Czech Up

By the time this post is released online, we'll be flying over the ocean on our way to Prague. We stop in Dublin for a couple hours before taking off for the Czech Republic and land at 3:45 on Wednesday afternoon.

Monday we spent all day packing our bags and, as you can see, we didn't fit in six suitcases. After checking with the airline, we found out we could also take a box of books if it stayed under 50 pounds. Some of Chuck's theological books and a few of my organ books are in the box.

In the end, it was a very tight squeeze between space and weight. The only thing that I had to jettison was my large bottles of shampoo, cream rinse, and shower gel. But, as Chuck says, they have those things over there. I did manage to fill small bottles with them, so I have a couple weeks before I need to find my way to a store to purchase more.

After final weigh in, all the cases (and box) weigh between 46 and 50 pounds. I certainly hope that our luggage scale is accurate so we don&#…

During the last couple months, we've learned more than we bargained for about a visa application so we can live in Prague. One word we learned is apostille. No, I don't mean apostle like my computer wants to spell it.

We needed an apostille, pictured on the left, from the state of Wisconsin to verify that our marriage license was a valid document in Wisconsin. The Czech Republic has that listed as one of the documents needed to complete our visa application to live in their country.

Other documentation needed from us is proof that Chuck has an employer who will continue to pay his salary, proof that we have money in our bank account to live on for a couple months if his employment ends, proof that we have medical insurance that will pay for any medical expenses incurred while in their country... The list goes on and on.

We had to write up an affidavit stating that we have no felonies or indictments against us in the past. My friend at my former law firm helped me figure out ho…

How do you pack everything you need to live for six years in suitcases? That's a great question. When we were in orientation last summer preparing for this big move, they said, "Make sure that you take along personal items so that you feel at home over there." In suitcases?

We were planning on taking a magnetic picture frame that we could display pictures of our eleven grandchildren and families. It was too large to fit into a suitcase so we decided to send one box to Prague to accommodate that and other heavy items. The box was all packed and weighed - 50 pounds. We found out at the US Post Office that it would cost $233.00 to mail to Prague. Not too bad...

But then we asked acquaintances in Prague how to get it to them.  We found out that when it arrived in Prague, it would have to be carried from the post office to our apartment - NOT. And if it was worth more than $45.00 it would have to go to the Customs Office and pay an import fee. Again - NOT!

So... we are now loo…

Chuck and I are on the move again. This time it's a bigger adventure than all the other ones combined. Chuck is going to be a missionary in the Eurasia region for The Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod. He was called to be a theological educator - "helping to strengthen Lutheran pastors to bring Jesus to de-Christianized Europe."

He will be working at first with a young vicar in Romania, mentoring him to become the only confessional Lutheran pastor who will preach in Romanian. Sorin-Horia Trifa lives in Bucharest, Romania so we will be traveling there to work with him.

We will be living in Prague, Czech Republic and be traveling to do the work with others. As of now, I'm not really sure how much of the time I'll be traveling with Chuck. I'll be working on my third book and working on whatever God can use me in Europe.

We are in the process of packing up our apartment, giving some things away, packing things to take to Prague, and storing other things. In other…