How are we doing?

I suppose it's time for a little update since we are moving IN TWO DAYS!  Things have been going well around here this week.  We've packed a little every day, made time to spend with special friends, and we even fit in one last zoo trip.  We load the truck tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) and head out early Monday morning.

It has been interesting to watch our family during this time, myself (Heather) and Faith in particular.  Back in April when we packed up the first wave of things, I had a few emotional days looking through pictures and remembering all God did for us in our six years in this house.  The first house for our marriage: where we brought both children home from the hospital, where we've grown spiritually and relationally, where God comforted our sorrows and pain during hard times, and where we rejoiced in Him together during the good times.  And I thought... 'How in the world am I going to handle moving out of here in June?!'  

Faith over the last few months was sometimes a bit of a challenge when it came to moving and including her in that process.  She has always been a child that likes to know ahead of time what is going to happen for the day or week, and has never cared for surprises.  So knowing this about her personality, we have spent a lot of time talking with her about what our lives would look like from June until August.  She'd have to put a lot of her things in boxes to store at Grandma's house, and only a few things that would fit in a suitcase would go with her to Kenya.  She would have a new bed at her new house, but there would be quite a few beds to sleep in until we got there.  While I think that we've told her not too little or not too much, she still often met the conversations with argument, frustration, and even tantrums.  And I thought... 'How in the world am I going to handle moving Faith out of here in June?!'

If there's one idea that I already knew, but was certainly reinforced this month, was that the anticipation of something is generally harder than the actual event.  I remember in high school that I would stew and stew before writing a paper, but once I got that first sentence on paper, I often finished in a shorter time than I spent anticipating the writing process.  Looking around at my empty walls and eating out of foil pans on paper plates with plastic forks really doesn't feel all that painful and sad like I thought it might.  After a conversation on Monday with Faith about packing and her jobs for the week (that was met with a little arguing!), she went right over to her toys on Tuesday morning after breakfast and began to pack cheerfully, even including Joel in the process with the sweetness of a little girl not troubled by anything.

But even more so, I believe that God is saying "It's time."  That we have been granted, through our prayers and the many, many prayers of others, the 'peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.'  And we are so thankful to be able to lean on Him.