Saying goodbye.

Today our shipping container left and started its journey to Haiti, our new home. Now that we have the hard part of packing up our belongings done, the harder part is coming.

Saying goodbye.

We write these words not for pity, or for any other reason other than we find it a gift. A true gift, to have someone, many someones so dear to us, that leaving them is so hard. So we want to write down this journey, this process, our emotions and share them because through them, we pray & hope they continually point to Him, even when the parts of the journey of saying Yes to Him, are not the easiest.

Today while leaving my parents after having stayed for 5 days with the boys while Jim was in Florida packing our container, I hugged my mom. This time though I did something I’ve never done before, I didn’t just hug her and release but I hugged her and kept hugging her. I hugged her for probably well over a minute total. I let her know that I knew our time was coming when I wouldn’t get her hugs as often and so I wanted to cherish the ones I got now and really let them soak in. I wanted to capture that in my mind to always remember how it felt to be hugged by my sweet mom. We both cried, I didn’t expect or think that was going to happen, but it did.

This last month is going to be filled with a lot of good byes. We have a lot of friends & family we are seeing this last month and we are so excited to see them all and spend time with them. However, we also realize with all that, comes the good byes. The last time we will see each other for a very long time. Saying good bye to our family, friends, our home for the past 12 years, our dear church family, the worship team I have loved being a part of. Even little things like saying goodbye to our amazing local library, places we love to go to as a family etc. It will be a month of love, family & friendships as we spend as much time with everyone as we can, but it will also be a hard month for us.

Pray with us please, that we finish this side of the journey well. That we prepare the boys and ourselves for the transition. That we finish well with saying good bye and spending time with those we love. That we stay close to the Source through this all and connected to Him and each other as we lean on Him to guide us each day, each step of the way as we take this leap into what He has called us to do.

He is so faithful. He has asked us to do this. We said Yes. We are human. We surrender without knowing the outcome. He does not need us. We are grateful He wants to use us though. Following Him isn’t always easy. Following Him is worth it. The times we miss with family on this side of heaven, will not compare to the moments we cherish with them in eternity. We praise Him that we have such a beautiful, loving family we are so close to, that makes leaving so hard. WHAT A GIFT that we have something so precious to us that He gave us. What an even sweeter gift that most of them GET IT and even though they hurt, miss us and are struggling too, they GET IT. They get His call, they get what it’s all about and they get that He is so worth it.

Love,

The Starkeys