Yesterday, it hit me...

Yesterday, reality hit me...I am going to be away from Faithy and Yiya (what Faith calls her big brother...short for Josiah) for 2 weeks. Obviously, I have known this for some time now, but yesterday my heart connected with my brain's reality. The longest I have been away from either of my kids has been 1 night.

When we prayed about this months ago, I really felt the Lord directing us to go alone so that Charis can begin bonding with us as her parents. I am just emotionally struggling with that today. A friend volunteered to fly the kids out to us (to China!) a week into our trip...I was liking that! But, talking it through, we are sticking with our original plan. These are the only 2 weeks that we will have Charis to ourselves and she will have us completely focused on her. Our time in China is so important to establish some communication patterns and especially to develop some bonds of trust. Having all the kids there would be more fun to be sure...and it would remove my emotional struggle, but our new daughter will remember these first 2 weeks with us for the rest of her life and we so want to honor her. Anyway, just thought I would ask for prayer...for God's peace which transcends understanding...for me and for little Faithy who is saying things like, "I am afraid you won't come back," and "Are you going to leave me?" Oh, how those questions break my heart. And oh, how I want to take away all her fear. But I can't. My prayer for Faith is that this will be a powerful time in her life where she experiences God like never before and is comforted by His tangible Presence. God is our refuge and our strength.