Details...

Now that our airfare is booked we have a list of last minute details to finish before we leave... everything from canceling our car insurance to buying sun block. We thought a series of photos would be in order during these next 13 days to see how our list gets widdled down the closer we get.

It's Official!

Our airfare is booked!!!!!

We leave Tuesday, January 13th, which happens to be exactly three weeks from today.
We will return April 15th to Portland.

I am so amazed at how quickly all of the final details are coming together. We still have some things to do, but we are really doing this. I am so thankful that we were able to find airfare for less than we budgeted. Praise God!

Merry Christmas!

We're in McCall, Idaho celebrating Christmas with the Chapmans. I will probably post pictures on my blog, but wanted to give an update. We received yet another financial update today.

As of today, we have raised $8631. This means we are getting really close! Michael and I are in awe of God's goodness, and of the number of partners we already have to share this journey with. We are blessed!

Update #3

Today we received our third financial update.

We were starting to feel a little worried about our timeline because we were still well under 1/3 of what we need to raise. We haven't booked our airfare yet, and we'd like to be leaving in less than one month. Things weren't looking fantastic. But, we are trying to trust the Lord in this and in His timing. We have friends from Eastern on the ground for their internship, and their money is coming up short. They may have to come home early. There is no promise that our plan will coincide with the Lord's.

It's always a little nerve-wracking to see the email with our financial update. I get nervous for a few seconds, because what I'm about to read will continue to determine our future plans. As of today we have raised $6786 in one time gifts and total monthly pledges. This is more than double what our last figures were. Michael and I are so thankful! This means we can book our airfare now. This means we are well over half way to our goal. This is the encouragement and affirmation we have been hoping for, and feel that at this point we are sure we are heading to Rwanda in January! Obviously we have more money to raise, but we are over the half-way "hump."

Thank you for all of your prayers. For those of you who have been led to give financially, thank you for making this possible. Michael and I are truly blessed to be supported by so many people from all over the country and from all walks of life. We are so thankful!

One Month!

It's been a busy few weeks, so we haven't blogged much.

Leaving for Rwanda is getting closer and closer. As of now, we still haven't booked our airline tickets. We can't do this until we at least have that amount covered in our fund raising. I did find a good deal on tickets, and it looks like we could leave January 13th, which is one month from today!

We've received two financial updates, and are at around $3000. It's an exciting start, but it also makes us pause and wonder if we can raise more than double that in the next 30 days, or less.

I was feeling very positive and excited after the first update, and after the second one I realized this isn't going to be easy. If we raise the money we need it will be for the glory of God, and not anything we can say or do.

Please pray as we continue to make final preparations. We got our vaccinations on Thursday: Hepatitis A, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid. We've made other preparations such as purchasing our travel luggage, backing up our laptop and getting it fixed, and getting a camera to take with us.

We are getting so excited about this upcoming adventure, and are trusting the Lord that all our needs will be met prior to us leaving.

Please Pray

Some of the details of our trip are in limbo right now. What we thought we'd be doing in Rwanda may or may not be changing. This could potentially affect when we leave for Rwanda as well. Please pray that we will trust the Lord and his timing in this entire process. Originally, as in many months ago, we thought we'd be on the ground in Rwanda by now. Our expectations keep changing and we are learning to adapt, but we are still learning to release control of the situation, and trust God's plans.

We're back to Chappiage!

So, Michael and I are going to attempt to use this blog again. We started it up last year when we went to Pennsylvania, and thought we'd go ahead and use this one as we share our process of heading to Rwanda (and especially while we're in Rwanda).

For those of you who have come here for the first time, possibly after receiving our letter about Rwanda, Welcome! Hopefully this will be a place where you can read updates and keep up with all we are doing.

We will still both use our own blogs as well, and we'll see how often it all happens.
My blog is fade2gray.blogspot.com

Michael's blogs are constantcastro.wordpress.com and michaelchapman.wordpress.com

More to come soon!

I am blessed

I am so blessed to have a husband who is willing to be vulnerable and open with me, always ready to do whatever it takes to strngthen our relationship with each other.

There really is such a thing as a "match made in heaven."

OR VS. PA

Michael and I have been compiling two lists:

1) Pennsylvanian's Perceptions of Oregon
2) Differences between OR and PA

This is a list that we started, but I'm sure we'll add on to it as time goes on:

Perceptions of Oregon
(These come from conversations with people at work and as we meet people who find out we're from Oregon)

-Oregon has many ferns in the forest
-Everyone is healthy (that's why we don't smoke, obviously)
-We Recycle!
-When someone thinks Oregon, they think:
-Tree huggers
-Euthanasia ("Oregonians are OK with killing people, just don't cut down the trees!" This one comes from one of Michael's professors)
-Oregon Trail-the computer game and the wagons out west
-Spotted Owl
-Coffee (Thank you Starbucks!)
-Wine Country
-One of my co-workers said Michael is the epitome of what he thinks of when he imagines an Oregonian: a tall, strong jaw who could "beat him up and then go build a house" (What does that even mean?)

Differences we've noticed between Pennsylvania and Oregon:

-Squirrels are everywhere in PA
-Michael doesn't own a suit (as someone asked him, so what do you wear to weddings?)
-When it rains, it RAINS (in Oregon we don't use umbrellas, here they are needed)
-Pedestrians, be one and risk your life (In Oregon, there are new state laws all the time relating to pedestrians)
-Styrofoam-restaurants, coffee shops, to-go boxes, all styrofoam....At least paper is recyclable!
-People drink coffee from Dunkin Donuts (In Oregon that would be the last place we would think to go...but it's great here. And cheap.)
-Wawa-See previous post from last fall. Heaven in a convenience store. Not like 7-11 in any way.
-People prefer black coffee to espresso
-Flip flops may be worn at all times for any function in Oregon
-No maple bars in PA
-No turn lanes-narrow roads here (hence risk to pedestrians)
-Delayed Red Lights (Yellow means push the pedal, not slow down like in Oregon)
-No Right turn on Red
-Townships-are in counties, are made up of cities, and villages, and I still don't really get it.
-Sales tax-but not on clothes
-We have to pump our own gas (unless we drive to New Jersey, the only other state besides OR that has gas attendants)
-No bike lanes
-Croissant pronounced with a French accent
-To cut back on alcohol being available and binge drinking, they sell alcohol in separate stores (Wine and Spirits and/or Beer Yards), but only in mass quantities. 6 packs not available.)
-People go to the beach and don't need 3 layers of clothes
-People go to the beach