Three Weeks and a Day...

That's how long it is until Jason and I leave for Liberia. Crazy. We know it in our heads, we've been preparing for it for months, and we are excited... and yet it doesn't seem real. The immunization shots and the malaria pills are all real. The names of all the people on our team are real. The pile of supplies accumulating in my bedroom is real. The many lists that I'm working to finish are real.
But you know what is not real yet? The fact that in three weeks and a day (or so) we will meet Kelvin and Hawa. The fact that after that moment that is coming {soon!}, they will no longer be our children whom we've never met. We will be able to see their faces with our eyes, to touch their skin, to hold the weight of them in our arms. And that will change everything. So- as amazing as we know it will be, it just does not yet seem real at all. I am not sure how to feel. I assume I will be nervous in an excited-good-kind of way, and I imagine I will cry... maybe really hard... maybe not... but maybe there will be no tears at all. Maybe I will be so distracted by meeting them that the entire journey until now will not well up in me and be released in a wail of thankfulness for that one moment. (Have you seen "Sense and Sensibility"when Elinor finally learns that Edward is not married as she had thought? The release of emotion and relief at the moment is what I imagine I'll feel.) Maybe I will have an utter calm, as I have in many difficult moments, because of God's peace reigning over all.

We are ready for this. I think it will be a gazillion times harder going to Liberia than we know right now, and I think that's probably good. We're as prepared as we can be. We're wide open, full of expectation of seeing God move, and yet willing to be flexible and wait on him to see what comes of our time there. We have so much we want to accomplish; the VBS, the sponsorship updates, the assessment of the homes (orphanages) and the business start-ups, time to pour into the kids and staff at the homes, construction projects, and that's just the very short list. Obviously, we desire meaningful and sweet time with Kelvin and Hawa, time to bond with our team as we stand together in all we do, and to face this amazing & challenging opportunity as husband and wife and have the Lord change us so that we are never the same.

Please pray for us. We need to know that you are praying. We need to know that the Lord is going before us and making our way straight. Let us know if you are willing to commit to pray for the next month... until June 26th, when we return. You can comment here or send me an e-mail at cluebke@mywdo.com

I will post very specific requests soon... thank you!!!