Catching up from a very busy week.

My thoughts from the past few days as internet has been spotty and I have been unable to post anything. Please excuse me for rambling on....

July 08, 2012

Commissioning day, I am a bit apprehensive about the scope of this service and the number of family members that are scheduled to attend. I am praying they are not put off by the ceremony. But after the service is over, I received nothing but good reviews from my family about the service and that they have a better understanding of what we are doing. Praise God! We are still working on finishing the tasks to complete move completely out of our home and prepare to move out tomorrow. We are all emotionally and physically spent. I continue to pray for peace about separation from Lizzy and her from us. I am sad, but I realize that God is in control even in the hardest of situations.

July 09, 2012

This was the hardest of days. Watching all my girls break down as they said goodbye. I think it was especially hard to see Julia crying. I guess I don’t see her cry so much. I did my best to hold it together, but I did not do so well. The time of prayer was especially hard as so many came to pray with us before departure. We were able to get our excess baggage to Nairobi via Adam Crain’s short-term group at Chelten Baptist. That was a huge blessing. Well it’s off to Peachtree City to orientation.

July, 12 2012

Orientation is over and we are heading out at 5:30 Am to start our journey. Julia enjoyed the golf carts and bonded pretty well with the Gessner children. Janine is struggling with a cold and I pray it doesn’t get worse. We will see the Daubenmeirs tomorrow and hopefully the Hamptons. The bulk of orientation will be in Africa when we attend ABO. So the PTC part was really financial, and employment issues. All safety, cultural and day to day issues will be covered at ABO.

July 13, 2012

We have finally arrived in Nairobi. My memory seems to have forgotten the strange noises and smells. The Mayfield guesthouse is overflowing with people as RVA graduates tomorrow and many families have traveled to celebrate graduation. On top of that, the crowd heading out to ABO with us is the largest ever with 42 adults and 30 children. So until the guesthouse clears out, we are all working with smaller rooms than we need and some (including me) are sleeping on the floor.

July 15, 2012

It is Sunday morning. It is quiet here now as some have flown back to the states for summer holiday following graduation  at RVA. Many have gone to church at Nairobi Baptist just down the street. Janine is still struggling with a cold. She slept in today which is good. I hope it is the start of her feeling better. Julia seems to be enjoying all the kids since there are so many teenagers. We may be heading out as a group tomorrow to see the giraffe and elephant orphanages. This trip was scheduled without us, but we are trying to be included for Julia’s sake. We don’t want to see her alienated from the other kids. That would be hard to deal with at this time.  It is very cool here and we have all windows closed. The weather will be the same at ABO so

we are glad we brought sweaters and jackets. We will have free time most of today and tomorrow. We do need to deal with getting the balance of our luggage to RVA. It all arrived safe and secure last night around 10:30, and the hallways are filled with baggage as there is no where else to leave it. We will need to square away our ABO bags today so that we are ready to ship the rest to RVA. Praying for a peaceful, restful day for the girls. Lord grant me the wisdom to provide for my girls andshow them that they are loved.