How Things Can Change

Well we have our great days and our bad days. On the last blog I wrote that our van was fixed and all was good. Then our check engine light came back on. Well we took it back to the mechanic because this was something new and it turns out that both of our o2 sensors were out. So another $300 later we finally got it fixed. Yeah, no more check engine light. I also found more lice in Emily's hair yesterday. Ug! Thankfully they were all dead but I still have had to pick them out of her hair. So far no one else has them. Please pray that they don't get them. Tomorrow we are driving to the Dallas area to join up with our missionary friends the Pennington's. We are all driving over to orientation together. Saturday we will meet up with the Helmbacher's then drive to Jackson, TN where we will visit with my friend Greg Williams and First Baptist Church of Jackson who are another prayer partner church. We are very excited about meeting them. Please pray for travel mercies. Thank you.

House

WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON THE HOUSE!!! Thank you so much for your prayers. It is a big load lifted off of our shoulders. Please keep praying that everything is fine with the closing (Feb. 29th) and goes through with no problems. Also, we had a small problem with our van and it had to go in the shop to get fixed. We have been praying all weekend that it wouldn't be anything and that it wouldn't cost too much if it was something. We heard this morning that it would cost about $200 and then we found out that the cost was being taken care of by CrossBridge Community Church here in San Antonio. This is the church David's brother attends. What a blessing. God has a way of meeting our needs even when it is unexpected. God is so good. Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplications! The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him. Psalm 28:6-7

More of our Texas Adventure

Hello again from Texas. We are back in San Antonio now. We went to McAllen, TX on Tuesday. It took about 5 hours to drive there. This time of year there is not a lot of landscape that isn't brown so it was a long drive. The children did wonderful. I think that David told you that he grew up in McAllen so it was neat for us to see where he lived, went to school and where he went to church. McAllen is right on the border of Mexico so let me tell you we had some great Mexican food. Thank you to Alene Hart for the hospitality. We love you. We got a chance to share our testimonies with First Baptist of McAllen on Wednesday night. This is going to be one of the churches that are prayer partners for us. It was nice to visit and meet the people who will be praying for us. If you are one of those people welcome to the site. We came back to San Antonio on Thursday and we will be staying with David's brothers until next week sometime. The children love spending time with their cousins and we are having a great time spending time with family.

I wanted to tell all of you back in Ft. Myers who came to our going away party thank you so much for coming and seeing us off. We appreciate your prayers and support. You guys are awesome. Thank you especially to Chip and Shannon Dardaman for opening your house.

We have had a lot of requests from people wanting to know where they could send a letter or card or care package. For right now you can send it to 7214 Firethorne Dr. Sarasota, FL 34240. This is David's parents address and they will get these things to us.

I told David when we left that we are now gypsies. It is hard for 5 of us to live out of suitcases. Please pray that we don't become too frustrated with the whole gypsy situation. Also David has a mid term this weekend and it has been hard for him to study while travelling. Pray that he does well. We can feel your prayers as we are travelling. The children have done so great. There has been a lot of sickness running through our extended family. Pray that we don't pick up anything. You all are wonderful!

Hello from Texas

We finally made it to Texas and wanted everyone to know what is going on. We finally left Fort Myers on Wednesday with only the stuff on our back and everything else in the van. And I mean everything. The van was absolutely packed to the gills. Any of you who know me know that I can't stand not being organized. Our family word has been flexible. Again, those of you who know me know that David does not do flexible well. Not only does God have a great sense of humor He is in the miracle business. He has definitely performed one on me. Just ask Tracy.

