"Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, 'I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.'" EX 2:22

Today is passport day!! I have only been to Montreal when I was real little. The thought of traveling to foreign lands has been only thought about when doing genealogy. The reality that it is a definite need for this adoption is mindboggling to me. Where would I travel? I have never been really sure, I am content here in my country. I have learned about many countries, Albania, Kenya, Paraguay, Ecuador, Columbia, Phillipines, Cambodia, Thailand, ...through our missionaries that we have loved on, prayed for and in some cases supported. To actually go is an interesting prospect. First, flying is one of those things I believe was meant for birds of the air, it terrifies me. If asked what is a negative about your adoption, it would be flying...as a matter of fact it is the only negative that I have faced. I have flown before almost 30 years ago when I worked for the Boy Scouts and when I was in school for Youth Agency Administration, but I get a little chlostrophobic after say an hour. 10 -14 hour flights are slightly overwhelming to me and yet our desire to adopt far exceeds my fear at this time. Plus I know our Lord is able to give me a peace that passes all understanding and since this is His present call on our lives He will get me there and back :) It will be an adventure. I don't believe the cultural issues will be as big for me as for Mike, I grew up in New York and the diversity of cultures is immense... Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Indonesia, Little Puerto Rico, and numerous other 'countries' within the city. One cousin has a Ukranian Nanny, she had a German nanny before that, my family tree is multicultural, so the adventure seems so exciting to me. I will have a chance to be a sojourner in a foreign land, and yet it is really not foreign, for the people of Ukraine are also made up of brothers and sisters of our Fathers heavenly realm. We are all related, decendants of Noah's lineage, so we are family just the same. Within our own family we have differences. I married Mike a southern born and bred boy. The cultural things I had to learn are amazing as I look back over the years. I look forward to learning of our new son's cultural diversity that will add new flavor to our home and enrich our lifestyle. Things I learned moving from northern to southern culture are immense, I grew up we fried food very little, in the south they fry or add fatback to most cooking :). seeing ham floating in my green beans was a new experience and pimento cheese sandwiches, sweet tea, corn pudding, southern style mac and cheese and bread dressing verses the good german sage stuffing I was raised on. Bar b que means two different things to me depending on where I am at the time, words were very different, I had to learn the language of the south. I now cut off the lights rather than turn them off, but I would not trade the experience of growing and becoming part of the world my husband grew up in. Family roots run deep here, Mike's family has been in this area of South Carolina since the middle 1700's. I am the sojourner in this foreign land and I have thanked God for that blessing. I would be without Mike otherwise, and there would have been no David and Michael, but God moved my family here when I finished high school and I am blessed for the experience, I know I will be blessed again with this travel and I will be understanding to sojourning in a foreign land, and yet we are here but a short time before all of us who know and love our Lord will be home. So I look on with excitement of what this passport will bring as I look forward with great expectation of what my 'salvation passport' will bring. God is so awesome in how we are so very interconnected. The genealogy of His family tree interconnects all of us as family. We are all heirs to the kingdom, we just need our passports to receive His blessings for us. So I head out the door for my passport looking forward with greatfulness for what this passport will bring into our lives.