There isn't much time....
to have enough time for talks.
to get enough hugs and kisses.
to get enough snuggle time.
to watch them grow.
to have enough girl time.
to laugh, celebrate, love on and be with them...
before they leave.
My eyes are filling with tears as I write this. One month from yesterday my brother, sister (she's never really been just my sister-in-law), niece and nephews embark on a new chapter in their lives. They are moving to Africa to go help orphans. About 15 months ago, we started to see just how serious everything was when they gave up their own house to save money to go.
As I have watched and helped at their sales and other things, it didn't quite hit me that they were leaving. Then Natalie had a crafting sale Tuesday night to sell off her craft stuff and that's when it really hit me. My sister loves crafting and wouldn't normally want to sell the stuff just because. So it all must be real if she is selling this stuff, right?
I never had a sister growing up. I was blessed with being the middle child with two protective brothers on one side and another two protective brothers on the other. So when Nat came into the family 11 years ago (and oh how I remember meeting her for the first time and going to dinner at Gelsosomo's Pizza) it was like a breath of fresh air for me even though it may not have seemed like it at the time.
A year later they got married and have 4 beautiful kids!
I so admire their hearts for doing all of this. Leaving their friends and family to go live in a country that is totally different from ours to do God's work. It is absolutely wonderful!
But oh how I am going to miss them....
my brother who has this amazing brain for ideas - things to build, make, do etc.
my sister who is my best friend and someone I look up to.
Mia with her girly ways and loving heart.
Asher with his love for knights, fighting and battles and his sensitive nature.
Eli with his fearless personality and amazing snuggles and love.
Ethan with his "I can do anything the big kids can" attitude and the way his little hand
feels tucked into mine.
I don't feel like there's enough time as I try to imprint all of these things into my mind. I am Auntie K to the older two and Uncle K to the younger two. It started with Eli and leaked to Ethan and others. I love it and thing it's adorable. Little things I don't want to forget.
And the tears start again ....
2 comments:
You are making me cry. This is beautiful and touching.
And even though it's not the exact same thing for me since I live 3 states away--being on another continent is hard to deal with.
My church is sending a team to Uganda in January. I so want to go...to take my kids to see their 2nd cousins. Not to do the work they have for us--so I think this one will have to wait, but let me tell you, it's so tempting!
Beautiful blog post. I too can relate all too much. Being just my big brother and me...when he married his wife, we became instant bffs I couldn't imagine my life without her. She is the sister I always wanted. After serving in ministry very closely together and living next door to each other The Lord called them to move across the country to California and us to our first short term mission to Ethiopia. Now being home I miss them, my sister, my friend. Life is not the same without them. I will be praying for you. The goodbye night is by far the hardest thing we've ever had to do.
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