Reasons NOT to go to China
1.It is expensive
2.It is a long trip
3.My kids don't like me to leave. They tell me hundreds of times, "Mommy I don't want you to go. I will miss you so much."
4. My mom doesn't want me to go. You know, she's a mom and she worries. I get it.
5. My husband has to adjust his schedule.
6. I have to find child help for 4 kids…thats a lot of moving parts.
7. The place we go to has cinderblock walls and bars on the windows. It is HOT in the summer and COLD in the winter. It doesn't smell very good.
8. I hate to fly….I think I really need medication kind of fear.
So when I was on hour 9 of sitting in the Chicago airport waiting for our flight and watching the pouring down rain, I got really sad. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be in my own home, cozy and safe with my family. I was already exhausted and we hadn't even started the long part of the journey! And then they called us to board. We took off into the storm and over the water. Turbulence was bad. Cue my flying anxiety. A full blown panic attack with sweating, can't catch my breath, and thoughts of the plane plummeting into the water and my kids at home losing another mother! (I told you I needed medication). I turned to Julia and said, "I am NOT doing this again!"
Fast forward16 hours later… as the wheels of the plane touched down across the world, I turned to Julia and said, "We are here!" Both of us were crying. Happy tears.
Reasons I DO go to China
1. This place keeps calling us to return. A place where my friends live. Little people with lost and hollow eyes that I adore. Little people who are in desperate need of love. Nannies that are my friends, even though we have never had a deep conversation because we don't speak the same language.
2. I get to share a passion and life changing experience with my beautiful daughter.
3. I truly feel God when I am there
So even though it looks like the "don'ts" out number the "do's" and the don'ts are pretty valid reasons not to go, the "do's" just really win year after year. And I am glad they win. It is an unimaginable experience.
