Ready, Set, Jet...

Hello Friends and Family!

Surprise! I have entered the blogging world!

Now, (before you roll your eyes)  we typically don't have that exciting of an everyday life to display in writing, however, we do have some exciting news for the summer that I want to share....
Jekabs, Isaac, Christian and I will be living in Latvia for 2.5 months this summer! We will be flying out on May 12th and returning in early August.

This trip really came about (in what I completely believe) was a God planned, Lord purposed plan for us. Jekabs brother, Peteris, has been planning his wedding in London for the past 6 months. He is getting married in 2 weeks (to a wonderful, adorable British gal, I might add).  We debated for months whether we should take our entire family for 4 days and (yikes!) $4000 to the wedding to be a part of this special day and for our kids to see their grandparents. It has been 2.5 years since we last saw Jekabs parents in Latvia. During this "debating" time Jekabs was offered a sabbatical from work this summer to make greater progress on his Ph.D. Anyway, short story made shorter......one day it just dawned on me that we needed to go to Latvia for the summer. Praise God for this revelation and for this opportunity! His plan made known to us. I say that because for the past 2.5 years I have had ZERO desire to travel abroad. (Jekabs and I both have a history of taking trips abroad) Having small kids took all that desire from my heart in this stage of our parenting. Our last trip to Europe was 2.5 years ago when Isaac was 2 and Christian was a little seed in my belly. It was a great trip, but I felt strongly that it would be many, many years until our next return. That is why I say "Praise God!". Because my heart turned in an instant. I knew right away this was a God intended trip for our family.

So,  we are packing our suitcase (yes, I am hoping to travel that light....it may end up being 2 suitcases though!) and departing Texas in a little over a week. This blog is my attempt to keep in touch with you and to share our experiences. We are eager to stray out of Latvia and explore some other cities; St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Paris. We'll just have to see how far our money and our kids will let us go!

Anyway, I would love it if you visited the blog occasionally and left us wonderful, encouraging messages every once in awhile! I am very excited about what we are doing, but also know there will be challenging times throughout the summer and...speaking only on my own behalf...... probably an occasional desire to flee home to what is familiar. But that is just human nature, right?

I'll be updating shortly after we arrive in London on May 13th. Hopefully I will get to post sooner than later.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,
April......Jekabs, Isaac and Christian, too