Suitcase Challenge

   I love our 1946 house. I love that we had a place to stay for a whole year while we built our support team. I love that Julie, our youngest daughter, is going to stay in the house while we spend several years in Canada.




 One of my favorite features of the house is the attic.

 We have never had an attic in any of our homes.

  When we first moved in we debated about figuring out how to add an extra room to the house in the attic. I envisioned a playroom for the grandkids, a sewing room for me, a romantic bedroom, but, unfortunately, the downstairs floor plan does not allow for adding a staircase anywhere...so the attic is the storage place for our extra earthly goods and boxes of memories. (Oh, yes, and the Christmas stuff)





  Yesterday I went up into the attic to scope out the suitcase situation.  Yes, we are getting close enough with our support to think about packing suitcases.
   This is what we have so far.....about 15 bags, boxes, duffle bags, and real suitcases. - and five garbage cans...

(from the Farm - held chicken feed etc...)

I don't think that will be enough, but it is a start. 

So I thought, hey let's turn that pile of suitcases into our last challenge - the challenge to get us packing those suitcases, and boxes, and the U-Haul and get to Lethbridge in June!!

We have 83.1% of our monthly support raised at this time - each of the last 2 challenges we had for ourselves (and you) helped move us about 15% closer to our totals each time!

14.7% of our monthly support!!
(not all totals are in yet!!)

12.6% of our monthly support!!
(not all totals are in yet)

One more group of 15 new monthly supporters should get us there!!!!!

Here is our tentative timeline for the next few months:

April - Continue building our support team - having many of you over for dinner, lunch or coffee. Babysit grandkids.

May - Start packing up the stuff we ARE NOT taking with us to Canada - bring to Christ Presbyterian Church in Sweetwater's garage sale for Missions!!  One more visit to Florida.

June - Vacation with our kids and grandkids, trip to Cherokee NC to volunteer as associate staff, pack suitcases for Belgium and boxes for Canada.

July - Spend the month in Belgium for training in - Cultural Interpretation,Language Acquisition, Church Planting, Evangelism Techniques, Spiritual Health, Team Dynamics, Conflict Management, and Real Life Application.

Arrive in Canada....TBD - we hope in June, but maybe August!! Pray for us in these last few months that we continue to rely on God's plan and timing.

NOTE:  We have added a new section to our blog - PRAYER CORNER.  We will update that daily and weekly as we have prayers and praises and as we share the prayers and praises of our supporters. Be sure to check it often.