Let the journey begin...

The last few days have been full of emotions as reality started to set in. It began to hit us all, especially the children, that we were really leaving and that they would need to say good-bye to friends and the only home they’ve ever known.  That was tough – watching them grieve what they would be leaving behind.  I reminded them, and myself, that the pain of leaving is truly evidence of how blessed we are – we are surrounded with friends, family, church family and a neighborhood that we love.  This is what makes it hard to say, “see you later….”

Yet even in our goodbyes, I see how God is bringing us together as a family and continually calling us to trust Him.  There are so many uncertainties for us in this journey; we don’t really have a “box” in our minds for what or where we are going – we’ve never been there, have no relatives or friends there, or have ever worked with Tarahumara.  And yet in these many uncertainties there is peace and hope.  We are so far past our own strength, control and comforts that we only find peace in surrendering to the One who goes before us. It is in that place of surrender that we find an indescribable amount of strength.

This is the strength we leaned heavily on this morning as we left home at 5:20 a.m. in the morning.  By 6:20 a.m. we were ready to cross the American border, with Art Penner and our trailer in tow.  The emotions continued when, in less than 5 minutes, we had both crossed the border – no vehicle search. No trailer search. Hardly even a question asked.  We had papers – lots of papers! LOL Proof that we were going where we said we were. Proof of every item we were taking across in that trailer. We were prepared.

But God in His sovereignty allowed us to cross without needing any of that.  It was so affirming to cross in that way this morning.

Thank you to each of you for praying for us today. 

We have about 10 hours left to go for tomorrow to get to my brother’s place.  From there, Nathan and my brother Wes, will be headed to the Mexican border to join Art Penner (with our trailer) and Aaron Ginter (our Mexican friend who will be taking our stuff into Mexico).  Aaron plans to cross around 8 am Saturday morning. Your prayers again are requested for this crossing to go as smoothly as it did today.

Love to you all and thank you again for your prayers!