Off to Kenya

The bags are packed (all 22 of them) and we are eagerly and somewhat nervously anticipating our departure.  We leave for Kenya on Tuesday afternoon and will arrive in Nairobi late Wednesday.  We plan to spend a couple of days in Nairobi shopping and getting the things we will need to set up our home.  On Friday we will head to our new home in Kijabe.  We would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel.  The kids are pretty nervous (the grown-ups are too) so please pray for peace for all of us.  We also ask for you to pray for the logistics of traveling with 2 adults, 4 kids, 22 suitcases, 4 car seats, a stroller and 12 carryons.  Pray for understanding gate agents and fellow passengers as well!

We'd love for you to follow our adventures on our blog and we hope to keep our friends, families and supporters updated with periodic emails.  If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, please sign up using the tab at the top of our blog.  We are so thankful for the love and support you've shown us as we've prepared for this next adventure in our lives and we covet your prayers.

The Goodbye Tour - Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our Goodbye Tour.  We've really enjoyed this time with friends and family!

Christmas in November

Every year my mom gives all of the kids in the family pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve.  It is a fun tradition that the kids get excited about each year, but they also understand that after they open the pajamas they all have to put them on for a group picture.  This part of the tradition is not so much fun!

This year Mom gave them their pajamas at Thanksgiving since she wouldn't see us at Christmas this year.  There were nine cousins, but we let the littlest one who was napping opt out of the picture!  I'm not sure any of the photographers were able to get a good picture of all of the kids, but when I uploaded the pictures from my camera it sure was fun to laugh at the results I got.  Any of you who have tried to get eight kids together for a picture can relate to this.

Online Giving

During our initial two years in Kenya we will be partially funded by World Medical Mission's Post-Residency program and have been raising support for the balance of our ministry needs.  World Medical Mission has created an account for us so that all gifts given to our ministry fund are tax deductible.  Recently, World Medical Mission made it easier to give by setting up online giving.  For those who would like to use the online option to financially support our work in Kenya, you can now do so by going to WMM's giving page and typing "Hansen" in the box.  Our picture will show up and you can follow the directions on the screen to complete the process.  You will be given the option to make a one time gift as well as a recurring gift.  We are so thankful for the way so many of you have supported us and consider you true partners in the work we will be doing in Kenya.

First Baptist Church of Harlingen

On Sunday, Erik had the opportunity to speak at the church he grew up in, First Baptist Church of Harlingen.  That afternoon we were able to reconnect with old friends and meet many new people from the church at a reception.  We enjoyed getting to visit with so many people and left feeling very encouraged. 

The Goodbye Tour

We are enjoying time with friends and family during these last two weeks before we leave for Kenya.  We are looking forward to a big family Thanksgiving and catching up with Texas friends!  Here are some pictures from our tour so far:

Homeless

We moved out of our apartment in Nashville on Saturday and are now homeless and living out of our cars!  We're so thankful for good friends and family who are housing us for the next few weeks as we are on our "Goodbye Tour." 

Our first stop was in Birmingham for our church commissioning.  Our church family truly surrounded us and loved us well as they prayed for us and sent us off.  We felt so loved and encouraged and it was great for the kids to see just how many people were supporting us and praying for us!  Our small group hosted a lovely lunch for us and it was fun to catch up and spend time together. 

A good blogger would have lots of pictures to document these events, but I've never claimed to be a good blogger.  :)