Here we go!

So we're off today. In 20 hours we board a plane to leave the US. We don't plan to be back for a while. We don't really know what is about to hit us, but we're trusting that we're in the right place. It certainly has been clear to us to this point, and we look forward to how things will look on the other side.

Thanks so much for being a part of this journey up to here. We have no idea when we'll be able to blog again. Maybe not for ten weeks, when we'll be back to high-speed Internet (early June or so). We hope sooner though.

We love you all, and thank you so much for your support and prayers.

Here we go!

Later guys,

Matt

Visa, Mastercard, or American Express?

Yep, it's true. We're officially VISA'D!!!

We received our visa in the mail today. We now have an official leave date of March 30. I've booked almost our whole flight to this point, with only the last leg to finalize. How exciting!

So, thanks for your prayers. It looks like it's official, we're moving!

Later guys,

Matt

Fourth Circle

For those of you who are fans of the Enter the Worship Circle series...

Heather and I bought the recently released Enter the Worship Circle: Fourth Circle album. We've been listening to it for 3 days now, and I must say, I love it. For some songs, I loved them immediately, for others, they've grown on me. I don't think it's anything like that past albums, though. Sometimes more rock, sometimes more bluegrass. They used a drum set for the first time, there's some harmonica, great material. Definitely worth the $8.40 I spent on the digital album.

But wait, I just learned today that they have a half-off coupon code for anyone buying the digital album from their website in the next 48 hours. So, until midnight (MST) on the evening of March 21st, you can purchase the album for only $4.20. That's 18 songs, for an incredible price - the price of 4 songs on iTunes.

So, I've done the research for you all, now go buy the album. Click here and enter the code "justice" in the coupon code box in your cart.

And then let me know how you like the album.

Later guys,

Matt

Memories Escape

Deuteronomy 4:9 (NLT) - "But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren."

My wife reminded me last night about how we've been really led through the journey we've been on for the last 2 and a half years. Sometimes it's been difficult to remember things that have happened, but I want to write a few of them down as clear reminders. Sometimes things appear to be really little, and sometimes they're huge. All of them will help remind us down the road when things are tough about how we've been led.

We sent our applications to the Embassy in Washington D.C. last week. I recognize we waited until really late to send them, but at the same time there were some major decisions that needed to be made before we could get them in the mail. So, we finally did send them last Thursday. On Tuesday, we got a call from the Embassy about our applications, saying they needed a few more documents from the business in SE Asia that is inviting us to work with them. I was excited that they were getting to our apps quickly, since we want to leave by March 26th. They called just in time for me to shoot an e-mail to our contact in Singapore. He was heading into our target country the next day, and wouldn't have been able to get our e-mail for over a week. He was able to take my request for the new documents into the country with him, where they could fax them directly to the Embassy in D.C. We got confirmation today that the documents were faxed. We could have our visas soon!

It was good timing, and I have seen it happen time and time again over the last 2 years.

Just a simple short story I needed to get into print. It's easier to blog it than journal it. So you get to catch on too!

Later guys,

Matt

March on!

Is it really March 1, 2008? What in the world? Where has time gone? I didn't even get to post for Leap Day 2008! And so much has changed since Leap Day 2004! (Did we even have a leap day 2004? Or was that one of those weird years where we have to skip a Leap Day for some super precise reason? I think that was only 2000.) Anyway, March. The month when baseball gets into full swing (or at least half swing), the weather is even more unpredictable, and we hopefully head to Asia. This could be a great month!

Anyway, we traveled today. Dallas, TX to Trilla, IL. And tomorrow, to Indianapolis for a sweet college basketball game at Butler, then on to Evansville tomorrow evening. Traveling. It's what we do.

Hope your Leap Day was great. Happy March!

Later guys,

Matt