Moving to Africa...Soon

I was trying to find pictures to go in this blog post and the latest ones are of houses in Dapaong.  I suppose that's a good topic to write about!  The house we thought we'd be living in is occupied by another missionary family (different organization).  Bummer, but hey, that means there's another family, with kids, who will be homeschooling as well.   We've been working with Jacob Gaugert to find a house to live in, and we decided to go with a 3 bedroom house with lots of space outside for the kids to play and a gazebo which we can *hopefully* use to eat outside most of the time.  This house also has AC units already, which may have had something to do with our decision.  Especially since we just went though a week long heatwave - canicule, in French - here where temperatures were just as high as they will be in Dapaong.  I have to admit, I am not looking forward to the heat or being so close to the sun.  I get heat rash and burn easily when I'm out in the sun.  Yet, somehow I will make do.

Our house in Dapaong 

We are wrapping up our time here in Albertville.  I stopped taking classes as of the end of June to stay home with the kids and get things done before the big move to Africa.  Samuel's last day of school was July 3rd, though he has wanted to keep going to school at home with mama as his teacher.  I've been trying to have school with him as much as possible while accomplishing tasks at hand.  So, we go on a lot of field trips!

Samuel enjoying a taco on his last day of school

We took a field trip on the train to Chambery last week to the travel clinic.  David and I still needed to get the yellow fever vaccine.  The others got their yellow fever vaccine in the states, but the earliest a person can get the yellow fever vaccine is 9 months old. Thus, David and I (since I'm breastfeeding) had to wait.  Thankfully, David just turned 9 months.  We went on 2 field trips to the pharmacy to pick up medications for a travel medical kit and for malaria.  And we took the bus on another field trip to go shopping for other "necessities" like sandals, bed sheets, and a can opener!

Recess: Bucket of Fun

We are getting rid of all of our winter coats and clothes and most of mine and Liza's pants, since we will be wearing skirts and dresses all the time (outside of the house anyway).  I'm starting to clean the apartment and soon will start to pack everything up.  Today I planned out the rest of our meals here to use up all of our food and will go grocery shopping one last time Wednesday.  Final exams begin Thursday and end next Tuesday.  Please be praying for Micah!  We have learned a lot of French in a little over 6 months and even though we still have a lot to learn, we are looking forward to moving to Dapaong to truly be immersed in West African life, culture, and language.  There, we must use all that we have learned.

Family Picture in Albertville, France

Conflans Medieval City and the Alps in the Background

So what day will we finally make it to Togo?  We move out of our apartment July 28th, pick up Micah's brother, Matt, at the airport in Geneva and spend a week with him in Germany.  Upon returning, Micah and Matt will leave the kids and I in Geneva while they drive back to Albertville to get all of our bags, come back to Geneva and check them into the airport.  The next day we will fly to Lome, Togo.  We will arrive in Lome at 10 that night.  August 6th is the day we finally make it to Togo.  We will spend about 2 weeks in Lome getting our visas, buying a car, and shopping for other needed items like pans, fans & cans of food.