Breathing Deeply

This is kind of a long one but here's the highlights:

* We got our Visas
* We bought our tickets and we leave on December 8th

One of the things that I've been catching myself doing lately is sighing...you know, taking deep breaths when you're not really doing anything strenuous. Well...I've been doing that a lot lately. When I get stressed and I start to worry a lot...I sigh. Last Sunday and Monday I was in worry mode. Last Sunday night we were driving to Atlanta to so that we could go to the Colombian consulate the next day. As we were driving I started to ask Amanda about some of our documents...like our school transcripts, my Ordination certificate, and whatever else I thought that we might need.

She looked at me and said that she didn't have them...Out comes another sigh. We had given them all to our boss who was joining us in Atlanta, but I guess I thought that he might not have them for some reason...he did thankfully, but that still didn't stop my worrying though. God's probably not real impressed with my faith right now, but thankfully our getting these Visas wasn't contingent upon my faith because we probably wouldn't have gotten them.

We arrive at the Colombian consulate at 9:00 after a waking at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Atlanta. I thought, "How many people could be in the Colombian Consulate at 9:00 a.m. to get Visas?"...I was wrong. It was packed. All of the Colombians were packed into a very tiny waiting room with a group of six gringos. We got a lot of smiles that day...I love Colombians. I spent some time waiting near the elevators so the kids wouldn't go crazy when a Colombian couple walked by. They started to ask what I was doing there, and I got to share with them what we'd be doing in Colombia. They were so kind and they said "Dios lo bendiga"..God bless you. This made me smile, and was a great reminder of why I love Colombia.

The kids were so great, Parker played with legos for about 2 hours straight and Kendall did great as well. We were very proud of them and thankful that they held it together considering that they woke up about 3.5 hours before they usually do. So we waited and waited for our number to be called.

There were so many people in there, we were worried that when they came to us they would be in a bad mood because of the craziness before us. So when we got to sit down before the Vice-Consul of Colombia, we were all praying that she'd be in a good mood. She was.

She had met our boss before, so there was a prior relationship. She asked us if we were missionaries, and when we told her that we were, she just smiled. We sat down with our paperwork, and as she flipped though it, all she said was "Perfect, perfect, perfect". She than said, I just need some money. It literally took her longer to count the $620 than it did to go through our paperwork. She said come back in a little bit, and you'll have your Visas.

I guess this is where we could sit back and pat ourselves on the back about having done a fine job putting everything together. All of our hard work had paid off...wrong. God had gone before us. He had made the path straight. This was from His hands, not ours. When we had our Visas in hand, it was such a relief and we could reflect that all of our worry was in vain...like always.

So we now have Religious Visas that allow us to stay in the country 2 years, after those expire we will apply for residency. Along with that, God has really blessed us through the sacrifical giving of many people. We would still love to raise a little more support before going, but we now have an official leave date of December 8th. We origianlly thought that Nov. 11th was going to be the date, but we made the decision, along with SAM, to go in December. Priase God!!

It's so hard to believe that another chapter is about to start in our lives, but we are thankful for the journey that God has put us on. We are thankful that when we travel to Colombia, we will be accompanied by predecessors who spend 40 years in Colombia. They are going to help us set up, and get acquainted with the school and the church.

So we will be spending our last month, saying final goodbyes, packing, and getting spiritually and emotionally prepared for what God has called us to do in Colombia. Thanks for your prayers and your investment in our lives. We appreciate all you.