Chapter 1-At the Airport

by | Oct 2, 2017 | Front Page Slider

Here I’m sitting on a chair surrounded by our carry on luggage, nursing my baby while my husband with my two older kids go find lunch.

Three Points On Preparing For A Life In Myanmar (Burma):

  1. Making decisions on what to bring to our trip. What is useful? How can we save money?
  2. Some of the stuff we bring for the kids are because we want our kids to taste a bit of having consistency in their little worlds in the midst of consistently moving places, cities and countries.
  3. Trying hard to keep luggage under the limits. Thank you Southwest for yourr awesome domestic baggage policy and staff, but no thank you to American Tourister luggage for ‘false’ advertising on size.

Six Thanks to Give:

1. My in-laws who are the best family anyone could marry into and I am thankful to God for them. Will miss them greatly!

2. The person who jokingly asked ‘Are you moving?’ when seeing all our baggage line up and filled up the check in area. Yes, we are are moving, we actually are moving to Myanmar (Burma) (at least this is what I wanted to say.)

3. The people behind who patiently wait and watch as we load up all the carry on luggage while going through baggage security. Thanks for saying, “You have beautiful children” while watching our futile efforts in getting all the luggage, books and baby stuff we had to push through the security line.

4. To the gentleman who counted how many children we had and said, “too much stuff” as we walked into the airplane. I wish I had a chance to tell him we are bringing homeschool books and supplies for our two kids which filled up almost one hundred pounds. Also, we are bringing stuff that will be helpful for our family to have while we are in the mission filed as well as lots of things to pass onto others who are in need. So thank you God for reminding me not to be so judgmental, as I can be at times.

5. My husband who brought me lunch while I watched our luggage and fed the baby. Even though I didn’t even seem to have time to taste it. Truthfully, I don’t even know what was in my food, I just know it’s food and it will fill up my empty belly.

6. My three children who were being so helpful in anyway they could during the chaos of packing and           going through the check in.

Dealing With Reality:

We are going to unpack and pack again over a hundred times in the next couple of months until maybe we can find a place to live for at least one year.

In The Back Of My Mind (Three Thoughts)

1. What we are doing must have a good reason for it!

2. The cost we are paying to follow the call of God seems high but I know it has to be a cost for being a disciple and having the blessing of eternal life with our Lord Jesus.

3. I question, fail, and get worn out often in my haphazard attempts in following God’s call. Yet, I’m so thankful I have a God who understands and forgives me.

We arrived at the House of Rest and found a home truly built for missionaries to get some rest before heading to the field or on return. Our kids are meeting with other missionary kids, playing on the playground outside. This morning we walked to a close by restaurant for breakfast and found one of our family’s well known sayings on the wall that has been our family’s theme since Austin and I were married: “IT IS WHAT IT IS”.
That can be seen in a negative light but arriving at the House of Rest has been a truly “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” We’re thankful to have this home and place of rest to return to for the next month and a half as our family travels the west visiting friends and churches.

Ambivalent (Mixed feelings):

While I was sewing last week I overheard my kids watching the show “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” talking about when you have two feelings at the same time it is called ambivalent and that’s okay! I sure have mixed feelings as we are leaving from northern Virginia. I’m excited for the next chapter of ministry we plan to do in Myanmar (Burma) which God had prepared for us but at the same time I feel sad to leave families and friends and all the great times I had during our visit.

We all get to deal with mixed feelings of emotion at times but the great news is, it’s okay, because we are in the hands of our loving and almighty God in every condition of our lives.

All the warm hugs and blessings whispers in our ears give us strength to keep going and serving our loving God even in difficult places or in the farthest corners of the earth. Knowing you all are standing with us is encouraging to say the least.