No Worries, Mon!

Something is different about this little guy...
...He's about to become a world traveler!!! :)

Remember that teaser about an upcoming trip? I was waiting for that one last crucial piece before I shared this on here, but it arrived in the mail today (I was getting a little nervous we wouldn't get it in time!) so now we have (almost) no worries, mon! :)

You may or may not remember a little trip Brad took back in the fall. Well, we are headed with a team of 7 other people from our church back down to Darliston, Jamaica and Elijah and I get to join him this time! We leave a week from tomorrow!

This trip is a follow-up to the last one with a slightly larger group. Some people have pretty specific tasks -- we have a carpenter going who is going to work on fixing some bathrooms, and a tech guy going to repair some computers in the schools -- but the rest of us are going as visionaries for how our church can provide aid down there in the future. We are developing a partnership with a church down there that is modeled after Brad's global health trips to Honduras during residency, but with an additional spiritual element. My focus is going to be on checking out the schools and identifying needs with the women and children. We are in the very early stages of setting things up down there, so our leadership team is going to meet the people, see the facilities, and pinpoint ways we can help them. Then we will report back to the church and plan projects for the subsequent teams based on our findings.

I am excited, but a little nervous about the logistics of traveling with a 4 month old to a tropical location. Riley and Naomi are already looking forward to a week of sleep-overs at Grammy's so I know they will be well taken care of, but I am definitely going to miss them. It will be so good though for Brad and I to experience this together. He has a great passion for short term missions and helping people overseas, so it is good for me to have a part in that as well. I haven't been on a trip like this with him since we went to The Gambia, W. Africa back in 2002. I am excited to meet the people down there and bring them encouragement and aid and share with them the love of Jesus! :) Be sure there will be lots of photos and an update when we return! Thanks in advance for praying for this opportunity -- that we will be used greatly and changed profoundly. And for traveling mercies with Elijah :).

Jamaica, here we come!