The Road Home: Good and Bad

Hello Everyone.  On Monday the 4th, I went to leave Seattle to head back to Uganda and was met with a terrible surprise.  The date of my ticket had been entered wrong, and with it being a specialty ticket (at a lower fair) the stipulations involved stated that if I didn't show up or notify the airline before the date of my departure, the ticket (both there and back) would be come invalid.  I spent 6 hours on the phone Monday between the airline and booking agency and ended the afternoon so tired and unsure of what to do that I simply sat on the floor of a friends house, unable to move.

I had trunks packed as tightly as they could go, fresh cookies for the kids, money to bring back to the home to further the work over the next few months, presents for the kids from many of you as sponsors, an anxiousness to see them and suddenly I had no way to get there.  I was utterly heartbroken.  I called Kami and told her the situation, and as we talked, we both understood that somehow it was in God's hands. 

Although this is a little more in depth, than some of our other posts, the state I found myself in going back to Uganda was a hard one.  Both Kami and I have been dealing with things and responsibilities we have never encountered before this year and it has been extremely overwhelming to us both in the best way.  We have had to live daily on the guidance and assurance of God to accomplish the work, or at times, just to make it through the strenuousness of the day.   But part of that foundation for me has been slipping for some time, and even the time I hoped for some peace in coming home, as wonderful as it was to see friends and share stories, as well as speak easily and passionately about the home and work with many of you because it is our entire life right now, I found no time to be alone and almost not a single moment to rest.  Although I was excited to return to the kids, I felt like I was returning almost a shell knowing the work that needed to be done and easily caring for family we have found in Uganda, but not being founded.  

And then, I was on the ground of a friend's home, with no ticket home.  Although it was devastating at first, somehow in prayer through out the evening and into the night, I found a sense of peace that there was a reason for this.

The next morning I posted a blog that I needed help in returning and within two hours, 3 people had already called and offered support.  But, one lady, who deserves to be placed in the echelons of the highest realms of service, and to whom I am eternally grateful, told me to find the ticket and tell her the price, and she would take care of the rest.  Because of fuel prices and the continual upswing, the only reasonably priced ticket was 12 days out.

Although this is hard for me to bear, with how much I miss the kids and long to be with them, Kami, and the rest of the home again, this was a unasked prayer that God saw in me.  There are walls we all reach at times in our lives, and I certainly have been at one for some time now, overwhelmed without enough time to be at peace and understand it.  It seems these days are a gift to finally stop, and find the heart of God again, in which we all move, and find our strength. As I do though, one of the continuos prayers I would like to share with you is such thankfulness to how many of you contacted me while I was at home and privately wrote a check for the work, or went to the stores and bought supplies, or brought sheets for the kids, underwear, a computer for the home, gifts and cards for Kami as she continues the work with Joe in Uganda and repeatedly asked how you can do more for the kids individually.  It filled me with such an immense thankfulness to hear how many of you have been praying for us, and reading our updates and remembering us while we felt so far from home.  

My trip back has reaffirmed the love so many of you have for these kids, for those who are marginalized in the world, and also for your love for us personally, which continuously strengthens us to continue working.  

You are in our prayers as well.  May God bless and keep you, prompt you when you are needing to serve, and give you rest when you are weary.