To boldly go?

It's less than 24 hours to go and it all feels rather strange. I have zipped up all the suitcases and the house looks so tidy (makes you wonder why the only time it is truly tidy is when we are going away). Am now starting to think about the prospect of an 8-hour flight with 3 small children ... I fear we may make some enemies in business class tomorrow! The kids have watched TV all day today pretty much, thanks to the rain and packing so they are going to be hyper by the time we get to Heathrow tomorrow. I am now wondering why we didn't give in to the temptation to buy 2 Nintendo DS to get us through!! Am really hoping that we will get a couple of hours' peace towards the end of the flight while the children sleep before I have to tackle the Chicago rush hour traffic.

I would like to say that I'm really excited but the truth is that I'm sorry to leave behind what we have here. 8 years ago, just weeks after moving to Sidcup we uprooted and went to New York for 2 1/2 months and then it was really easy to just go but this time it has been very different. Saying goodbye to family and friends has been particularly hard because we are so happy here but we do feel that we want to maintain a pioneering spirit and we are looking forward to what God will do with us in Chicago. It's such a blessing to know there are people from Fusion Chicago (the Newfrontiers pioneering work there) waiting for us and we are really looking forward to getting stuck in there. I guess the packing and the flight are just necessary stressful bits to get through on our way to the adventure that awaits!

The next time I write we will be Stateside. Let's hope it's sunnier than this rainy Bank Holiday!