Missing them already

My mom and Katy left yesterday. It was such an amazing blessing to have them visit and I miss them already. We toured the island, visited our school site, they met many of our team here and tons of our local friends and neighbors, shopped until we almost dropped, experienced the beauty of this place as well as some of our frustrations in living here, helped me during a tough time, and loved on us (pics to come as soon as I look thru the billion we took). I felt a bit better with them here but I think I definitely overdid it as I am exhausted. We took them to catch their first of 4 flights after some last minute shopping and beach time. They were hassled at the local airport about having too much luggage but after Jason argued a bit in Kiswahili they only had to pay 10 US dollars for all the overage:) Once we had to say goodbye all of us girls burst into tears at once. All the women in my family are emotional, and I love it, makes me feel normal, known, understood. We had tons of people watching us cry and hug and cry more and hug again. I think after so much time apart I can convince myself that although I miss my family I am really ok, really able to thrive apart from my loved ones but after some time together I really realized how true it is that one of hardest things about following this leading here is saying goodbye over and over again to those who have had a huge part is making me who I am, those people that are my safe place. There is a huge sacrifice in missing the big and small in each other's lives; holidays, dinners, births, parties, phone calls, and tons of other times. After they walked through security and turned the corner out of sight I started sobbing. Like had to sit down sobbing. It hit me I may not see them again until after a year has passed, after we have another baby, after so much has happened in all of our lives. I collected myself and we got in our car and drove the 5 minutes home. Anni kept hugging me and touching my face saying "Mama, it is ok, Bibi and Katy go but me is still here." It was so sweet and comforting. But it remains that I am missing them already. It means so much that they traveled all this way to experience how our lives have changed, to see the work of our hands, to just be with us and bless us with their presence and the dear reminder that although we are far away for the time being we are family and the bond we have transcends distance.