We made it!!

Home sweet home!  It has been a long two days, but our trip went well.  All of us are still in various stages of sickness, and I have lost my voice.  We are speaking twice tomorrow, but are looking forward to it in spite of our weakness.  We knew many of you were praying on our trip, both because you told us you were, and because we were protected from a couple close calls on the highways.  Today we were able to eat lunch in our favourite city - Chicago.  We saw a little bit of our alma mater (Moody!) and even got to meet with a dear friend that we haven't seen in years.  It has been a long but very good day.  SO glad to be in my home state, and am really looking forward to some deep fried cheese curds later on this week...  

Road Trip!!

We leave on Monday for Wisconsin!!  We're all getting pretty excited as we look forward to seeing friends and family in Wisconsin and Washington over the next three weeks.  Peter and I will be speaking with several small groups and a few large groups and getting together with as many people as we can to speak about Wycliffe Bible Translators and where we're headed as members of Wycliffe.  It will be demanding and challenging, but encouraging at the same time.  Isaac and Joel will be spending lots of time with "Bumpa and Mema."  :)
Please pray for us during this time - for safe travel, good health, and God's provision.  I will do my best to post on this blog while we're away!

As we prepare for our trip, I thought you might be interested in how we'll survive our 15 hour trip (spread over two days).  Here are SOME of the things I'm planning on taking for the boys...

And here is what I'm planning to bring to keep myself occupied:

We'll see how it goes!

The Journey

Peter and I spoke on Sunday night at a church service in a retirement community.  We were both exhausted after a long day filled with other responsibilities, and going to new surroundings, not knowing what to expect naturally added a little more stress to the mix.  But God (aren't those great words??) was faithful.  He's (still) teaching me that life isn't about the destination - in this case, Brazil and being a "full time" Christian worker.  It truly is about the journey.  God is using our situation right now to teach us about Him, to rely on Him, to SEEK Him, to bless and be blessed by His people.  We were both encouraged by these people who have walked with God and who have experienced His faithfulness long before Peter and I were born.  There was even a couple who had lived in Brazil (in the city we will be in for language school) and greeted us with "Boa noite!"
As always, we appreciate your prayers, especially in specific circumstances like Sunday night.
Next stop - Wisconsin!  We leave in less than a week.
And one more thing to praise God for - Peter's passport came today in the mail (all of our passports came incredibly quickly) so we can ALL go to Canada later this spring - and, Lord willing, Brazil!

Another Opportunity

For those of you who take the time to read these posts, thank you!  I want to let you know of another opportunity Peter and I have to share tomorrow, and ask you to pray for us when you think of us today and tomorrow.  God is teaching me that we cannot be effective in our work, ministry, and life unless there is prayer.  Tomorrow we will be speaking at a church service in the evening, sharing where God is leading us in missions and asking people to partner with us.  Please pray that we will say what God wants us to say and our attitude would be that of Christ.  Am I nervous?  Not yet, just feeling a little overwhelmed and unprepared after a busy week.  Just a little distracted knowing that we leave for Wisconsin and Spokane for three weeks - one week from Monday!  So I don't want to just "get this over with" tomorrow.  I want to be IN the moment and make the most of the opportunities God has given us.  Thank you for praying!