This weekend is a weekend for adventure!  Jed and I are going to Switzerland!

I know, I know, the things we suffer as missionaries.  It’s okay, really, It’ll be rough, but we’ll make it.  😉

Really though, Switzerland??  I never thought I’d get to go there!  This is such a fun, unexpected blessing!

Quick recap:

1.  We have to leave Ukraine and go to one of their consulates in another country to get our visas to live in Ukraine.

2.  There is a Ukrainian consulate in Bern, Switzerland.

3.  There is a church near Bern that wants to support Wide Awake and they have asked us to share about Wide Awake at their service on Sunday.

4.  A passionate orphan advocate and encourager of Wide Awake attends the church and invited us to stay with her family and get some good face to face time.

5.  Sharing Wide Awake + Getting visas + Meeting a big time encourager IN PERSON = Killing three birds with one stone and a whole lotta fun.

Jed’s parents have been here visiting from their home in Kosova where they have lived as missionaries for the past 14 years.  We have had the best visit!  It’s been so fun to show them our new home and see Ukraine through their eyes.  They offered to stay here in Ukraine with the kids while Jed and I make the trip to Switzerland.  For one thing, the kids don’t need visas, so they don’t have to come to the consulate.  For another, taking all four kids around a country we don’t know at all, standing in line at the consulate and figuring out public transport sounds less than super fun.  Annnnd for another, two plane tickets is aheckofalot cheaper than six.  BAM. Decision made.  The kids get Grammy and Papa time and Jed and I get a little Swiss Adventure.  Everybody wins!  We’ve got to be killing at least ten birds with that one stone.

Here’s how the weekend will look (if all goes as we hope it should):

Thursday: Fly away to Zurich, find train and take train to Bern.  Explore, change money, drink coffee.

Friday: Hit the Ukrainian Consulate bright and early with documents in hand.  HOPEFULLY we’ll get our visas by the end of that working day…pray pray pray!!!  That afternoon we’ll take the train to another town to meet our friend and gracious host, Sandra, who will take us to her house.

Saturday:  Jed’s Birthday!!!  Hopefully we can explore our hearts out this day.  We’ll do birthday dinner with Sandra and her fam. 🙂

Sunday:  We share Wide Awake at Sandra’s church in Lucerne.  It’s an international church that sounds pretty stinkin’ cool.  We are excited to meet the people.  Please pray for hearts and eyes to be wide open to what the Father wants to do that day.

Monday:  Head back to the Ukrainian Consulate if things didn’t get wrapped up on Friday.  The Consulate is only open for visas Monday, Wednesday,and Friday, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves two working days- just in case.  If we have our visas we’ll just explore some more!

Tuesday: Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

So that’s the scoop!  We would love your prayers for a quick and easy time at the Consulate.  Also please pray for our kids and Grammy and Papa back home in Ukraine.  We’ve left our kids before when they were back in the US and we were visiting Ukraine, but this is the first time we’ve ever left them in Ukraine.  It feels very strange.  But, God has been so good to us, we know we have nothing to fear.  We just want their little hearts to be settled and peaceful.  Also for our time at the church on Sunday, pray that God would have His way and we would only speak His words.  Pray that people would be encouraged to say YES to God in their own lives- whatever that may look like.

Thanks friends!  Your prayers and encouragement are such a blessing to our family!  All of you saying yes and partnering with us is a huge part of what makes this journey so sweet.