Arrival in London

Here's a quick post to let everyone know we arrived in London! It was quite an experience, although I believe God gave us traveling mercies. It could have been much worse, traveling with 10 bags on a 10 hour flight when 8 months pregnant :-)

The bags that we took with us on the airplane. 5 of them... haha... so much for light traveling!

Check-in at the airport was fairly easy, thanks to Dave's Premier status (frequent flier miles do pay off! - we get to use the special premier check-in at LAX). We did have to re-pack one of the bags, but really for traveling with so many bags, that was easy. We also were in the Economy Plus section of the plane and shared three seats between the two of us. I was able to stretch out, and although I didn't sleep, it was really nice to have that extra room. Also, the plane had really fun touch-screen TVs on each seat, so I played some boring games (Bejewled or Memory anyone?) and watched two movies to pass the time.

Talking on the phone to people before we leave... saying last minute good-byes!

Upon arrival at Heathrow, we quickly found all of our luggage. We did have a problem with the stroller and stroller box that we brought. As Dave said, it looked like a bear mauled it. Pretty well said. Good news is the stroller still works. Has a bit of cosmetic damage. Bad news is that the bassinet is broken. We're in talks with both United and a company that "repairs" destroyed goods. So, we should either get a new stroller, a new bassinet or it will be fixed. I was so happy that it was just the stroller, because if any of the other boxes had been destroyed, it would have resulted in a "rainshower" of clothes/books/baby items!

Looking at the box, its actually amazing that there wasn't more damage to the stroller.... 

Here are some pictures of our day here!

Dave before dinner at the pub. I realized I didn't have any pictures of him!

Our "traditional" dinner - fish and chips and "jacket" with beans and cheese. 

Had to take the touristy picture of the double-decker bus. We'll have to ride one of them soon!

Just kidding!

Almost 32 weeks pregnant :-)

Another picture of the pub. Sorry for the bad order of photos. 

The Countdown's On....

It has been so neat over the last week or so to see the pieces fall into place for our move. Since we're not responsible for any of it, I know that its all God helping everything come together.

#1 - our visas have come through! This is probably the most important point. Without the visas, we would have not been able to go. But they arrived in the mail on Tuesday  - even earlier than we were expecting!

#2 - The title to Dave's truck came in the mail. There was a mix-up at the bank and we were waiting on that before we could officially sell his truck. Since that arrived, we can finish the sale before we leave.

Dave had his last day of work on Thursday.  They had a going-away party for him, and I was able to come for it. The women in his office did a great job - almost everything was gluten-free for him! They even went to a bakery somewhere to pick up flourless chocolate cake. He is going to miss that place so much and the people that he works with. I was struck by how blessed he was to work there. His "old" boss led us in prayer time for Dave and I.

Thursday was also the last night with our small group. It was very sad, but so neat to have shared the last two years with this group of people. Here's a picture of all of us from yesterday (Sunday). 

Sunday we had our goodbye at church. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone. Donn had us and our small group come up to the front of church and we (well, Dave, the talker in our relationship :-)) told the congregation what we'll be up to. Paul then prayed for us. It was so sweet for the church to do that.

Well, we leave tomorrow! Gotta go finish packing. I will post many updates once we get there.

Our Europe update

So, it is true. Dave and I are moving to England. We are relocating to the London area for his work with World Vision (Well, VisionFund - a branch of World Vision). It has been a long-time coming, something that we've been planning on since January. Things just have seemed to move slower than we would have liked. But its so neat to see God working through this whole process in His own time!  We have wonderful renters who are living in our condo. We sold our little Honda Fit to my parents this last weekend so are down to one car for the next week. We were able to stay in the states long enough to visit family on both my side and Dave's side of the family. So, here's the nitty-gritty details: 

We have plane tickets that have been bought for September 28th - a week from Tuesday. I will be almost 32 weeks pregnant. We have no home and no doctor for us waiting. My doctor warned us that I may not be allowed on the flight if I look "too" pregnant. So pray that we will allowed to travel and that I will be comfortable on the 10 hour flight. 

Once we get there, Dave is taking some time off and we will be looking for a house in the Wimbledon/Raynes Park area. Pray for us as we try to find a place to call home. Housing is fairly expensive and most places are very small compared to what we're used to (think a 10ft by 7ft bedroom!)

We will be living in "temporary housing" for a few weeks until we find a place. This will probably be a hotel in the Wimbledon area. 

Dave will be traveling to Azerbaijan October 4th. He will be there for just a few days, but I will be adjusting to life in a new city and all by myself. So... prayers for both of us during this time!

