Can you hear me now?

Now, for the location of our house. Picture this. In front of our two-story building is the kid's playground. Behind us is the cafeteria. To the left is the Ohana Court where all the main events take place. To the right is the pool.
God placed us right in the center of all the major happenings on campus. Gatherings and social events go late into the night behind us, while we are greeted at 5:30 a.m. with the clanking of the kitchen.
The crazy thing is is that this country-loving, forest-dwelling girl needs a little more space and quiet! Apparently God has other plans for me. And, I want those plans. So, as soon as I can get some transportation somewhere, I'm going to buy some earplugs!

The First 24

Aloha from Hawaii!
It's been a mad dash for us to get to the STARTING LINE, but we did it! With the help of amazing families like the Ficks, Parsons, Yaholkovskys, Lees and Iwasakis our last day in Seattle was spent dropping off our van for shipping to Hawaii, doing a last-minute dump run to clean the house (*did I tell you GOD SOLD THE HOUSE!!), fix damage done due to a leak in the roof, and trying to think thin so that our bags don't go over 50 pounds!
*I need to break away from the story for this important message -- Isaiah just woke up and got changed into a long-sleeved shirt and pants! I think he'll soon learn :)
The plane ride went well! Boys did great, parents did OK, too!
This is where I want to record my initial thoughts, because I know that all too soon it will become common place in my mind.
I was struck with the landscape. I never realized the vast expanse of the lava rocks everywhere! But it was good to see some old familiar friends -- plumeria trees, palm trees, lizards and roaches.
When we arrived, we got to meet the leaders of our school and see our new digs for the quarter. It's actually quite spacious. You walk in the door, and on the left is a closet followed by the kitchen area that has a micro, cupboard and a full-size refrigerator.
On the right is more closets and the sink, with an attached shower stall and toilet.
The main floor has a queen size bed, desk, rattan seating set (totally a Hawaii thing!), plastic dining set, a pack and play for Levi and high chair.
Now, for the loft. I know everyone's been wondering about this. Think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as they walk toward the door and the room gets smaller and smaller. That's what it is. So, there are stairs from the main living area to go to the open lof with 3 twin beds for the bigger boys.
There's also 5 dressers -- more than we even owned!

I will continue more later, as this is already getting quite long ... Stay tuned ... Same bat time, same bat channel.

First in the family

As I write this our two oldest "children" Chappy and Sasha are on their way to Hawaii. Yes, they're dogs, but they are our dogs ... our first glimpse into a life of responsibility. In Hawaii they will encounter new smells, tastes, weather and words. Nothing will be familiar to them when they land.

In a few short days we'll be faced with helping our little boys acclimate to the change, too. Seattle is all they have known. This is the place they love. Their friends. Their church. Their classes. Their forest. Their house. Their lake.

But they are trusting in us that we are leading them to a good place for them. They have given up so much willingly, probably even more so than us.

Just as they are depending on us, we too are depending on God to be our Father to lead us to the paths He has for us. Though we don't know the outcome, we know we're doing it together as a family -- canine and human -- under the grace of God.

...and puppy dog "tales" that's what little boys are made of ...

How little boys process this long journey of finding a solution for our dogs ...

Justice to Micah: Ok, I'm going to take you to your new kennel.
Micah (a.k.a. Puppy Woof-Woof): But, I don't want to go to a kennel, I want a real home with a roof.
Justice: This is a real home, it's just an apartment.
Micah: Oh, this is a really nice kennel.
Isaiah: I just died-ed (*note: Isaiah is always the one who dies and needs to be revived, whether pretending to be an army man or now as a dog)

Hot dogs! Get your hot dogs!

*Ok, my titles might seem a bit out there, but it's the first thing I think of so I go with it!

In a truly amazing act of God, our house is being sold! We had an interested buyer who was asking for a way low price, so the negotiations ended and we decided to move forward. We took the house off the market, signed papers to turn it into a rental, and then WHAM the buyer comes back with a reasonable offer.

It's one thing to say goodbye to a house, but another to try to say goodbye to our dogs. Now that our house is being sold, and us not knowing what will happen after YWAM, we began desperately looking for a loving home here for them. We wanted them to have stability, love and happiness.

I spent many months crying over them and wondering why God would call the human members of our family out, while "sacrificing" the canine companions. It seemed like the unselfish thing to do would be to spare them from our uncertain futures.

But, they're our family and we're in for the ride together! Where we go, they will follow! So, they will be spending 4 months in quarantine in Hawaii, and then the next two months with my dad. My dad is an animal lover and my heart is so happy that I know they'll be loved when we're not there.

That's as far as the planning for us goes. We don't know what's in our future. We don't know where we'll live, or what jobs we'll have or what country we'll be in, but we do know that we're going to do our best to stick together. So, they'll just need to get used to being "hot dogs"!

Three for three?

Do we even dare believe that the countries that is on our hearts will be our outreach locations?

The three places we are interested in are India, Cambodia and China.

We just received word that India and Cambodia are the two possibilities the leadership team have chosen so far ... hmmmm, I wonder about the third ..... Stay tuned ....

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Every time we take a drive Micah is super interested to find out if we know where we're going. He gives a big sound of relief whenever we say yes.

But, I can say that on this journey we're on now, we don't know where we're going, yet Micah and the boys are still trusting that we'll get them to the right destination.

I just pray that our spiritual GPS has updated its maps!