Ups and Downs

It's hard to believe it's May already, with our departure to England only about three months away! In addition to the more large-scale preparations, we've been poring over books and websites about Britain, looking at pictures of castles and maps of the Midlands, searching for information about airports, churches, grocery stores, public libraries, local attractions, and more. The kids have even been practising their proper English accents in their dress-up play time. The excitement is building!

We have had some ups and downs in our preparations over the past few weeks since our last report. Here's an update:

1. On the up side, we now have all our passports in hand. The process went very smoothly, and we received them within a week or so of submitting the applications in person.
2. But on the down side, we have received polite "No"s from all the major scholarship agencies to which Michael applied. So, we are now looking to some "last resort" financing options to cover Michael's tuition, our travel costs to England, and other miscellaneous expenses. And, it looks as though all of these options involve borrowing the money in some way, something we were very much hoping to avoid. Please pray for us in this! It is now an urgent matter, as we need the basic financing in place before we can apply for the necessary visas.

As always, we are grateful for the support and encouragement we have received from each of you, our friends and family. Thanks for sharing in this adventure with us!