Okay... that's all I know now. I will be updating as I learn more and can share our exciting journey with you guys! 

Colorado

The second part of my Wisconsin trip was that I then flew to Colorado to meet my immediate family. My parents and siblings live there. Dave took that week off of work and flew to Colorado also, to see my family. He met me at the airport. 

It was really relaxing having someone take care of us for a week! My mom did my laundry, she planned a little "baby shower" with some women that I knew from when I was in high school. We ate some yummy foods and just caught up. They had a time of prayer and encouragement for me. It was really sweet!

There is a restaurant in Colorado called Casa Bonita. It is a tourist trap. Seriously. Terrible food. We decided that if Taco Bell would come and cater the food it would be much, much better. That's how terrible it is. Think of a cheese enchilada with nacho cheese like you get at a football game for your nachos. That's terrible. 

Anyways, my younger siblings and Dave have never been there, so we thought we'd drive out to this restaurant and see the cliff divers, the gorilla, and all the other random things at this "restaurant". 

So this is all of us trying to take a picture while at the table. From left to right, me, Dave, Jon, Tim and Teresa. 

Okay.... there food is terrible, but they have a pretty good dessert -sopapillas. I don't even know what it is, but its deep fried and you eat it with honey. Again, pretty good, but only if you enjoy feeling the oil coat the back part of your throat. 

So, this is our attempt at taking pictures. Teresa, Tim, me and Dave. 

and this time Dave took the picture... so here's my brother Jon! (Notice how I'm the shortest of all my siblings? Sad day!) 

Wisconsin

For my birthday, Dave sent me on a trip to Wisconsin to visit my extended family. The other part of the trip was that his dad did chapel for the Green Bay Packers, so he was able to scrounge up some tickets for my cousins and me to go to the game! 

This is my cousin Maria and I. We are "best-cousins" :-) And it was so much fun seeing her!

The Packers coming onto the field. 

Playing the game. Aren't our seats amazing? We were on the 50 yard line. Okay, confession time. From what we heard, our tickets belonged to a Green Bay Packer by the name of Scott Wells, the center. The tickets that Kevin and Tony used were those of Aaron Rodgers. Heard of him? Well you will because he is going to kick some butt this year!

Maria and I at the end of the game. 

Tony and Kevin are Maria's brothers. They went to the game with us. 

The game was awesome! 59 to 24! It was the largest victory in many many years (don't remember the exact amount)

Maria's home (well, her parents). Isn't it just gorgeous? 

The classic Wisconsin barn. 

It was so wonderful seeing my family. They spoiled me unbelievably. Especially with the food. Fish fry, ice cream, cheese, blueberry pancakes, more cheese, cheese curds, blueberry coffee cake, fried cheese curds... do you sense a pattern? yummmm... I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it all! If you want to see pictures of the food I ate, its on facebook. Yup. It was so good I took pictures of it. Anyways.... thank you to all my Wisconsin relatives I was able to spend time with! I love you and plan on coming back for some more of that cheese next July.

August update

The month of August was incredibly stressful on Dave and I.

• We were busy moving out of our house, moving into his parents house. My wonderful brother came out to help us move and pack things up because I cannot do as much as I used to be able to do. 
• Dave took a "business" trip to Malaysia. This was one of his easier trips (I think). It was basically a conference for World Vision peeps. Kuala Lumpur looks pretty neat. 
• Andrea got to go to Wisconsin and Colorado to visit family. More on this later
• Andrea hung out with her now-freshman girls. Pictures coming. 
• We are still in limbo about moving to London. We have a half-answer: World Vision was licensed to apply for 2 visas, and because of our "situation" we get one of the two. We found that out about two weeks ago, but we still do not have the visas. We have been told that Dave's visa (and Andrea's) will come by the end of September.....
• Wallace family vacation to Lake Arrowhead

Well, here's some more detail: 

The Wallace family went up to a friend's cabin at Lake Arrowhead. We stayed at a wonderfully cute 4 bedroom "cabin". We were about a mile and a half up from the lake. The cabin had a small lake view, but also looked out over the valley. Because I'm not good at always taking pictures, here's one from the Internet of the Lake Arrowhead Village.

Here's a picture that I took from the cabin while the sun was setting. 

Several times during the summer, the youth group takes a trip to the beach. The boys go swimming, I read a good book, and we get to sing songs in the car. Fun!

That is Alex, Cassy and Eden in the back seat of my car. 

And Eden, Melanie, Alex and me

Alex, Julia and me

And finally, me, Julia and Cassy