On Our Way
Thank you, Rockville Christian Church, for the amazing ways you have supported our trip. It is great to belong to a missions-minded church. You have supplied our financial needs fully and quickly, prayed over us, offered to care for our kids and home, and given us numerous words and hugs of encouragement. The send-off prayer offered Sunday morning was a great way to leave town.
We arrived safely in Ohio yesterday and settled the kids in at Grandma’s house. Today was filled with last-minute runs (yes, that’s plural) to Wal-Mart, taking care of some things for work, and various final details before we fly out tomorrow. I tucked the kids in a few minutes ago. As excited as they are to spend this time with Grandma, they are definitely a little extra clingy to mom, which makes it impossible for me to not be emotional. I read a little extra from the bedtime book, and snuggled a bit longer with each of them. As I was saying my final goodnight, I sang the song I’ve sung to them since the womb – The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord shine his face down on you and give you peace. I’ve sung it to them a hundred times, but it sure did make me tear up tonight.
There are some who would say that a good mom wouldn’t leave her children at this age for this long. But Anna and Ethan know why we are going to Poland (read the earlier post People Need to Know), and the lesson that teaches them is incredibly valuable. We believe that taking this mission trip is ministry to our own children as much as it is to the Holocaust survivors. Going as a couple means that we will grow closer to each other as we grow closer to God through this mutual experience, and strengthening our marriage is a gift to our children as well. So, we believe this is part of good parenting and spiritually guiding the young lives God has blessed us to raise.
… someone please text me a reminder of these words about 9 AM tomorrow when I’m saying goodbye to the two most precious little people in the world. 🙂
The Journey Back 
June 1, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Those who know you are a good mom, knows exactly why you are taking this trip. What an amazing testimony you and & Ben are to your children, and God knows the bigger picture, He will use this in the future with Anna & Ethan. I am not just praying for you & Ben, and the trip, but for Anna & Ethan……they will miss you, but I know they are with loving family & will be reassured in those homesick moments why mommy & daddy are gone, they will do well, our God is watching over them.
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