Goodbyes and the start of our adventure

     With conflicting feelings we said goodbye to many friends and family on Feb 23^rd as we departed for Sierra Leone. While we were sad to leave our family and friends, we were excited to start on this journey that God had started us on 2 ½ years ago. I know that my parents and sister were sad to see us (OK, mostly the kids) go off to a country far, far away with staggeringly poor health statistics and a history of violence and atrocities during the civil war that ended almost 10 years ago. Our friends and church family were sad to see us go, yet proud to be sending off their friends as missionaries. We were blessed with the prayers of many and felt them covering and protecting us as we embarked on our journey.

     You already read about my packing struggles in the previous post. We encountered some misunderstanding regarding our luggage at the airport that succeeded in frustrating us and wasting a bit of time, but eventually got beyond the ticket agent, through security and boarded our first flight. We first flew to Newark. Considering our previous flights to India, this 2 ½ hour flight was a breeze. Once in Newark we quickly found our gate and did not have to wait too long before boarding our second flight. We flew from Newark to London and since this one did not depart until 10pm, once the meal was served and lights turned out on the plane we all fell asleep. Thank God for non-full flights as we were able to spread out a bit and get some rest. Heathrow is a lovely airport, but fortunately we did not have to spend too much time there, just enough to stretch our legs and get ready for our third and final flight. While not any longer than the previous flight, this one seemed a bit longer because the kids did not sleep as much during this flight, but we arrived in Freetown without trouble.

     We travelled much heavier than we have ever had in the past. Previously we tried to limit our carry ons to just a few and our checked baggage to less than our allowance. It was very different this time; we had 5 carry ons (2 rolling suitcases and 3 backpacks) in addition to 2 car seats for the airplane and a gate checked car seat. I knew from my trip to Sierra Leone in the fall that the kids would need car seats once outside of Freetown and this was the best way to get them there. My Dad and I jerry rigged a way that we could hook the two airplane car seats to our rolling suitcases and get through the airports easier. We still had to unhook them to get through security and get onto the plane (too wide for the aisles), but it certainly made transporting them easier. We also took our maximum amount of check baggage plus two more bags.

     Miracle of miracles, all 12 checked bags made it to Freetown. I have not unpacked them yet, so not sure if all the contents made it, but at least the bags did. That was a major worry with travelling with 2 different airlines, 3 flights, through 4 airports. We arrived safely in Freetown and with the help of Pastor Joseph made it safely and smoothly through the airport and to our hotel for our first night’s sleep as a family in Sierra Leone.

Packing for Africa

    Packing to move your family of 5 (soon to be 6) to Africa for at least 2 years was an endeavor that, I readily admit, I was not fully prepared for. I thought that all my previous travel experience, including our 5 month stay in India as a family of 4, gave me significant background for this task.

     Boy was I wrong!

     I thought I could condense our life into 10 checked suitcases. This included some pots and pans and silverware, homeschooling books and supplies for J & L, some medical equipment (including a microscope), and medical books (those suckers are heavy!) for Jeneson and I, enough clothes for 3 girls (our baby due in July will be girl #3!) ranging from newborn to some 5T and a growing boy, a portable crib for S and then the new baby, cloth diapers, toys and activities for the kids, rain boots and sandals for everybody, clothes for Jeneson and I (including maternity and non-maternity clothes for me), and miscellaneous odds and ends (those certainly add up!). Needless to say I was wholly unsuccessful; we ended up taking 2 additional bags and leaving lots behind that I had wanted to take.

     Having this sense of failure at the start of this kind of journey is not a good way to start. The whole time while preparing to pack, packing, and repacking I had this relentless internal struggle: try to make things comfortable for my family and provide for their actual, perceived, and anticipated needs in a remote part of Sierra Leone vs the knowledge that the vast majority of people in Sierra Leone, and certainly in Mokanji do without many of the items that I was packing.

Countdown to Feb 23rd

We have a departure date!! We leave O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone the evening of February 23rd!

It is all every exciting, yet scary at the same time and very surreal that something that we have been praying, planning, and support raising for for almost 2 1/2 years now is finally becoming reality.

Now for the packing adventure. Needless to say since I have been down for the count with a nasty upper respiratory infection since Jan 27th (the day after we landed back home from India) I really have not done ANY packing. This week will be my turn around week. I have so many plans and visions of what I want to do this week in terms of preparing to pack and actual packing that my head is spinning. I must realize that God has provided thus far, and pray that he just miraculously multiplies the hours in my days. And all this while Jeneson is working his last week of work and taking care of three children!

People often ask us if we are going to ship anything over. It really is quite costly to ship items overseas between the actual shipping cost and then port and custom/duty fees once it arrives in country. You also have to take into account that it takes about 50 days and it would only go as far as Freetown and we are about a 7 hour drive outside of Freetown.

We will limit ourselves to what we are allowed to pack in suitcases on the plane, which may not sound like a lot, but when you have 5 ticketed passengers on an international flight can really add up. We will be allowed to take 200kg worth of luggage (that's 440 pounds!); that is A LOT of luggage. We plan on getting much of our household supplies in Freetown so the biggest weight component of our luggage will be books, both our medical books and homeschooling books for the kids.

How do you pack to move overseas for a couple of years with three children? I'll try to keep you updated as much as I can during these next 17 days (YIKES!!!!!!).