Tuesday, January 3rd
After having an amazing time thanking God for everything that He had been doing in our lives it was time to prepare for the second part of our journey… getting there!
That morning Andrew told me that he was feeling concerned about all the boxes and furniture that we needed to make fit in our 6×12 Uhaul trailer. Andrew likes to plan things out and I know that in his mind he was already picturing the trailer and the suburban completely full with all of our stuff. I am a little more laid back and I kept telling Andrew “we are going to be fine,” although in my mind I also kept thinking “please God make it fit.”
We had to do some running before going to finish packing and around 6:30 pm we arrived at our church where we have been storing everything. Andrew opened the closet door and my optimism went from 100% to 50%. I thought to myself, “Those boxes and furniture just got bigger overnight. What are we going to do?” Andrew, being the planer that he is, started to make two different piles. One with the things that we needed and one with the things that we could live without. The pile with the things that we we could live without was getting larger and my optimism kept dropping. I kept thinking: “God, I know that I don’t need everything I have to serve you, but there is nothing impossible for you and I would love to take everything with us!”
My sisters and my brother-in-law came to help us finish packing and load everything in the trailer. I asked my oldest sister if she could pray while Andrew and Toño, my brother-in-law, were outside thinking how they were going to squeeze everything in to the trailer. I know that my God listens to all of our needs, even the silliest ones. He wants to be involved in every part of our lives. So my sister prayed and she asked for intelligence to fit everything into the little space that we had. After she was done praying Andrew and Toño came back and Toño looked at the boxes and noticed that there were many of them filled with pillows, blankets and towels and had the idea of putting all of that in plastic bags so we could fill empty spaces easier with them.
We opened box after box and consolidated our stuff until we had gotten rid of 18 large boxes. The guys started to load the boxes and I could see God’s favor in every box they would take. Andrew told me that there was no space for Kai’s dresser and I kept praying “everything God, everything.” Suddenly at 2:30 am I looked around and both piles were gone but the dresser was still there looking at me trying to make me think that it was impossible and at that moment Andrew and Toño came in and Andrew looked at me and smiled, the dresser was going in and even in this really insignificant thing God was being glorified!
On Thursday we were ready to go and left around 7 in the morning…
Thursday, January 5th
7:00 am: We are all in the suburban, with extra space I may add. It was sad saying goodbye to many good memories but at the same time we were excited for our next adventure with God.
Our first stop was the Back2Back home office in Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. We had a great time meeting all of the wonderful people who do so much work behind the scenes to allow us to go. We were also blessed to be greeted by Todd Guckenberger, the Executive Director of Back2Back, who along with Casey, the US Operations Director, took us out to lunch and we had a wonderful time of conversation. After lunch we headed out and made it to Charleston, West Virginia. We spent the night there still feeling like we were in a dream.
During our road trip to Miami we stopped to visit family and friends in Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia that we wanted to say goodbye to before we left. We had a wonderful time and I am very thankful for their hospitality, generosity and friendship.
Tuesday, January 10th
Welcome to Miami… We made it there safely. The next day we dropped our belongings at the shipping company, then we took the trailer back, we dropped our car off at the port and finally we took a cab to the airport.
Our flight left an hour and a half late and we arrived at our new home at 11 pm.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers. We could see God answering those prayers every step of the way!
The Open Road…
Andrew y Ana les deseo lo mejor.que Dios sienpre los llene de vendisiones,y que sienpre permanesca ese amor que Dios les a dado para amar y sentir compasion por todos esos ninos.que no tienen consuelo ni esperansas.que nientienden el sufrimiento de esa vida en la que se encuentran.se nesesita fe mucha fe y mucha confianza, y mucho balor.para exponer sus vidas por el amor a JESUS y para predicar el evanjelio y llevar una medisina al corason de todos esos ninos, me disina que solo Jesus la puede Dar,y un abraso una sonrisa una carisia una alagria una felisidad que nadie la puede quitar;es algo espesial algo unico escuchar un tequiero Resivir un abrazo un veso. de algien desconosido,es ermoso cuando uno lo esperi menta por primera VEZ nuca dejen de aserlo yo lo e esperimentado nunca es tarde . los queremos. Jorge y DIANA