We have a departure date (and other updates)!!!

Okay, we haven't been very good at updating this blog! So, here are a few highlights of the past couple of months.
- We were approved to leave for South Africa, and purchased our plane tickets. We leave on January 30th. We will fly to Germany (about 10 hours), have a 10 hour layover there, and then on to Johannesburg (another 10 hour flight.) Please pray for our safety and sanity!!
- Lincoln passed his test for his pastoral license, we are now waiting for our interview before the licensing board.
- We took a trip to Texas over Thanksgiving to visit Lincoln's dad's side of the family. It was great for the kids and I to meet and spend time with this side of the family.
- Lincoln has been studying very hard, and will be taking the test for his Master Electrician's license on Thursday, Jan5th.
- The kids and I have had a great time homeschooling using Sonlight Curriculum. It is a curriculum originally put together for United State citizens living overseas. So far, it has been a perfect fit for our family.
- We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a very special time to be with our family before leaving. The weather here was absolutely beautiful (almost 7o degrees on Christmas!), and we spent quite a bit of time outside playing "Mother May I". Madison initiated the game, but she soon got bored and the adults continued to play without her!

-We were incredibly blessed by Grace Community Church who gave the four of us many Christmas gifts. They are a generous and loving church, and we are so fortunate to know them!!

What's ahead:
- We are continuing to prepare to leave. There are so many details that we need to take care of, it seems like they are never ending! We get one thing taken care of and realize that there are three more things that we didn't think of!
-Our going away party is on Jan. 7th. This will be a bittersweet time.
- We have our last service on Sunday, Jan 8th.

We can't wait to leave! We know that it will go by very quickly and we are cherishing every last minute we have with the people we love.