So as we come to the end of 2011, and therefore the start of 2012, I'm reminded of all that we have done in the past year, and all that will happen in the next.
This past year:
January - I went to Jinghong, China for almost 3 weeks with a great group of ladies to work in an orphange
What an experience! I didnt know it at the time what exactly that experience was going to lead to
February - a short month with nothing memorable happening (at least nothing i can remember right now)
March - started researching options to do missions in China
we welcomed a 7 year old boy into our home
April - (March 30 actually) first conversations with ICC began
May - we received our application package
we went to court and the twins became ours!!! forever!!!!
Andrew took me on a great bday/Mothers day/anniversary trip to the mountains for the night
June - family trip to Fairmont - twins came with us this year
started looking at the application package - it was WAY more in-depth then I imagined
we said goodbye to our 7 year old (he went back to live with his mom)
July - Calgary Stampede
NKOTBSB (yes, I went) concert with a great friend
application was sent in
Andrew left town for work
August - LOTS of company! The Lees from China, my cousins from Winnipeg and my in-laws from NL
Andrew came home for 4 days while the Lees were here, otherwise he was out of town all month
first SKYPE interview with ICC (Andrew returned home only hours before our interview)
September - Andrew went back to Ambrose for another semester
second SKYPE interview with ICC
we welcomed the sweetest girl ever into our home - 8 years old
October - we received our 344 question 'test', completed it and returned it
November - we had our 3rd interview - follow up from the 'test'
December - we received our acceptance letter from ICC!!
we said goodbye to our wonderful 8yr old (she went to live with her grandma)
the World Jr Hockey tournament was played in Calgary...we had a chance to take in some of the games
So that is 2011 in a nut-shell, kinda. I thought the application was a long process but now comes the planning and making sure everything is in place. AAAHHH!!! so very much to do!! We will be making day-by-day plans for what needs to be accomplished in the next 6 months (want to have everything done by July1).
We still are not seeing eye-to-eye on the fate of our house. This is causing me stress :( Im looking at my home and all its belongings thinking about how much to sell it all for. Dont be surprised if you come into our home and it looks like a store with price tags on (almost) everything. Although this 'store' will have a buy now, take later policy on some of the items (like beds and couches).
We had a conversation with our team leaders in Changsha and were able to ask more questions and gain more information. The process for our work visa is going to take about 3 months and they need all our original documents. There is a team from Canada going there in April, so hopefully they can take our documents into China with them. Ruth is going to look at apartments for us and take video or pictures of the places so we can choose somewhere to live. We should be able to get a 4 bedroom place. All ICC staff live in the same complex.
Okay, so now I feel like I'm rambling with no real focus on this whole blog post. That actually pretty much sums up whats going on in my mind: so many thoughts, no rhyme or reason between them, all jumbled, bouncing all over the place...
This weeks prayer requests:
* our house
* setting up a calender with all that needs to be done and when
* sleep!!
* Andrew's schooling for this semester
So now I'm going to go. Hopefully my mind will be more focused next time I decide to blog. Thanks for sticking with me and reading all the way to the end :)
No comments:
Post a Comment