1 MONTH!!!!!!!

We leave in exactly one month from today! I'd not be truthful if I didn't admit that Bryan and I are a little freaked out right now! The magnitude of this decision has begun to settle on us and we are a bit overwhelmed. Prayer would be GREAT. We are trusting in God and still know that this is right and in His will, but we are human :)

71% or 57%

While we are still waffling between what our budget should be, we decided to give everyone a little update on how our fundraising is going. If we live on a very tight budget with very little wiggle room (but a lot of trust that God will provide for our needs) we are at 71% with monthly commitments and one time gifts. If we still to our original goal of $250,000 we are at 57%.

We have already purchased our plane tickets and are leaving on December 4th regardless of where we are at in our fundraising because we felt very strongly that God was leading us to just trust Him. He tells us in Matthew not to worry because He provides food for the sparrows and clothes for the lilies and how much more will He provide for His dear children. We feel an amazing amount of peace right now about God's timing. We are also in the process of sending out prayer cards for those of you who are supporting us so you can hang them on your fridge and remember to say a little (or big) prayer for us when you walk by :) If you did not receive a letter from us before but are following our blog please feel free to email us and we can send you a card. So many of you have given so generously to help us with our mission and we are so humbled and grateful for your support. You are being Jesus to the orphans in Lesotho by allowing us to fulfill God's purpose for our family and we are so blessed by your friendship and love.
Anita

Photo Fundraiser

My mom and brothers, Dan and Bob

Our family friend, Miss Terp (Christina Terpstra), helped support us by having some mini family photo sessions as a fundraiser. She had 30 families sign up for 15 minute sessions and we made just over $1000.00 to help support us for our mission to Beautiful Gate. Last Sunday there was an 80% chance of rain and it rained for about 2 minutes during the first photo session and then a couple drops on the last photo session. We were so thankful that God brought out the sun and provided a gorgeous day for the fundraiser.

I just picked a couple of pictures to post on our blog so I could show off Terp's photo skills and my cute kids :) Plus, I figure that I better learn to upload some pictures on our blog because we will need to add more pictures once we get to Lesotho so you all can keep up with us by reading our blog, but also by seeing some of the things that we will be seeing.

Anita

Suitcases!?

Hello Everyone! We have begun the process of putting piles together to decide what we will take with us on the airplane. As I looked in the closet at all the things I had in the airplane pile, it suddenly dawned on me.... I don't have 10 big suitcases! I only have 4! So we are in need of some old suitcases that still zip if anyone who lives close enough to us has any available and don't mind us using them for say....5 years :) I figure I'll ask all of you first and then start looking around at second hand stores if necessary. Please leave a comment or email us at bageurink@hotmail.com and let us know (or you can aways call if you have our phone #). Thanks everyone!
Anita

Elijah's Thoughts

Elijah is going to share what is on his mind abut moving to Lesotho, Africa on Dec. 4th.
"I'll miss my friends and I'll miss my stuffed animals that are with my friends (all 3 kids are leaving some animals for their special friends so they can remember them). I am excited to know Mr. Ray (current director of Beautiful Gate) more. I am excited about meeting all the kids in Beautiful Gate. The airplane ride will hopefully be fun. I hope Dad's job will be fun and I hope we will spend more time with Dad because Dad is awesome! I am looking forward to reading to the orphans. I'm glad Mom is going to be homeschooling me because I have been waiting for that my whole life! I love Mom and Dad (apparently he is trying to earn brownie points right now hahaha). I will miss Halloween and Valentine's Day and 4th of July. I am happy that they still celebrate Christmas. I am excited to go whale watching (I didn't know we were going to be doing that). Thanks for reading!"
Dictated by Elijah with a few comments by Anita.. the typist

A truly blessed weekend

After many busy weekends of replacing flooring, cleaning the house, and preparing for garage sales, we took this weekend off. Bryan went fishing with my brother all day on Saturday and had a fantastic time. I stayed home with Elijah, Faith, and Mercy and we went hiking with our neighbors Saturday morning, played at two parks, and met some old neighbors for dinner. Today we went to the late service at church and were the last ones to leave church. Bryan washed the van and car with the kids. Can you believe that my kids were outside in bathing suits on October 10th...in Michigan!!!! It was awesome. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch outside and then had some friends over for dinner. I think there were 10 kids playing in my yard at one time today and it was wonderful. Our house was a mess with toys everywhere and lots of dishes to do, but we didn't care. It was just fantastic to have a weekend of relaxation (oddly enough it was relaxing despite sounding busy) and beautiful weather. I am feeling so blessed!
Anita

It's Official...Dec 4, 2010 we leave!!!!!!

It's official!!! We have purchased the plane tickets to go to Lesotho! We will be leaving from Grand Rapids Airport on December 4 and arriving in Maseru on Dec 6. That is less than 9 weeks away! Shortly after we bought the plane tickets today, the total reality of this calling started to set in again.....we will be living in Lesotho before Christmas!! How exciting and how scary!! I can't wait to see the kids at Beautiful Gate again and begin to impact their lives for God! And yet, at the same time, we are leaving behind a lot of loving friends and family.

We made the decision about a week ago to start looking for the plane tickets, and the Lord provided a good rate for our family. We are truly taking a "step off a cliff" and trusting that the Lord will be there for us. We are still not fully funded for the 5 years yet. After talking with Ray and Sue last week, we were able to adjust our budget down from prior estimates, but we still have a lot of fundraising to do before we leave. But, we feel that God has called us to this mission and that He will take care of us and provide for our family while we are there.

There is so much to do before then. Sometimes I can't even begin to think about how all that will happen before we need to leave. Plus, we are still looking for renters for our house, but, for some strange reason, I am completely at peace with that as I know that God will take care of the housing situation in His timing.

Please pray for our final preparations in the next 9 weeks!

Stepping out in faith.... Bryan