We're Going Home!!!!!

               I have to be real here.  It was a difficult weekend for me.  Thankfully, I’m at my in-laws’ house and can be real with them and I’m free to be in process.  We had yet to be re-released to the field, and I am getting so homesick for Germany.  I’ve been drinking out of the Germany Starbucks mug that I gave my mom-in-law every morning dreaming of my home and routine.  Then, I’ve been lying in bed at night feeling heart-weary.  Unfortunately, my sorrow was beginning to be expressed as bitterness towards anyone who could remotely be blamed for keeping us from home.  So, I had to take a couple walks and do some wrestling with the Lord.  Finally, I came to a place where I could honestly say that although it is not my desire to keep on the support-raising road, I can accept it if that is what seems to be the right thing to do at this time.  The Lord put in my mind the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.”  I had peace that if He asks us to keep traveling, then He will provide what I need: physically, spiritually, emotionally.  My heart was settled.

               Then, the call came on Tuesday night…We have been released to go back!!!!  I truly cannot express our happiness!  Four days from now, we will be in our own home!  It’s kind of surreal.

               So, I just have a few prayer requests, if you think of us in the next couple of days:

1.       Masami is disaster-central at the moment.  We had to take him to the ER tonight because he pushed a pea too far up his nose.  He has also been falling and tripping all over the place.  Luckily, only a little blood has been shed, but please pray we can get home without further mishaps.

2.      Although we have enough support to allow us to go back to the field, we are still nearly 20% short of our budget.  We need to continue to raise our monthly support even as we jump back into ministry. 

3.      We have about a 12 hour drive up to Wisconsin on Friday to catch our flight on Saturday.  That makes two long travel days in a row.  As you know, we have already traveled a long way and we (all four) are kind of at our wits end with each other.  So, please pray that we hang-in there through this last stretch with an extra measure of patience, understanding, and love for one another. 

4.      Although we are all ready to be home and to have our own space, I have a feeling that we will be detoxing from being with so many people all the time.  So, please pray for us as we get re-settled in our life in Germany and as those feelings of loneliness undoubtedly will come as the reality of being again so far away from dear friends and family sets in. 

Thanks for all your love and support!  This is it until we are back and I can blog from the comfort of my own couch. Cheers!