The Eadies: Goodbyes, Crates, & Runny Noses

Yes, runny noses are always fun! The last few weeks has been crazy for our family. At the very least, I've re-assured myself that being a professional mover is not something I'd enjoy as a career! I sense some irony in the fact that we're moving to a remote part of Indonesia & we don't like moving :) But who really does? It's kind of like installing drywall - nobody really likes it, but some people just do it anyways. One major difference between this move and any of the other 5 moves Amy and I have survived, is the amount of planning and preparation that is involved. You can't just throw those 'last few items' in the back of the truck and give 'er...everything has to go somewhere - permanently! For us, it has been one of 4 places:
1) Get rid of it Sell it, give it away, burn it (just joking, burning only happened when we lived out of town & I had some extra Jet A 'fire encourager' on hand) or, in the dumpster.
2) In the crate  Is it HAZMAT safe - can you start a fire with it? Will it sink a giant ship? (examples are hand sanitizer, some bug sprays & vanilla extract, DANGER!) If the item is good to go, record it in a spreadsheet list to be certified later, & record what bin it goes in. Next item!
3) On the road & on the plane  What we take on the plane with us from Canada is everything we'll have from Canada in our first year overseas. It's really not so bad though, we'll be furnishing a home there, it's not like we're eating rodents on a dirt floor by candle light - at least not all the time :).
4) In Storage  Thank you to some very kind folks (thanks Beth & Owen!) & our lovely families who have provided places to store all that stuff we can't take with us, but would love to keep for a future home.

Helena helping Dad move the crates

About to leave home & Prince George

Amy and I are not the most dis-organized people in the world, but I must say, it is hard to imagine how much work this all is until you actually do it. When you live in a home for a few years and have four kids, you tend to acquire 'stuff'. We would actually of had a lot more except we've known this move was coming for quite some time.

The month of June also had our first major goodbye. Six years ago to the month Amy, newborn Luke, and I were just moving to Prince George. We started attending Central Fellowship Baptist Church because it was just down the road from our basement suite. Six years later we are saying goodbye to so many good families and friendships we've developed over this time. Central is a major part of what God has called us to do overseas, and Amy and I can see how and why God lead us to be a part of this church during our time in Prince George. And although it hurts to say goodbye, it is so neat how Christ's body of believers at Central will play such an important role in how God uses us in Papua, Indonesia. They have put a lot into us as a family and a lot into our ministry, and we are excited to share together in God's blessing in the future.

We left Prince George on the 19th and headed to Kamloops where we were able to share at Kamloops 1st Baptist that Sunday night. We really appreciated meeting the folks there, and were encouraged by their prayers (and of course visiting with Auntie Helen, Uncle Earl, & Cousin Lana!). After that, on to Revelstoke for a few days before heading to the Sunshine Coast.

Now we're vagabonds - homeless & on the road! Well, not quite...we're on the road but our home is sitting empty in Prince George. It has been caught up in a swirling mess of undecided indecision. "To be sold to new owners, or become a rental" That is the question. We appreciate your continued prayers about this, as we need to figure something out quite soon.

Being born and raised in Canada, I haven't ever had to wonder where the next meal is coming from. But I think we all can relate to stressing about financial 'unknowns', whether it's a home that needs to be sold, or a business, or something else. I recently read over a portion of Matthew 6, and what encouragement the following passage is. It's a little long but it is better read as a whole:

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[g] ²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.