School, Kids & Uganda

In less than a week both kids will be in school.  I recall this time last year and my anxiety over Connor going to school all day long.  How was that going to be possible?  He has an attention span of about 10 1/2 minutes!  Connor got the same Kindergarten teacher that Payton had and I remember thinking, "I sure hope she isn't expecting another Payton."  It's not that Connor is bad.  He just has a 10 1/2 minute attention span which can lead to a whole host of other "issues".  So, this year, Connor has a teacher Payton never had.  He is going to go to DC alone this year.  No sister to walk him in and out of the building.  Somehow, this idea makes it more difficult for me to let him go.  I had some strange security in knowing that Payton was there to watch over her little brother.  This year, Connor is riding solo.  And, mommy is full of anxiety.  He is my last, you know.  Cut me some slack here.  I'm having some "issues" myself lately about our kids growing up. 

I'm feeling a little bit like our time is running out with the kids.  Really, we should all live as though our time is running out because in reality, it is!  We never know if we'll even have a tomorrow.    Having said that, Jim and I really want to go on a mission trip with the kids.  As some of you may know, I volunteer with Hope 4 Kids International, an awesome non-profit organization.  H4KI goes on mission trips several times a year.  We are planning to go with them...hopefully sooner than later.  We would like to go to Uganda.  If we can do that, we would get to meet one of the children we sponsor!  How unbelievable would that be?  What's most on my heart about a trip like this?  Of course, showing God's love to people, sharing the Gospel, meeting needs.... But, I am really heart-broken over how we view this world...how Payton and Connor view this world.  It's no ones fault really.  It's a product of where we live.  Look around!  We live amidst anything and everything we could ever need or want.  And, our kids think this is "normal" when, in fact, it is not.  The majority of the world could never fathom living the way we live!  So, Jim and I desperately want to take our kids to the places where people rely totally on God because in most cases, that is all they have.  We can't even begin to imagine what that is like.  Even in the middle of hardship, we really don't know what it is like to have nothing but God.  No wonder it's so hard for us to follow Him.  We have stuff.  Stuff that we don't want to give up to follow Him.  Stuff that, apparently, is more important than Him.  So, our goal....Uganda, even if it takes us years to raise the funds....we desperately want to go!