So this first post is going to catch you up on how the process of "getting here" happened, how we decided to even be here this time and this year in the first place, and where a stuffed owl named "Pigwidgeon" fits into all of this.
March, 2015
We have started communicating with Leslee, our team developer. We know that we have a lot of work and fundraising to do in order to get ready for our 2016 mission, including nailing down who exactly is going to be on our team. Will it be a team of 5, or 2? But at least we are starting plenty early. So time is on our side. We are really excited about the opportunities that await us!
April 7th, 2015
Today we received an email from Leslee asking if we, Denise and Marissa, wanted to do an LST project THIS year, in June! That's really soon. We aren't sure what to do, but we're going to pray about it and give her an answer in the next couple days. We just aren't sure about raising $7,000 in less than 3 months!
April 12th, 2015
We're going to go for it! Let the fund raising and training begin.
April 17th, 2015
We raised our first $1,000!!! This might actually work!
April 27th, 2015
We raised our first $2,000, in 15 days. That's incredible! Things seem to be slowing down a bit but we remain positive, hopeful, and prayerful. :)
April 30th, 2015
Now we're at $3,100, we're up to our elbows in training, and we're getting really excited!! We made it nearly halfway in less than one month. That is nothing short of miraculous.
May 22nd, 2015
Fundraising has slowed way down at this point. We have $3,730 of our $7,000. But that doesn't mean it's over. We're going to keep fundraising, training, and praying. Even if it doesn't work out this year, at least any funds raised will go to next years project!
May 23rd, 2015
Ok, things are picking up again, and looking up. Now we're at $4,780 thanks to some very generous donations. It's pretty incredible if you think about it. That is a lot of money in a very short amount of time.
May 28th, 2015
Thanks to an incredibly generous donation, we are FULLY FUNDED! This is happening! We are going to Germany next month! Hallelujah!
Between May 28th and June 24th we continued to train, pray, and prepare ourselves as best we could. This proved a little tricky as work decided this would be a great time to move me into full time status with some overtime, too. So a little extra challenge, but a welcome one.
June 25th, 2015
I had to work in the morning, 8am-1pm. Then I went home, triple-checked my bags, loaded up the car, and we drove down to my Grandma's house in Washougal. That night we spent time with my Grandma and sisters, and maxed out the sleeping capacity of my Grandma's tiny single-wide.
June 26th, 2015
We got up in the morning, had breakfast, went shopping for some last minute things - which turned into a bit of it's own adventure - decided we would have to live without 3 of the items on our list, and headed off to the Portland International airport!
This is my sister's send-off picture.
Always a character.
At the airport....
Let me begin by saying I am a high stress person.
When we got to the airport with less than 3 hours to spare, I was not happy. I wanted to have 3 hours because I'm weird and I would rather spend extra time hanging out at my gate than I would running to it. Thankfully, my stress was misguided. Once we finished having our passports scanned the process of checking baggage, going through security, and finding our gate happened relatively quickly. I always forget that Portland International Airport is smaller than Seattle. We ended up with extra time as it was. When we boarded our plane we were feeling excited, but nervous. It was really the first time nerves had set in. This was real, it was happening, and we were going to be away from home for almost a month.
Normally I drive a Taurus,
but my other ride is a T.A.R.D.I.S
It's a shame the Doctor was busy that day...
I was also kind of dreading the 9.5 hour flight with an additional hour at the end. I know it's by far the fastest, most reasonable mode of transportation when traveling across the pond, but I don't like to sit still much. That's just too long to be stuck on a plane.
Pigwidgeon is ready for takeoff!
By the time we reached Amsterdam I was excited - not only to be in Amsterdam for the first time, but to get up and move around. There were people on our flight who never moved once, but I was not one of them. Since I also only slept for half an hour I was very thankful for the free movies on the plane. I watched Jupiter Rising before I found the "kids section", which I got way too excited about, and watched Frozen and How to Train Your Dragon.
We made it to Schipol!
By the time we got on our last flight I was completely over sitting. Thankfully I slept, and it was over all too soon. I knew that I would have to do a lot sitting after that too. It was still a 20-30 minute drive to Peine. That feeling of wanting to do anything but sit did not leave me until today, 4 days later.
Germany at last!
The preacher at the church we are working with, Randy, picked us up at the airport and drove us to Peine. I was surprised to learn that he is originally from the the states, though he and his wife have been here for over 30 years. We spent the rest of the day meeting people, such as the local missionary David, and the team that came before us, we also a wonderful chicken salad dinner, our first introduction German cuisine. The rest was mainly trying to learn names and phrases, and settling in.
Our "home away from home" office and sometimes bedroom.
That's it, that's the story of how we ended up in Germany this year.
More to come later....
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