You Say Goodbye And I Say Hello!

First and foremost, we are here and we are safe. But let me share what we’ve been up to leading to our arrival in England.

HEALTHY GOODBYES

I had a friend of mine leave for the mission field in November with her family. Knowing that Sean and I would be leaving for England in January, she left me a bit of advice…make sure you have healthy goodbyes so that you can have healthy hellos. So the past few months have been spent doing just that!

November 13-20 :: We spent Thanksgiving in Glendale, AZ with Sean’s sister, brother in-law, niece, mom, and stepdad. We did a lot of shopping, eating, and I even taught our niece how to crochet!

December 18-26 :: We also spent Christmas in Arizona. First we made a stop-off in Chandler to visit Sean’s dad and stepmom. Our visit was short but sweet. We did an early Christmas with them before we shot down to Tucson. Aside from having the stomach flu for three days, it was fun. I was able to spend time with my mom and her boyfriend, all three of my sisters and their children, my dad, and my brothers daughter. We also sought out a few close friends that we wanted to say goodbye to. Tears were shed, but we gained some closure.

December 30-31 :: Our senior pastor invited us on stage after each service to share that we were leaving soon and to pray for our journey. It was a nice way for our church to “send us off.”

January 4-8 :: After ringing in the New Year in Vegas with some close friends, we had just a few days before more traveling and more goodbyes. We spent a few days in Simi Valley, CA saying goodbye to my three brothers. The last few days of our time in California was spent in Mission Viejo saying our final goodbye to Sean’s mom and stepdad. On this trip I once again survived the stomach flu. By the time we left, we had shed more tears, and gained more closure.

January 12 :: This was a great night! This was our official going away party. We had around 50 people show up to support us. It was a night to do what we do best…we socialized, we ate, and we led worship! We felt so loved and supported. I even had 2 of my sisters drive up from Arizona!

January 14 :: This was our last official Sunday service at Canyon Ridge. We were able to say a few more final goodbyes. Sean even had the privilege of saying goodbye to his beloved Oscar (our former Italian Greyhound).

A lot of good closure has also come from many of you who have invited us out for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, sushi, and even asked us to lead worship at a few events. Those times have been precious to us!

ALMOST THERE

Our last couple of days were a bit hectic. We had to take care of details with our car, with our cell phones (our service is currently suspended), and we had to get our bags packed. After packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking and packing again, we were able to fit everything we needed. We’ve both learned that a part of this trip will teach us the importance of living simply!

January 17 was our departure date, so after surviving a few more goodbyes from our friends that dropped us off at the airport, we were on our way. Our flight left Vegas at 11:45am and had a short layover in Cincinnati. We had just enough time to down some skyline chili before our 7 hour flight to London. The flight was good and we were accommodated well. Our in-flight movie was The Queen…how appropriate!

TODO - WE'RE NOT IN VEGAS ANYMORE!

When we arrived at the airport (on January 18 at 9:00am) we were welcomed by good English weather: cloudy, windy, and raining. The temperature here is not any colder than Vegas but right now there are gusts of wind blowing at 60-70 MPH! We called our school and they sent staff members to pick us up. On our ride to Holmsted Manor (the name of our school) we learned that there are 28 students in our class, all from the UK, Canada, and the USA. Our official schooling begins January 20. We also learned that the outreach portion of our schooling will be done in Brighton (UK), Tanzania, and Poland. How exciting! We’ll keep you posted with our outreach details as we learn them.

The property that we are staying on is absolutely gorgeous! It is a huge manor from the late 1800’s that sits on 17 acres. Because of the rain (and our jet lag!) we haven’t had much time to explore but we plan on posting pictures. Please keep checking back for photo updates!

Well, we hope you feel caught up on the beginning of this adventure, and we look forward to taking you on this journey with us! Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean