And we're off!

Our suitcases are packed up - all 9 of them!  (We could have taken 12!)

And we leave tonight!

This is what we've been busy with the last few weeks:

Our condo is all packed up and our boxes are in storage at a friends' place.   Thanks to Andrew's parents: Chris and Nancy, who let us live with them while we packed up AND took care of our kids for almost 3 days straight while we did it!

A big huge thank you to my Bible study ladies who came over to pack up the kitchen, wipe it down AND stuffed our prayer cards into envelopes!  We wouldn't have gotten it done without you!

We also had Kate's 5th birthday party (at the MCC relief sale and the park since our condo was empty)
It was pretty fun and it was great seeing lots of friends!

Facepainting

Bouncy Castle

Birthday cake!

We also had two wonderful farewell parties.  One in Abbotsford and the other in Didsbury.   (Thanks to Sarah and my mom for hosting them!)  It truly was a great time to say good-bye to friends and family.

Now it's time to go and we're feeling sad about leaving our friends and family, tired from packing up and moving, and excited about the new adventure that is awaiting!

We leave Calgary around 9:30pm tonight (Saturday) and fly overnight to London.  We arrive there around 1:30pm (because of the time change) and then fly out that evening, on another overnight flight to Lusaka, Zambia.  We arrive in Lusaka at 6:15am on Monday morning.  (It's 10 hours ahead of B.C. and 9 hours ahead of Alberta for those of you that want to know!)

Prayer Requests:
- Good travelling children and sleep for all!
- Transition of moving to Zambia and leaving Canada (friends and family) behind.
- Getting into Lusaka: Customs and trying to juggle 9 suitcases, carry on luggage, and two kids by ourselves until we get out of the first part of the airport.
-Adjusting to a new time change and a new place
-Moving into our new house in Choma, Zambia (probably next Saturday, after a week of in country orientation).

TICKETS!

photo by: Adam Sacco Photography (creative commons)

We've got the tickets now.   We're really going.  Before this I knew we were going but now it's feeling real.  Really real.  Now we have the tickets.  Farewells are being planned and we're really going!

YIKES!

So - here's the "plan"

Andrew's last day of work: August 30th

My parents and brother are coming out the long weekend to help us and have some fun

They leave Tuesday, September 3rd and we'll move in with Andrew's parents in Chilliwack.

We'll madly finish packing everything in our condo.

We are having a FAREWELL PARTY on Sunday, September 8th hosted by my friend Sarah.  Here are the details (you are all invited):  

Everyone is invited to join us in saying farewell to Andrew and Michelle Potts.

Date: Sunday Sept 8th 
Time: 3:00-5:30 pm (drop in)
Place: the Siebert's 5-4300 Shearwater Drive
Why:  the Pott's are off to Zambia with MCC for 3 years

We will be having a Blessings Basket - you are more than welcome to bring a card, a verse or financial gift to bless them!

No RSVP necessary.

Questions: email Sarah siebertsw@gmail.com

And I'm really excited we get to be around for the MCC Relief Sale in Abbotsford - so much fun! :)  Feel free to catch us there and say good-bye if you can't make it to the farewell party!  If you've never been come check it out Friday, September 6th (5-9pm) or Saturday, September 7th (8am - 2pm). Schedule and more info here: http://bc.mcc.org/getinvolved/abbotsford-festival   (All money goes to MCC - so you are supporting us as you eat pie, have coffee, let your kids jump in bouncy castles or climb the HUGE climbing wall).  Lots of fun!  (Bring cash for parking at Tradex, but entry is free to the relief sale - though you'll want to bring cash and buy ticket booklets - each $20 - to spend!)

Then we'll fly to Calgary the evening of the 8th or sometime on the 9th. (Tickets still to be purchased - we were waiting for the other ones to be finalized!)  And we'll spend time saying good-byes to my family and other friends in Alberta.  (Maybe we should plan a farewell party there too?!  I'll chat with my mom!) :)

Our trip to Calgary last Christmas

On September 14th at 9:35pm we leave Calgary and we fly overnight to London (we have about a 6 hour stopover on the 15th of September) and we arrive in Lusaka (direct from London - yeah!) at 6:15am on September 16th.  We'll be staying at the MCC guesthouse for a few nights and getting some in country orientation before we head to Choma.

Current prayer requests:

-That our condo will sell (we've lowered the price and had a couple more showings)

-That our car would sell (2005 Honda Civic - very nice car in great shape! More details here if you know someone who wants to buy it (price reduced for friends!): http://abbotsford.en.craigslist.ca/cto/4007163369.html

-For rest and making great memories during this busy time (fun family things would be good!)