We left my parents house on Thursday morning at 4 a.m. and drove all day until we arrived in Lake Charles, La. I found a Holiday Inn Express and the first question wasn't how much are the rooms, it was do you have any rooms available? Again, those of you who know me know that usually it's all about the money. Not last night. The children and Tracy and I were hungry and tired. The children did so well. Tracy and I were very proud of them. Of course, we went to Outback to overcome the hunger and let's just say we were not impressed. Outback is normally very good, but not so much in Lake Charles. We slept well and this morning I felt like I could conquer the world. Instead we drove to San Antonio. Another five and a half hours in the car. The kids did well again and they were very excited to see their cousins and aunts and uncles. I had a surprise of my own. My Dad surprised me by flying to San Antonio to see us before we left for Virginia. He flew into San Antonio last night and we arrived in San Antonio today. Now that is cool. He apparently told the children before we left yesterday that he had a surprise for them. Of course, no one said anything about it to me and I was shocked. I don't know if I can still believe it. I am not usually able to be surprised so I was very impressed. My Dad's birthday is on Monday and I was wondering how I could it make it special from San Antonio. Well I guess I can figure it out before he leaves on Monday. I hope those of you in Florida are enjoying the weather. The weather in San Antonio is in the upper thirties at night and upper forties to fifties during the day. Needless to say it is COLD. We have the clothing for it but I did not expect to have to use it until we arrived in Richmond, Virginia. Speaking of Richmond there may be snow tomorrow. I hope for the children there is snow there in February (well maybe for me also).

We are planning to go to McAllen on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. For those of you who do not know, I was raised in McAllen, Texas. If you do not know where McAllen is, please take a moment and find it on a map. All you have to do is find San Antonio and move south, way south. I lived there from four to eighteen. This is the best opportunity for me to show the children where Daddy lived, went to school and the church that I grew up in. I probably will not be able to do this again for a very long time, if ever. South Africa is a long way from McAllen, Texas.

Please continue to pray for travelling mercies and the sale of our home. Also, I am taking a World Missions course through Liberty University and would appreciate prayer for time management. We don't know what is in store for us at Orientation and I need to finish the course by March 16th. I have two papers, several tests and a lot of reading.

The Lord has blessed us immensely and we are waiting for His timing on the sale of our home. He has not been late before and don't expect Him to be late in this situation. We appreciate each and every one of you and feel honored that you would include us in your prayer time. If any of you would like to e-mail please do so at david_delac@yahoo.com. Don't forget that "Anything is possible with God."

We love you and appreciate ya'll!

David

Hello everyone. This week we are in the middle of packing and saying goodbye to friends. We will be crating on Friday. We were doing really good getting things together until about 1:00 today I was called by the school nurse telling me that 2 of my 3 children have lice! I have spent 1/2 the day picking bugs out of the children's hair. David washed all the blankets/sheets etc. Please pray that all the bugs are gone now and that Leah, David and I don't get them. Tomorrow we will spend all day packing what we are crating.

We still need our house to sell. Please keep praying for that. David's truck sold. What a praise! We didn't even have to advertise. God is good all the time. We are confident that God will sell our house just in His timing not ours. Also, please pray for travel mercies as we travel to San Antonio, TX next week. We will be visiting David's brothers before going to orientation in Richmond, VA. As always thank you so much for your prayers we can feel them working.

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone. If this is your first time to read our blog welcome. Feel free to read over the archives to find out more about our family adventure. We had a wonderful Christmas. We went to Orlando to spend time with my (Tracy) family. We took the children to Sea World the Sunday before Christmas and then we were treated to The Dixie Stampede Christmas Show on Sunday night. We all had a wonderful time. Christmas Eve we went to church and we spent Christmas Day at my brother-in-law and sisters new house. Our nieces got a Wii for Christmas. We had so much fun playing with it all day. My grandmother even bowled with us. It was so much fun.

As wonderful as Christmas was our biggest present came a couple of days after Christmas. Micah accepted Jesus into his heart! December 28th Micah was asking us questions and we asked him if he would like to say the prayer. He said "no" and so we dropped it. Then later that day David and he were in the car talking about Jesus and Micah said that he would like to ask Jesus to live in his heart. So David led him in the prayer. Sunday he walked down the isle and told our church what his decision was and then he was baptized. It was a glorious day! Today I asked him "Micah how long does Jesus live in your heart?" (I was making sure he really understood, he is only 5 1/2) He told me "forever mom, didn't you hear? " Isn't that great? He gets it. Please pray that Micah would be able to walk with Jesus his whole life. That he would never stray from his faith.

We are still working on the selling of things. All of the furniture is sold. We are working on selling David's truck and the house. Today a couple came through twice (on New Year's Day) please pray that we get a contract. David's last day is tomorrow. Pray that it is a great day for him. We are in the process of packing and saying goodbye. Please keep praying for us during this transition. We appreciate you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and friendship.

David & Tracy