Internets, I have to tell you: I will never be able to adequately thank you for all of your wonderful, encouraging, uplifting emails. I cannot even begin to express how deeply your words have touched me.
In fact, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our entire team is being covered in prayer, and I know that because I am actually sitting upright and TYPING WORDS ON THE COMPUTER as opposed to lying in the bed with my fingers in my ears while shouting “LALALA NOT GETTING ON A PLANE FOR A FULL DAY OF TRAVEL LALALA.”
I’m telling you: it is nothing short of a miracle.
Alex is doing great with the whole Mama’s-going-to-Africa thing. He’s actually really excited because my mama is coming to our house tomorrow, and he will have her all to himself for the next six or seven days.
Which means he will also have unlimited access to a wide array of sugar-filled, carbonated beverages, and really, what more could any four and half year-old want?
(Except unlimited access to ice cream, of course. And truth be told, he’ll probably have that, too.)
My husband has been an absolute champ about this entire trip, and we are coping with the prospect of being separated for eight days in a way that practically screams “HELLO, WE HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR OVER TEN YEARS NOW.”
Which is to say that today we went to eat Mexican food for lunch and didn’t talk about the trip at all. We did, however, talk about his work stuff and the Presidential race and how we really do prefer roasted tomato salsa to regular salsa and hey, you wanna walk over to Lifeway after lunch and look at some CD’s?
We bought this one, by the way. I could tell you that we were not influenced by the fact that Christy Nockels sings on it, but that would be a lie. And I could also tell you that I haven’t cried while listening to a song called “The Only Thing,” but that would be a lie, too.
And, as we all know, lying makes God sad.
So, to sum up: we’re sort of business as usual around here, just with a lot more unfolded laundry on our bed and a whole lot of packing to do tomorrow. But we’re good.
And I guess if there’s anything that gives me pause, it’s when I see something that reminds me of the people we’re going to meet in Uganda. I’ll catch a glimpse of our picture of our Compassion child, Sharon – who is three and has the sweetest face you’ve ever seen – and I wonder if she’ll be able to understand how much we love her.
Or I’ll fold one of the receiving blankets that some of the girls in my Bible study donated for the Child Survival Center, and I’ll imagine the little baby who’ll be swaddled inside those yellow and green polka dots one day.
Or I’ll see the letter that some friends of ours are sending to their Compassion child, Ssekwama, and I think that for less money than I spend on diet Coke every month, those friends of ours are going to be able to change that little boy’s life forever.
And it blows my mind just a little bit that these children, these people I’ve never met in person, are already inextricably tied to my heart. I cannot imagine what it will be like to see them, to hold their hands and hug their necks and look them straight in the eyes.
But I’ll tell you this: I cannot wait. And I’ll update y’all just as soon as I can when I get to Chicago Sunday afternoon.
Oh, and one more thing: Ephesians 3:20-21.
Over and over again.



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