getting settled

Hi Everyone,

We are 3 days in now and started to get settled in our new home.  Our teammates are making our transition very comfortable and helping with shopping trips, driving us around town, even picking up the last bit of luggage that arrived today.  Here are some quick pictures of our journey thus far.

Long Flight and Good Memories



Brandee and Logan on the last and shortest flight

The kids in front of our new home

This home came with a couple beds and a new friend for Hailey

Connor lounging on the couch



Our first family outing in Jordan with just the five of us.

 

Thanks for your prayer support this past week. We have felt covered and protected. I'll try to give a more detailed update soon.

Good Times & Goodbyes

Okay, Okay...I admit it, I'm not great about blogging yet.  But I PROMISE I'll be better once we are overseas.  It just feels like I keep saying the same thing right now - we are still getting ready to leave - packing, moving, saying goodbyes.  But I realize that there is more to the story, and there are those that are interested in knowing how we are doing.  Thank you for thinking and caring about our family.  This update is for you.

We leave a week from tomorrow.  July 21st is rapidly approaching.  We have moved out of our house and the renters are in. That was a surprisingly emotional transition for me (Brandee).  I'm not super sentimental about stuff like that.  I'm usually excited about whatever is coming next that I don't look back much.  But I found it really hard to leave our house.  Maybe part of it is I don't know for sure if we'll get to come back to it.  We don't know what God has planned for us after these 2 years in the ME, so I can't be certain.  The other part of it is that I love our home.  It's been a place of rest and healing for me after dealing with Connor's cancer.  So there was a little more grief than I was prepared for, but God walked me through it.

Anyway, on our last night at home with the fam, we sat on the deck and reminisced together.  We laughed, cried, talked about the upcoming transitions, named some of the things we were sad and scared about, sang worship songs and did some crazy dancing.  It was a great last night in a home we love.

Travis' parents have graciously allowed us to live with them until our departure. We spent a week with them while both Travis and I finished up work and then headed to Eugene to spend a week with my parents.  We made some great memories going to a rodeo on 4th of July and watching fireworks, hanging out at Camp Harlow for an afternoon, swimming and rafting at Dorena Lake, celebrating birthdays, sleeping in a tent in the backyard, going to a baseball game and having good talks.

Our kids with their 2 Eugene cousins - Tayvan and Jezzi

Nana with Hailey and Jezzi on the Bumper Boats @ Camp Harlow

Logan and Connor on the go-carts @ Camp Harlow

Quality Time with my Dad

Now we are back in Salem, wrapping up a week of errands, paperwork and time with friends.   At the moment we are all doing well.  The same might not have been said yesterday as we were madly trying to find misplaced important documents, but God showed Himself faithful in that situation by helping us find "a needle in a haystack".  As I told family yesterday, there's nothing like a minor catastrophe to put things in perspective.  Now the things that seemed overwhelming - the packing of the 10 infamous bags - seems much less daunting. 

Grandpa, Cousin Grant, Connor, Logan and Grandma at a Volcanoes Game

Hailey and her beloved cousin, Cole

Travis with his big bro, Mitch

Story time with Grandpa

Mother-Daughter Tea Party for Hailey's "birthday" (August 17th)

Mothers and Daughters

Hard Goodbyes

We are seeking to keep our eyes on Him who is worthy of our trust as we wrap things up here in the US.  Next time I write will probably be from across the ocean.  We'd love your prayers for safe travel!! Blessings! 

Pictures from Trip

Our new home in a few months

Tom at the Red Sea

Visiting with teammates

On a walk to the Life Center

                                         

Hanging out at the Life Center

quick trip

Last week I returned home from a week long adventure to Jordan with Brandee’s Dad.  The trip answered some questions for us and being there in person will help me prepare my family for arrival the last week of July.

A couple observations:

§         The team we will work with is amazing.  The work they do is diverse and complex, yet remains goal oriented in placing themselves in positions of influence to have interaction and conversations in relational settings. I look forward to working with them and helping in any way I can.

§         Fear motivates the culture. I caught a quick glimpse into the fear and know a little bit about the pressure they face.  We know true hope, but ask for your prayer as there will be some difficult days.

§         Housing will be determined later.  We looked at a couple apartments, but it’s too early to commit. So we trust the team to find something before we arrive.

