We're on our way...

We are in the last crunch of getting ready to leave.  We fly out Sunday the 13th at noon and after 6 airports and 10,250 miles (give or take) we will arrive at Mt. Hagen, Papua New Guinea on Wednesday the 16th.  For those of you that have been asking, here is our new mailing address.

Randy and Joani Goossens
P.O. Box 456
Mt. Hagen, WHP 281
Papua New Guinea

We will see you on the other side of the world!
The Goossens

Huston...We have a work permit!

We recieved the official word this week that Randy's work permit has been granted!  Thank you, Lord!  It came the night before his last day of work at Jevco...what timing!  I got all the paperwork sent off to the PNG Embassy in Washington DC today for our entry permits and we continue to work long and hard on getting our house ready to rent. 

Thank you for all the support in working on our house and praying for all the "stuff" that needs to happen between now and when we leave for the field.  We appreciate everyone who invests in our lives and ministry so much.  Blessings to each and every one of you!

Suitcases, boxes and bags, Oh My!

We are in the middle of an exercise called being prepared, yet flexible.  This is quite an adventure!  We have suitcases in the corner of the living room that are being packed for the journey to PNG, we have boxes scattered around the house that are being packed with belongings to be stored while we are gone and we are trying to maintain some sort of normalcy for the kids in the midst of it all.

The big change this week is that Randy has gone down to working 3 days a week.  This is a huge help in all of the preparations that still need to be taken care of.  (It is also nice to have him around more!).

Next week is another big step as we move out of our house so we can get it all cleaned up and rented out.  We will be staying with Oma and Opa (aka Randy's parents or Jack and Ingrid) until D-day.  If our careful planning pans out (and the PNG government cooperates) we will be there 2-3 weeks.

Well, I had better get going...the kids are playing and the boxes are calling my name! Happy Saturday to all!

Here we are...

Whirlwind...

I am having difficulty knowing where to even start since my last post.  It has been an amazingly good, amazingly busy time for us. The holidays were a wonderful time with family from near and far. Since then I have been steadily packing up our lives...Randy notices something new that is missing almost every day.  The big accomplishment on the house front is getting the tired, worn out carpet out and installing the new wood laminate floor.  It looks amazing, thanks to my very handy (and handsome) husband!  I have been training my replacement at the daycare and it looks like we have finally found my replacement at the church (thank you, Lord!).  It is a good thing as my hard-drive is running out of space after a training session on my new responsibilities in PNG.  Our paperwork has hit a small bump in the road, so we are playing it by ear as far as getting out of our house and Randy's final day at work.  It may shift from the beginning of February to the middle of the month...we shall see.

I feel a little guilty about the infrequency of my posts, I am hoping that I will be able to get into the swing of things and be more regular with the updates once we have finished with all the chaos of this transition.

We are so thankful for all of the support and prayers of our amazing family and friends.  You guys are gifts from God in our lives!

Christmas is Coming...

Christmas at the Goossens house is an interesting affair this year.  On the one hand we have the tree up and wrapped presents keep appearing under the tree.  On the other hand our cupboards are being emptied out and the boxes are stacking up.  On the one hand we are super excited about Grandma and Auntie Lori coming to visit this year.  On the other hand we are keenly aware that this will be the last face to face visit for a while. The constant this year as in every past year...we are truely blessed!

Just one example: I was debating getting some beautiful plush blankets with Disney characters on them for the kids.  I have long declined the pleas for such bedding because they change their mind so often, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give in and create something special for them in our new home.  I talked it over with Randy and he was on board so I went to Costco and bought them...only to decide on the way home that we had too many other things to take care of and they already had bedding we could take so I was going to return them.  Later that day I was over at my neighbor's house and noticed that she too had gotten some of the blankets, when I commented on it she said she said they were for my kids for Christmas.  I love that God meets our needs and cares for the desires of my little ones' hearts too!

We Are Official...

We have prayed, filled out applications, gotten references, prayed, attended a Cross-Cultural Orientation, gone through interviews, prayed, updated passports, filed for work permits and are now officially Global Serve Missioinaries with the Church of the Nazarene!  Look, we even have our own web-site: http://web.nazarene.org/goto/Goossens.  We still have to wait for the work permit to come through and then apply for our entry visas before we can book our tickets, but things are definitely coming together.

Yay God! We have started our list of prayer partners! (If you want to be added to the list shoot me an email and I will do so agaggleofgoossens@hotmail.com)

Yay God! We have started to receive donations from people wanting to partner with us and with the plans God has for the people of the South Pacific and Melanesia!

Lord, help us to align ourselves with your plans and your timing.  To not only give of ourselves when asked but to also accept help and blessing when they are given to us!