I
love the fall. Apples, hot air balloons, the mountains painted beautiful shades of red, yellow and orange, the crisp, cool air, the surprise of the first frost
and the anticipation of the first snow all hold a thrill for me, but this fall I've got some
extra excitement. I'm going halfway around the world again, this time
with my second oldest daughter, butterfly and my friend/pastor, Mike.
We will be going to Turkey and Tajikistan.
I've
been working hard the past couple of days getting ready to do something
I love doing on my way over to Turkey. I get to be a
"mule." Each time I go I load up on stuff that's easy to get here and hard to get over there. The week before the trip I get packages showing up on my doorstep and
for the mere effort of carrying the goodies onto and off of a plane I
get to see everyone's excitement when I deliver them in Turkey. This
time the big excitement is supplies for American thanksgiving that are
hard to find in Turkey, like condensed milk and Stove Top stuffing. No, I will not be bringing turkey to Turkey.
I'm
also getting ready by trying to answer Butterfly's many questions. I
know I can't explain everything I her, but I'm trying to give her as
much information as I can so that she knows what to expect. She is very
excited and understandably so. Butterfly is very much a people person and is looking forward to making a lot of new friends.
Something
else I need to do that always seems to take a back seat is get myself
ready to go. This goes beyond simply packing a suitcase. I love my wife and
kids and it's not easy to leave them for weeks at a time. I have to mentally prepare for that. I also have to do my best to tie up loose ends at work to make sure I'm not leaving any customers in the lurch for 2 weeks.
My final point about what goes into preparing for this trip should be the most important since it is the whole purpose for travelling 6,000 miles in the first place. I have to set up meetings. Mike gets to meet my friends and coworkers. I'm thrilled about these meetings for many reasons, but mostly because it means I've got one more person here in my current hometown that knows what it's like where my heart is. My Dad got to go a few years ago and now he 'gets' it. Now Mike is coming and will understand more about me by having been there.
As you can see there's a lot going through my mind and I would appreciate it if you would pray for the three of us and our trip half-way around the world.
