It's All Got to Go

We move to Nashville one month from today and will be moving to Kenya in about six months.  As we pack up our house I'm really trying to get rid of all of the junk, clutter and excess that we've accumulated.  This process has been a bit overwhelming for me.  

I used to say that a child can never have too many books, but the fifteen boxes of books we've gotten rid of over the past several months say otherwise.

When we got married we registered for two sets of dishes, two sets of flatware and three sets of glasses.  I have no idea why I thought I'd have a use for all of that or that I'd even like it when we finally had an opportunity to use it, but we got carried away with the registry gun at Dillard's and now I'm trying to find good homes for these barely used dishes.

Goodwill really loves us as they have been the recipient of many boxes of  clothes, towels and toys over the past few weeks.  In fact, I keep taking our stuff to different drop-off locations because I'm afraid they'll start to recognize me and when they see me coming they will laugh and say something like, "I wonder what the Junk Lady is bringing for us today?" 

A few items have me stumped.  Should we save them?  Should we just give them away?  Could we make any money off of them?  Here is one of them:

This is Erik's Garbage Pail Kid collection.  He has hundreds of these cards that he has saved from the mid-80's.  I'm so glad Erik is no longer attached to these and is willing to give them up, but I don't really have time to go through them all to see which ones are valuable.  I think I may have to recruit a certain 7 year old to help me with this task.

I'm actually really looking forward to being free of all of the junk - especially the Garbage Pail Kids!  I like the idea of living more simply and having less clutter in our lives.  I'm just not sure I like the process involved in getting there.

We're still here!

We haven't disappeared from the blogosphere, we've just been a little busy.

Erik will be graduating from 29th grade at the end of June and as the end is finally in sight, we both have a bad case of senioritis.  After 9 years of training, we are really looking forward to being done!  After he finishes in Birmingham, we will be heading back to Nashville for a few months where he will be working at Vanderbilt until we leave for Kenya.  We don't know an exact departure date for Kenya, but it looks like it will be November or December. 

The move to Nashville is bittersweet for all of us.  We loved living in Nashville and are excited to return, but we really hate to leave behind the relationships in Birmingham and our church home here.  We would really appreciate your prayers for us as we have lots of changes and transitions in store for us. 

Questions from a 4 Year Old

Today while riding in the car my four year old asks me, "Mom, will we have breakfast in Africa?"  I said, "Yes."  He said, "What about lunch and dinner?"  I said, "We'll eat lunch and dinner too."  After a few minutes of quiet he asked, "Will there be kitars (guitars) in Africa?"  I said, "Yes, there will be guitars."  He then said, "OK, that sounds good then."  Apparently, all of his fears have been relieved!!

I wish it was that easy with our older two kids who are beginning to express more concerns about going and they have some very real and reasonable fears.  I would love to be able to tell them that everything will be perfectly fine and that there won't be any problems, but none of us can really promise our kids that.  Instead, we're just trying to point them to the promises of the God who called us to Africa and remind them that He will never leave us or forsake us.  We appreciate your prayers for our family during this time.

Pictures!

We thought you might like to see some pictures of our future home.  Erik and I had the opportunity to visit Kijabe in May and here are some of the pictures from our visit.

This is the entrance to the mission station.

 

This is the security entrance to the hospital.

 

the clinic entrance to Kijabe Hospital

 

entrance to the BethanyKids Pediatric Ward

 

the Operating Theatre (OR)

 

the scrub room

 

emergency triage

 

recovery room

 

back entrance to hospital

 

BethanyKids is building a duplex on this lot and we have been told that one of the units has been designated for our family.  Our friends Megan and Rhett, who moved to Kijabe in November, took this picture so we would have a "before" picture.  The kids have already spotted a good climbing tree!

The Radical Experiment

We just wanted to let you know about what our church is doing over the next year and invite you to join us if you'd like to.  We are making a commitment to an intentional pursuit of Christ as individuals, families and as a church.  Specifically, we're committing to:

1. Pray for the entire world over the course of the year.  We'll be using the Operation World website as a daily guide for our individual prayer time and a book called Window on the World as a guide for families.  I'm really looking forward to teaching our kids about what is going on in other parts of the world and guiding them as they learn to intentionally pray for the entire world.

2. Read through the entire word over the course of the year.  The Bible reading plan that we are using is unique in that it is chronological from creation to new creation rather than just following the order of the books of the Bible.  You can follow along with us at the Radical Experiment website.  We're only on day 2 so you're not too late to join in.  A Family Worship Guide is also available so you can lead your families in a weekly Bible lesson, scripture memory, song and prayer time. 

3. Give our money sacrificially for urgent physical and spiritual needs around the world.

4.  Spend time in another context - either across the globe or in another part of your city.

5.  Be involved in a local church.

It sounds like a lot, but it is all part of pursuing Christ and we are excited to have a church body to encourage us and to hold us accountable.  We'd love it if you'd like to join us as individuals, families or small groups.  The Radical Experiment website will be updated weekly so you can follow along in prayer and Bible reading.  You can also listen to the weekly messages that will go along with our reading for the week prior. 

As we look at the year ahead and all that God has in store for our family, we are amazed and humbled.   As we approach this year, we want to be intentional about pursuing Christ simply for the sake of knowing Him more.  If we accomplish anything else, it will simply be overflow.

"To Kenya"

A box in our storage room is marked "To Kenya."  It overflows with our favorite Christmas items that we want to take with us. As we packed up our Christmas decorations, it was interesting to see what ended up in that box.  It wasn't the most expensive items, but the things that we have made or things that have fond memories associated with them.  We packed our advent calendar that we made last year, our two favorite nativity scenes, as well as some of our favorite (non-breakable) ornaments.  I realized that we have way too much stuff and most of it really isn't important.  Our dining room now holds several boxes of Christmas decorations ready to go to Goodwill.

I'm sure there will be many trips to Goodwill over the next year as we eliminate the junk we've filled our house with.  It is strange to think that in several months our belongings will be reduced to a small number of suitcases marked "To Kenya."

We are so thankful to have friends and family that are supporting us in our adventure and we value your friendship!  If my "To Kenya" box was big enough I would love to pack you all up to take with us!  Instead, we will enjoy communicating with you from afar and will cherish your prayers and encouragement!  We'd also love visitors!!!

A

Sign Up for our Email Newsletter

Many of you have asked about receiving email updates from us once we are in Kijabe so we have set up a form that is located under the tab that says Newsletter Sign-up that will allow you to sign up for our email newsletter.  We hope to send regular emails to update you on our ministry and life in Kenya.