Grateful.

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. – Psalm 119:32

Thoughts from Ten Thousand Feet. March 2, 2018.  4:00 AM.

Grateful.  I’m sitting in the sixty-fifth row of an Airbus A380 somewhere over China and I’m overcome with a sense of gratefulness.  It smothers me like a giant weight.  Like a giant wave crashing over me.  I feel its magnitude and power and the pull of its undertow, pulling me out into the deep, the unknown, away from the comforts of the shore.  I’ve been sitting in this seat for over twelve hours now, but it hardly seems that long – and for that I’m grateful.

Ellen and I will arrive in Guangzhou in two hours.  From there we have a three-hour layover and quick flight to Siem Reap.  I’m really curious about the airport in China and feel like I’ll be a deer in headlights.  Once we arrive in Cambodia I will put my bike together and then its off to our first endowment!  I’m looking forward to putting my bike back together – hopefully it goes well.  I feel pretty proud that I can take my bike apart and put it back together all by myself.  Ryan watched me practice at home and gave me some tips and tricks when I was getting stuck.  Despite the fact that I still get baffled by righty-tigthty-lefty-loosey (this is why I struggled through Statics and Physics in college), Ryan gave me passing grade when I reassembled the bike.  I’m so grateful for Ryan, his love, patience and support.  I don’t know why God picked me to be his wife, but I’m so thankful.

Somehow I have managed to find friends as adventurous as  me. Ellen and I are so lucky to have husbands supporting us and encouraging us as we embark on this adventure.  It’s quite overwhelming to think about it, and how much our stories contrast with the women and girls we are about to meet.  But the simple joy of a bicycle is bringing us together and in ways different for each of us, it will carry us forward.