-For our transition and the big new adventures

-And for the friends and family that we are leaving behind.  It's a big transition for them too.

Orientation, Reunion, and Vacation!

A sign at the Welcoming Place at MCC in Akron, PA

The last 3 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.  I can say I'm glad to be home (though the kids are letting it loose after being on their best behaviour for the last few weeks, which I'm glad they were!)

We left Saturday, July 20th and started the long drive towards Denver, CO.  It took 15.5 hours to make it to our hotel in Buhl, ID (near Twin Falls).   It said 11.5 hours on Google maps.  We pulled in very tired around midnight.  Luckily the kids fell asleep in the car about an hour before we got in so it was easy to move them to bed and crash!   The next day we thought it might take just as long (since we had picked the "halfway" mark).  Luckily it was only about 11.5 hours - and that included an almost 2 hour stop at a McDonald's playplace in Rawlins, Wyoming.

We arrived into Denver and we crashed at my good friends' place: Rachel and Ted.  (I felt like we used them as a hotel in Denver but we were very grateful for their hospitality!  And so good to see them again - and meet their newest little, now 6 months old).

I quite enjoyed my Monday.  Rachel had to nap (she's a nurse who works nights!) Andrew must have been watching the kids.  Or Malachi was napping too.  The kids played so nicely together with Rachel and Ted's oldest (she's a couple months older than Malachi).  I spent the afternoon doing my favourite thing: reading a book (this one was a good one about an evolving faith journey - I don't usually enjoy non-fiction, but this was a pretty easy read - I finished it that same day)!  The Dr. Pepper just made it that much sweeter!

On Tuesday morning we left really early for the Denver airport.

 Above: Sleeping Beauty is still cute when we wake her up! :)   

 Below:  The Denver skyline at sunrise (taken from the car speeding down the interstate!)

The airplane ride was delayed a bit but fairly uneventful.  MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) sent a driver for us and others.  We waited a bit in the airport but it was a good time to have our kids run around, eat some pizza, and take a break.  Plus it was pouring outside at one point!

In Akron, PA we got to stay at the Welcoming Place in the ASIA house (each house was decorated in a theme).  Each house had 12 rooms arranged in 3 wings.  We had 2 rooms next to each other.  Kate sure loved being here as we gave her more freedom.  She loved sending me ahead to the dining room (a 2 minute walk) and coming by herself.

The ASIA house

General Orientation started at 8:30 on Wednesday morning and went until 5:00pm with an hour and a half-ish lunch break.  Our kids did really well at the children't orientation and Malachi skipped his nap most days as they had fun events (swimming, park, etc.)  By Friday Malachi was about done though!  But we had a relaxing weekend (most everyone signed up to go to New York City on a day trip on Saturday but we had decided that was a bit crazy for us!)  Instead we went to Lancaster City and had some ice cream and played some pianos (they have them around the downtown area so that everyone can have music!)  Sunday we went to the park for a picnic and some frisbee.  Then we started up orientation again from Monday - Wednesday.

Some of the topics that were covered in our orientation:  

Theology of Peace and Theology of Service, 

MCC's Program Overviews: Disaster Relief, Development and Peace,

Power and Privilege, 

MCC's Advocacy work, 

Trauma Aware and Taking Care, 

Cultural Awareness, 

and other day to day MCC stuff that we need to know: finances, HR, computer, etc.   Some of the topics were deep and others were just things we needed to know.

We left tired and better informed about MCC and their work.  (Interesting tidbit we found out:  One service worker (me) costs MCC (on average) $21,000 a year to support.  So three years plus a family.... I'll let you do the math!

Feel free to donate to MCC through our giving registry!  

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/andrew-and-michelle-potts-choma-zambia

After orientation was over we left for the airport the next morning (even earlier than we left for the Denver airport!)  We were picked up by our driver at 4am EST.   We arrived in Denver and even got to meet my parents and brother at their gate as they flew into Denver about an hour after we arrived.   

Back to Ted and Rachel's (with the whole family!) We introduced my parents to the pastry shop where I had yet another chocolate croissant!  Yummy!

The next day we headed to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp, elevation 9620 ft.  It was here we met up with friends from 20 years ago at a Mennonite Central Committee Nigeria reunion.  (For those of you who don't know - my family served with MCC 20 years ago in Nigeria.  I was middle school age).

