Tearful Hugs Goodbye

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of preparation, goodbye visits, closure and looking ahead. We spent Memorial Day weekend in the Seattle area saying our goodbyes to our parents/grandparents. Then Ryan and Rachel spent a few days helping Lisa clean, pack, organize and inventory her classroom and chemical stockroom at school. Jason has been busy keeping up with his daily calls to his missionaries, ensuring the real estate transaction for our new home continues to progress smoothly, and figuring out all of the logistical challenges of our move. The last few days have been filled with Lisa finishing up at Northwest Christian, moving from Bob and Barb Parks' to Gary and Sherry Brooten’s home, saying goodbye to good friends and most painfully, saying goodbye to Robyn and Dustin.

We have been continually reminded of how blessed we are. Northwest Christian has been a blessing beyond our expectations. Many of the relationships Lisa formed there will last a lifetime and leaving such a wonderful place is difficult. We have been incredibly blessed by our sending church, Northview Bible Church. The support, prayer and love that has been poured out on us has been almost overwhelming at times. We are so thankful for all we have been given.

Looking ahead, we have just a couple of days left in Spokane. We are loading our trucks Wednesday morning (tomorrow) and leaving on Thursday - if you want to help us load trucks, let us know! 😊

Here is our final timeline (of course subject to change along the way as God wills it!)

Wed. 6/13 – Load moving trucks in Mead starting at 10 am

Thu 6/14 – Drive to Montana and stay with Adam and Sheena Rice near Camp Bighorn

Fri 6/15 – Drive to North Dakota and stay the night

Sat 6/16 – Drive to Wisconsin and stay the night

Sun 6/17 – Drive to Chillicothe, OH and meet our real estate agent that early evening to do a walk-through of our new home; stay the night with Dee and Glenn Luppold in Lancaster, OH

Mon 6/18 – Sign the documents for our new home at the title company in Lancaster; drive back to Chillicothe and unload the trucks putting our items in the garage (the house needs some work before we can put all of our furniture in). We are already experiencing blessing from Chillicothe as one of Lisa’s future coworkers and her husband will be helping us unload the trucks!

Tues 6/19 – Turn in the moving trucks and then Jason begins the needed work and repairs so we can finish moving in

Thurs 6/21 – Ryan has to go to his detachment in Dayton for some paperwork and we will be picking up the minivan that he is storing at his roommate’s house

Fri 6/22 – Lisa goes through Chillicothe School District’s ‘onboarding’ process, meets her principal and tours the high school. Ryan drives back to Dayton to work at the Dayton Airshow with his ROTC detachment.

The rest of the summer will be filled with working on the house and property, exploring the area, preparing for school in the fall, Rachel finishing up her online summer classes, Jason speaking at a camp in Wisconsin and getting settled into our new community.

We ask for prayers for the following:

1. Our long journey of over 2,500 miles

- Safety

- No breakdowns

- Our cats' survival of the journey 😊

1. For healing hearts as it is hard to leave a community that we love so much and adjust to being far from our family

2. For a smooth finish with our new home transaction, move-in process and adjusting to our new community

Thank you!

Blessings,

Jason and Lisa