16 hours and counting...

Well, we have 13 bags packed to the gills (yes, that's one extra bag for those who are counting) and we're as ready as we can be. We've had a great week with both sets of parents (my parents parked their RV nearby Alisha's parents' house in the Bay Area) and lots of visits from friends. It's been so fun having all the grandparents together - I think the boys are wondering why we don't just live like this all the time.
I'd like to report that we're the picture of perfect calmness and 100% stress-free, but I think you'd all know I was lying! Trying to pack your life into suitcases, while fighting back the emotions of leaving loved-ones is not a task for the faint hearted. So, as two faint-heated people, I'm happy to report that God has intervened and given us the strength to get through!
So, now our biggest prayer request is that KLM will allow us to check our bags all the way through to Uganda. Technically, because our connecting flight out of Amsterdam is 1 minute past the 23 hour 59 minute limit on checking bags through, we're slated to have to retrieve our bags at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. But we're praying that the sight of all our bags and 3 kids with smiling faces will win over the baggage checker.
Our plane leaves at 3:25pm PST out of SFO and arrives at 11:00am (2:00am PST) in Amsterdam. After a 24-hour layover, we fly out at 11:00am (2:00am) Tuesday morning and arrive in Entebbe, Uganda (about a 40 minute drive from Kampala) at 9:00pm local time (10:00am PST). If you haven't done the math, Kampala is 11 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.
Thank you all for your prayers, kind words and support in sending us out. We feel so incredibly blessed to be embarking on this unbelievable journey, and to have so many family and friends joining with us by praying and supporting us. If you're wondering, we have definitely had the "what are we doing?!" thoughts come and go over the past week, but we have total confidence that God has led us to do this, so despite our feelings of inadequacy and fear at times, God has shown Himself to be so capable even this week, as we had a glitch with our overseas medical insurance that was able to be resolved in record time so we'll be covered in time.
So, 2 years to the month when Alisha and I decided to devote each Monday to prayer and fasting to seek what God's will for our lives, and probably close to 2 years to the day when I first contact eMi, we are ready to depart and are so thankful for this opportunity. We will miss our friends and family dearly, but we are so thankful for this communication and computer age where we can see each other and talk on 'Skype'. I can't imagine how it was years ago, when becoming a missionary often meant boarding a ship and saying goodbye and not seeing or talking to loved ones for many years. God gives the measure of faith required to each according to how He calls us, but I sure can't imagine being able to do that! So Bon Voyage ~ see you online!
Pictures: 1) Girls' lunch - (LtoR) Alisha's mom, Alisha, my mom and our 3rd grandma Cheryl, who is Alisha's brother Brian's wife's mom! 2) Alisha with our dear friend Libby Fifer and two of her kids, Klara and Casey; 3) Grammy and Papa and Alisha and boys walking in Pleasanton on the way to the movies; 4) at the movies with 4 grandparents and great-grandma Delma to see 'The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything!" 5) Alisha and long-time friend Julie deJong.
Quote of the week: (Graysen earlier today) "Grandma, the Pilots who don't do anything are going to drive the plane to Monster-dam tomorrow."