need to get my passport back (We changed my maiden name) and then send in to get our Visa's. We have our tickets now for the 25th of June! We'll be leaving Wisconsin the 9th of June and then spending the weeks before we leave down in Kansas at my Mom's house! =)

Oh, here are some more packing pictures. Please don't judge our packing style. haha


Oh so dramatic...







This is a bag that Andy bought for me back in 2007 before we were even dating. =) I used it all through Bible School for my computer...Its pretty trashed now and so I had to part with it...another sad moment.