There are seven days in the week and Someday isn't one of them.

After a year of planning, the time to fly across the pond has arrived. Lord willing, I will fly out tomorrow morning at 7:40 and arrive in Romania the following day at 12:55 p.m. It has been five years since my last Atlantic crossing. I prayed for a window seat. God graciously granted my request on all three flights. Praises! I have flown  20 times, four of which were over the ocean. I still listen in rapt attention to every in-flight safety briefing, as if a seat cushion the size of a dinner plate would keep me afloat in the icy waters of the Atlantic.

I never fall asleep on planes. Ever. I try; I really do. But I always doze off and awake thinking I've been asleep for hours when in reality, my eyes closed for all of five minutes and the aircraft has not even reached the halfway point. I read to keep my mind off the fact I am strapped in a steel tube hurtling through the atmosphere. I'm fairly certain I will be able to read the entire New Testament before reaching Europe. 
Flying anxieties aside, I'm deeply grateful to have been granted the opportunity to return to Romania for a third time to work with abandoned infants. I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the language, and meeting the babies, hospital employees, and my fellow volunteers.

As the quote at the beginning of this post indicates, 'ready' never arrives. You can plan and prepare all you want, but the moment eventually comes when you must act. You will not see the entire path. It will be scary, confusing, frustrating, and unnerving. But you must make a choice; stay where you are, or take that leap of faith.

Life will always happen. There will be marriages, college, taxes, kids, mortgages, funerals, careers. Rarely, if ever, will there be a perfect time to set out on an adventure, achieve a goal, serve others, or make a dream a reality.

I'm a planner. Cautious. A think-ahead-type person. A plan-for-every-possible-scenario-even-a-camel-stampede-type person.

Twenty-seven years have taught me life doesn't play that way. More often that not, you just have to jump and pray the chute will open.

I still plan; I guess I always will.

By God's grace, I have learned to jump, as well.

Prayers are requested for strength, courage, safety, grace, discernment, and good humor.