Visa d'Entree

The process has begun! Thank you to everyone that had been praying for this. After waiting over an hour, it was our turn to talk to the "lady behind the glass". Once again, Caden was a hit...even among the French. At first, we were told we would have to make an appointment to come back and apply for Caden's visa since he wasn't actually a student. Then, after she talked to someone back in the office, she said they were going to make an exception and just take care of Caden's visa for us without an appointment. The only thing we have to do is mail in a few items that weren't acceptable the way we had brought them and then we can pick our visas up in about two weeks. Praise God! This is one more item we can check off our to-do list.

Time With Teammates in Texas

We're back from a week in Texas, and it was a blessed trip. Our journey had a dual purpose; to spend time with family and friends and do some fundraising. Both ventures were successful, and we came home tired but very satisfied with how things went.

One of the highlights was spending time with teammates past and present, the Neals and the Rieses. We took a day to drive out to the middle of nowhere, I mean Camp Deer Run, about 2 1/2 hours east of Dallas. This is the first time we have ever met the Neals, which is strange because technically we were teammates for over a year. They are doing very well, and we can imagine how it would have been awesome living in Togo with them. They will always be a part of our team, and we look forward to spending time with them again in the near future. A possible visit to Togo by the Neal family is in the works for 2007.

One of our present teammates, the Rieses, are on furlough in Dallas. They are sponsored by the Preston Road Church of Christ, and they are home for about another month or so. We had a blast talking, joking around, asking questions about France/Togo, and just enjoying being with a great family. The Rieses have 3 boys, Isaac, Graham, and Owen, and they are one of the most fun handful of boys you will ever be around. Graham took a special interest in Caden, and little Cade is looking forward to having all of the Ries boys as playmates very soon!

Please pray for the rest of our fundraising to finish up soon. We are close to some of our goals, but on others we are far from it. Thanks and God bless!

You Want to Take Me WHERE?!

Caden has now received his first passport. He is officially allowed to leave the country. When we told him this was so he could move to Africa...this is the face we got.

O.K., not really, but it makes a good post, don't ya think?

Packing, Passports, and Plane Tickets

They say it's all in the details, and our lives are good examples of that right now. The details involved in moving to Togo can be pretty overwhelming, but we feel like we're doing pretty good. Caden's passport just arrived, our visas applications for Togo are in D.C, we have purchased our plane tickets (we leave August 22nd from Birmingham), and our apartment is a chaotic mess of boxes, some empty, some full, some in between.

Please continue to pray for our preparations. We are OK with the fact that we might not get every single detail ironed out before we leave because we have an amazing church family to help us out, and more importantly, a mighty God who is capable of anything...