It was a good time with great people, some currently serving with Mennonite Central Committee.  There was a wealth of great wisdom, information and advice for us.  With lots of stories thrown in!

Having my parents around gave us a bit of a break.  My mom babysat for us a couple days so Andrew and I could go hiking.  (I was already gasping for air without exercising at that elevation!)   We went slow and quite enjoyed our time hiking.  I ate a few (okay, lots) of wild strawberries and enjoyed the view as I stopped every 5 steps to breathe!  

Here's a picture at the top of the second hike. (Photo by: Michael From)

Andrew even hiked up (and down) Pike's Peak (a 14,000 ft mountain); others took the train or drove up.  My mom, the kids, and I went DOWN into Colorado Springs to the zoo (goodbye altitude headache!)  There was a very cool giraffe exhibit with tons of up close and personal giraffes since people (including us!) were feeding them!  The kids were unsure at first but it became a highlight of our time away for them.  (They keep asking to go back!)  I was too busy holding them up to the giraffes to take photos of the cool experience- so I'll have to grab a photo (or the video she took) from my mom!  Here's a photo of the kids at the zoo at least!

We were at the camp just under a week and then we headed back to Denver for some time (that wasn't hotel time) with Rachel and Ted and their girls.  We decided to head back on the road on Friday to give us a day of rest on Sunday before Andrew went back to work.   The trip back went as smoothly as one can expect with young children.  (Yeah for the iPhones!)  We were tired the first day (and we made it 30 miles in 3 hours at one point.... sigh) so we stopped at a hotel in Ogden, UT (yeah priceline!  Boo for a cockroach in the bathroom at a 3.5 star hotel! Preparing me for the one thing I strongly dislike about Africa).  The next day was a long travel day and we arrived home around 1:30am PST.   It sure was nice to have a day at home to sleep and relax (and do laundry!)

That's been the last 3 weeks!  Hard to believe that we only have about 3 weeks left in Abbotsford. (No exact travel date yet - but we're hoping to finish packing the first week in September and then spend a week in Alberta and fly straight from there to Zambia).  I'll let you know when dates are finalized and tickets bought!

Prayer requests in the next few weeks:

1) That our condo sells (we had no showings in the 3 weeks we were gone but we have one this Thursday evening!)  You know - since we've messed it all up again!

2) Packing up the condo and packing up our stuff for Zambia (while having 2 littles around!)

3) Lots of appointments so we can switch over to MCC's medical plan.  Thanks to all my friends who have been babysitting so I don't have to take the kids to my appointments!

4) Saying good-byes 

Muttering Verse

So I picked this verse: Jeremiah 17:7-8 to mutter.  (If you don't understand you didn't read to the end of the post: Courage, Honest and Vulnerable).   Some of you might recognize the verse from the devotional I shared in the post "Trusting in the Lord."   It was perfect and I decided that this was my verse and the Lord had plopped it into my lap (he must know I'm sort of busy these days)! 

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." (NLT) Jeremiah 17: 7-8.

I kept coming back to this verse after I read the devotional.  I decided that it was perfect for my muttering verse.  Here's why.....  I need to remember that I cannot produce fruit without having roots into Jesus.  Pride is one of my strongholds and I need to stay plugged in to Jesus so nothing moves me, withers me or causes me to not bear fruit.  Bear fruit to me means loving people, sharing grace and mercy and forgiveness and the freedom that comes with it.  Working for justice.  Being a voice for the oppressed and the poor.  Helping lead people to Shalom.  Listening to Jesus and wanting to be obedient to what he asks of me - big or little.

If you hear me walking around muttering.....  you'll be able to figure out what I'm saying now! :)

Trusting in the LORD

This devotional was a great reminder for me to trust God no matter what.  And the importance of having a mature faith with deep roots.  Very good to remember as we continue to prepare to head off to Zambia in September!

"Life twists and turns and throws loops into those places we think will be flat and smooth. Because that's what life does. Sometimes it all just catches us off guard.

And at the end of the day, I guess that's why I don't like to be surprised. I can't stand to get caught off guard. It makes me feel exposed and afraid.

But slowly, I'm learning God can bring good out of feeling exposed and afraid.

That vulnerable place reminds us we have needs beyond what we can manage by ourselves. It reminds us we need God. Desperately. Completely."

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV)"

Read the whole thing here: 

 http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f63562b3be485ea0ae33acf18&id=0df456a1ff&e=ee78e8bfd2

Busy, Busy, Much Much TOO Busy!

