Now that we are less than 8 days away from driving the moving truck up to Wheaton, we find ourselves asking questions like that. We started packing up the house over five weeks ago - however - we promised we would not pack up the essentials (e.g., dishes, silverware, etc) until we go to t-minus 2 weeks. Now that most of our clothes, dishes, and many other common goods are in boxes, needless to say we are quite happy we waited until 2 weeks to pack them all up. When Lizzy asks for oatmeal and we are not sure how we will heat up the water - things are rough.
My (Josh) folks will be coming down on Friday which will be a huge blessing. We will be able to quickly finish up packing the house and do other odds and ends (clean, repair nail holes, etc). If we get everything finished early, I may try to get the moving truck a day early so my dad and I can get started. Christy and my mom will be driving up to Michigan with the kids probably on Wed morning. Another exciting event that happens on Friday is that Christy and I will go sign the paper work for the sale of the house. Although we do not close until the 27th, we are finishing up the documents early because we will be out of town. I guess its becoming real now!
God continues to amaze us with His faithfulness as we are support raising. We have a prayer team that spans from the east to west coast, and hits no less than 8 states along the way. We are at about 55% funding for our trip - which has come very quickly. We are looking forward to continuing our support raising up in the Chicago area and will hopefully reconnect with many old friends during the process.
Okay...I promise next time I will have some pictures of the kids. We had Sammy's birthday party two days ago (that kid can eat a cupcake like no one's business!) but I can't upload the pictures because the camera chord is packed. Even with no pictures, I still have something to offer. My investing tip of the day! And it is....*drumroll*...international stocks. I love international stocks for two major reasons. 1. Because if you are like me, you think the US economy is slowly peaking, and that to get larger returns (all be it with more risk) you have to go towards some of the emerging markets. I personally love the Vanguard ETFs as a no thinking way to invest in both European and Emerging Markets. The ETFs mean I can trade them easily like stocks and the management fees on the funds are quite low. However, another important reason is 2. It is a natural way to protect against the slide of the dollar which has been happening for some time (and will likely continue in the future). See here for one article with some economists that think the green back will go no where but down. Also, for those of you that follow, the subprime mortgage market has hit some hedge funds in the US pretty hard, which has driven the dollar down even further. Now clearly the US stock market and economy is still a money making machine so a majority of assets should still be there...though I personally have been happy to have 30+% of my assets outside as they have seen great returns. Clearly investment horizon should also dictate your international weighting. Given that mine is long, I like the high percentage.
Until next time....
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