70 Not Enough, 1498 Too Many

All it really took was about forty-eight minutes of waiting ...waiting ...waiting in a friend's van parked outside Building 322, Vehicle Processing Center.  Sitting alongside my eldest with her toes pointed up toward the windshield and calves resting on the dashboard soaking in the shy-sun-rays, I came to the conclusion that 70 days is not enough.  In 70 days she will be sitting alongside her father (probably in the same position) as they make the trek to college, and in 70 days the lights begin to fade on one scene and the action comes up on an entirely different stage.

With the shipment of our van, today marks the beginning of the end of our time here in Lupburg, Germany.

The next weeks will be filled with purging, sorting, locating the last PlayMobil sword and helmet, preparing for packers.  In the not-so-distant future, most of our earthly belongings will be swathed in brown paper, stuffed into boxes, and sardine-packed into crates lining the back of some big trucks.  

Destination: Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

This evening's dinner conversation included a bit of travel-time-trivia, and this is when I realized that 1,498 miles will separate one family member from the other six.  Too Many Miles.  In the next months, I will become even more thankful for "smart" phones, Skype, and Southwest Airlines.

The benediction words ring through my busy-ness and overwhelm my discontent with numbers of days and number of miles...

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.