anchors away

In just a few short hours, our family is embarking upon our biggest adventure to date. I am proud/excited/nervous/happy to say that we are adventuring back to Hong Kong! When we first began discussions about this trip, it was way back in January, so I feel like we have (in a way) been preparing since that time. Josh told me he had to do some extensive business travel in Asia and it would have meant him leaving us for over 2 weeks. Due to some other longer-term travel we'll be taking later this year, we toyed with the idea of me going to China with him and brining Huntleigh with us. But I didn't want to leave the baby for that long...so we said we'd take her. But could we leave Lucy behind? How could we leave Lucy?! Okay. Let's go as a family of 5. We're ready for it. This is what we value as a family: let's begin to put it into practice. Travel is never easy, but it is will change your life, if you allow it.

The reason this trip is so meaningful to us is because Hong Kong was Josh's and my first place we built a home together after we got married. Josh did business there for 2 years and during that time God stretched and pulled us, He put us into a fire and sustained us, He sharpened and refined us, He built a solid foundation for us to be the team that we continue to strive to be. Our youthful sense of adventure could never have even processed how shaping and influential our time in Hong Kong would be for us and for our (at that time) future children. We lived there when we were ages 25-27 and here we are, 10 years later, living out the work God began in us while we were there.

I am excited to take my children to Hong Kong today. I cannot wait to see so many of our friends who still live there and who were powerfully influential in our young lives! I am excited for our kids to meet those people...and their children. I am excited to do this flight with our kids: 16 hours from Chicago. We would covet your prayers. I am excited to connect Hong Kong to YOU, my readers, through the camera and through word, something I wish I had done whilst living there, but, oh well. Here's my second chance! I will try to faithfully blog while I'm there, since I'm assuming I'll be up in the middle of the night with children who are jetlagging! Thank you so much to everyone who so faithfully served me this week, both with physical presence or just checking in on me to let me know they were praying for me or calling me to see if they could bring me anything. I felt so loved this week! Mom, Tina, Janet, Karlee, Hannah, Leslie, JennyLark, Cary, Jd, Nin, Mollie, Emmie...thank you!

Here we go!!