Moving Sale & Lots of Other Changes

Despite three rainy days, we still did pretty well on our giant moving sale. Mostly we kept everything in the garage and house. We had the generous help of our friends and supporters that worked the sale, watched our kids, lent us tables and donated LOTS of stuff!! We made nearly $500!!

Jerry decided to put a "for sale" sign in his car during the garage sale instead of fixing the air conditioning for summer. We planned to sell it before moving. He nearly drove it into the ground the last six years. It drove to and from Texas to visit me when I was finishing school there; took road trips to Canada, Mexico, and Pennsylvania, and moved Jerry to and from work across town every day. It was a good little car for us, but we've certainly outgrown it. The Celica was very popular at the moving sale and test driven three times! We finished off our sale on Saturday by selling it!! Life already seems simpler with one vehicle and much less stuff!

Olivia finally got her reading glasses and we think she looks very sophisticated!! She immediately noticed how much easier reading could be! Overnight she has become an immersed bookworm.

Isaiah spent his second night in a big boy toddler bed last night! He'll be 2 in July. He loves climbing in and out of it constantly.

Moving Sale...

It's what's keeping us busy for the next few weeks: sorting, organizing, pricing, placing newspaper ads, making moving sale signs, recruiting volunteers and donations

Olivia's also planning to sell her own hand-made crafts to raise money for summer camp at Camp Kidjam www.campkidjam.org with other kids from our church

(see below if you're in the Wichita area!!)

MOVING SALE!!
The anticipated, yet dreaded phrase....since a move to Kenya, via Minnesota, is in the works for us.

It's not our favorite past time, but we are striving for a well organized disaster! We really appreciate your offers to help us during this transition. We thought up this list of ideas. If anything jumps out, let us know:

DONATIONS of items to sell. Yes, we have plenty of "stuff" to sell, but proceeds will go to cover the expenses of moving. Here's a chance to be part of our ministry without $$
These donations won't be tax deductible, but still of tremendous value to us!

TABLES or makeshift tables to borrow throughout set up and the sale

HELP organizing, pricing and setting up the week of the sale, Mon. May 21-Wed. May 23

HELP during sale to oversee, sell, organize, etc.
Any amount of time you can be here will be a blessing!

HELP setting stuff up and putting away sale days Thur May 24-Sat May 26 in the morning at 7:30 and afternoon at 5:00

Any help at all is appreciated! Please call with any questions or comments :)
Thanks, Jerry, Breanna, Olivia, Grace & Isaiah


P.S. Anything remaining after the sale will go to the Salvation Army

Devastating Wind

Maybe you heard about a tornado yesterday that leveled a town, Greensburg, in west Kansas. We were not effected and are all fine. But please do keep that  community in your prayers.
So far there are 9 confirmed deaths; every building was essentially destroyed.

We visited there March 2006 on the way home from Arizona; they have the largest hand dug well in the world. The collapsed water tower below is the corner of the parking lot for the well.
 
Jerry & Bre
 
P.S. Here's a link to an article & videos about the tornado: http://www.kake.com/breakingnews/7347256.html

Photographs by: Jaime Oppenheimer/The Wichita Eagle

Strength, courage, and the face of the impossible

These days have been in the shadow of a mountain. Mt. "To-Do" rises up from the plain of business as normal, and the closer I get, the deeper I dread. I look back at my plans for the next year and they seem a lot smaller, insignificant ... naive? I realize now that the plans got me going, but the can't carry us over that crest.

"I have to pray big" I remind myself almost every half hour: Changing lanes on the highway to work, getting another cup of coffee, mowing the yard ... "I have to pray big."

But I still feel tension churning deep inside.

This morning I basked in a ray of sunshine. I have been reading a daily devotional at ivpress.com. Today it was on Joshua 1. It says Be strong and courageous at least 5 times in that chapter. Here is verse 9:

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Airliner blocking traffic

This has nothing to do with our family, Africa, AIM-AIR, or Kansas. A friend e-mailed me the link. It made me smile, and I have to share it.
Not your every day traffic congestion. The quotes are classic! The fact that the driver abandoned his truck and now everybody is working around it - delightfully familiar.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The Boeing 737 stuck in city road Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road. It appears that after taking a wrong turn, the driver found himself facing a flyover that was too low for him to take the plane under. "I've been fascinated with planes and never seen one so closely," engineering student Vamsi Shastri said. "It's huge!" His friend Ankur Rane said, "It's fascinating to see an airplane on the roads when one is only used to seeing cars and auto rickshaws." However, for Pradeep Malhotra, who runs a catering service in the area, the plane has become a huge problem because it is parked right in front of his shop. "My work is suffering because the food cannot be loaded in the big vehicles," he said. "I have to load it in the smaller vans and then carry them to the bigger ones parked at the back. Five days on, it is still not clear who is responsible