Long, Long, Long

In one big way this week has been incredibly productive.  I now have 14 frozen meals in my freezer.  I have six more to prepare and freeze and then I am finished.  I am planning to have home cooked meals ready for Jeff and the kids every Monday through Thursday for six weeks.  I only have to cook and freeze dinners for five of those weeks because my WONDERFUL mother-in-law (and I'm not kidding - I LOVE my mother-in-law) is coming to hold down the fort for one of the weeks I am gone.

It is good that I can do things to make actual arrangements for while I am gone.  And it is good that I have a travel timeline that is fairly realistic.  But I am still full of longing to make everything move FASTER. After a number of conversations with my agency it is really looking like an early May travel date for me.  It is very reasonable to expect that I will be getting on a plane around May 5 and returning home around June 14. But IF our Congolese attorneys and the Congolese government produce our documents faster than the estimated 3-4 weeks then I could go sooner.  And IF the US Embassy in Kinshasa is able to schedule our visa appointments faster than the estimated 4 weeks then I could go sooner.  My daily life consists of a never ending  prayer that is always going on in my heart for those two things to go MORE quickly.  And then there is the fear that something could make them go more slowly.

I heard once that when you pray you should be able to hand over to God that weight that is in your heart.  I am failing at that BIG time.  We had a terribly sad loss in our family just over a year ago and that is also a weight that I have not been able to hand over.  Wherever I go and whatever I am doing I am always praying for our family's sweet little K in heaven, for comfort for her Mom, Dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and for us because we all love her and miss her so.  And wherever I go and whatever I am doing I am always praying that we can bring our new son and daughter home as quickly as we possibly can.  I just haven't been able to hand those prayers over to God the way I should.  

So if you have prayers to offer up for us, please pray that our attorneys and the Congolese government produce the needed documentation quickly and accurately.  Please pray that the US Embassy will schedule our appointments as quickly as possible once they receive the notification that our documents are ready. Please pray for our little children to grow strong and stay healthy and to be comforted during the huge transition that they will be facing.  And please pray for me to be able to let go of this weight and hand it over to Him.  

-B