11 days to go...

I can't believe it. We only have 11 days until we step on a plane headed for Davao, Philippines. This whole process has just been so fast, it is hard to know how to feel. I don't think I truly realize that my life is about to change so dramatically. The things that we do, the people we see, the places we go, the food we eat, the way we cook, the culture we live in, even the way we wash our clothes is about to change. I feel like it all comes with a bag of mixed emotions. I know that I am feeling excited, a little apprehensive, curious, nervious, encouraged, and overwhelmed, but most of all I am feeling very content and peaceful, knowing that the Lord has His hand upon this next step in our lives. He has done so much to confirm that this is where He wants us.
At this moment, and it could change any second, I think I am mostly curious. We have seen pictures, video, and even Google earth of the school campus and surrounding areas. You know how when you are about to embark on a new journey, you kind-of imagine what it will be like and you even picture the place you will live and the people you will meet. Well, maybe you don't do that, but I sure do. So, I have found myself imagining what our lives will look like in the Philippines so much lately. But you know how every time you imagine a place, and then you go there, and it never looks like what you imagined. Yeah, so here I am picturing our lives there, knowing that all these pictures in my head are not going to be reality. Even though I know that, I still can't help but picturing what it would be like. Weird, I know. So I end up just plain curious about what it will be like. Ok, I should go busy myself with the 80 million things we have on our to do list before we leave so that I can stop this cycle of imagining and then convincing myself that that picture won't be reality. Off I go...