As I eagerly await a chance for Kevin and I to serve along each other in Honduras for 8 days in June, I also await the longest period of time I will go without seeing my beautiful, wonderful Daughter who will be Two-Years-Old just days before we leave.
Kevin and I have talked about, since we were engaged, the chances for us to serve together on missions trips. However, what we never talked about, was it may mean leaving our children behind...We couldn’t have guessed so early in our relationship how difficult it would be to leave someone you love so much even for an hour! Some days I still go to work weepy because I leave my daughter (with a very trusted nanny) but still leave her. The longest I have gone without seeing her is 24 hours and it was difficult. I have been praying for this week since we decided to go to Honduras in many different ways; one of my deepest prayers, though, is that Kevin and I will be able to serve that week without fear of leaving our daughter because we know she is ultimately in God’s hands, always. We know that she will be well taken care of by family members (possibly even spoiled) but there is nothing like goodnight kisses and hugs from your child. I pray that even though we will all miss each other so deeply that eventually Madison will understand the reason why we do trips like Honduras is because we have a great and wonderful God who loves us so deeply that we cannot help but serve Him, and that one day, when she is older, she will have the opportunity to go to places, like Honduras, with us to serve the LORD.
We’ve recently returned from a family vacation in Southern California where we enjoyed relaxation and Disneyland! I had been eagerly waiting this trip for months knowing that Madison would fall in love with Disneyland as I did at a young age (It did not go as I dreamed at first, but did eventually turn into a very fun trip). But, mostly I was excited for her to spend more time with her Grandparents who she would be staying with while we are gone. She spent a day with them and had a fabulous time and was even “easy” for them, allowing my Dad to put her to bed for the night with Goodnight Kisses and “I love you’s” and everything else. This was one night, though, the next day she wanted nothing but for me to hold her and about every minute we heard “Mommy, mommy, mommy!” “Yes, Madison?” “What are you doing?” to which I would always respond with something…Clearly she desired to have my attention and that was being away from me for only eight waking hours. Now I ask myself “What will it be like after approximately 200 hours of being separated?” I will miss her! She will miss me! I ask for prayers for both Kevin and I as we are away from her for the longest period of time and that God will fill our hearts with trust in Him and keep us focused on serving Him. Also we seek prayer for Madison that she will be taken care of and that her Grandparents have the energy to keep up with her and she will just have an amazing time for those eight days!
- Lindsey