July 17th!!!!

After I hung up the phone and pushed close on the screen on my computer I felt something rise up from my gut and it just kept on rising until it came out of my mouth as a high pitched squeel! I had just purchased our tickets back to Thailand for July 17th and I could hardly contain myself.
I ran to John and told him…and about 30 minutes later I came up to him again doing a little dance “We’ve got our tickets…we’ve got our tickets…” Oh man, it feels so good. The previous 3 weeks before purchasing the tickets I was really under some serious anxiousness.

All I could think about was…bye bye wonderful smelling clothes (no dryer), bye bye biscuits (bye bye fast easy breakfast for that matter), oh the HEAT…ugg…and Jossalyn with red hair…we’ll have to work double hard to fight the Thai’s off! LOL! (they love to oogle our kids and it’s a great open door but sometimes it’s hard…on us and the kids), I kept thinking…bye bye blue bell ice cream…

And saying goodbye…OUCH…I only thought about that once and I pushed that far from my mind. But after it was done and the tickets are ours and the money was spent I was shocked at the pure childish joy that rose up in me. It’s like the enemy just wanted me to focus on the hard things and the things I would miss instead of remembering the joy that I find in being in Thailand.

He didn’t want me to remember my love for the Thai people and how much I love doing what the Lord has told us to do. Nor did he want me to remember he easy it was for us to adjust to the weather and that it’s not so bad after a week or two and that 90% of the time I LOVE it when the Thai people stop me and my children and we’re surrounded by them asking all sorts of questions.

He didn’t want me to remember how much I love the people we work with or the incredible food that I miss so much…he just wanted me to walk in sorrow in hopes that I would not want to return but boy did he underestimate the hold that our God has on our hearts.

The enemy is so tricky…I wonder why I listened and focused on all that stuff instead of telling him where to go. I suppose I just didn’t notice it - isn’t that a shame? If you are reading right now make sure you aren’t letting the devil steal your joy. If you are living where you are supposed to and doing what God has told you to do then hold on to your joy and keep your eyes fixed on heaven. Remember what is real and what is good…remember the love that God has for you and that he has plans to prosper you according to His will.

So it’s official…we’re heading back July 17th and we are both so excited! We’re waiting on Josiah’s new passport to come back and then we can apply for our visas and we will be all set! God is doing awesome things and allowing us to meet some awesome people and we are so encouraged. Please keep praying for us and please make contact before we leave! I’ll be updating the blog with some random craziness relating what it’s like getting ready to leave again.

May you be blessed!!!

Here's some pics of my babies...