Leaving for Slovakia Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we leave.

The last couple days I was catching up with schoolwork with the boys, 

checking lessons, cooking, cleaning,

ironing a huge stack of clothes and hankies (Jonathan likes his ironed) while uploading photos,

seeing that meals get made,

and more packing.

Below are 3-packs of chapsticks I found at Dollar Tree for $1, bags of cough drops and balloons, and more clearance-priced clothing for the orphans.

A few toys for Hannah to share with the 8-year-old son of the girls' home overseer.

Warm socks, mittens marked down by 75%, underwear for toddlers, shirts for big boys,

God was so good to provide all this! I was able to stuff all these piles of items for the orphans into three large duffle bags or suitcases.

We four Lucases are trying to get by on one carry-on apiece, one personal item such as purse or computer, and a fourth suitcase for Jonathan's tools, my autoharp and a few extra clothing items for ourselves. 

We have to lug our coats along. We were told to prepare for it to be cold enough that we'll need to wear long johns and sweaters and slippers indoors and boots outdoors in the mud.

My nerves are struggling, and so first of all I go to my Jesus to ask for His arms

 around this little lady who is taking one child along who is still coughing,

and boarding plane after plane after plane, sitting through the night tonight, remembering how miserable it was on the way over the ocean to PNG.

Hannah read this poem to me from her reader a week or so ago.

"Dear Father, help me with the love 

That casteth out my fear.

Teach me to lean on Thee and feel

That Thou art very  near.

That no temptation is unseen,

No childish grief too small,

Since Thou, with patience infinite

Dost soothe and comfort all."

 In the past several days, I listen to my little girl read, and watch her sort flower seeds for this spring,

and help Danny with writing a poem for his English lesson.

Here is what he came up with:

" A Day With the Chickens

Early in the morning when the sunbeams show,
The rooster in the henhouse begins to crow.

With his cockadoodledoo he wakens the hens,
Who fly from their roosts and exit the pens.

With a flap and a flutter they chase juicy slugs.
They scratch at their grain and peck at bad bugs.

In their cozy straw nests fresh, brown eggs they lay.
Their young chicks they watch as they peck and they play."

Timmy made that cute sign behind the chicks as he is raising and selling chicks again this spring.

He just got an order of about 100 a week ago. 

They make a ruckus in the post office till we get there to pick them up!