Budget

We now have our preliminary budget, and things look as expected. Justin and I have had such profound peace about the dollar amount. We know this process of support raising and missions itself is hard at times, but I look at it as one of those fulfillingly challenging experiences in our lives like being married and having children. The fulfillment far outweighs the challenges, even though the challenges are great at times. You know? We've had a slightly humorous hiccup today. In August we're scheduled to go to a three week training session with our children in Thailand. Justin was looking at airfare to and from when he realized a few things. Note that there is an earlier training session in Guatemala (Justin thought it was in Costa Rica), but we'd have to raise support in short order, and it's not as close to our departure date as Food for the Hungry would like. Here's the email he sent to our placement rep:
________
Lisa,
We were looking at flights to Bangkok and Costa Rica when loud bells went off in our heads. This happened first when we saw that getting to Costa Rica costs half as much as Thailand. This is NOT the thing that made us consider the earlier phase 2 [training]. The thing that did it was looking at a 16 hour flight form Atlanta to Bangkok with a 3 year old and a 2 year old. The next thing that sank in was the 12 hour time difference. Our jet lag is manageable, the day/night swap jet lag of a 2 and 3 year old is something to be taken seriously. The visual image that comes to mind is NOT pretty.

:) We have not heard back from our placement rep as of yet, but don't be surprised to hear that we're now going to Guatemala April. I just pray we can raise the funds to do so. It truly would make the training MUCH easier on the whole family.

Much Love,
Gillian