I can finally take a deep breath. For some reason this trip has been more anxiety producing than typical for me. Take away the planning to be gone for 19 days which in and of itself has been interesting. Two dogs, one house, and one kid all needing to be tended to. Friends going through some personal challenges, people I am going to miss tremendously and juggling all the things we single moms juggle. But now here I sit at SFO with my middle child and can just begin to breath.
I learned a bit about myself planning for this trip. I usually know that things will always work out in the end, but this trip pushed that concept. My faith was tested and I think it will continue to be as the trip goes on. I know that I am enormously blessed to get to travel back to Uganda for work and this time I get to take along my middle son. Ironically he is the exact same age as I was when I first visited East Africa. At the time I didn’t realize the impact it would have on my life. I just knew something was different there. Something that seeped into my soul and stayed there. I wait and hope he “feels” East Africa like I did.
But this trip…..again, it takes a village. Last trip I had someone who stayed with the boys at the house. No worries because she knew how to work with my boys. I knew the dogs would be loved and the house taken care of. This trip is summer, so I needed to get care for the little guy which ended up being a bit of a challenge. A “few” dollars later and two weeks of camp took care of most of it and thankfully my parents changed and cancelled plans to take care of him in between but it wasn’t all settled until just a few days ago. Yet even knowing he is going to love camp and will love time alone with his grandparents I still found myself anxious as I hugged him goodbye. No one knows his quirks like me and the little signs I notice when he is out of sorts. I don’t know how he will respond after exhaustion from camp and one brother and I halfway around the world. This trip… that was almost cancelled because there was an Ebola death a District away from where we are travelling. This trip…. that had my traveling companion make the tough (but perfect) decision to stay home so she could greet her first grandbaby. This trip. So either I trust that God is enough to handle this or I don’t.
I sit at SFO chuckling about the comments I got from J about my need to vacuum the house before I left and reflecting that I was surprisingly tearful leaving the pups, I know that God is enough. He is enough to care for d’s needs, He is enough to let my dogs know they are loved, He is enough to watch over the house, He is enough to provide safety as J and I travel across the world, He is enough for it all.
So with 250# of luggage full of baby clothes and pencils and sharpeners and note pads and cloth diapers, and a carry on trumpet that we are leaving in Uganda, we arrive here. In a place where I can finally breath. In a place where I am enormously grateful for the village of people it took to get us to this place. In a place where I am fortunate to visit a group of people that are like family to me and are ever so grateful for the love and support from the States. He is enough and I can breathe.
Side note: If you follow my personal blog you can follow the trip here: https://kristenbrock.wixsite.com/friendsofruwenzori
If you are following the Friends of Ruwenzori travel blog and are interested you can follow my personal blog here: https://onlybygrace415.com
