exciting possibilities

:: "Now unto Him that is able to do EXCEEDING abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" ~Ephesians 4:20 ::

A few weeks ago I started having this funny little feeling that I wanted to do something. I didn't know exactly what but I wanted it to be something kind of off the wall crazy and out of the ordinary. I didn't really expect it needed to be anything huge, in fact the first time it hit I just painted my toenails blue and that helped. It made me smile anyway and I shrugged the feeling off as too much caffeine and went back on my merry little way.

It kept niggling away though in my subconscious, and a week or so later I randomly said "I want to go to London!! Wouldn't that be awesome??" It was a completely random, far out (in my mind) thing to do although something I would really and it made me feel better just saying it out loud. One time I mentioned it to Sarah and being the ever wonderful encourager she is her reply was "You should TOTALLY take Anna and go!!" This made me happy to think about and I think I said to Anna "Let's go to London on Spring Break". Riiiight. :)

Not very long after this Savanna told us that a friend from Champion Forest had told her a missionary family in Paris we knew of wanted a nanny for 6-8 weeks this summer while they were having a new baby. Savanna of course said "No way!" but something inside of me jumped. I asked her if she thought they might be interested in letting me come help. She put me in contact with the friend on Facebook so I could ask her myself and I sent her a message explaining who I was and that I was interested in hearing about the opportunity in Paris. She said she would talk to them and find out how to get us in contact with each other. I really wanted to do it but was trying to not get too worked up about it until I heard if they were even interested in having me. I am normally very much a homebody and I would rather be at home than anywhere else but there was just something about this trip that made me want to go.

A few days later Amy Cross messaged me. She said they thought they had found someone to help but she was interested in hearing a bit more about me. I was a little bummed that maybe this wasn't going to work out after all but sent her a paragraph or two about myself. Amy replied that she'd like to have me fill out a little questionnaire and told me about the general timeframe she would want someone to come. I filled it out and told her I would check with my boss to see what she thought about my taking off that time. Amy said she was very interested to hear the outcome. So I emailed my boss and tried desperately to push it all to the back of my mind.

The next day my boss called me and said "So let's talk about summer!" I kind of held my breath to hear what was next. "I talked it over with some of my family and stuff and I think this is a fabulous opportunity I definitely want you to go do! I think we can make this work." This was all the encouragement I needed. Right away I let Amy know that it was all clear on my end that she should just let me know if they decided to have the other girl come and help or if they'd like me to.

A week later I heard from Amy and she told me what her ideal plan was for having someone come and help and gave me three sets of dates with an extra set to possibly add on to one of them. By this time the church had announced this year's graduation date and Mom reminded me Micah was going to be participating--and the day was about two weeks into the best set of dates I saw. I really wanted to consider the second set but it would cover the week of this year's IBLP seminars and I really wanted to still be available to help with that. I was just a bit disappointed because I just didn't have a peace about either of the sets and emailed Amy. After discussing these things she offered July 26 - September 26. I couldn't think of any reason why those wouldn't work. It would be leaving the Monday following CI (and unfortunately meant missing the CMT conference) to be there in time to go to Poland for their missions conference, and include a week in August for sightseeing. It was way too amazing to take in. Just like that it all turned back around again...I really could go, this could really happen!!

Even now plans are continuing to take shape. I am so thrilled that God has opened the doors for me to do this since it combines two things close to my heart (children and missions). I've signed up for a 12 week beginner course in French online in hopes I might can learn a few useful phrases. :) Throughout this whole time Ephesians 4:20 kept coming back to my mind and how awesome God is to create these sorts of opportunities for us. It's truly far surpassed anything I could ever have dreamed or hoped for. While on the one hand July 26 seems so far away on the other it seems amazingly close like I could never get everything together and accomplished that I need to before then. I cannot wait to see how the rest of this unfolds. God is so good!!!