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Teary Goodbyes PART ONE

It has been about two months since we sold my computer monitor and I have thus felt like a good portion of my brain has been missing. Amazing how dependent we are on technology these days!

Well, it wasn’t ONLY because I didn’t have access to my computer…. The move was a VERY intense time for our family. It is not a simple task to liquidate every. last. belonging…. for a family of eight, in two months time. And not completely neglect said family of eight in the process. Too much.

I won’t describe the process in detail, but will instead leave the hairy-ness to your imaginations. smile.

And as the time to leave became closer, besides the “logistics” side… we had the emotional side to deal with. The truth is that the Lord blessed us with some very dear and special friends during the past years in Brazil and knowing we were going so far with no real plan of return was very difficult. And probably even more than for us, for our children, particularly the older two. We have walked this process through with them for over two years, with lots of dialogue to make sure they were in our boat, etc…. but it didn’t make it easy. We are thankful that they have very special friends in Brazil… so blessed to have something there that made saying goodbye so hard!

The Saturday night before leaving, we had the whole youth group come over and any parents that wanted to join in, and it was a very special and also heart-wrenching time… Some pics follow.

It is HARD for a mama heart to see her “babies” hurting. One word of comfort that the Lord spoke to me was that if He was calling us, as indeed He is, to Japan, then He is calling ALL of us – all eight of us. And if that is the case (and we as well as our childre are convinced that it is), then this entire process will work together for our good (Rom 8:28). Even the hard parts – maybe especially the hard parts – are all an intricate working of His divine design for our family and for each of our children, to forge their character and shape them into His image. This is my confidence in Him and my continual prayer. And I am proud to say that in spite of the pain, they see it too!