So much has happened this past week it is hard to keep up and yet I don't want you to miss all of the incredible ways that God is preparing us for this move! 

• Sunday we met with Kyle and Victoria for several hours going over all the details....and let me tell you there are a lot of details.  Please pray for God's continued wisdom and favor with perfecting every detail, especially the ones we are forgetting all about! We also bought Menards out of these containers:)

  

  Nathaniel hiding in the container Jonathan is pulling

• Monday Eric painted the playroom and got insurance quotes (one of the many details) while I was at work.
• Tuesday was the kids last day of school! This was bitter sweet for them. They were excited for summer, sad to say goodbye and ready to meet new friends in Tharaka.  Joshua's teacher Mrs D went the extra mile in sending him off.  They had a goodbye party in his honor with cake and cards. He also had the chance to talk about where he will be going and what we will be doing there.  Joshua doesn't make a big deal about things so when he insisted on reading me a couple of cards every night before bed I knew this party really meant a lot to him:). That evening our realtor Reggie came by to see what we still need to do to put the house up for sale! We are so blessed Reggie is offering his services and advertising at no charge to help get us to Africa!
• Wednesday We began the process of finding our dog Max a new home:( We took Max to a park to meet a lady who is interested in adopting him. She has one small dog, Frankie. Max definitely let everybody know that he was part of our family! Eventually he warmed up a little, we will be meeting again soon to see if this home might work out for him. Please pray that we find the right home for Max and that his transition is easy for him and the kids. On the Subject of prayer that is how we rounded out our night..praying with the team that is going to Kenya in June!

  

  Max

  

  The kids playing in the park while Max warms up to his new friends
• Thursday This was an emotional day for me. I am at heart a very loyal person, and I have been blessed to work at the same place for 14yrs! I spent Thursday meeting with my work leadership letting them know that I would be moving. Every person that I met with was very supportive and excited for our family.  I could have just emailed or met with just my direct boss but each of these leaders has poured so much into me as a professional. I believe that God has used each one of them to sharpen my leadership skills and prepare me for the work He has called me to.  Some, especially those who knew me in my younger years (Chris) both called out some of the ugly things lurking in my character and gave me a chance to take on more leadership even though I didn't deserve it. THANK YOU! 
• Friday  Nathaniel turned 5yrs old today! He had a lot of fun playing with his friends at Chuck E Cheese! He insisted that he wanted key lime pie instead of cake:)  Cute story....while we were at Chick-fil-a having lunch the parents of Nathaniel's friends were asking about Nathaniel learning swahili. To which he said" I am learning Chinese"...when I asked him "why he would learn Chinese since we weren't going there." He matter of fact responded "Because when I grow up I am going to China to tell them about Jesus." I love these kids! God has such amazing plans for them.

Nathaniel playing bumper cars on his birthday.

Saturday  So some of you may know that Abigail is a competitive gymnast.  She loves her team, her coaches, her gym and the sport in general. There is no place for her to continue gymnastics while we are in Kenya.  That said I fully believe that God honors our obedience to His call and that if she is supposed to do competitive gymnastics when she comes back that He will open that door for her and nothing will be lost due to our time on the mission field.  Today was her last gymnastics practice.  Several weeks ago Eric approached me and said that Abby needed to be done with gymnastics June 1st. That we were going to be too busy preparing for our move to support her going(she would be doing 12hrs a week). I told him that although I understood what he was saying that I felt that Abby should make that decision. Reluctantly he agreed. About a week later Abby came to me and said "mom I love gymnastic, I mean LOVE gymnastics! And I love my coaches and teammates....but the last couple of practices something is different." I pulled her close and told her that Jesus loves her so much that sometimes when He knows that we need to give something up that we really love He will change a heart about it..so that it is easier for us to obey Him. I told her to take some time to pray about it and let me know if/when she thought she was supposed to be done with gymnastics. Last Saturday while we were on our way to gymnastics she stated that she was supposed to be done June 1st. What an awesome and loving God we serve!  

She Placed 7th AA

Abby at her State Competition

3rd Place Floor