Péripétie

Next month my husband, myself, and two of our very dear friends (a husband/wife) will embark on the most risky, wild, surrendered adventure of our lives (besides marriage and parenting!) We will board a plane and travel 27 hours to the "other" side of the world. We will cross multiple time zones, the equator, a couple of continents, and step into a culture that we do not yet know but have a hunger to not only understand but love quickly and deeply.

We are heading to West Africa to meet a lady and help her on her dairy farm.

Here is the dairy farmer and some helpers in a field they will clear for us to create a hay storage corral and shed:

Getting prepared for our project...

They made these poles for the corral from the trees in the bush on the dairy farm

As we make lists of supplies to pick up, correspond with many questions for the American couple that invited us to come to West Africa , where they now live, and finalize our plans, it dawns on me that we really cannot prepare ourselves for many aspects of this trip.

I do not know what I will see. I expect my eyes to weep at some of the sights I will witness.

I do not know how much my heart will break. I expect it to be broken.

I do not know how tired, sore, homesick, vulnerable I will feel. I expect to long and ache for what is familiar and comfortable.

I do know that this is a trip designed by a Great Designer. A trip that ties with the Providence that only a Master Trip Planner can put together. It is a privilege and an honor to be able to partner with the One and Only, who does not need a partner but chooses to partner with those that He had to redeem with a great sacrifice.

I do know that if I spend sweet time with my Bridegroom then I will be prepared for this trip.

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." John 15:4

Oh, and péripétie means "adventure" in French. : )