Allbutt Journalings
What have we been doing in recent days
An online web journal (weblog) of Mike & Vanessa Allbutt. (Updated as often as we remember to.)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Start the countdown!
Family Road-trip
You might remember from our previous letter that we were planning a road trip over April. We piled the whole family in the car, along with whatever we could fit in, and drove to Sydney, Brisbane, then back to Nowra, then home to Melbourne - all in a three week period.
We spent Easter weekend at the CS national conference in Sydney's northern beaches. This was a good time to see where CS Australia is heading, as well as to meet other CS members.
Once this was over, we headed to Brisbane to spend time with Mike's family. We had a great week there, and it was special seeing our children get reacquainted with their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
We then drove south to Nowra (two hours south of Sydney) to meet up with CS members who are also preparing to move overseas. The most encouraging part of this weekend was seeing that there were other people going through the same situation as ourselves, experiencing the same frustrations and blessings as we are.
Overall, this road-trip was an amazing experience, but not one we would like to repeat too often.
Future Plans
The most exciting news we have to share is that we finally have our airfares booked! Our needed monthly support reached 81% this week, so we went ahead and booked our flights for October 10th 2007.
When we leave (in less than 130 days!) we hope to stay with friends in Los Angeles for a few days, then head to Florida for the USA national CS conference. We trust that this will be a time to make connections with members and leaders of CS there. After this conference, we will make our way down to Puerto Escondido in Mexico.
It is an exciting time, to finally have a date to work towards, however it is also daunting to think of all the things that still need doing in the next few short months.
We still require about 20% of our monthly budget in order to go, so we continue to trust God for the last of the finances as we prepare to leave. 
Mike needs to finalise all the websites that he has been working on, as well as decide what to do with his business. We have to pack, store or sell all our belongings. We would also really like to spend some time with family (in Tasmania and Brisbane) and close friends prior to leaving.
Please pray for us, for wisdom in decision making, as well as for protection and strength as we step out in faith by booking these flights.
More news from us will come shortly but please tell us your news too.
Labels: report
[By Mike 6:52 PM ] +
I trust that this Allbutt Journalings helps bring you up to date with what I have been up to recently. If you want to contact me then click here. Thanks for reading some of my thoughts. If you want to read some of the older files then they have been stored in the archives here.