Baby Dedication

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have the opportunity to take Finn before our family and home church congregation, and dedicate him to the Lord. God gave Finn to us to raise, but we wanted to make a public acknowledgement that his life belongs to God, and that we will do our best to raise him to love and serve the Lord.

We really wanted to have a chance to do this before leaving for Japan, so we were excited it worked out in the middle of all our traveling and speaking at churches.

Nomads 4 Lyfe!

Here we go! Our bags are packed, and the stuff we have left is at this time sitting in a crate in Memphis, waiting for us to have an address in Tokyo so they can ship it. Our life as temporary nomads has begun! It's been a CRAZY last couple of weeks for us, and we're enjoying some downtime with family. We'll be with Jason's family for a little over two weeks, then with my family for the same.

Our heavenly Father has lavished His undeserved blessings on us during the moving process: Our garage sale was a huge success. After two days, we had very little left to get rid of, and got a little extra cash in the process. We managed to fit the things we want to keep with us for the next seven months in three duffels, two suitcases, three backpacks, and one carry-on. (Shout out to the inventor of hand-seal vacuum bags!) This was a huge surprise. We had two extra duffels available to fill, and since we don't need them for our personal belongings, when the time comes to make the big hop across the ocean we can fill them with "necessities" such as our favorite peanut butter :) We also had a very smooth crating process. We didn't have any problems with any of the items we wanted to crate, and the freight company did all the work themselves! They even brought their own materials. We just had to sit back and point out things that we wanted to take. They were in and out in about three hours, when it would've taken us to days to get the same stuff done.

Find the J-Stu

Finn wasn't too keen on the screeching sound the packing tape made, but he and his Tootsie managed to take a nap in our bedroom with the door closed. Afterwards, he came out to supervise the loading process.

Some quiet time with Dad on our last morning in the little house

The last couple of days in our little house were somewhat emotional. We've jumped around a lot during our eight year marriage, and this is where we have settled for the longest amount of time - just over three years. It's also been our favorite. The countryside is beautiful and peaceful. It's where Finn was intended to be born, but when an induction became medically necessary, it's still where we brought him home for the first time. It's a little sad to know that he won't remember his time there.

 Speaking of Mr. Finn...

Naaaakeeeeed!!!!!!

You're moving me WHERE?!?!

We no longer have a newborn. It's sad to see a stage end, but he's becoming such a fun little guy. He's a really happy baby and it's a joy to parent him. He's reaching all his milestones on time or even early. He's learning how to use his hands and to pull his head up. He'll be speaking Japanese before we know it!

Buy Our Junk, Please

We're beginning this blog at the end - the end of our time in the teeny little house in rural Arkansas we've called home for the last three years. We've lived here longer than any other place during our 8 year marriage, and it's by far been my favorite. How many people have neighbors of the bovine variety at a distance of a mere 20 feet - practically looking in their window?

Today is the first day of our two day moving sale. It's been surreal watching the bulk of our belongings walk away in the hands of strangers, and knowing that our house is empty for keeps. All those things aren't just in boxes waiting to be opened in a new home close by. The rest of our stuff will be divided out to either crate for shipment to Japan, or stay with us as we live out of suitcases for the next six months.

A week from Saturday we will begin our time with Jason's family. We will spend about two weeks with them, then two weeks with my family, then it's off to start our big adventure!