The Adventure Begins

Well... we leave for Rwanda on Monday. It has been amazing over the past several months the number of people we have come in contact with who have some sort of intimate or close connection to Rwanda. In fact, we have already made some close friends with families who live in Kigali and we are very excited to meet them, and they are very excited to introduce us to their friends, their culture, and their community. These new relationships have already proven to be very beneficial and meaningful to us.

It has been quite an experience getting everything ready. It's amazing what is required to leave the country for six months. Attaining our malaria medication has been the biggest challenge of all. Our main problem was not in the medication itself, but in getting our insurance company to approve a six month supply for each of us. So here's a little note for anyone planning to travel for a long time… be sure to talk with your insurance company plenty in advance about getting medications that cannot be refilled overseas. The other challenging thing was getting all our documents together for our visas. Who knew that I would need to take diplomas off my office wall, as well as original marriage certificates, birth certificates, accreditation reports from the universities I attended, as well as every other official piece of paper I was ever given by anybody at any time in my life… What a thrill it was tracking all those down. The other grand adventure has been packing! Our biggest prayer and hope is that everything arrives in Kigali international Airport when we do. Each of us are taking two 50 pound bags, plus a carry-on, and a personal bag. And all those bags are full of toys (mostly baseball equipment), toiletries, clothes, electronics equipment, Nathan's guitar, tons of legos, and six months of home schooling curriculum. The boys are really hoping that they can teach the Rwandan children how to play baseball as this is going to be the thing they anticipate missing the most. All in all – we are very excited! In fact we are starting to not be able to sleep at night in anticipation of the forthcoming adventure. Next time I post to this blog we will be in Kigali having endured a 20+ hour plane flight. Looking forward to chatting with you again soon!