And the goodbye begins

Last Thursday we loaded up a 20ft container and sent it on its way to the LA port where it will depart in a few days for the long trek to Papua New Guinea. The day after that we scrubbed, dusted, vacuumed, and said goodbye to the sweet little apartment the Lord provided for us here in California. This was now our 13th move in the past 7.5 years and it was also the hardest. When Brent and I drove out of the complex last Friday the tears started and didn’t really end until our 25 minute drive to his mom’s house was over. Then the next day we returned (apparently we gave the wrong key back to the office) and the tears formed again. That second batch probably had something to do with Kimi in the back seat saying “I wanna go to Kimi’s room” as we drove by our recently vacated home.

We’ve said “hello” and we’ve said “goodbye” to several homes over the past few years but I think this one is a bit different because although we’ve just left a home, it will still be several months before we can enter another and it will be halfway across the world. I’ve also noticed that I’ve had more trouble leaving the places where we’ve brought a new child home in the course of our stay there. Beau came home to an apartment in Tustin, CA; Kimi came home to student housing in Roach, MO; and Luke was taken home to this last apartment here in RSM, CA. As I’ve left these particular homes, I’ve had a period of mourning as I leave the places where my babies first slept, first smiled, first laughed, and first became aware of the world around them. And each time I leave these homes, I pray that the Lord preserves these blessed memories even though I will no longer be in the places they were made.

Pray with us as we begin this long goodbye. There are still a few months before we leave but the packing up of our home began our countdown and brought with it a flood of emotion that at times is tough to swallow.