luggage

It's less than two weeks away now, and the date seems to be racing toward us.

It seems like there is still a lot that needs to be done between now and our departure.  We are making progress in our preparations, but it sure seems like it will be easy to forget something.  We are trying to trust and be faithful, even though it feels stressful.

God continues to demonstrate His kindness and power to provide.  We are planning to pack our personal effects in one carry on piece of luggage (luggage is commonly lost on these kinds of flights), and we are planning to bring things to leave in Zambia in our checked bags.  We didn't have enough luggage for that plan.  One of our team members was at a local thrift store looking for luggage on Friday.  After talking with a manager about a piece that seemed priced too high at $25 the manager showed her other luggage for sale that wasn't on the store floor.  She called E and E went to look at the luggage too... E came away with 6 full size bags to be used for our checked bags for $18!  Amazing!  So Saturday, we took stock of the carry on bags that we have that we could use.  We had 2 carry on size suitcases with wheels and handles for easy transport through airports.  We decided that the 2 youngest kids could pack in duffle bags (which we have) and those could be toted on top of the rolling carry on suitcases.  That left us with only unwheeled luggage, and we thought it wise to try to find at least two more wheeled carry on size suitcases.  Our plan was to go back and look at thrift stores and hope for another amazing deal.  Well, before we went shopping, I took my son over to mow some lawns (two couples have been supporting us by paying us to mow their lawns this summer).  After the first lawn was completed, I was chatting with the man and I told him of our luggage story.  He said, "hold on, let me call my wife."  It turns out they had 4 suitcases that they were planning on giving away to a thrift store, and two of them were the carry on size that we were looking for!  God sure is amazing!