56 days until Goodbye

My family -see sidebar- and I, after many years have finally made the decision to move to Africa on long-term missions. We're moving to South Africa initially, for training, and afterwards hope to move somewhere in more Eastern Africa, ideally Uganda. We'll be working with an organization in South Africa called Hands at Work, which works with child-headed households and orphans. They are community instead of orphanage based, and have made a goal to reach 100,000 orphans by 2010, which is so amazing.. I can't wait to see them in action! My parents will be working with and facilitating trauma therapy type training and research etc, while I will be helping my mom with the homeschooling of my younger siblings, volunteering in the Nursery, Preschool and Daycare, and basically doing whatever is needed. 

Even as I'm writing all this I still cannot believe that in exactly 56 days from today we will be in Vancouver Airport, saying goodbye to all of our friends and family; saying goodbye to the life I've known for the past 18 years, giving it up to go and move half way across the world, in rural Africa. And while I'm scared and nervous and really don't want to leave my friends behind, I am so unbelievably excited to see what God has in store for us in Africa!! I've been to Africa three times- twice to Uganda and once to Ethiopia- and it has made such an impact on me; it's 100% completely and utterly stamped into my heart. 

At the end of September my family will get on a plane and leave Canada, but before we arrive in South Africa, we're going on our "Big Trip". I'm so so excited about this trip, which we've been planning for ages, and will consist of spending time visiting family in England, vacationing in Greece (Santorini, where parts of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1&2 were filmed! :D), and Egypt (where, not only will we get to see the pyramids and hopefully ride on camels, but my ducky dear friend Carissa, whom I got to travel to Uganda with in March, will also be joining us here!!!), visiting friends and sponsor children in Kibaale, Uganda (my favourite place in the world <3>

Seeing as we don't know how often we will be able to access internet, or how good of a connection it will be when we do, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this blog, let alone load pictures on, but I will do my best to keep everyone updated with stories, prayer requests, pictures, and hopefully even videos. 

Thanks for checking in with me as we begin our trip and life in Africa.. please leave comments whenever you feel like it, I'd love to know that people are actually reading this!! :)