This Is It, Kind Of

We leave today. All of the emotions that we have been too busy to feel are starting to creep into play. We both experienced a rather sleepless night last night. We stayed up late getting our packing complete and making a list of what we need to do today before we leave. Katie was up in the middle of the night worrying about Roman soldiers (we watched a portion of the Southeast Easter Pageant video from 1999) and we took turns getting up with her. We were both up well before the alarm went off. Stacey is doing more laundry and getting ready to run on the treadmill. I have a small list of things that I need to do around the house before some of the stores open. I am proud of our pack job. I think we have tried to take the advice of others as much as we can. Lots of friends and family have called or e-mailed or even stopped by the house the last few days wishing us well on our trip. God's people never cease to amaze me about how they can be so encouraging. We are definitely in need of the encouragement.
I feel pressure now to get up from here and to get going. That list of things isn't getting shorter as I sit here and type.
I titled this entry "This Is It, Kind Of" because this does not feel like the beginning nor I am so naive to believe that coming home will be the end. It is just another chapter in this story. It is an important chapter though. This is one of the days that we have talked about for a long time. I tried to describe to Stacey last night. For me, it feels just like she is pregnant and we are anxiously waiting for her to go into labor. There is nothing that I can do to speed up time and there is nothing that I could do to stop time either. I am trying to enjoy the ride. So I guess its time for us to get on this train (airplane actually) and see what the next step He has for us to take.