Flights Here and Gone Again

It is good to be wary, but sometimes you need to move forward. I have been burned by online travel deals in the past so I was leery of booking my own flights through an unknown small agency, who said that they specialize in missionary discounted flights - www.economytravel.com . I checked them out by searching for scams associated with them. I came up empty. That was great, as the price they quoted me was almost half of what the cheapest online quote I could get from all the big agencies.

The lady I dealt with was very professional and friendly, and I did not feel there was any cause for concern, but as the time came to pay for the tickets, I found it harder and harder to do it with peace in my heart. SO I decided to try checking up on them more thoroughly. I phoned Better Business Bureau, they had not heard of them. Economy Travel had a symbol on the bottom of their web page, IATA, so I phoned them after finding out they are a registry for travel agencies. They searched for a bit, and then assured me that they were legit. They gave me the company address, but it was different than the one on Economy's web page, so now I was concerned again. I phoned my travel agent, she assured me they were legit and had moved recently. She told me to phone British Airways, and walked me through some steps that showed that my trips were registered...but then came bad news. Our flights have been canceled.

I was supposed to have paid for the flights four days ago, but we were still waiting for a few things to fall into place, so I was going to pay for them today. Well, British Airways got impatient and canceled the booking. She searched for seats again, and the price went up for the same dates - $200 per person.

ON Monday, I will be paying unless I get cold feet again. I pray that God grants wisdom in this and that perhaps we can get back to the lower price again. God answers prayer, as we have experienced in the last few weeks, so I trust he will help us in this fun stuff of navigating the airways! :)

Tears and Teddy Bears

It was brought to my attention a few nights ago, that I've been a little preoccupied with preparations. We had a couple, who were possibly interested in buying our house, come for a tour. In the end it didn't work for them to do so and I didn't give it much more thought. However, when praying with Keyana that night, I soon realized that our little girl had given the days events more thought than I had. As she laid in bed, hugging her teddy big tears welled up in her eyes and in a shaky voice she said, "But I don't want other people to live in our house. This is our house." And then she began to cry. I was surprised and I realized that I had wrongly assumed that Keyana was oblivious to much of what is happening these days. I knew that Josiah had his share of fears because he's told us. "I don't want to go on a plane because planes crash, what if a lion eats me, they don't speak English over there so I won't be able to understand them, I don't have friends there, I don't want to leave Papa and Nana behind......" I was able to reassure her that wherever we go in the world, God will provide for all our needs, including a house. We wiped away her tears, prayed and she fell asleep peacefully. I came away with the realization that these changes are going to affect us all, even if on the outside it doesn't seem to and that we need to be diligent in helping our children make this adjustment. We appreciate your prayers for the wisdom, understanding, compassion and strength to make this transition a positive one for Josiah and Keyana. We pray that these 11 months in Zambia will bring us even closer as a family and strengthen our faith in God! ~Karlene

Peace Midst the Stress and Unknowns

Time is ticking, the countdown is on and yet we are so far from being ready to go. The stress is rising, the unknowns are still not answered and yet......there is peace. How can that be? We have no idea what we are doing with our house or our stuff, Anthony has some health concerns that need to be checked into, we're trying to finish some projects, our tickets need to be bought but we don't know if there is money to buy them with, we've hardly packed and yet life continues to go on. I wish there was a way of stopping time so that we could catch up! I feel the stress and yet there's an underlying peace that I can't explain. I know that God has not brought us this far to abandon us now. I take encouragement from these verses in Psalm 138:3,8, "When I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me the strength I need...The Lord will work out His plans for my life - for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever." I know He's calling us to trust Him to work out the plans for our future and to wait on Him as He does. This peace I feel midst the stress is foreign to me, usually I'm plagued with worry in times like these. I now more fully understand the kind of peace that Paul was talking about in Philippians 4:6-7. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." We appreciate your prayers as we continue on this journey, one step at a time. ~Karlene