in and out

Breathe in. And out. And in. And out... Sometimes I find myself catching my breath and I almost need to remind myself to breathe.

Millie liked the bear. Sam did not.

Our lives, which currently resemble a whirlwind, are about to change the biggest possible change I can imagine. After having kids, of course. One week from today we'll be on our way to our new home. One week? How did that even happen? It seems it was JUST 3 months away. 3 Months to pack, prep, get stuff done. As it is, we have one more day in our little corner of Oregon.

The trailer is almost all loaded. The bathroom is scrubbed, the walls are bare. Only piles of those random things that are saved till the end remain: beside me stacks of mail, bills, and my Bible. On the floor, things the kids have unpacked and what appears to be goldfish crackers now ground into the carpet (you know, the one I gave up on trying to vacuum about a week ago). Tomorrow it will all be out, I'll vacuum for the last time, and soon it will be someone else's home.

In Washington we had a big, 4-bedroom house (with no kids), we moved to Oregon to a 2-bedroom townhouse (with one kid, then another came along). Now we're moving into a 1-bedroom "cottage" on a small river in Guyana, South America. Do I want to know what's next? I don't.

I can't thank everyone enough who has come by in the last few days. Cleaning windows, our fridge, and more. Helping to pack boxes, carry heavy things, and load the trailer. We even had supper brought over tonight. What a blessing it is to have such a loving church family.

Bed is calling me. Actually, it's my husband calling me to come help finish up packing the kitchen. Drat.

Please pray for us as we begin this journey. Blessings to you!

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running the race

I have a kind of secret joy watching the reactions we get when we tell people are moving to South America. Only adding to the humor is our own lack of reaction. "Are you so excited?!" Mmm… I'd be lying if I said I was truly excited. 

Among the plethora of emotions I'm experiencing, excitement isn't one of them. Yet. My emotions range from full-on fear - of the unknown, of the known, of the worst-case-scenarios that run through my mind as the devil prompts, to a weird, total and complete peace. Sometimes I have a self-righteous pride, knowing that is sounds really cool to say we're moving to South America… though that one is generally quickly smothered by the reality of how uncool it's really going to be - if we're looking at it on the cool scale, it ranks rather low - living in a teeny 1-bedroom "cottage" without consistent electricity, a water heater, beds and a constant supply of chai tea. In fact, every time I marvel at my own faith - faith like I've never experienced before - the thought that haunts me is that God isn't giving me a measure of faith for no reason… I'm about to enter very trying times and I'll need increased faith while I'm still on the easy side of this journey to carry me through the undoubtedly hard times to come. 

The "easy" side doesn't always seem so easy - trying to pack an entire house while my children follow behind unpacking. It's easy to forget that this is the "easy" part. Selling our belongings bit by bit is tedious and slow (why can't we be moving during yard sale season?). Yet still we plug away. A little here and a little there. Slow but stead wins the race, right? 

Nobody seems to want a hamster that bites. Funnily enough, people want a pet they can interact with. Poor little Curious George is still awaiting his fate. I have hopes of another child peering into his cage for hours on end. He seems to like children. Especially when they stick their fingers in the cage for him to nibble on. 

I'll try to be better about writing about our journey. Pinkie swear. 

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