Change

Okay, due to the lack of luggage allowed on our previous airline, we have changed our itinerary.  Now it looks like we will be flying in to Qatar.  Never done that before.  It will be exciting to be somewhere new.  This way the longest flight is only 13 hours instead of 15 1/2, and we should be able to take all of our packed containers.  Yahoo!  Glad I don't have to repack.

Here is another thing to pray for.  We got our passports today with the visas in them (Yeah!).  We were checking them to make sure they were all one year visas when we noticed that they all were EXCEPT for Emma's.  Hers was only for 60 days.  So, Garth had to FedEx it back to the lady in charge of our travel and she will figure it out with the Embassy.  Haha.  Funny huh?

Garth got all of the carpets cleaned today so our house is officially ready for the renters!  That was quite the feat.  Glad it is done.  We are enjoying the house we are staying in.  It is perfect.  There was a terrific storm today and we took a nice family walk around the neighborhood to check out the sun rays coming through the clouds after the storm.  Super cool!  Looking at the skies tonight reminds me of a verse:  Psalm 108 "For great is your love, O Lord, higher than the Heavens;  Your faithfulness reaches to the skies."  That is huge.

Love you

Leaving

Just wanted you to know that we got our tickets!!!  Our departure date is fast approaching.  We will be leaving out of Chicago on Sept. 12th.  These last few days have been spent getting our house completely empty and clean so the renters can move in on Saturday.  I am also trying to finalize the containers we will be taking with us.  There has been some confusion over how much luggage we are allowed.  Hopefully that will get cleared up with a phone call this morning.  Otherwise I will need to unpack and leave quite a bit here.  

We took some time off yesterday and went to the fair.  The kids volunteered in the Barnyard Adventure for a few hours and then we had fun playing after that.  We thought we would be gone when the fair was here so this was an unexpected treat.

Thanks for the prayers.  I will send pictures later.  You should see how empty our house looks...

Love you all-
Rachel

Packing!!

So, someone asked me yesterday, "What have you been up to lately?" Haha.  That makes me chuckle.  My answer could be summed up in about three words:  packing, organizing and cleaning.  Funny how something that sounds simple can be so time-consuming.  Each of our suitcases or containers must be no more than 50 pounds.  So I pack and weigh and repack and reweigh.  And each container needs a written list of exactly what is inside.

I am nearing the end.  I am only allowed 5 more suitcases.  Hopefully, I will be able to fit everything that we want to take. 

We went to the Elem./Middle school today and registered Cale and Sophie for school. (It looks like we may still be here, so...)  As of now, I will home school Wyatt and Emma according to what is taught at the school in Indo.  On the way home from school we realized there was a large bolt stuck in the front tire and air was leaking out.  That was lovely.  No new news on the visas.  Garth has decided that he will not cut his hair until the visas come.  That way you will be able to tell just by looking at him.

We have gone through situations before similar to this where we needed to fully rely on what God was going to do, what He had planned, even though we couldn't see it.  There are days that we let all this really ruffle our feathers.  Thankfully, there are 6 of us here in the house and we help each other "defluff".  We keep saying, "God has a plan.  He is in control..."  But this needs to be much more than head knowledge.  We have faith in God because we are certain He can be trusted.  If any part of me had doubt, my faith would be worthless.

Luke 8 has a story of a guy that Jesus heals. The guy begs Jesus to let him go with him.   But Jesus said, "No, return home and tell how much God has done for you."  For some reason, we are still home.  We want to use this kink in our plans to tell all we can what God has done for us.  Our glass is half full.  Actually it is overflowing with blessings.  We are incredibly thankful for what He is about to do with this family.

Keep praying!

Rachel

The Waiting Game

I love this time of day, early in the morning when the rest of the house is asleep, but the world outside is waking up.  It is so quiet and peaceful.

I wanted to give you an update as to what is going on with the Erickson's.  Since I last wrote Garth went to Washington state to do a wedding for one of our dorm kids from Indonesia, we had a fantastic family reunion in New York, we have had family visiting from Poland, a few garage sales, a trip up north to Grandpa's cabin in Rhinelander, WI, and we are packing up our house. 

It is August.  We had thought we would be in Indo by now.  However, we are here waiting for our visas to be processed.  It could be anytime, but we heard from an Indonesian friend of ours that "the soonest it will start being processed is the end of August."  Emma started crying.  School starts there Aug. 20th and we will not be there in time for that.  Nor will we be there to open the dorm and meet all of the kids.  It is such a waiting game with the government there.  In all honesty, it could take months if they choose to.

The family that is going to live in our home has already moved in.  Right now, they are staying with their family but really need to be here.  We need to decide if we should start the kids in school here or just wait.  It is also quite the arduous task of buying and packing what we will need for the next two years all the while making sure we don't go over our allotted weight limit of luggage. It would be nice, once we get our lives all packed up, to find a place to live for the weeks we are waiting so that the family can move in here.

Please don't read all of this and think, "Oh, I feel so sorry for the Erickson's."  This place of waiting is a great place to be.  We have been in moments like this before.  God is always faithful.  In times like this we realize that He is in control and all we can do is hang on and trust.  He has never let us down in the past, and we know that we are completely in His care.

But you can pray.  Pray that all this works out.  That we have peace.  For wisdom to know what to do about the kids and school.  And that we have fun with each other these crazy days.

Thanks for caring about us.  We appreciate you.