Journey to Texas (*warning* long and icky)

I really want to write about our trip to the great state of Texas. I don't want to forget God's faithfulness during that long 23 hr drive.  We started a little later than we first wanted because we were invited to lunch by our realtor after our closing.  After a yummy lunch at Jason's deli, we started on our trip.  Dave and Andrew in the penske and Kira and I in the Yukon.  We got on I-26, the major highway that we used all the time in South Carolina, and that's when the excitement started.  One thing I was not prepared for is how the penske truck in front of me drove.  I guess when a truck is carrying the home of a family of 4 it can sway and  swerve.  Yikes!  Praise God for my amazing hubby who truly is one of the very best drivers I have ever known and has saved us from a number of accidents due to his quick thinking and reflexes.
We stopped for our first gas fill-up and as I was trying to get something out of the Penske truck cab, I missed the steps and fell down to the ground.  Ouch!!  I had some very significant bruises as we drove into Texas the next day.
Things were going well until we once again (seems to be a thing for us as it happened when we moved to SC) hit a very significant thunderstorm and downpour.  God definitely answered our prayers through that because he kept both our trucks safe during that even though our visibility was next to nothing at times.
At about this point, Samson (who had done so well on the first trip to Texas in February) decided he was not going to feel well and proceeded to vomit into poor Kira's hands and continued to vomit another 3 times.  All I can say is wow, my daughter is truly going to be a great mom one day ;).  We cleaned up as much as we could until we were able to stop again and let Kira make a b-line to the bathroom to wash.  Ewwww!
Dave and I were planning to stop at a hotel for the night but it just seemed like a waste of time as we would get to lay down for maybe 6 hrs and be out the door in the morning once again.  We crossed over into Texas and found a welcome/rest center and slept in the trucks.  Well, I truly think Dave got more sleep than me as I had both kids and the dog in my vehicle for the sleep time :P.
After about 4 hours of sleep (mine being quite interrupted), we continued on and arrived in Texas in the evening of May 3rd.
We were so excited to get into our rental home and just crash for the night, so excited that in fact our family at GFA who were planning to help us move in the next day were going to come and move us in that night.  That is until we walked into the rental and realized it had not been cleaned.  To be honest, after driving and being in a car for 23hrs, my desire was not to have to clean my new home.  Also, we realized that we did not have hot water even though the water was turned on.  A quick call to our new landlord (who truly has been wonderful) and realizing some people had "dropped the ball" on him for the cleaning, a new hot water heater, a large bag of cleaning supplies paid for by our landlord, a landlord's offer to put us up in a hotel for the night, and a quick call to cancel the moving party for the night, we were finally home in Texas.
I must say God was with us even through these little "bumps in the road".  Our landlord asked Dave why he wasn't cursing at him because of how we found the home and the hot water heater dying the first day?  Dave said he understood that it wasn't his fault and that was not how we were.  Our only desire is to be a light in this world that others may come to know the God we love!!

Our Goodbye to South Carolina

Our last couple of weeks in South Carolina were filled with excitement, sadness, and wonder to see God's working in our lives.  We said goodbyes to some dear friends and neighbors and especially our church family.  It was hard but I will never forget one of the last Sunday's we were at our home church - Calvary Chapel of Charleston.  We were able to meet up with the beautiful family (the Haverkorns) who were the ones that stayed at our home in SC while we were in Texas, meet another beautiful missionary family, The Pedosiuks, who are doing an amazing work in China, and spend some amazing time with our church family.  The most beautiful time was when our Pastor invited us up to announce they were now supporting us as a church family and had people gather around all of us to pray.  I was in tears and will never forget that special moment of how God blessed in ways we were not expecting.  HE IS AWESOME!!
I also need to give another shout out to our amazing youth pastor at CC-Charleston, Aubrey Perea and our youth group.  Between them and some friends we were able to load the huge 22ft Penske truck in under 2 hours.  They were amazing and we love them all so much.  Truly it is a blessing to know them and see God working in the lives of these young people and using Aubrey to lead them.  We miss our church family dearly but continue to love them from afar and know we will see them again - preferably one day soon ;)

On May 2nd, we said goodbye to 164 Southport Drive  - it's been fun but we are so excited to see God's plan as He moves us forward to do the work He's called us to do.

Our journey to Texas and GFA

I was thinking about writing a whole new post about how God brought us to Texas permanently but I think the best thing to do is just share our newsletter with you and let you read it.  It still amazes me how God orchestrated, not only our lives but lives of others, so that He would receive the most glory. It reminds me it's not all about us but about us as one body in Christ.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we,though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another - Romans 12:4

Hopefully back on track...

What an amazing few months it has been since I last posted.  God is so faithful and even though I have not been great at updating the blog, there are so many ways that He shows His love to us over and over.
It has always been my desire to utilize this blog to see God's work in our little family's life and to document things so I would not forget.  The next few posts will be a catch up and even though I don't think there are any that even view this blog anymore, I do it for me and the memories of my children and to leave a legacy for them of the faithfulness of God!

Hopefully we will be back on track with the updates from now on ;)