The Furlough Frenzy

What a whirlwind.  Furlough has been amazing but has also knocked me off my feet.

Since we got here it’s been two years worth of appointments like counseling, debriefing, church visits, family trips, Christmas parties, check-ups which led to more doctor visits, dentists, surgery, coffee dates, walking dates, donor connections, oh and getting a child ready for college….. all jammed into two months.

In the midst of all of this there have been regulation changes and date changes and more time, now less time…

You see, I had a plan.  I planned to run, run, run and get all the things done and then breathe.  I had return tickets for September.  Well, times change and things become uncertain and you just never can predict what tomorrow will bring.

Yesterday, after much prayer, we decided to change our return tickets to go back to Indonesia sooner.  This is almost three weeks earlier than I had planned.  I wanted more time to get Emma settled into college.  I wanted more time to breathe.  But this is the best choice for most of our family and for making sure Jack and the boys and I will get to stay together.  It truly is the right thing to do.

But my precious girl… oh my heart already couldn’t fathom leaving her and now I have to do it so much sooner.

And I haven’t made it to everyone yet!  I haven’t connected in ways I wanted to with everyone.  I feel like I’ve barely touched the surface!!  But… would there ever, ever have been enough time?  Probably not.

• There will never be a day that I’m ready to leave my child and go 10,000 miles away.
• There will never be enough time to laugh with my family, my friends, my church.
• There will never be enough time to talk about the amazing ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of or the adequate words to convey what things are like in our new home.
• There will never be a perfect time to say “Sampai jumpa lagi” (until we meet again).

Please, please forgive me if I disappointed you with my lack of time.  We tried our best with the time and knowledge we had.  There will just never be enough time to do all of the things.

I’m going to delete social media and focus on my girl for the next week.  I know I haven’t even been connecting much that way but any moment I can save, I’m going to right now.  Someday I’ll have better internet again and bring you fun stories and insight.  For now, real, present life wins.

Please keep us in your prayers as we wind down our time here and somehow find the strength to head back again… just the four of us.

Also, please pray for our team.  There has been much sickness and some loss and our hearts break for some of the things that our friends are going through.

We truly, deeply thank each of you for your prayer and support.  Jesus is worth every single bit of me and I will give Him all I’ve got.  He is worth it.  He is good.  He is right.  He is trustworthy.  He is beautiful.  It’s all His, on loan to me.  I plan to steward it well.