§         Schooling for the kids will be much different than public schools here in the states. The biggest difference will be expectations for students and strict guidelines. The international school facility is absolutely amazing and beautiful. Please remember to pray for our kids as this will be a difficult transition.

While I was away Brandee met and gave some new friends a tour of our home and it looks like they will be renting it from us beginning late June or early July. So, once again we are thanking God for his provision and timing.  He is good! 

Many Blessings

Wow!  So many things have been happening these last few weeks.  Here are some of the biggies:

• Our van sold! YEAH!!
• We had a garage sale that was VERY successful.  We sold quite a bit of furniture and other household things that we didn't want to take with us or store for the next 2 years.  Thank you to all who came, bought, helped me setup/teardown and donated!  You blessed me beyond words!
• Travis is leaving on the 25th with Brandee's Dad to go visit our new home in the Middle East for a week.  It will be FABULOUS for one of us to actually know something of where we will be living.  Hopefully many of our questions will be answered and we will know better what to bring and where to go when the whole family arrives.  We'd love your prayers for this trip.
• And the funds are coming in - thanks to many of you!  How blessed and encouraged we are with each and every gift. We will get there!  If any of you are so inclined, our friends are putting on a fundraising event for us.  It will be on Tuesday, April 19th from 7-9pm at Broadway Commons in Salem on Broadway Street.  There will be a silent auction, dessert and a chance to hear our story.  Any and all are welcome.  If you want more info, just send us an email and we can give you a flyer.

Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude as we watch God move in the hearts of people on our behalf.  Your prayers, your time, your finances, your words of encouragement and support have been a huge blessing to us.  Not only that, but it confirms that we are where God wants us to be.  And it has really helped my faith and trust in Him grow.  There are no limits to God.  I'm witness to His work everyday - and I'm constantly amazed.  Thanks for being His hands and feet. ~Brandee

To-Do List

As I write this blog entry the kids are in bed and the dishes are done, at least to my expectations.  Brandee might think differently, but on this night it appears the daily duties of house and home are coming to a close.  So, now with a full day behind me I thought I’d try to give you a quick snap shot of what I am thinking about this evening.

Our family schedule is just about to open up a bit as the boys will be completing another season of basketball on Saturday.  They have both done a great job and we are very proud of the boys God has given us.  I never thought it would be so much fun being a Dad and a coach. Even though we like basketball we are looking forward to having a couple evenings a week and all day Saturday to work on the seemingly insurmountable to-do list. 

A couple of the big things on the to-do list are: finding renters for our house, acquiring health insurance for a family of 5 going to the Middle East, and securing financial support. 

• The house rental issue is a big thing and we have been praying that the right renters would find us. We would prefer not to have to use a property management company, so if you know of anyone looking for a house let us know
• Health insurance would be easy to purchase except for the past health issues of our eldest son, so pray for insight as we look for the right insurance company that covers preexisting conditions.  
• The financial piece is moving forward, although not as fast as we’d hoped.   We are about a third of the way to our goal – which went up $20,000 since our initial letter.  So if you are planning to financially support us, it would encourage us to see those support cards come in.

In all three of those areas we would greatly appreciate your prayer as we move forward with our plans in faith and hope.

Thanks for reading.

Travis

Changes

It still seems hard to believe.  Are we really moving our family across the ocean or are we playing some sort of crazy game?  But it is slowly starting to feel more real as we begin to pack up our house, sell furniture, get all those final doctor/dental appointments, SLOWLY get the finances in order, etc.  We even had our first skype call with our new boss.  That made it feel a lot more real.  He confirmed that yes, I will be helping teach aerobics, Zumba and possibly ballet.  Travis will be teaching English and helping out with a street market.

Our target date to leave is mid-July.  That gives us 5 more months here.  My emotions are starting to fluctuate big time between excitement and fear, peace and overwhelmedness (don't know if that's a word), looking forward to new relationships and grieving the time apart from current relationships.  I drove past our old house yesterday in another part of town and just cried over all the changes in life.  That's where we brought all three kids home to after they were born, that's the house we lived in when Connor began the fight of his life with leukemia, those are the streets we walked to and from school....

It just made me realize we are coming to a new set of changes. One day not too far down the road, I'll be looking back to the way things are now and remembering how it used to be. Makes me appreciate today - the ages and stages my kids are in RIGHT NOW, the activities we are involved in, the school they go to, the people who enrich our lives, etc.

So in the midst of all the changes, I'm embracing TODAY!
Brandee