The Day Before Tomorrow

We leave for Taiwan tomorrow! Yea!!!!! People have been asking all week if I'm nervous or anxious about going, and honestly, I just want get going! I know I am going to miss my family, and that is the only thing that I have the least bit of angst about. But I'm going to cram every bit of mommy time I can into the day....Nathaniel and I are taking Chinese food to the kids at school today, complete with chopsticks (except for Ryan who said a big "NO" to the Chinese food). I am going to have a little Wii session with Dakota, because I didn't figure that it was very cool for Mom to bring lunch and eat with you when you are in middle school :) Tonight I will watch a DVD movie with James and just hanging out. I have mentioned how awesome he is for encouraging me and being supportive of me going on this trip? I just love him!

So you know our traveling schedule tomorrow:

10:55am Plane leaves Houston
1:49pm arrive in St Paul/Minneapolis
3:00pm leave St Paul/Minneapolis
5:30pm on Friday (3:30am on Friday in Houston) arrive in Tokyo, Japan
7:00pm on Friday (5:00 am on Friday in Houston) leave Tokyo, Japan
10:20pm on Friday (9:20am on Friday in Houston) arrive in Taipei, Taiwan

We then get on a bus and travel 2 hours south to the city of Taichung, Taiwan where we will be staying and working.

Our ladies retreat starts on Monday morning (which would be Monday evening here in Houston...Taiwan is 13 hours ahead of Houston) and will go through Thurday. We return on Saturday March 21.

I will try to update you all here with pictures and stories while we are there, but I do not know what kind of internet access I will have. If I don't get to do much while I am there, look for a long post when I get home (I know...just what you all want) :)

Please pray for us....pray for our safety in traveling, but more importantly that God is glorified in what we are doing. Pray for our families. Pray for the ladies in Taiwan. We want to be able to call them sisters! Also, I ask that you pray for another team from our church leaving this evening for Mali, Africa. May God be with them and all they will be doing in the village in Mali!

Thanks to all!

Taking a break and getting ready....

It's Saturday evening, and I'm about to close up the computer for the next few days. We leave for Taiwan on Thursday and I feel like God really wants me to spend the next few days focusing on Him and spending time with family. I will be coming back with a blog post on Wednesday before we leave. Until then, I ask you to pray for these things:



-that all those going on the trip have peace as they are preparing to go



-that Renee and all those in Taiwan that are working on the retreat have the same peace



-that I hear all that God wants to tell me these last few days before we leave



-that I am able to spend meaningful time with James and the kids the next few days



Thanks so much for praying!

Waiting on an event vs. Waiting on the Lord

Well, we are down to basically 8 days till we board the plane to Taiwan! Wow! I still can't believe that it is finally here!

I wanted to share with you something that really impacted me this morning in my Tuesday morning women's Bible study. We are doing Beth Moore's study on Esther this semester. The topic of today's video was timing and waiting, and Beth said something that struck me as very profound. She talked about the verse in Isaiah 40:31 that says that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". She went on to say that when we wait on an event, that so often it drains us of our strength but when we wait instead on God, it is then that we are renewed and strengthened. How many times have I sat and thought about when such and such happens? What a waste of energy, when I could have been waiting on the Lord and getting all the amazing things He had for me in the season of waiting!

My prayer is this.....

I've been waiting for this trip for a long time, and now more than ever I just want to wait on the Lord. Pray that all the "detail" stuff gets done, but not at the expense of what God has to teach me this last week. Pray that my ears and heart are open to what He has to tell me and to what He would have me share with the ladies in Taiwan. Pray that I, as well as all the women I'm traveling with, can set aside all those things that would zap our strength.

Just 8 more days! I'm so excited to see what God has planned!