Well, this is not going to be all that creative or artistic, but sometimes you just gotta be clear and concise!  That said, I will make it brief as not to bore you!

We have received many a call, e-mail, and personal inquiry as to the timeline we are working under.  Hopefully, in the very near future we will put out another mailer that gives a more detailed idea of what has to be done by when, but for those of you who like to be on the “inside scoop” list, this is a brief nuts and bolts look:

March 13^th, 2009:  Put our house on the market

·         This is a primary prayer request: we have to move this house before we can put into motion a series of financial tasks that will position us to leave the country

September 1^st, 2009:  this is fish or cut bait time

·         We need to have our funds raised by this date so Brian can resign from his position and begin Flight Training the following week

·         His technical orientation is approximately 8 weeks long and we’ll need to be financially dependant on our support team for the duration and thereafter

·         If we are not at 100% support by this date, we may be asked to postpone Brian’s training until the Spring class, which moves our departure to June/July of 2010!  yuck

December, 2009:  This month is last minute preps and goodbye

·         We plan to spend Christmas with our families here in Charlotte

·         After Christmas we fly to AIM Headquarters in New York for our commissioning service

January, 2010:  Sometime the first week of January we will depart for Africa

After we arrive in Africa, we spend approximately 3 months in various forms of orientation (language, life, ministry, etc.).  We assume we won’t be sleeping in our own house in Nairobi until sometime late March.

That’s as much as we know right now.  Obviously, if things change we’ll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for being here with us – what seemed like a lifetime away has suddenly crept up on us and is only on the horizon.  Your company makes this a bit more peaceful.