And he's off!

Look out world, cause a sweet, funny, and Jesus loving young man is a coming.  We dropped Carter off at DFW this morning to fly to the opposite end of the world.  He is with our youth pastor, some young adults, our pastor, and a fellow friend/dad.  We will miss him like crazy, but we know he will have a wonderful and life-changing time. I did really well at the airport.  Carter said he was nervous, but excited.  Reality hit a bit later this morning.  I was gathering dirty clothes to wash.  His flight was pulling away at 11:22 and that is when the lump crept into my throat and my heart had a hole.  I'm not fearful for his safety.  He isn't going to the bush in Uganda to fight the LRA or anything.  He is with people we know and trust, going to an awesome ministry(shout out to amazing Pastor Trevor in Port Shepstone, South Africa) at a place where Mike has been.  My biggest hurdle is knowing that if he needs me, I, the momma, cannot be there--without at least 2 days travel time.  That is what hurts my heart. Alas, we trust our God!

Now, let me tell you about an amazing story:

How the money "happened"

What do I always say(that I stole from our former pastor, Jim)?  Where God guides, God provides.  So, here is the story of how we gathered the funds to send Carter to South Africa, with only 3 months notice.  The cost was 2500.  We needed to turn in a 500 dollar depost by January 1.  The last week of December, we knew Carter was going, but we weren't clear as to whether Mike and I would go also, or just me.  I came across a check from our insurance company in our "bill drawer."  It was for 2800.00!  I was thrilled.  Clearly, I was headed to South Africa with Carter.  Whoohoo.  We turned in the 500 deposit that week and also tithed out of that 2800.  Since it wasn't regular income, we tithed in a more fun way(tithes go to your local church body).  We gave the cash away to some people who needed it badly--secretly of course.  That is the most funnest--sorry, I've been reading Junie B. Jones books-- we love to secretly bless people.  So, within a few days, 800.00 out of that check was gone.  Then, the bank called.  The insurance company had put a stop payment on that check and the bank withdrew all 2800.00 from our checking account--nicely leaving a negative balance!  Seems that the insurance company had made an error back in July when we got our hail damage checks.  I made an error as well when I kept the check and didn't shred it.  Silly me!  We went from Yeehaw to holy cow, Lord, what are we going to do??  We were now 800.00 in the hole.  There was our answer, Carter would go sans parental units.
So, we forged ahead, trusting God for the rest of the money.  We felt impressed to not send fundraising letters out or to ask people to help. Carter did a few jobs for a friend and my parents and got paid very generously.  A few sweet friends have contributed to his trip and several family members gave him birthday gifts and cash to put towards the trip.  The rest, well we just seemed to always have a 100.00 cash in the South Africa envelope that has been hanging on the refrigerator since January.  We make a payment and somehow, another 100.00 scratched out of our week and we make another payment.  Then, came the big surprise!  I got an unexpected bonus in February at work!   South Africa here he comes!!!!!!!  Really, we haven't even missed the money.  Sure, we could have spent that on more junk that burns up when Jesus comes back:  food, clothes, entertainment, things we don't need and that don't bring happiness.