We've been so busy!  School is DONE for the year and even packed up and stored away now!  (We've been busy!)  School was a major contributing factor to being too busy and I'm so glad it's summer!

While school was wrapping up we've also been busy getting our condo ready to list (and show!)   I had to clean it up and stage it three different times during the last week of school!  (The first time for an actual showing, the second time for a professional stager who told me to get rid of my ducky bathroom and make it more adult friendly.  Poor lady didn't realize I had that theme long before I had kids!  Then the photographer came on Saturday so we have photos of our place!  Bet it won't look like that again until we get a call for a showing!  I'm praying it sells quickly so I don't have to keep cleaning it up.  What a pain with 2 little kids!

Please pray we can sell our place quickly!  (Check out the photos of our place at these websites)

MLS # F1315280            www.realtor.ca

Virtual Tour                      http://tours.westcoastvirtualtours.com/public/vtour/display/126069

My parents were out for a visit this weekend.  It was fantastic.  I think both Andrew and I needed time to rest, not think of our to-do lists, and take a break.  I even got to read a book on the beach on Monday while grandma, grandpa and daddy played with the kiddos!  

Grandpa always plays with telescopes - even at the beach!  He did take some time to play in the sand with the grandkids too.

Getting dirty and building sandcastles!  This is the girl who wouldn't touch sand when she was little.  She would scream: "Dirty!" "Up!"  Water shoes helped.

Playing in the puddle daddy made.  It took him a bit to warm up to the idea of getting dirty - but not long.  He did after all get woken up from his nap when we arrived!

Courage... honest and vulnerable!

(Disclaimer: I started this post in the middle of that crazy last week of school.  I had been so sick - I lost 3lbs in a week from the stomach flu - the week before, and I had to finish off school (and all the paperwork that goes with that), pack school up for three years, and get our place show ready.  Needless to say - I didn't end up finishing this post!  But I wanted to post at least part of it because I was SO overwhelmed, tired, weepy, and done.  So here it is: probably not quite as raw since many of the causes to me being overwhelmed have since been taken care of!)

This was posted on my friend Leah's facebook page.  I think to think she posted it for me (she's seen me cry at least twice this week I think!)  So I'm using it as my inspiration for this next blog post:

"Courage by its Latin definition originally meant 'to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart."  We see this in the psalms with David, he was strong and courageous, not because he was not afraid, but rather because he was so honest and vulnerable with where he was. Most importantly he did not allow shame to keep him from connecting with others and most importantly his God.

I've been SO sick.  My family has had some of this stomach flu but I seemed to have gotten it the worst.  I didn't eat a meal for about a week. I have so much to do but I have no energy to do it.  Just when I think I'm starting to feel better I get worse.  It started Sunday, June 16th in the evening and I couldn't go to school Monday for the field trip to the beach, nor Tuesday for the field trip to the park for our Sports Day.  The blessing is that I get paid sick days and Andrew was home for those days to watch the kids!   Weds. I was feeling better for the morning and then it hit me again when I took Kate to preschool.  I would have called in sick again the following Monday just to get my energy back but it was another field trip - to the Aquarium!  I had lots of parent volunteers so I decided to risk the long bus ride!  :)  It was a good day and nice that I didn't have my usual teaching responsibilities.

One of the sloths was out AND active! Amazing!

Cool jellyfish!

While sick I was thinking about how much I had to do and I had no energy to do it.  School is the biggest to-do list.  Paperwork, packing, making sure I don't miss anything.  I don't want to have to go back! I was feeling MUCH better the next day and I stayed at school and packed up almost everything.  I was there until 9:30pm and I came home exhausted and did more paperwork.  I went back in on Friday and said good-bye and finished up.  A big thanks to grandma Nancy who watched my kids for that day!

Looking back I can more clearly see blessings.  A huge one was running into my friend Sarah at McDonald's in Wal-Mart.  I had run out quick to pick up some last minute photos of my students and decided to take a short coffee break.  I bumped into Sarah and after some chatting she volunteered to take my kids the next day for about 3 hours.... just before we had our first showing on our condo!  I ran around (like a chicken with its head cut off) for those entire 3 hours cleaning like a whirlwind and literally throwing our stuff into boxes since I figured nice stack boxes look a bit better than CHAOS! I took some photos afterwards since I was so impressed it looked so clean! (Thanks to Sarah who had my kids!)  I managed to keep it presentable for the professional stager who came late the next morning (and once again I had a friend that had my kids over to mess her place up in the morning - thanks Kayla!)  Then we did it all again on Friday night / Saturday for the professional photographer.

