A New Adventure Begins...Amazing

Now the hard part starts. Now the fun part starts. Now the stress starts.


Lets back up a little bit. Since my last post, there has been nothing to blog about (regarding our journey, anyways). We had our interview and were now waiting to hear from Jannene (our main contact with International China Concern). Jannene decided that this particular time was when she was going to visit China. That didn't fit well with our schedule. LOL She was going to be gone for 2 weeks. We never prayed for patience, but God decided to give us a lesson in patience anyways. It felt like she was away for 2 months, not 2 weeks. It was all I could do not to email Jannene to see if she had received our assessment from Compassion Services. We had to trust God that everything was getting in place, and we would hear at the exact right time.


Fast forward 2 weeks. I'm sure I'm checking my email every 5 minutes, by now, to see the name JANNENE WALL in my inbox. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Remember: Jannene is in Australia. There is a 15 hour time difference. So basically when I was checking my email, it was the middle of the night there. I didn't care! She should've been up! I know, thats ridiculous, but I'm impatient, hence God trying to teach me the slightest bit of patience. Tuesday night I was up until midnight. I checked my email until about 12:30am. That was a decent hour in Australia. Nothing. I finally drifted off to sleep with visions of China running through my head.


Wednesday morning (December 14, 2011) I woke up (at 7:30am, & if you know me, that's early) and, of course, grabbed my phone, and checked my email. I saw the greatest sight! JANNENE WALL and the subject line read: Acceptance International China Concern. I was shaking. I opened the email and read these words "I have now been able to complete your application process and have attached our acceptance letter." And then I opened the attachment and read "Congratulations, I wish to advise that International China Concern is now in a position to accept your application for longer term service." I couldn't breathe. I was in shock. The information we had been waiting for was here. They accepted us! All 6 of us! I ran downstairs to tell Andrew. He was concerned that I was up already. I gave him a hug. He said he was scared. LOL I told him the news. I think it was all we could do to not cry. Jacquelyn was in the living room with us. I told her next. She jumped up and down with joy. Next I told Brendin. He wasn't so enthusiastic.


We called our parents and siblings. Everyone was filled with mixed emotions. We were (are) too. Next came the call to my best friend. She was the only one that received the news in person (so handy that she lives around the corner from me and was able to swing by right away). A few more calls to close friends, then it was public. Facebook public. Tears of joy and sadness came. And I had to leave for work for the next 5 hours. How was I going to concentrate?? It was hard, but I did.


Thanks for all the comments on Facebook. I am amazed and honored by all the wonderful comments on my status. You will all be missed terribly!! Knowing this is God's plan for us, actually has me feeling at peace about it all. A very strange feeling.


Okay, enough rambling, and on to some details. We are looking at leaving in August 2012 (after August 5). We have a few more papers to sign with ICC. We will be signing on for a 2 year term. I'm sure it will be the first of many 2 year terms. We have been given the names of the team leaders for the Changsha project. They are Ruth and Mike. This couple will now be our contact, 'go-to' people, from here on out. They will be able to help with us all our preparations in China - visa's, living arrangements, job descriptions etc. Its a little over-whelming, all that needs to be done. It will take us the next 7 months to get everything in place.


We have a LOT of things to get in place before we leave. This list can also serve as our prayer requests :)

• we have to decide on the fate of our house - i want to sell it (profit will be used to pay our debts, take us to NL to see Andrew's family and get us to China...anything left will go into an untouchable account for when we return to Canada to live - we will have money for rent or a down payment)...Andrew is talking about renting our house
• the fate of all our belongings - what do we sell, what do we store, what do we take
• research and decide on a home schooling program for Brendin and Jacquelyn
• prepare and send out prayer cards
• prepare and send out partnership letters
• find out what odd things we need to bring (shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant etc)
• banking!! is there a bank in Canada that has an agreement with a bank in China so that we are not charged a million dollars in service charges for accessing our money
• renewal of everyone's passports
• work visas so we can enter China
• and the list goes on and on and on

 Not sure these are the most important items on our preparation list, but they are the ones that come to mind first.


And then of course there's the goodbye party :) maybe that should be a :( ?? Prepare yourselves for a big party - there may not be a BIG party, but you can still prepare yourselves for one :)


So now we prepare ourselves, our children, our home, our friends, our family. This is truly a huge adventure we are embarking on. I am amazed at all that has happened in the past 2 years to prepare us for this move. I can not believe, that after living in Airdrie for 31 years, I am willingly moving to China. Amazing how God can work in someone and prepare their hearts.


I will go for now. I will continue to keep you updated with prayer requests, praises and just general 'stuff' about our adventure. Thanks for all your support and prayers. You will all be missed more then you know!