we are flying across the world tomorrow...

What a surreal feeling.  Especially when I look at a globe and really think about just HOW FAR away Papua New Guinea really is...

But anyway, it's here!  Tomorrow we will fly out of Chicago around 3 pm.  We will have a layover in LA, and then onto Fiji (flying 10.5 hours through the night).  In Fiji, we will only have a 2 hour layover, and it is a tight connection because we have to reclaim our baggage and then recheck it...pray that we make that connection!  From Fiji, we fly another 8.5 hours to Port Moresby, the PNG capital.  And from there, we fly to Madang, which will be our home for 4 months!  That's a lot of info, huh?  Thank you for praying!  And for those of you on Instagram, feel free to follow me!  I hope to blog in PNG, but I will Instagram far more, because it is just quicker!  You can look me up:  rachebethm.

But right now, we are in Chicago.  We decided to come to Chicago two days early with my parents and Nathan's parents.  We are SO GLAD we did.  It has been the best weekend!  I don't know why we never really hang out with both sets of parents--it has been so fun.  When we were back in Indiana, everything was so crazy with packing and all these last minute details...and now we have had a couple of days to relax and regroup with our parents.  We are thankful.

On the way to Chicago--we are REALLY doing this!!! 

Pretty much the best hotel swimming every--four kids, four grandparents.  So fun!  They are in heaven :)

We went to a fun restaurant/arcade last night...

The dads helped Nathan prepare our luggage even more.  We have been a bit nervous that these tubs might crack during all of the flights, getting thrown by airport workers, sub-zero temperatures which makes them brittle, etc...so Nathan went and bought shrink wrap to wrap them.  Hopefully it works!

Good times :)

 This afternoon, my parents had to leave :(  It was SO stinking sad to say goodbye to them, but we all have an eternal perspective and we all have a passion for God's glory...so that made it all okay.  Sad, but good.  Dad and Mom, we love you guys so much!

Nathan's parents are still here.  They will take us to the airport tomorrow and we will say goodbye then :(  So hard.  Good, but hard.  Both of our parents are so wonderful, which is such a blessing.  It just makes it harder to be away from them!

Me and my mama ;)  

After we said goodbye to my parents, Dave and Terri took us to LegoLand, which was so much fun for the kids.  Thanks,  dad and mom!

Silly kids!

So.  Tomorrow we are leaving!  Can you tell I still can't believe it?  Haha...soon it will become reality, and it will become a new normal.  And for that, I am so thankful!  I have to keep reminding myself of this...

Praise God.  He is worthy!

Our last couple of weeks in America...

Just a quick recap of our final days (for now) in the States...

Our family took a much needed trip away!  We took our kids to the Creation Museum, which is one of our favorite places to visit.  It was so great to take our kids there for the first time!

On our way home, we stopped at IKEA to get a few things for the tribe.  Kaine saw these things (like a potholder type of thing--what are those things called??)--he called to me, "Hey mom!  We should get these because they look really tribe-y!"  It was so sweet.  It is very awesome to have our kids involved in this!

Picking out a blanket for their beds in the tribe...

Meanwhile, at home...my wardrobe became almost non-existent!  It was actually sooo freeing to just get rid of so many clothes.  It's amazing how much we accumulate.

We had a double birthday party for Kaine and one of his best friends, Carter.  This group of boys is something that we are TRULY thankful for!  Kaine has a great group of friends!

I spent a morning with my dear friend Jane.  She made us each a coffee cup.  Jane, I will think of you every morning when I drink my coffee!

We spent lots of time with family...

Another double birthday party for Kaine!  This time, with his little cousin August :)

I love this dramatic action shot...he is such a goof! 

Oh, and yet ANOTHER  double birthday party for Kaine!  What a blessed boy he is :)

Oh, our friends are just too much!  They got our kids these pillow cases with pictures on them, and then the kids signed them.  God has blessed us with the most thoughtful friends in the world, for real!

Playing some fun games with Grandpa Dave and Grandma Terri :)

Nathan's parents helped us get our luggage ready.  Their help was seriously invaluable.  I was super stressed for a day or 2, until they helped us get it all together.  Thank you, dad and mom!

Our amazing sending team and dear friends totally outdid themselves with a "see you later" party for our family.  They made it so memorable for us, and such a sweet way for us to say "see you later" to our friends and supporters!  We were so thankful for such a wonderful evening!

 Are these cookies not amazing???

 

Our friends.  We love them! Photo credit--my talented friend, Amy.  The next two pictures, too :)

The Three Musketeers, we call them.  Such sweet friends.  Their friendship is something rare, I am sure of that! And I just adore this picture! 

Our sending team.  Minus a few kiddos :)

We are so very grateful for  such an amazing sending church, and so many amazing friends and supporters.  We thank God every day for you all!  Also, stay tuned!  We are flying to PNG TOMORROW!  (breathe, Rachel)...keep praying for us!  And check the blog again--I want to post one more time before we fly.  Love you all!

a few Christmas highlights...

This post is quite a few weeks late!  But I want to document our Christmas here in Indiana.  Such good, sweet times with family!

At our Steffen Christmas, somehow Nathan got talked into being Santa!  Daisy wasn't sure what to think about her daddy in this costume ;) 

I thought it was pretty funny that Nathan had to be Santa, but then...

I found myself getting roped into being Mrs. Claus!  Lol!  I didn't even know anyone brought a Mrs. Claus costume!  It really ended up being fun though, and such good memories :)

Our Christmas season included making Christmas treats with a lot of little kids...

Lots and lots of homemade games...

I love that me, my mom and Jill were all taking pictures of this one! :)

Kaine won a LOT of meat as prizes!  Beef jerky and beef sticks.  He now has quite a stash to take to PNG with him!

Tug of war, which ended up being a bit frustrating for Kaine when his young teammates didn't really care at all about winning :)  Poor Kaine.  It's hard for a competive kid to be beat by younger girls!

musical chairs :)

At our Yergler Christmas, Nathan and I were shocked when it came time to do the customary men's/women's grab gift.  Everyone else had decided together not to do the grab this year, but instead, to get gifts for our family!  So humbling.  That was such a good night!

The girls got some princess pajamas...

Such sweet times with family...

Is this not the greatest picture ever??

I love Christmas time.  I know for sure that next Christmas will be a trying time for us, being so far away from our families.  But I am confident that God will give us the grace to have a joy-filled Christmas with our PNG "family".  He is faithful, and He is our satisfaction!

2016 will be one craaaazy year!

Sometimes I can almost panic at the thought of ALL the change that this next year will bring.  I have never experienced living in a third world country, never experienced living on the equator, and I have certainly never been away from family for so long.  I have never experienced the jungle.  Never experienced learning another language.  Or having ZERO access to fast food!  Much less zero access to a grocery store!  (see why I might feel a little panic??)

But.  I know that God has called us to this, and I know that He will be faithful to us ALL the way through.  I am totally convinced of that, so what would I have to fear?

The answer is, nothing!  I really don't feel fear about going to PNG.  But if I had to say one thing I would fear, it would probably just be fear of the unknown.  But we have been through "the unknown" many times before (such as when we moved to Gateway, when we moved away from Gateway to MI, then when we moved to MO...) and God has always seen us through.  I know He will again.

So my desire right now is for the unknown to become the known--we are really just ready to get over to Papua New Guinea and DO THIS!  Just to get started and then it will become normal to us.  I am excited for that!  And excited to see what 2016 will bring!

We gotta keep our sense of humor!  I love this man :)