The art of un/packing

So many things are swirling around in my mind.  As I write this, my 31/2 month old is “crying it out” because I physically cannot nurse her one more time this hour, my 2 year old is watching Curious George because that is the only thing that will keep him from sneaking into the bathroom to play in the sink, or into our bedroom to splash around the leftover water in my bedside glass from last night, and I’m completely avoiding the massive task of packing for another support raising trip.

We got home last night – Nathaniel from a wedding/support raising trip to San Diego, and me from fleeing into the welcoming arms of my grandma who nurtured us (me especially) while I was alone with the kids.   For the last 6 days I did no cooking, no cleaning, no dishes, and doing laundry consisted of dumping soap and clothes into a machine; they came back to me folded and pressed.  I was even treated to new clothes, Costco groceries and gas in my car!  What more could a girl ask for?  And Jeremiah grew especially fond of his “gama” and Gabriella got so so much love from her namesake.

So, now we are back, most everything from that trip is put away so that I can bust out other stuff to pack for our trip on Saturday to New Jersey.  When we were there last month, a pastor from another church heard us speak.  He liked us so much, he asked us to come back, and that their church wants to take us on as missionaries!  Hooray!  So, we are flying the fam back up there, and are going to make some other church appearances and meet more contacts.  We are in the final push – so close to the final goal we can taste those giant avocados and inca cola.

But, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t a little bit weary of this lifestyle.  Last month the 9 month contract on our condo ended, which means we are now in the month-to-month leasing stage.  That feels very symbolic of our lives right now: Month to month.  Month to month in our finances, month to month in our plans, month to month in our support adventures.  We have no idea when we will actually be at 100% support, or when we will be able to start packing up our things.  When will we board a plane for South America?  Where will we be in January, or even December, for that matter?  Where will my daughter learn to crawl, and How is my son supposed to be potty trained when we are never in the same place for longer than two weeks at a time?

This great, big, amazing adventure allows us to travel the country as a family, meet so many amazing people, and be shown so much love and generosity by those who care about us.  But, it is also exhausting.  And that’s okay.  There isn’t much in life that is worth something that doesn’t take an incredible amount of work to achieve.  This is our work.  It is our life.

And it is an adventure.