Bake Sales, and Packing, and Fingerprinting OH MY!

OH! What a crazy last few weeks it has been! We have been so busy with so many things and would love to update you all on our progress!

1. Visa's: We figured them out! Thanks for your prayer and advice, it turned out to be some silly error on our part that was quickly remedied. We submitted our applications online and the next step was a "quick" ( 5 hour round trip) drive to Sacramento, Ca in order to get bio-metrically fingerprinted. We mailed our applications off this past Friday and as of 11:23am this morning, the New York Consulate has received and begun to process them (an email told us). Originally we were quoted 3 weeks but the email said the they would probably be letting us know in about 10 days, WOOT!


2. Fundraising: This past month we have been working our tales off to raise all the money needed to go on this adventure. God was so good in providing the resources for the Visas (a pretty big chunk of change each) and now we are beginning to build our plane tickets nest egg and other miscellaneous expenses. At the beginning of June we hosted a fundraiser bake sale in Cynthia's home town of Shingletown. Matthew's
Parents drove up from Nevada to help and it was a blessing.  Let's just say over 14 dozen pans of Cinnamon Rolls later and many other delicious donated goods we made enough to cover our Visa Application fees.  It was so great to be back in Cynthia's hometown community and to just spread the work about our new adventure. We even ran into quite a few people who either recently coming from or very soon journeying to Scotland Also!

3. Scotland Friends. One of our prayers over the last few months has been for God to provide us a safe place in which to recover from Jet Lag before beginning employment at Abernethy and God has once again provided! Through a series of "random" events, we had the privilege to meet Brian and Isabelle who were visiting from the Glasgow Area of Scotland. After a "lovely" meal with them and sharing many laughs, they offered to let us stay with them to get over jet lag! Matthew's parents were also able to meet them and are now able to rest a bit more knowing that we know at least 2 people over there in case of emergency.

4. Packing: We have begun to pack up our house and it is starting to settle in that we are actually moving. Like Actually. Pictures are coming down off the walls, Furniture is leaving/being sold, and books are being packed away. So Weird.

5. Going Away Parties: For those who want to say "bon voyage" in person we will be hosting 2 seperate parties. August 3rd @ 3pm in Nevada at Matt's parents house and August 10th @ 3pm in Redding at a location to be determined soon. Invites to be sent out soon but we would seriously love to see you all!

The Next Steps:
A. We are beginning to Send out Information/Support Letters so if you don't get one, let us know! We are still collecting Addressed.
B. Fundraiser Yard Sale: July 18-19th. We are still collecting donation and a friend has offered to host the yard sale at their house! If you are interested in donating any goods to the yard sale, please contact us.
C. Continuing to pack up the house midst our normal jobs and our random fundraising jobs!
D. AND WAITING!!! Once our Visa's are approved we can go ahead to buy our plane tickets. Please join with us in prayers that the "perfect" tickets would still be available for the awesome prices when we are able to purchase them!

Prayer Requests;
i. That our Visa's Approval would be Quick and painless!
ii. For the Strength to Finish well and honor the moments we still have here in the U.S.A.

Thanks for all the Love!
The Shedds