It also happened that MCC finally sent us our welcome package around the middle of June.  I compiled a mental to do list in my head and prioritized the things that needed to be done right away... 

Orientation planning - buying our flight to Philadelphia (and figuring out how our vacation plans fit with the orientation dates we got as our original plan had to be tweaked!)  Then paper work to let them know when and where to pick us up!

Paper work - School alone (you'll only understand how much there is at the end of the year if you are a teacher).  One of the time consuming ones was writing report cards.  

On top of this all - I was having some side effects to a medication I had started a month before.  Mostly it turned me into a weepy, emotional, tired wreck (and I cried at everything!  Especially Leah asking me if everything was okay!)  This one is currently been fixed.

Doctor's forms and dentist and eyes - making all these appointments for a family of four when you know you need to do it soon but you are too sick to bother and then too busy at school to think of it!  (This got crossed off my list today actually!  Though the kids and I'll have to take last minute dentist appointments).

One of the worries I had (it has since been answered) was about car seats in Zambia.  I am one of those  parents that buckle my kids in and make sure the straps are in the perfect position for safety.... and double and triple check.  I figure the laws are there to help and I try my best to keep my kids as safe as possible.  So I was having a mental break down (thankfully it was in front of my wonderful ladies Bible Study group at our year end party) when I thought about what it might be like in Zambia.  (Picturing holding Malachi on my lap and Kate bouncing around the back seat.  Having lap belts in the backseat for the kids as the best case scenario).  My parents never used car seats when I was growing up.  Doubt they bother in Zambia.  As I said - I had an emotional weepy break down (I'm still blaming the side effects of that medication I mentioned).  I try to keep my kids as safe as I can in my car here - there I'll be driving on the other side of the street in African traffic (if you don't know what this looks like - you should google some images!)  A quick e-mail to our country reps in Zambia and I could breath again.  They had a pink booster seat Kate could use and suggested we bring Malachi's car seat with us.  They would try their best to get us a vehicle that has shoulder belts so the car seats could be installed properly.  (Besides - they'll probably rarely travel in the vehicle once we get there.  It's only because the schools I'm working at are so spread out that we'll even really need one!)

Leah's husband lead worship on the Sunday before school ended, while I was still feeling a bit sick.  They are moving up North as Eric got accepted into Medical school.  Their family is on a similar journey to ours, just a bit more local.  However we have the benefits of MCC caring for us and one of those things is setting up a new house for us in Zambia.   Eric and Leah have no idea where they are going to live in the town.  They also have two kids the same age as our kids.   Eric's worship set had me in tears (again.... still blaming that medication!)  and I greatly appreciated it.  Here were the highlights of the songs that touched me the most.  (I'm not normally a weepy song type person - probably because I'm just so musically challenged!)

Lyrics to Yesterday, Today, And Forever :

Everlasting God

The years go by but you're unchanging

In this fragile world

You are the only firm foundation

Always loving, always true

Always merciful and good, so good

Yesterday today and forever

You are the same, you never change

Yesterday today and forever

You are faithful and we will trust in You

Mighty to Save song: (I had to leave the room with this part!)

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in, 
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,

God I look to you lyrics:  (And this was just for me on that day!)

God I look to You, I won’t be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like You do
God I look to You, You’re where my help comes from
Give me wisdom; You know just what to do....All my days I will love You God

Revelation Song:

You are my everything,
And I will adore You! 

Our pastor's wife, Cheryl also preached a great sermon based off this book: 
Strongholds in my own life - fear (of future, of carseats?!) and pride (I feel like I can do it all), or I can't do it (overwhelmed and losing faith).  I was so impressed with her sermon that I bought a copy for my best friend!   

She talked about her stronghold of fear and how you study the scriptures and find all the promises that speak to that particular stronghold.  Then you grab onto a verse and MUTTER it!  She held onto Jer. 29:11 and muttered it. 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

It was a fitting verse for me and I muttered it too, for a few days.  (Writing this post is a good reminder for me to keep muttering!)  It gave me encouragement when I needed it.  I wanted to find my own verse to mutter but didn't have time.  (Those of you who are close friends - ask me next week if I've found one please!)

So - there's a part of my heart.  Open and honest and vulnerable.  If you ever tell me you're "fine" I'll be asking you for more details!  If we can't be vulnerable with our friends they can't encourage us with a verse or pray for us!