Let The Travelling Begin

Well, it has started. We are officially gypsies once again. We had a good 3 months of being settled. Now...well, let's just say the "settled" thing is over.

We are in Kilgore now...at the same house where we stayed for a couple of months waiting for Asa to come. We got to East Texas yesterday for lunch. We met with some friends from college (my college)...Cristie and Stephanie. It was great to see them and catch up...hadn't seen them in over a year. Cristie has an 8 yr. old that I hadn't seen since he was less than a year old.

We left Cristie's house and went to visit with the Graves'. Always a GREAT time with them and their chi'rens. LOVE them so much!

We went "home" to the Brockway's guest house, showered, and slept.

Got up, got dressed, went to church. We got prayed over and "sent out" by Church on the Rock today. It was so great. It was super encouraging and all of the most special people to us came up, laid hands on us, and prayed with Pastor Chuck and Diana. Nicole (Graves) came up to me when we were on our way back to our seats. She had started crying during the prayer time and she said, "Well, that made it real." Yes, it did. It gets more and more real with each passing day. Well, it's always been real to me, but I guess that as it becomes more real to the people around me, it makes it even more real to me since they are a bit "sobered" and come to the realization that they aren't going to see us for a while. Anywho...

After church we went to Papacita's for lunch with O.L., Amy Slaback, Jeremy Cammack, Robbie Neubecker, Katie Iverson, Mikayla (girl from the youth group), and Ernie and Trudy Williams. We have such GREAT FRIENDS that we are so thankful for. And...Mmmm...love those chips. :)

We left there and went to Ernie and Trudy's house and stayed there until after 10pm. LOVE that family too. They are so great...they are like an orphanage for "older" kids, i.e. young adults who find themselves in transition. Their house is just one of those places that anyone and everyone would feel "at home" in. We love you Ernie and Trudy! By the way, they are the ones that adopted our cat, Sassy, when we left last summer. Sassy is all grown up now and will be having babies of her own in the next couple of weeks. It was great to see Sassy cat again (and her poochy belly).

So, yes...this begins another travel phase. We will be in Ft. Worth area until Tuesday night. Tomorrow we will be meeting a couple who just came back from being missionaries with Asas de Socorro (the organization we are going to be a part of). We are so excited to get to talk with them. Also, we will meet up with a few other friends before we get back to Kilgore late Tues. night. More meetings on Wednesday (too many to fit in actually). Then back home to Saline on Thursday morning. Whew.

Once we get back to Saline, we are all booked up with speaking engagements and meeting up with friends and family. Not to mention the fact that we have to have everything ready for shipment to Brazil by the 30th.

We bought airline tickets last week, so it's official. We leave Saline May 14th. We'll fly to Oregon for a wedding...stay in Oregon with Joel's aunt and uncle for a week. Then we'll fly from Oregon to Boston where we will be spending time with Joel's family until June 12th. That is the date we will fly to Brazil...to live...only to come back for a visit in 3 years. Craziness. So exciting! Just soaking up every minute of being here in the midst of the busyness. But, for now...

We have to be in Ft. Worth tomorrow by noon. So, off to bed I go.