Workin' At the Car Wash...

Our first week in Illinois is behind us!  The last of the boxes on the main floor are gone, now just to tackle mine and Nathan's closet and a few items in the office and we should be officially 'settled in'.  

This week Nathan worked with our friend, Jim, to get the RV ready to go for our first big homeland ministry assignment trip in October.  Since the photos below were taken, they added a hitch and a large metal storage box to hold necessities like a small generator, propane tank, extension cords, etc. 

The kids have been chomping at the bit for their first chance to ride in their 'house on wheels' and so to assuage those feelings a tiny bit we decided to give her a wash as a family activity.  In doing so, I think we came up with 'her' name ('Winnie' was 'too obvious' a name, in Nathan's opinion).  Nathan started thinking of Albanian names and landed on one that we think is quite fitting:  Vera.  Vera is actually short for "Pranvera" which in Albanian means 'spring.'  While our 1985 Minnie Winnebago is far from the spring season of her life, she indicates a new season for our family. 

We may take Vera on an overnight camping trip soon to find out what we need to know about further outfitting her for a month of life on the road with her.  In the mean time, enjoy some pics from Tuesday night!

On a more serious note, if you have a heart for orphans, would you join me in praying for Haiti for the next three weeks?  While I've never personally visited, Nathan and several of my friends have. The orphan crisis in Haiti is severe (records on kids are virtually non-existent, corruption is rampant -- you get the picture). They have re-opened their adoption processing office for a brief month to process files for families who have been already been matched with waiting children before the office closes again to start the process of Hague Compliance.  While at the Created for Care retreat last March, I had an assigned seat during meal time next to a woman named Dena.  She and her family have been pursuing the adoption of a little boy named Dmitry for a LONG time.  The next twenty days or crucial or it could be TWO YEARS before he can come home.  Read her post here:  http://cupcakesbeansandrice.blogspot.com/2012/08/tick-tock-tick-tock.html .