Mom's Guest Appearance On My Blog:
We have been humbled and amazed at the journey of the past months as Claire prepares to sail to the west coast of Africa to serve with an incredible organization called …Mercy Ships! From the beginning we have had many panic prayers…How will we pay for this? How will she get there? Who will travel with her so we’ll know she is safe? Are we forgetting any details? Is this Your plan, God? And Can I send my child across the ocean without ME? So many BIG questions….answered by an even BIGGER God!
God has been faithful to answer every question in His time.
First of all, we have been blown away by your financial support- at this point; Claire has almost $5,000 in support! What a joy it was to receive those text messages at work…..”mom, OMGSH! Check your email!” as she received her Mercy Ships notifications of your generosity.
So many details….Lord, help! Last summer we discovered that Claire’s position as “receptionist” required a week-long training at the headquarters in Texas during October. We immediately panicked…she cannot miss a full week of her CPCC classes. Amazingly...the training dates corresponded with the exact dates of CPCC’s fall break- Claire missed ONE day of classes! Added bonus…while in Texas, she was able to visit with friends she met at Young Life camp over the summer J.
I especially struggled all summer with the desire to accompany her to Africa to “drop her off” at the ship’s point of embarkation in Durban , South Africa. I felt Claire was being denied the usual freshman year “sendoff” and would want us to escort her there. One afternoon at the pool, Claire overheard Stuart and I discussing the plans and expense of us all three traveling to Africa and interrupted us..”Are you crazy?! I will be fine..if you are going to spend money on plane tickets just to safely deliver me to South Africa..DO NOT ! Do something else or go on vacation with that money! Don’t worry about me!”… We got our answer, loud and clear.
Our greatest concern was then, if we can’t escort you, God has to provide someone who will! And He did…just weeks before we had to book your flight, we received an email notifying us that a young woman from Seattle would be interested in being Claire’s travel companion and was willing to coordinate her flights with us. Better still, she would be going to the required “receptionist” training and Claire could get to know her there. Best of all….Claire met Janelle, age 41, a nutrition and exercise “nut” like herself and loved her!
And one last confirmation recently, that this is God’s leading… not one, but TWO of our neighbors who share the same dental hygienist returned from having their teeth cleaned to tell us…you are never going to believe where my dental hygienist is going in March….yep! Sierra Leone, for a month …to serve with Mercy Ships!
Just wanted each of you to know, that God is Great and He is Good and He does care about the details of our lives, every step of the way…to the ends of the earth!
