The Day We Sold the Car...

Hooray for answered prayers! 

As of today, the only mode of transportation we own are some running shoes and a couple of snowboards. The long weeks of battling with scammers and disaster prone craigslist are gone and so is our last big tie to American life. Thank you for your prayers! Now our net worth is stacked in a small pile of bills on the desk and we couldn't be more excited :)

Now all that remains is packing everything up, and as I look around the room today, I'm actually struck by how little of what we have we will actually take with us or need. What a freeing feeling! Now it is really only a matter of a few days before we embark on our cross-country journey that will eventually land us in our new home. 

We can't thank you all enough for your prayers. I've been reminded again that an answer to prayer doesn't need to look like everything going smoothly and coming together just as you would like or plan, but rather, an answer to prayer is the strength, joy and peace that you receive when going through whatever situation life may bring you. These last few weeks have been less than smooth. This month it seems that Dan and I have come down with more illnesses than a hypochondriac, some pretty major plans we've had have been thwarted by immense snow storms, and selling our car proved to be a GIANT headache- nothing seems to have gone as we would have hoped or planned. Yet sitting here today, I feel nothing but peace and excitement. Thank goodness that in a messy life we have a good God!

And on that note, we would really appreciate your continued prayer for us in these areas:

* TRAVEL!! We have some LONG days ahead of us as we travel from Connecticut to Minnesota, then from Minnesota to Georgia over the next couple of weeks. Please pray for good road conditions and that God would keep us awake and safe. And (especially for our trip to the airport) that there would be no delays and we would arrive there on time!

* Goodbyes- I know that leaving our family out here in Connecticut is really going to be hard on everyone. Our time in Minnesota will also be bitter-sweet as we are so excited to see everyone and yet I know our visit will seem far too short. It has the potential to be a very emotionally trying couple of weeks. Please pray that there will be excitement and joy in there too!!

* Diego- The car rides are gonna be long for us, but especially long for our active little puppy. We are also concerned about the flight- pray that it isn't a traumatizing experience!

For those of you in Minnesota: We are planning a small send-off party on Saturday, February 12th. We will send more details about the time/location along to you soon, but keep the day open- we'd love to see you then!

Much Love,

Dan and Kari

The morning I was grateful to be alive...

Good morning!

It is a coffee-is-my-best-friend and why-does-the-puppy-insist-on-waking-up-at-this-hour? kind of a morning.

Between sickness and some pretty stressful travel planning that needed to happen, the last few weeks have been somewhat less than exciting at the Straley household. It seemed that dreary days of winter had finally settled in. So we did the next logical thing and drove to a mountain (they have those here in New England- it's wonderful!) for a long-overdue day of fun :)

We had a beautiful (albeit FREEZING) day of snowboarding in Vermont!

I think this is moment that Dan began to regret his "man-uary" beard

Dan really has a knack for taking candid-blurry photographs

Now, this morning, every one of my poor little muscles is reminding me of all that great fun we had and just how grateful I am to be right where I am. Every day that goes by I get more excited about the adventure that we have coming, but Dan did a good job of reminding me the other night that we are still right where we are for a reason. The time is going fast, but there are still 23 days here ready to be filled rather than just gotten through. Whether it is holding each other while we slowly freeze to death on a chair-lift, or being more intentional with spending time with family here at the house, I want to make these days count...

Well Dan was kind enough to share his flu bug with me. As a result today is the first day I've been fully back on my feet in almost a week. Surprisingly though, time keeps marching forward and several big things have happened while I was out of it...

* First, Dan received his renewed passport! This is a big praise, since we know the offices can be kind of backed up this time of year. It is a huge weight off our minds.

* We bought plane tickets! If I only had words to tell you what a difficult ordeal this was and how thankful we are that it is finally taken care of! It was much harder than we thought to find a reasonable flying situation with our puppy, Diego. So this praise comes along with a prayer request. We are on a flight leaving February 18th... from Atlanta, Georgia. For those of you who may not know, we are currently living in Connecticut right now and have made plans to visit family in Minnesota before we leave. This means that we have 2 road trips, totaling around 20 hours each, to complete within about a week's time. It also means that we really need good weather, safety and great road conditions especially on our way to Georgia to make sure that we don't miss our flight. Please pray for the weather and safety, as well as good rest and no stress on these long journeys!

*Finally, we are still trusting that God will provide for us financially during our time in the Dominican, but in order to stretch our savings to cover this last month in the US we are trying to sell our car. Dan is out tonight to get an estimate on it before we post it to craigslist and hope for the best. Pray that the sale goes smoothly. 

Thank you again for those of you who I know are praying for us. All these things would seem so much more overwhelming without you. Please stay in touch and we will update you again soon...

Dan and Kari

The Day of New Beginnings...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Dan and I just got back from Boston, where we went to stay with an old friend for New Year's weekend. Unfortunately the night we arrived Dan came down with a pretty nasty bug and as a result New Year's Eve was spent swaddled on a couch, watching Scrubs reruns (it's one of Dan's favorite shows though, so it was not a complete loss!)
It didn't really feel like a new year at all actually, until today, when I woke up to a silent house, but ridiculously loud thoughts. And not even good thoughts- just wimpy ones you would expect before a major life change, like: 'Am I ready for this?', 'What should I be expecting?' or 'What happens if...?'.
For Christmas Dan bought me a book with quotes and thoughts from Mother Teresa. I LOVE the book, but I'm gonna be honest and say they could probably have saved a lot on paper. As far as I can tell, pretty much everything that she said came back to the same 2 points. 1. Silence yourself before God so you may know and hear Him, and 2. Love every person as though it were Jesus himself. Those 2 points have been haunting me. Not only have my thoughts been keeping my inner-self far from silent, but they are all so 'me' focused- all thoughts about my abilities, my readiness, or my comfort.

So if you pray for us, please let this be your prayer: that we become silent before God so we may know and hear Him, and to love every person as though they were Jesus himself. Pray that 2011 isn't a great year in the Dan or Kari story, but that it may be a great year in God's story.

I would also like to take a moment to thank those of you who have responded to our support letters- whether with financial or spiritual support. I can't begin to tell you how much you have blessed us. God has spoken to us through you and we have felt so much confirmation that we are right where he wants us to be. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

Dan and Kari

A few last notes:
*Praise God for our finances to cover our first few months in the Dominican! We are now set to buy our tickets and embark on this adventure!
*Prayer for these weeks before we leave. There is a lot to be done and we aren't always sure where to start. Pray that our time would be used wisely.
*Prayer for Safety in travel. We are still planning a trip back to Minneapolis before we leave, pray that winter storms will take a break so we could have smooth sailing on the 18 hour drive!