A new adventure

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Over the years this verse has become an anchor to hold onto, during the good times and the storms.  My God, the God of the Universe, has plans for me.  According to this verse great plans.  Really really great plans.  And I'm thankful.  I have much to be thankful for.  

In a few months my family and I are about to embark on a new adventure.  One that has been a dream of mine for almost 20 years (how did I get this old?).  We are heading to Africa.  In December we will be moving to Soroti, Uganda for a year.  We are partnering with an organization called Pilgrim Africa. You should check them out here... www.pilgrimafrica.org  

We are excited and overwhelmed by all that is before us.  There are so many details to consider when taking your family across the world.  Details details details.  I am a detail person.  The details matter to me.  Good thing is, they matter to God too.  But I confess I can get lost in the details and start to lose courage.  At these points I am reminded "to not lose sight of the forest for the trees."  A good reminder as I try to figure out what to take in 12 suitcases half way around the world.

As we prepare for our adventure of serving and following, we have been organizing what will go into storage and what to sell.  We unpacked and sorted through every single thing we owned.  What to keep, what to sell, what to donate.  It was a surprisingly emotional experience as I said goodbye to "stuff".  It wasn't really the stuff that mattered, but the memories attached to the stuff that made it so tough to let go.

This is what the garage looked like as we started unpacking and sorting.  A total, overwhelming mess!

Don't be fooled into thinking this was the garage sale.  No no.  This was just 1 day of unloading the garage to get to boxes that were deep in the belly of the whale.

It was a lot of work, but the sale was a total success.  The things we are holding onto are safely tucked into storage and the things we are getting rid of are gone (or will be finding a new home soon).

Step 1 of preparing for Africa complete...tackle the garage!