Before we left America, God blessed us with some wonderful times with some really special friends. Here are some of the people we saw and things we did in our whirlwind two weeks before heading out:
I got to go to lunch with Grandma Chase. Grandma has been such a blessing to me my whole life but particularly these last 6 years as I lived so close to her. Her home is always a haven of rest and refreshment to me and I love sitting down to afternoon tea with her just to chat. We stayed with her and Grandpa these last two weeks and could not have been able to pack and be ready on time without them. We praise Jesus for them!
We had a Game Night! We love playing games, especially at the Pattons’ house. I didn’t get a picture of the whole group, but it was pretty great to have about 7 couples, my sister Martha, our friend Chris, the Pattons’ 2 middle-school aged boys, and 5 babies there to play and fellowship. What fun! Here we are with the Lookabills, trying to determine who really is the maffia.
We got to see the Sink family several times as they were staying in Harrisonburg. Kathryn in Noa’s bf so it was great for them to get time to play and say their good-byes.
We got to see our friends the Weavers and the Masts twice which was great. I will write more on this later with more pictures. For now, here is Chloe showing Noa how to fit the puzzle pieces together.
And here is Kate with Eric, showing him how to sing, play an instrument, AND march at the same time. They were quite a parade.
Our homegroup from church had a wonderful goodbye party for us at the Reids’ house. It was so fun (and sad) to be with everyone one last time and then say goodbye. Noa’s boyfriend and first love, Paul Tongen was there and they had a great time catching up from the summer and playing together. Hmm, how can we both fit on this thing…
Here is the whole group. What an incedible blessing and answer to prayer this group has been in lives!
And the night before we left, Noa got to sneak in some time with her cousins, Blake and Mason before bed.
God was so good to provide the time and flexibility to get to see many people who are dear to us and say good-bye.
Continue reading about Some sweet times before we said goodbye
We arrived safely yesterday evening. The trip went went far better than we thought possible.
Noa read up on emergency procedures, just in case.
She slept for 9 hours, way to go Noa!
Nothing beats snacks and toys.
and we made it! Praise God!
Here we are, finally on our way to Japan. We’re sitting in the airpot waiting for our flight (which is delayed about an hour as of right now) and thought you’d like a picture of what we looked like this morning as we checked in. Notice Noa, sound asleep for the biggest move of her life… lets hope that sleepy-ness lasts the next 14 hours while we’re on the plane 
[youtube=watch?v=MQavZ4Xmsdo]
We have a crawler!
(special thanks to matt chase for filming, editing, and posting)
Here are pictures of our sweet new niece and cousin! We are so thankful that she is here, we just wish we could meet her face to face before we go over the ocean…
With proud big brother, Daniel Josiah
And with her whole family.
We just got news that Noa’s first girl cousin and our first niece was born at 4:07 this afternoon! We are so thrilled for Danny and Kimberly (her mom and dad) and Daniel Josiah (her big brother). We’ll show off pictures as soon as we have some. Praise the Lord with us for this precious life and that she and her momma are doing well.
