So now what? I had every hour between now and Monday carefully planned to allow time to get through my mountain of tasks and preparations. Now I don't really know what to do with myself!
As my good friend Christy Miller taught me (Katie and Melissa will understand): God is weird and we are tweaked. I feel like this whole experience has been a really sweet gesture from God. I really needed something to propel me and keep my mind off of these long months away from David, which has been accomplished. I needed to know that I was capable of doing all the things that come along with international travel alone--packing, planning, booking a trip, calling credit card companies, etc. I've now seen that I can manage it. On the other hand, over the last week or two it's become increasingly apparent how unorganized this trip was going to be. The travel arrangements were in place, but my day-to-day experience of being in Hong Kong was still, and would remain, a mystery until I was living it. Needless to say, I was struggling with not being able to control the entire situation. Now it seems so clear that this was God's plan all along. The trip has served its purpose for me, and it didn't matter that so many details were scattered. I'm certainly disappointed that I don't get to go. I love to travel, and it's been a long time since I've made a big trip, so I was thrilled to have this opportunity. But to be honest, my relief outweighs my disappointment.
It's been a particularly difficult few days. Whenever someone is killed near David, the Internet goes offline there to keep the information from leaking, so I am painfully aware when the fighting is bad. The last few days have been like that, and I expect that to be much more common now that it's spring--the peak fighting season. David and I have been blessed to have a fairly cushy deployment experience, as far as these things go, but it has been infinitely more difficult than I could have imagined. I think we will look back on it as a deeply rewarding experience, but the continued prayers and support will be greatly appreciated!
I just wanted to share the news that my trip is cancelled, and give a little update. It's been too long since there have been posts to this blog! I got a special request from David for more pictures of the kiddos. He misses everyone, and he has said many times how much he wishes he could have been around last weekend to extend his congratulations to everyone and meet those boys (and play with Vale).
