Preparation......Almost Ready!

After anticipating leaving "in a week" every week for the past five weeks, I am finally ready to go. There have been some challenges, but it's good preparation for life in Africa. Charles left mid January and has been learning his new job along with lots of patience. :)

Our list of packed items looks very different from any of our prior moves. (Yes, this is number 12!). We have purchased basic furniture from a local store in Texas knowing that we will leave it behind. The store accidently sold one of our beds the day before our move, so we hope to have one made from local craftsman later. (I'm trying to be adaptable!) They also lost our couch on pick up day, but after hours of help from many different people, it was located under the wrong skew number and we were so very grateful! In addition to the typical furniture items, we have stocked food, spices, paper goods, saline, contacts for a year, meds for a year, nuts, napkins, laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, towels, batteries, candles and lots of Ziploc bags and Rubbermaid containers. I understand that this will be a little more like 'camping' than I have experienced in the past.....and I want to be ready!

My visa also took a bit longer than expected, but it was a delay that I was grateful to have! The prep work was done by the company in Nigeria late January/early Feb since my visa was dependant on Charles' work status. They had to submit an "Expatriate Quota Request" form to the Ministry of the Interior and then Charles had to receive his resident status before I could submit my application. My passport was then sent off along with lots of documentation (20 pages), 4 copies of each along with the requested money order. It was returned 8 days later with no visa and a request to include 4 copies :) and a different form of payment. 12 days later, I received my visa! Yeah! 

The packers/movers came last week and our container is now sitting at the dock in Houston waiting to load soon. It will take 6 weeks to transport, and then it will need to clear customs, so we hope to have our things in 3 months or so. We've been negotiating for an apt since December and Charley finally moved in 4 days ago. However, God's timing is perfect, so we are right on His schedule!! My prayer has been that I am able to walk in faith, not fear.......and that I have God's grace to leave the boys and peace to go forward on this next phase of life.