Packing & Turkey

The past few days have been so full. There is definitely a lot of excitement, stress, dreaming, prayer, and nervousness going on in the Sullivan's place. Andrew and I have laughed more in the last 24 hours than the last few weeks combined. It's been great crazy stressful fun!

Today is my last day off before we leave so I decided that our stuff needed to be mostly all packed and it looks like I am finishing just in time!

Our goal is to not have to check any bags when we leave Uganda and head
 to Turkey so it took a couple of times weeding out all the non-essentials.

Here is most all of our stuff waiting to be packed (not including the three 
soccer balls and all the craft supplies bought this evening). Will it all make it?

And on a side note, Turkey.....!!!! Many of you may not know, but we have been blessed with the opportunity to stop in Turkey for a week on our way home.  God provided unbelievably cheap tickets for $300!!! And we were able to use some money we have been saving to cover the whole thing. We think it will be a good opportunity to process our time in Uganda and get to experience even more cross-cultural experiences together as we explore whether God has given us the gifts needed to live in other cultures. And who knows, God may place on our hearts a burning desire to do missions in Turkey!

Tadaaaa! All packed! Two duffel bags of books, toys, and gifts,
our  carry-on backpacks of clothes and our little book bag/purse!

Our next update will come from an airport somewhere in just a few short days...so excited!!!!! 

-Naomi

9 days and counting!

Holy smokes it's coming up so soon! If you haven't noticed from our Afric-ometer, all of our support is in - thank you all, so much! It's amazing to see the Body of Christ come together to support it's members, and we've been so blessed by all of you. Thank you for the prayers, encouraging conversations, financial support, and for walking with us as we seek God's plan for our lives.

Sharing our story at Mission Connexion Northwest

This past weekend was one of many blessings, encouragements and challenges. We were able to attend Mission Connexion NW up in Vancouver, WA, which was an awesome time of hearing from seasoned missionaries and gaining wisdom and insight from their stories. Naomi and I were invited to share our story up on stage during one of the the plenary sessions, and we were so honored to have that opportunity. Mission Connexion NW has been a key part of our journey, from fueling the fire in our hearts for overseas ministry to actually connecting us (go figure) to the missions agency we're going to Africa with for this trip. We're thankful for Missions Connexion, and we hope we were able to be an encouragement to those listening.

During the conference, Naomi and I sat in on some really encouraging teaching, and also some that was difficult for me, personally, to hear, particularly about the realities of raising a family overseas. As we consider the possibility that God may be calling us to Africa, please pray that God would speak clearly to us about where he's asking us to trust him in things that might sound crazy, and where he's asking us to be responsible stewards of the life and family that he's given us. We are so thankful for your prayers, and we look forward to more conversations with you, hopefully before, during, and after our trip.

-Andrew

Just a quick update...

It has been a CRAZY last two months! We packed up and moved out of our apartment, started a new job (naomi), painted, cleaned out and decorated my parents loft as our temporary residence until we get back from Uganda. Then we re-totaled our one and only already totaled car (thankfully no one was hurt and it was not our fault), bought a replacement car, traveled to Everett twice to visit Andy's family, was interviewed and accepted to Multnomah Seminary (Andy), and spend many evenings connecting with out of town friends. It has been a packed holiday season for us, though it seems to be that Nov and Dec always bring such a flurry of family, friends, and activities!

Despite the crazy schedule, we have been able to carve out some good couple time to plan and set goals for next year as well as be working and praying through and preparing for our upcoming trip. Only 29 days! More info soon to follow...

Going on our annual Christmas date!