Day One - Departure

He's off!

After a day yesterday that felt at times like a pressure cooker was ticking away in my brain as we made final preparations for Jeff's departure, today actually felt like a relief. I don't know how our schedule yesterday got so crowded (really, how does that happen???); but between last-minute errands and shopping in town, fixing dinner to take to a woman from our church who just had a baby, hosting our small group here last night, helping Jeff pack, making sure everything was ready for today on my end (transportation responsibilities and childcare responsibilities), and keeping family life going smoothly as the boys picked up on the heightened stress level...whew, I was glad to make it through the day in one piece! :) In reality, there were some really good parts of the day: I thoroughly enjoyed taking dinner to Amanda, the new mom...I also thoroughly enjoyed having our small group here and participating in worship, prayer, and fellowship together...and the highlight of the day would have to be the "decompression" time Jeff and I had as we talked and packed last night after the boys were finally asleep. Even the commonplace (like getting shampoo and sunscreen packed for him, or working together to get the minivan ready for the trip to the airport, etc.) becomes precious and sweet when it's done in the final hours before a loved one departs...for Israel...where, of all things, a bulldozer was used as a lethal weapon this week.

I was reminded of how, when we lived in Israel, I thought so much more about the possibility of death...and there, in my daily goodbyes to Jeff, I was acutely aware of the fact that he might not return. That fact is still true, regardless of where we live; but my awareness of it is not nearly so great here in the "safe" United States.

Back to today...this first leg of the journey went exceedingly smoothly. My mother watched David and Tobin for a while this morning, until she left for a funeral and handed over the reins of childcare to our neighbor Wilma (aka My Hero, the Snakekiller). Josiah and I took Jeff and two other men in the group, Eric and Steve, to the airport. At our meeting place this morning, we happened to run into Janet Blosser, a good friend from our church and an encouraging soul if ever there was one. The drive to the airport was fun with good conversation between the men of the team (who didn't really know each other previously) and some fun reading time for Josiah and I in the backseat of the minivan. One thing that literally made me laugh out loud was that Josiah, who had been SO eager to finally see the airport, spontaneously burst forth with, "OH!!! My precious one, my tiny one!!!" (which is the beginning of the lullaby that I sing to David every night) when we rounded a corner and the airport came into view. The airport certainly wasn't tiny, but I guess it was precious in Josiah's eyes. :) After we dropped Eric and Steve off, we drove a few miles away to pick up several women from Pennsylvania who had driven down and were parking their car at the home of one of their uncles (to avoid paying the airport parking fee), and then it was back to the airport for the worst part of the day: saying goodbye.

But before we get to that, I want to mention a funny example of the "Mennonite game" in action today. The Mennonite game, in brief, describes the way two Mennonites anywhere can, within a few minutes of meeting each other for the first time, find a link between them--friends or relatives or a combination that connect the two. I'm not even sure I'm a real Mennonite :), but I did get to play the game today with Loretta, one of the authentic Mennonites from Pennsylvania. Before we had even gotten all their luggage in the van and started to the airport, we had figured out that the brother of my college roommate Dori had done an accounting internship for Loretta's dad. Loretta even told me a funny story about how Dori's brother Andrew, as a young intern, had been asked to take some checks to the bank to drop in the automatic deposit slot which he did--he thought. When the funds never showed up in the account, he was questioned further and they finally figured out that he had mistakenly dropped the envelopes in...the slot for trash. :)

Goodbyes are never easy, and Jeff and I have been blessed to have very few of them in our marriage. (Our engagement is another story since we did that long distance and suffered through quite a few heart-rending goodbyes.) But I discovered that not only did I feel the pain of my own parting from Jeff today, I also shared the agony of watching Jeff and Josiah say goodbye at the airport and trying to dry Josiah's tears as we got back in the van, even while my own eyes were clouded. Several times on the way home, Josiah told me how sad he was about Daddy leaving. Several times tonight, David has asked where Daddy is and when he's coming home. When a husband and daddy is adored as much as ours is, he leaves a huge hole behind when he's gone...

~ one last family picture this morning before Jeff left...Josiah didn't even pretend to look happy; he just let his true feelings show

Apparently, there wasn't enough excitement today because we had to have another historic occasion thrown in there, too. Josiah, while playing at the neighbors' house after we got home from the airport, got his first bee sting! I don't believe any female--any drama queen anywhere--could have outdone his performance in the aftermath. Here are some quotes from him (imagine these in the most hysterical wailing voice ever): "Take me to the hospital"..."I'm going to die"..."I can't move my foot"..."I'm never going to be able to walk again"..."I'm never going outside until the fall and winter"...(and my personal favorite) "The world is ending." I alternated between feelings of sincere sympathy for him and thoughts of "what a nut; I'm going to burst out laughing." :)

Believe it or not, he made a full recovery! Listening to Grandma read a few books to him while he laid on the couch with soda paste on his toe helped a lot. He even went outside this evening...but not before I had teased him about his statement that he wasn't going to do that until fall. :)

I'm thankful to say that the evening has gone well. My parents were here for supper, of course; and the boys enjoyed listening to Grandma read a story after we finished eating. After that, we went outside, fed the animals, then sat on my birthday swing and started reading the Little House books. I have been waiting and waiting for this event; reading those books to my children is a long-cherished dream of mine. Josiah was particularly intrigued in the first chapter by the thought of Mary and Laura playing with a pig's bladder on butchering day. He even mentioned that if it was still filled with "wee-wee" when they were playing with it, it would be like a water balloon. :) After we read a chapter, Tobin was hungry and tired so I simply stayed on the swing, nursed him, and watched Josiah and David kick some inflatable dice around the yard. It was completely pleasant. After that, it was into the house for a quick bath for the boys, then bedtime for three tired little guys.

In honor of Jeff's location during these next few weeks, I thought I might post a daily picture from Israel. These obviously are not from his current trip; instead, they are ones that we took when we lived there. The picture below is from a site called Rosh Haniqra, which is the northernmost part of Israel on the coast of the Mediterranean, right beside the border with Lebanon. This is as far north as one can go, the end of the road. Because there is no particular biblical or historical significance to this site, we had never visited it during our time as students in Israel. But when I was 8 months pregnant with David, we took a little family vacation to various sites in the Galilee--our last get-away with just the three of us. This was one of the places we visited, and I was so glad we did since it was absolutely beautiful. The waves have carved out openings in these cliffs, and we were actually able to walk through some of the caves and passageways. A splendid scenic spot!