Zambia Info and Support Letter

Hello friends and family!  Some of you may have received a letter from us in the mail this past week or it may arrive any day.  Our labor of love.  It was really difficult to squeeze in why we are taking our family halfway across the world in 2 little pages.  But we did our best.  There are a couple more things we wanted to share with you though.
First, we are not special for what we are doing.  We don't view ourselves as better than anyone else because we are going to the mission field and adopting.  If anything, we are selfish in wanting to go...we want more of God and less of ourselves.  For us, it has been difficult to let go and trust in God when we don't really need to do that here in Ankeny.  Plus, God has asked us to go here.  Going to Africa is not for everyone.  We feel like that is where God wants us this coming year, but everyone needs to have that conversation with God.  He will speak, all you need to do is listen and act on what He says.  He needs laborers!  Matthew 9:37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few".  God needs workers everywhere.  There are people in every nook and cranny on this Earth that need to hear His good news.  Our nook and cranny this year will be Zambia, Africa!
Second, we would like to share how our financial support will be used so if you choose to support us, you have an idea of how your money is being used!  To start, for all of you wondering what is going on with Mickey's job, he is not quitting!  The fire department was kind enough to give him a year long leave of absence.  He does get to use all of his sick leave and vacation leave, which thankfully, will supply us with about 4 months of his salary.  Also, thankfully, we won't have many bills to pay while we are gone. We will continue to tithe and support the missionaries we support as well as pay Mickey's student loan.  We hope to either rent our house or we may end up selling it, buying a lot in Ankeny outright, and start anew when we get back.  This way we wouldn't have to worry about a mortgage all year or keeping renters happy while we are so far away.  So trying to discern which option makes the most sense financially!   Okay, well, hoping that explains things a bit!  Here is the breakdown of our other expenses for the year:
Travel-$12,000 (including 4 round trip tickets, and 1 one-way ticket for our adopted son, as well as a hotel in London, as we will stop there to break up the trip)
Vehicle in Zambia-$18,000 (I know! That seems crazy expensive!  And this won't even get us anything great-it is just the way it is there, nothing is made there so it is shipped in and taxes are insane)
Car licensing/insurance-$100 a month
Rent for a 3 bedroom house or duplex-$500-750 a month (we don't know yet!)
Electric-$150 a month
Fuel-$250 a month (gas is $8-$10 a gallon over there!)
Food-$500 a month (food is more expensive too!)
Health Insurance-$200 a month
Water-$50 a month (approximately, not totally sure about this)
Internet/Phone-$100 a month (we will so desperately need this to stay in contact with all of you! :) )
Miscellaneous Household Supplies- $100 (toilet paper, laundry soap, etc.)
There are other various expenses that will happen as we do ministry in and around the area.  Things like purchasing seed, fertilizer, educational related items and sports equipment will all help in our ability to do outreach.
We hope this gives you a solid idea of why we need financial support.  Mickey's salary will take out a nice chunk of these expenses but for the other chunk, we need people to support us financially.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  We would love to talk with you.  Even though we will mainly be working with Give Life, Gospelink is the missions organization our funds will be going through.  Okay, that's it for now!  Next stop, adoption home study this Wednesday, February 22nd!  Pray she finds us somewhat fit parents. :)  haha!