The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for us! We've been to Miami, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and back--and lived to tell about it! :)
The first thing on our calendar for July was my (Kimberly's) cousin's wedding. My cousinChase McCallister married his bride Lauren on July 10th. Their wedding was at the beautiful Botanical Gardens at the Riverbanks Zoo at sunset. The ceremony was gorgeous, and we all had such a blast at the reception--even my Oma got up with her walker and danced on the dance floor!
My cousin Chase and I
My new cousin Lauren and I
The next day was the final of the FIFA World Cup 2010. The cup was down to two teams--Spain and the Netherlands. Obviously, we were rooting for Spain to win! After all, it is about to become our new home! Since my cousin's wedding was the night before, many of my cousins were still in town and were able to watch the final game with us. A few of them actually grew up in Spain, so it was great to be able to feed off of their passion for the team. In the end, after a tense roller coaster, we were finally able to celebrate that Spain holds the title for the 2010 World Cup Champions!! This is the first time Spain has EVER won the world cup, and it is also the first time a team has won the world cup after losing their first group match. Needless to say, we were pretty excited! The only sad note is that we weren't able to be in Spain for the actual celebration!!! What a joyous day. :)
Celebrating Spain's win with my cousins
Right after the game was over...like RIGHT after...we left for West Palm Beach, FL.We stopped in Jacksonville, FL for the night to break up the trip. Thankfully, we have wonderful friends in Jacksonville who offered their house to us both on the way to and from Southern Florida. Monday morning after breakfast with our friends, we drove down to West Palm Beach to stay with our good friends the Smythe family. We spent our time in West Palm Beach visiting my old church, having a wonderful reunion with old friends, sharing about our internship in Spain, and of course going to the beach for one morning! We had such a wonderful time there. In between all of these events, we travelled down to Miami, FL to apply for our visas at the Spanish consulate. Yes, you heard me right, we had to go PERSONALLY to the consulate to apply. We miraculously (literally) got an appointment for the week we would be down there so that our documents wouldn't expire. Everything seemed to go without a hitch--Praise God! The only thing we are waiting on now is for one last document to be translated and mailed to the consulate--then they can begin processing it. They say it should take anywhere between 1 and 3 months to process our visa. Then we will be free to leave for Spain!! Hooray!
Us with the Smythe family who hosted us while in West Palm Beach
The Church I attended while living in FL, Wellington Presbyterian Church
Then it was back to Columbia for another friend's wedding on Saturday, July 17th. Daniel and Rebekah Hodges both went to CIU with us, and Micah lived on the same hall in the dorm as Daniel. Side note: I actually attended Ben Lippen School with Daniel in the 8th grade! They had a lovely ceremony and reception, and we were able to get caught up with several college friends that we hadn't seen in a really long time!
Micah with Daniel
After a one-day rest on Sunday, we headed to Knoxville, TN on Monday, the 19th. We stayed with Jon and Rae Farra and their sweet little almost one-year old girl named Rosalee. Jon was the interim youth pastor at our church for a year in 2005-2006. They both teach at a Christian school in Knoxville. We were able to share a little bit with their small group and visit several churches in the area to share about our internship. On Thursday of that week, we headed down to Chattanooga, TN to visit with Micah's best friend from childhood (and through to adulthood) Stephen Humphries and his wife Taryn. We had such a great time hanging out with them since we don't get to see them too often! They opened our eyes to a wonderful used book store called McKay's (sadly only in Tennessee)! We were also able to give our information to some churches while in the area as well.
Us with Jon, Rae, and Rosalee
Us with Stephen and Taryn
The next Sunday we returned home--all travelled out. We then packed up and moved all of our stuff to Micah's parent's home, in which we will be making our home until we leave for Spain. Now we are [almost] settled in to our room, and are looking forward to being in Columbia for the better part of the month. God has taught us so much about flexibility and kindness throughout our travels thus far, and I know He's got much more in store for us.
Another HUGE news item! It is with GREAT thanks to our Lord that I can say that He has brought us to 72% of our total funds! We are thrilled with His provision so far, and He is only proving Himself to be trustworthy. Thanks for bearing with this lengthy post! Looking forward to sharing what God will do next!
