Fly Away Baby

My first thought upon waking this morning, as I tried to focus my eyes on the clock, was, "is she there yet?!"

I am engaged in a curiously doubled dilemma. We took Kate to the airport for her flight to Ireland which will launch her 10 months of Missionary service. Additionally, she is no longer in possession of her cell phone, having decided to get a local Irish phone instead of racking up enormous costs with her US phone. Therefore we did not receive a call from her to notify us that she was boarding the aircraft, safely arrived in Frankfurt, securely awaiting her connection from the right terminal in Frankfurt, boarding the final flight or happily arrived in Ireland!

When she was in Switzerland and hopping all over Europe to Rome, Germany, and France we at least had the knowledge that she was a mere phone call away. Now the cellular umbilical is cut and she is on... her... own.

(sniff, sniff)

So this is what that separation feels like.

Over the years we have spent enough collective time "waiting for Kate" to have discovered a cure for Cancer,... (if we were so inclined and gifted). Now we are once again waiting, this time to hear from her.

I know that she is so very excited; over the moon excited, to actually be embarking on this phase of her life. She has been preparing for it for so very long. Leaving behind family and fiance is in no way simple for her. But she knows deep within herself that this time in Ireland is what she needs. That is ample proof to me that this really is God's will for her. The Lord has plans for her that we cannot from this vantage point imagine. Our prayers go with her.

Now for some photos-











Now, phone,... RING!