We’ll we’ve made it to England and furthermore, we’ve been grateful to spend a whole weekend getting our bearings and recovering from a flight that seemed forever long. We’ve spent our time walking and riding the bus around a section of the city to see what’s available, to see what’s out there and to just be around others. We’ve been asking probably way to many questions of the people we know well enough to look foolish in front of, all in an effort learn as much as possible about our new home.

Side note: Last night Leah and I were sitting around and I asked her if she remembered something from “back home”. I stopped and realized that perhaps I need to stop calling it that, even though in our hearts we will always be from the home we’ve just left. A bit bittersweet.

We are so thrilled to be here. We can hardly believe that we’re in England. I have already accidentally called someone in America and woke them up because of the time difference. My bad. Today we are especially thrilled as two of our teammates, Robert and Natalie, will be arriving. It has felt incomplete to be here without them and so we are greatly anticipating their arrival this afternoon.

We still haven’t gotten our mobile phones; we wanted to see if we could get some sort of savings by utilizing a Family Plan or something with Robert and Natalie. As soon as we get those numbers though, we’ll pass them on to our E*News list. We’ll also be sending out an email update soon to supporters to make sure that we’re communicating well. We are so excited that we get to share this journey with everyone.

Alright, on to the rest of the day. Stay tuned for pictures and more updates.

We’ve spent the day doing those last million things that need done before we head to England. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, trying to pack one’s life into 8 standard suitcases (OK, two of those are guitars) is a challenging and mind-boggling experience. Trying to account for overweight baggage charges, extra baggage charges, and carry-on baggage has nearly maxed out my brain capacity.

And here we are. On the very edge of leaving. “Surreal” is the word that comes to mind. And “grateful”.

Talk to you again from England.

We were having a conversation once that went something like this: “You know, some day we’re going to look around and suddenly realize that everything is taken care of. We’re going to suddenly realize that it’s time…to go.” That time is now.

We are departing for England on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 1:30pm.

Our house is now up for both sale and rent and we believe that we need to take a step out ahead, into what we know God is doing. All along this journey we have tried to take steps of faith, jumping before we really knew how things were going to turn out. We don’t want the house to be any different. This was not an easy decision for us, but we know we’re going to look back and see this decision as turning point. Click here to read more about this decision and how God led us through the conversation.

In the end, all of our support has been raised (close to $9000 a month and $14,000 in one-time gifts - amazing). We received our visas in three, yes 3, business days. We have had 11 immunizations, seven, yes 7, in one day. We received word that there is a residence available for rent in England shortly after we arrive. Our teammates Robert and Natalie have received all of their support and they have received their visas. They are ready. Our house here in the states is set to sell or rent no matter where we are. Families and individuals are praying. Our families are praying. The outreach teams from our supporting churches are praying. The elders, staff and ministers from supporting churches are praying. People who receive our E*news are praying. Our sending church, First Christian, is praying. Other CMF teams in England are praying. We are praying. You are praying.

So the path has been paved. It’s been quite an amazing, challenging and exciting journey so far. We can’t wait to tell the stories of God’s work in Birmingham. Here we go!