Adrian Day 1 & 2

We had a tearful farewell yesterday, but are doing okay so far. I am excited for Trevor to have this unique opportunity and also excited to see how God will use Trevor and his team in Africa. Thankfully we will be able to skype and e-mail him regularly. I'm so thankful for internet!

Personally, I'm looking forward to some good reading time in the evenings. I just started The Hunger Games trilogy and am hooked. The kids and I are also looking forward to the arrival of our company. My mom and Grandma GG will be arriving on Thursday and staying through Sunday. Then my dad and Sue arrive on Monday and will stay through Thursday. Three days later and Trevor will be back. We can do this!

Tanzania Day 1 & 2

Trevor team at church prior to departure.

We left Adrian at 9:30 AM yesterday and after two 9 hours flights made it all the way to Dar Se Salaam, Tanzania. We got to the hotel about an hour ago and I was pleased to discover WiFi.  It is a decent hotel, but already spotted a few critters.  It is ridiculously humid here.  I had to shower already when I got to the hotel.  Flights were long, but went smooth overall.  Lots of reading and movies and stiff back. Only slept like 3 hours on the first leg and even that wasn't a deep sleep.  So far it is dark here so nothing new to report really.  We actually had an additional planned stop in Nairobi, Kenya, but we didn't get off the plane, so it doesn't count.  I already exchanged $100 for $158,900 Schillings. I'm rich!  Anyway, tomorrow is 9 hours on a bus to Dodoma.  Pray for air conditioning because it is ridiculously hot here.


Trevor

Basketball

Kaylee shooting

Check out that triple threat position

Kaylee just completed her 2nd season of basketball. She was on the 7/8 team and Trevor and I were her coaches. She was very aggressive this season. She was often seen chasing loose balls and was even on the ground trying to retrieve them. She scored 2 points in three different games and learned to set some mean picks. We even taught the girls two different plays, which was exciting. Kaylee seemed to really enjoy basketball. She was a bit timid when it comes to catching passes, but that will improve with time. She made so much progress from last year. We are very proud of her. Way to go Kaylee!

Overdue Books

Kaylee woke up vomiting today and one of the first things she said was "Great, now my library book will be overdue at school." Her level of responsibility cracks us up sometimes.

Africa

We have some big news, Trevor is going to Tanzania, Africa in a couple weeks. This is so last minute, but so God. Here's the story: Our church has been planning a mission trip to Africa since before we moved here two years ago. We knew about it from the beginning, but didn't feel like the timing was right for us to go because of the kids and because of the cost of the trip. So that was it, we thought. However, just recently two of the men (a father and son) had to back out of the trip due to the father's battle with cancer. The father is doing okay, but just isn't strong enough to go out of the country and do manual labor. Still we didn't think much about it. Then last Friday, Trevor told me that several people had been trying to get him to fill the vacant spot because God had laid Trevor on their hearts. Trevor apparently was the "go to guy" because of his familiarity with international traveling, his "physique" of course, and the fact that he had a current passport. I asked him if he was considering it and he told me no because we just couldn't afford it financially. Plus, we have always done our trips together and he knew it wasn't possible for both of us to go. End of discussion.

Then on Sunday during church, one of the ladies going on the mission trip got up to request prayer for the people going to Africa. While she was speaking I felt God tell me that I needed to give Trevor the freedom to go to Africa without me. After church, I told Trevor that I didn't feel like God was telling me that he for sure needed to go to Africa, but just that he had the freedom to consider the possibility of going without me. We began praying about it and that is when everything came together. Financially, the team had to come up with $10,000 to pay for the materials they will be using while working in Africa. That amount is already accounted for. Then individually every person had to come up with $2,600 on their own. However, since some of the expenses from the previous two men were nonrefundable Trevor's price came down $1,000. Then a donor anonymous to us donated $1,000 on Monday evening towards the mission trip, which brought Trevor's cost to just $600. All the doors seemed to fly open for Trevor to go to Africa, so he began asking his co-workers to pray and sought out his bosses blessing. Doors have remained open, so Trevor committed to going to Africa yesterday. He then sat down to tell one of his friend's at work about how God provided him with the money to go to Africa. His friend then silently reached into his own pocket and said "well, I guess this is for you too. God has laid on my heart that I am supposed to give this money to someone, but I haven't known who that person was, but I think it is you." He then handed Trevor another $150. Can you believe it? What an awesome God we serve! We aren't sure why God wants Trevor in Africa, but we feel confident that He does want him there and so he will be gone Feb 28th through March 11th. Please praise God with us and pray for Trevor and the rest of the team while they are gone. What a mighty God we serve!!!!