Tickets!!!

Today we bought our tickets!
In two months and thirteen days, we will be on our way to see Tejan.

We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support for this trip - and amazed that God put so many people in our lives who have shared so generously in our story.

July 2nd we fly to Paris. Asia and I decided to take a three day layover there with the kids... partly to give our bodies time to acclimate to the time change before we get to Sierra Leone... partly to take advantage of the fact that this once in a lifetime trip gives us the ability to show our kids not only one of the poorest nations in the world, but also one of the most decadent cities... and partly because I really love crepes au chocolat.

July 5th we fly from Paris to Freetown. We'll arrive in the evening, spend the night in a hotel near the airport and then the next day drive to Banta. And Tejan.

We'll spend almost a full two weeks in Banta. We'll return to Freetown on the 20th. Then we'll be visiting our friend Jay who serves on the Africa Mercy Ship which is now docked in Freetown. We'll stay with him until the 24th, when we fly back to the States. We'll arrive back here on the 25th.

There are still lots of details to work out... immunizations to finish up, visas to obtain so we have permission to enter the country, ministry plans for while we're in-county...

But the big daddy... the tickets... are a done deal.

Thank you Jesus.

I get to see my boy again.

Bake Sale Number Two

We had another bake sale at our church on Sunday...

Savannah was a huge blessing to me over the past couple of weeks, baking a TON to help get ready. We had LOADS of yummies available for people to purchase.

Our bake sale philosophy is donation only... meaning we bake a ton of stuff and then let people pay what they want. And we encourage them to take lots... I LOVE to bake - so it makes me really happy to see people enjoying the stuff I've made. We just set out a donation can and let people give what they can afford.

Sunday we had $700 in bake sale donations.

We also received $350 in additional support from friends and sold the car that a friend gave us for the trip for $750.

It was a really encouraging weekend.

We still haven't purchased our tickets. Our travel agent (who works exclusively with mission organizations) had a house fire last week and has been out of commission. I'm constantly reminding myself to hold that part of the trip with an open heart - trusting that God is going to take care of it. It's the part of this whole experience that it's easiest for me to worry about. We've seen the prices for tickets fluctuate SO much... from $2200 to $3600 per ticket. That's a huge jump when you're talking about five tickets. I'm learning to trust, for sure. I will feel SO much better when we've been able to get that taken care of and the tickets are paid for.

We will be in Sierra Leone in less than three months.

Can you believe it?

Three years of planning and saving.

It's really going to happen. (Yikes!)

We're really going to see T. again.