Began yesterday working on getting everything and everyone ready for our trip next week. Good grief what a process this is going to be! On the bright side, so many people are helping us out: from taking care of the kids to feeding the chickens each day--and we can't thank you all enough!!! I hate to impose and I know this isn't going to be easy on anyone--but your big hearts and open arms and willingness to step in for us is something we couldn't function without.

 We have been blessed with provision these last few weeks--so many good meals prepared for the whole family! Which has not only lightened my work load considerably, but has also alleviated our grocery budget greatly and we are SO thankful!!! We've been given so many words of encouragement, so many blessings of friendship, beautiful cards and warm hugs and love and laughter from even previously unknown sources! We were blessed a few days ago unexpectedly with a check from Ryan's Grandma that exactly covered the bills we were unable to meet last month, within just a few hours of my praying to be shown what to do to meet that need. No matter what you believe in: Karma or the Universe or Positive Thinking or God Himself, when you are surrounded by and wrapped up in THIS much care and compassion, there is no room for any doubt about the goodness that is out there waiting to spill into your life. Waiting to spill into the lives of others THROUGH you. What an awesome purpose in life--to be a vessel through which every good thing about humanity can poor into the lives of others!!! I cannot WAIT to move a little farther through this experience we're in right now, because I am crazy excited to become such a vessel!!!! And you--every one who has prayed for us, thought kind thoughts of us, reached out to us in ANY way at all-----you are already participating in that spill-over, and I just think that is awesome!!!