Take off!!!!!!!!

Well, if you are the type of person that checks out what time it was when the message was posted... you would see that it is entering the wee hours of the morning. I am waiting out our washing machine so I can throw the next load into the dryer. I find myself always waiting on the wash. I guess that is partly because of cloth diapers. But no complaints here!
We are almost officially packed. I would be able to say "officially" if only the wash was done. :)
It will take a miracle for us to get all of our luggage to Vanuatu! We seem to have a problem with only having two hands each...bummer. But our God has proven a thousand times over again that He is in the business of miracles...so off we go.

We get asked a lot if we are nervous....I think that as each minute passes it sets in a bit more. Tomorrow (or today I guess) we will be saying our good-byes to my mom and dad (Thulesens). This will probably start the chain of nervousness for me. It is bound to set in at that time. Thank God that good-byes are really not good-byes...ya know? But only "see you soon's". I know that our kiddos will not really totally get the good-bye time as we have said good-bye to grandpa and grandma hundreds of times. This is maybe a blessing.

We will be spending a couple days in CA with Houghton's family before our departure to Vanuatu (Aug 3rd) so it is also a blessing that we have seperate time with each family to say our good-byes. God has been so gracious to us in the little (big) things!

We will keep this blog rolling even from Vanuatu...so keep checking us out!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting ready...to pack that is...

We have decided to use the next couple days to practice pack. It should be interesting to see how and where we are going to fit everything...and who knows maybe we will be pleasantly surprised to find we have EXTRA space. I am not sure about that though. ;)

We have 4 suitcases, two large backpack/duffle bag things, and some carry ons that we will be using to pack the next 2 years into. Five words for you I LOVE SPACE SAVER BAGS. :) They will be super helpful. Ya know the little gadgets that are like a glorified zip-lock that you can suck the life out of with a vacuum and they shrink all your stuff. AWESOME. One problem being that although your stuff gets smaller...it doesn't get lighter! So we will be preparing by lifting weights! :)

We keep getting asked if we are ready. To which Houghton and I almost simultaniously say "NO". :) One day at a time we get more and more done. I am amazed at how much little things are floating around on our "to do" lists. Houghton said the other day that on his "to do" list was to organize his "to do" list. Craziness. ;) I think if we get to Vanuatu with most of our brains we will be doing GREAT. God is so good though. We are sleeping fairly well..perhaps that will change as the days get even closer. PLEASE PRAY for us in this regard. That our minds would be able to let us sleep so we can have energy to get through another hectic day.

A couple days ago we got these little handy guys at Wal-Mart. You cannot imagine (or maybe you can cause you have been there) navigating through the airports we will be going through with our kiddos. Not that they are not WONDERFULLY behaved kids, but I just always wecome a little peace of mind. So we plan on having our kids where these cute little backpacks while we are trecking through LAX (oh my what a mess) (thats the airport in LA, CA if you were wondering) and also in Fiji and Vanuatu. Jesiah and Gwen LOVE them. They have been wearing them around the house for fun and think they are just the best. So that is helpful.
I cannot wait to post a picture of what we will look like when we get all airport geared up. It will be an art now doubt. What a blessing to have another set of eyes along with us. Laura that is! She is such an awesome help.

Keep us in your prayers as these days pass! CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE (link on the right if you didn't know) so you can see more pics and also know our schedule and see more prayer requests!

Is it time to FREAK OUT yet?

We have been keeping busy these days. Getting our will prepared plus burial arrangements...wow isn't that crazy, and retirement info gathered and consolidated, bank accounts consolidated and closed, addresses changed, last minute Internet purchases for things we need before we take off.....and the list goes on and on.

We are so excited to be IN VANUATU and yet there is a lot of anxiety that goes along with it! I cannot imagine what our life is going to look like there. We have secured housing which is a HUGE blessing, praise God, and so that takes a lot of anxiety out of the move.

I, Gretchen, am anxious about flying over the Pacific...not because of flying but because it means 10ish hours of my kids needing to be good and SLEEP. I am also anxious about packing everything into our suitcases...I am sure it will all fit..but we may not have enough hands to carry it all through the airports! AHHH...I do freak out every once in a while when my mind begins to worry. Thankfully we have a God who promises to take the anxiety out of our lives when we cast it all on Him. THANK YOU SO MUCH LORD. I NEED that!

Please keep our family in prayer as we take this on full force very soon. We would LOVE to hear from you and also hear that you are praying for us! We are all in this together ya know! We are joyful to be going out for Christ's name and with your help.

Thank you to one of our supporters who sent me this verse, "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rest between His shoulders." Deuteronomy 33:12

It is officially JULY

Can you believe that we have been blogging about Vanuatu for over a year now and we have now reached THE MONTH that we fly out? It is incredible. God has been speeding us right along. Now the only thing standing in our way is writing our wills...any attornies out there to help out???
We are mulling through the paper work now so we can be official overseas residents. Lots to sort through.

We just got home from a quick vacation to South Dakota. The kiddos had a blast and so did we! Check out the photos on our slide show to the right.

We would love to have pictures of our supporters so we can keep a little photo book in our computer of all those who we are partnered with! So if that is you...send us a pic!