special request

Lori and I have been friends for a few years.  She has three kids, and I have two.  Of those five children, the oldest is 8, and the youngest is 6 (well, he would say 6 1/2).  I'm happy to report that the five of them have experienced a lot together.  And now they get to share another experience: having their moms be in PNG for a couple of weeks. 

It's going to be a stretch for all involved: moms, dads, kids, and those special folks who are standing in the gap.  We have never been gone from our kids for that length of time before.  My guess is that it will have some similarities to amputees who experience phantom limbs, where it seems like they still have the limb even though it has been removed.  There may be times where I look around in PNG to see if the kids are following me.  Only they won't be there. 

Thinking about that is somewhat exciting: freedom, different experiences, and for Lori and me, a completely different routine.

But I can also be apprehensive.  What if they need us, and we are not there?  What if we need them, and they are not there?  I can get exhausted caring for them, but I love them.  And there are certain parts of the day I especially cherish: reading with them, hearing them read, peeking in at them at night when they are sound asleep, listening to them sing with the headphones on and their eyes closed...  They are growing up, and because they are still young, they will continue to grow, perhaps significantly in some ways, while we are gone.

While we do not plan for anything like this to happen, we do know that it is possible that something could happen in travel or while we are there, and we would not come back.  To me, that is heart-shattering, not because of the actual death involved (because I am more than ready to be in heaven), but because it would have the potential of negatively impacting the faith of little children, and because it would leave these kids, who take a lot of energy and attention, with one parent, when right now, they have two who love them and are usually still exhausted at the end of the day. 

With all of this in mind and more, I ask those of you who pray to pray for our children.  Each of the five has his/her own unique personality, strengths, areas that need to be worked on, and probably areas that will be challenging when life happens without Mom around.  We trust that these next few weeks will be a time of growth for everyone in our families, and that all of us will emerge better for the experience. 

Thank you so much for walking through this journey with all of us.  We absolutely could not do it without you.