Treasures

I love the silence around me. It is punctuated by the long deep breaths of my sleeping children.

There are towers of black trunks lined along the walls.

My stiff back will not cooperate with my need for sleep, so I sit in this office chair and type willing my shoulders to loosen and my brain to slow down.

I have spent the better part of one week stuffing, folding, compressing, consolidating and arranging.

Stuff. Stuff. and more Stuff.

And now I am tired.

Furlough is over.

I've been trying to put into words the emotions that swirl around me and in me.

The heartbreak of goodbye. The exhaustion of preparing. The joy and praise of the moments I've had. The richness of the memories made. The stress of the process. The anticipation of being back home.

On this eve of our trip back across the ocean I'm reminded--these heavy, stuffed to the brim, boxes and bags do not hold the real treasures I am taking back.

Thank you friends and family for sharing time with us again. You mean the world to us. The lunches, laughs, prayers, dreams, struggles and even the heartbreak point me to my Father. Who can never Quit. Always Sees. And waits longing to be gracious to us.

He is so very good.