John in the news :)

John was interviewed by our local newspaper, The Weekly News of Cooke County, about our upcoming trip. (*Note I had to do some copy and paste/re-arranging work to get the article to fit here on the blog while still large enough to read.) 

Also news...John emailed me to report our crate with supplies has made it to South Africa, which is great news! However, they charged us another $940 which is not so good. John and Chris had already paid around $6,000 to ship the crate from Houston, so the grand total to get supplies there is pretty expensive. 

Since the crate was shipped in November, I have gotten several more donations of used parts which we want to take with us, especially the knees. Each of us get 2 bags to check for flights without extra charge. Extra baggage allowances are $163 ahead of time and $200 if we purchase when we get to the airport...obviously we'll be figuring out how many to purchase ahead of time.

Our trip is getting closer! 80 days left. 

God, I pray that in the coming weeks as we make final preparations that we remember You take care of us and will be with us every step of the way. We pray that the crate makes it safely to New Day from South Africa and that funds will be available for final expenses for this trip. Amen. 

Getting closer!

We're in 2014 now...which means we're getting closer to our trip! I have officially started a countdown app on my phone today. I'm all about doing countdowns, it makes things more fun. :) We're 103 days! I'm getting really excited.

And speaking of something exciting, Darbi Tidwell from New Day Orphanage wrote a book about an orphan in Zambia. It's fictional but parts of it are based on reality. It's really an amazing book! You can purchase it on Amazon here. The story is based in present day, but I repeatedly found myself having to remember it is not set in the distant past. Life is so different in Zambia. So different than my comfortable little world here in Texas. I am truly blessed to live the life I do. I really encourage you to read this book! 

We'll begin more preparations for our trip soon including vaccinations and packing. We're allowed two bags each for the flights without an extra charge, but I'm sure we'll be taking a few extra bags with some supplies that we didn't get to send on the crate. I know for sure I have a few more parts/supplies that have recently been donated at my office that I'll try to squeeze in my packing. 

With all my talk about not knowing what to expect when we get to Zambia, I haven't thought of Jason's point of view. Chris, John and I know what work we are doing there...making prostheses for people who need them. Jason knows he will be helping with construction at New Day but doesn't know exactly what all he will be doing. That would stress me out, but he seems okay with it. He's had experience in helping build houses so he's somewhat prepared. And I know we'll be getting more info as we get within a few weeks of leaving. I'm just always "prepare and plan WAY ahead of time", which makes me impatient sometimes. :)