where we've been.

Dear me.  I am officially a loser as a blogger.  Let's try to get back on this bandwagon, again.

It's been a grand total of 5 and a half months since the last time I posted.  So let's do a quick round-up!

I wrote my last blog entry (the story of Titus' birth on 7 October) on 7 November.

On the 12th of November we left the Isle of Lewis (where Titus was born and where we spent 2 months) and started traveling... During the next 5 weeks, we essentially traveled almost the length and breadth of the UK!   It's better to have you look at a map than to explain where we went!  Here was Phase 1: http://goo.gl/aAAeNG

Once we got to Northern Ireland, we combined visiting churches with also having a week of family holiday and relaxation.  Then - onwards! here was Phase 2: http://goo.gl/NzCI4s

We were visiting churches and individuals which had indicated an interest in hearing about the work of Covenant College Zambia Trust. Along the way, we were trying to connect/arrange our itinerary in coordination with personal friends/acquaintances of ours plus people who have or have had in the past a relationship with our church or our colleagues.


On the 24th of December, having gone full circle, we arrived back in the greater Glasgow/Edinburgh area where we house-sat for good friends of ours. For 6 nights we were sorting and packing and we flew out of Edinburgh airport early on Monday the 31st of December, to return to our home in Zambia....

Wondering how you take a road trip with three children ages 3 years and under, including a 5-week-old?  Here's some FAQs :)

Why are you traveling as a family instead of having David do all the itineration alone while Katie stays back with the children?
For a number of reasons. :)  We have found, from experience, that our family functions better this way. It is actually easier on the children if we stick together as an intact family unit, rather than splitting up and having one parent missing for a while. David and Katie prefer to function as a team rather than apart. A secondary reason is that Katie can't drive (in the UK/in a manual car) so being without David leaves her stranded, and any absence longer than a few days would be very difficult to cope with logistically.

Isn't traveling with 'littles' crazy/hard/tiring?
Yep.  You have to be flexible, and most importantly, you have to know what your limits are... what your family's limits are, and break the journey up accordingly. But by no means is it impossible. :)  Also, traveling with a 5-week-old is not always recommended. Obviously there are instances where health or strength does not permit. However, we were blessed with a smooth and rapid postpartum recovery and the Lord gave Katie strength. We were confident that this was the right decision for our family.

But you are traveling in the winter...
All our itinerary is bathed in prayer from start to finish. We recognize we could get stranded on the road somewhere, or not able to take a scheduled ferry trip. We nearly missed two ferry trips, but both times still managed to sail. We were on the road during some of the worst weather in all the repeated storm systems which hammered the UK, but the Lord prospered our way and kept us out of the heaviest foul weather.  Also, we are quite sensible about the cold/flu bugs which tend to circulate at that time of year, and keep our immune systems well supported with vitamins and supplements as we travel. Again, the Lord was gracious and we did not suffer from any noteworthy illness.

How can you expect people to host a family of 5?
We don't. :)  Honestly, we don't.  We don't expect anything. We contact people to ask if they are interested in hearing about Covenant College. Where we stay in relation to our visit to churches/individuals is entirely dependent on each individual situation.  During our road trip, sometimes we were staying with friends, sometimes we were staying in a holiday house, sometimes we were staying in a hotel, and sometimes we were hosted by people connected with the church we were visiting.  You would be surprised how many people are eager and willing to host a missionary family.

WHY do you do this? Why is it expected of you?
Part of our responsibility in working for Covenant College is to raise up support for the College. We are blessed with a 3-month window of opportunity at the end of each year, when the College is closed for the rainy season and our students go home to plant their crops, and we have the opportunity to visit current supporting churches and reach out to make new contacts and spread the word of what we are doing training pastors in rural Zambia.  Our itineration in one sense is purely voluntary. We chose to travel as a family, and connect with churches and supporters for 5 weeks, because we knew the College was financially struggling and that we needed to expand the support base.  However we would be greatly blessed if we had other full-time workers alongside us who were able to share the burden of heavy itineration, networking, and fundraising! 

The BIGGEST reason we choose to travel?  We love it!  Honestly, we all love traveling!  It is a special opportunity to have global adventures as a family, and we treasure being able to experience and see things that some families never have the opportunity to do or see.  The Lord is good, and this is a special time in our family's history. Seize the moment!

Do you have other questions about how we manage travel? Leave comments and I will be happy to answer them in future posts. :)