Tomorrow

I woke early this morning feeling anxious. That’s natural, though, for any move. I’ve moved enough times in the last ten years to know. The only difference is this time the move is a little bigger. The distance is greater, yes, but this move means so much more than any other move I’ve made. So yes, I’m anxious. But I also fully trust this is the most natural thing I could be doing with my family. And I deeply, deeply trust that this is the very thing God designed me to do.

This move is the culmination not only of the work Pete and I have done in the last eleven years, but this truly feels like the point in my life that everything else I’ve done points to. All of my college studies, my teaching, the years I spent working in our church, my graduate degree, and how I’ve learned to be a wife and mother. It has all pointed to the desire I’ve had since I was very young to live and teach abroad.

I grew up in the church. My dad was the pastor of each church we attended, so I really did grow up in the church. For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite church events was when missionaries shared their stories. I loved seeing photos of their adventures and hearing about their daily lives. That was when this dream began. Then, when I was in the middle of elementary school, a couple guys from our church came back from China where they had been working secretly to get Bibles into the country. While talking with one of them after their presentation at church, I said I wanted to be a missionary, too. He handed me a piece of paper money from his travels and said I could keep it if I really was going to work to share Jesus. There was no hesitation in accepting his gift that day. I already knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.

I still have that piece of money, tucked inside my Spanish/English Bible from the year I lived and taught in Honduras during college. These two items have been reminders to me of what God called me to when I was a little girl, sitting at the front of the church, watching missionaries share their slides and stories.

I’m so incredibly thankful God put a man on my path nearly twelve years ago who had a similar calling. We’ve spent countless hours dreaming together of what it might someday  look like when we were finally able to move our family to East Africa. That trek begins tomorrow. The next chapter for us will open. The one we hope will be the longest of any in our lives so far.

I’m now thirty-five years old. I’m married to the most sincere, caring man I have ever met and we have two adventurous, loving babes . I fully trust with every part of my being that this is exactly what God has called us to do. Simply put, I just couldn’t do anything else with my life and feel satisfied.

So off we go! With nerves and excitement and so many more dreams in our hearts, we are ready.

Tomorrow the true adventure begins.