September update: Part 1

What a month!  We moved from Michigan, spent a week in GA, 2 nights at a hotel in Chiang Mai, and ended the month by moving into our house!

These 2 grew up together: their mommies are sweet friends!

Spending a few moments with our adorable nephew.

Saying Goodbye was hard; so hard that it just kind of hurt your heart, and if I'm being honest, I felt so anxious leaving Michigan.  For the first time ever, our kids had family nearby (well, we were living with my parents:)  Jack enjoyed fishing and night crawler picking with his papa.  Callie enjoyed baking with Nana. We were able to watch my niece niece's volleyball games and have dinners together after church. My sister had a baby while we were living in Michigan and I was able to watch many of his firsts, just as she was able to watch many of Max's.  It saddened both of us to think about missing the next round of "firsts." I prayed through tears that night.

Lovin' on a couple of "my girls".

As we drove to Georgia that morning, I thought, "What are we doing?! We are moving half-way around the world!  Why did we say we would do this?!"  I am so thankful for my husband because he listened and then reminded me of everything I have told my own family and friends: life is a vapor and eternity is long.  We have eternity with our family (fellow Christians) but the people we're reaching out to overseas, well, most have never heard of the hope we have in Christ."  This is what the Lord has prepared us to do.

We spoke at a church the same day we drove down to GA.  They were very encouraging and I was honest with them, "Pray for me.  I'm anxious."  The next day, after a lot of sleep (thank you Ken for getting up with the kids!) I felt so different...calmer...rational ;)

Love this lady!

rch had a beautiful commissioning service for us.  I woke up that morning excited to go, ready for Thailand!  The service was precious.  The kids sang, our pastor shared a wonderful message that was so meaningful and Christ focused.  One of my close friends sang and it was just a special gift.  I managed not to cry up until this point, but during the last song, "He will hold you fast,"  I just cried. All around me were people who loved me and spurred me on in my walk with the Lord.  I had grown so much with the body of believers. It was time to go and the Lord would continue to hold me. 

At our host family's home: they were sooo good to us!

The next day our dear friends, who were also our neighbors, took us to the airport.  Checking in was easy and all of our bags were between 48 and 50 pounds- no overage on weight!  Woo-hoo!  We said see you later, and for the first time in a long time, we were by ourselves.  It felt more adventurous and exciting than sad.  We had lunch and headed to our gate.

We arrived in Chiang Mai!

On the plane the kids were so excited to be able to watch movies and shuffle through their backpack of goodies.  As we took off down the runway I said, "Say goodbye to America!"  Jack got teary-eyed and quiet.  I heard him whisper something that ended with "Goodbye" and tears were running down his cheeks.  He talked to me about it a little bit.... It broke my heart...however, I think it was good for him to get out how he had been feeling.  If he's sad, I want him to cry...but it's hard to watch your kids cry...especially when you can't fix the reason they are crying.

Max even slept in the bassinet for a while!!!

Thankfully the tears didn't last long and excitement resumed.  Many of you prayed that our kids would fly/travel well and they did!  Even 14 month old Max! Korean Airlines makes it so easy on families:)  The kids were all awake for our transfer in Korea, which was necessary because they had to carry their backpack and suitcase.  Callie, so little under all her gear said, "I'm not giving up!"  She didn't!  We made it to our gate with 15 min. to spare.

Too excited to sleep!

We were met in Chiang Mai by staff/friends from the school we'll be partnering with.  The kids were excited to see Thailand, even though it was dark.  Our hotel was really cute!  Max loved being able to crawl on/off the beds, but that scared me, knowing he could fall backwards off a bed at any moment onto cement!  We were able to Skype with family to let them know we had arrived and we were all wide awake.  I think we went to bed at 2:45am! Hello jet-lag!  Little did I know that for the next 4 days Max would wake up in the middle of the night ready to play!