So close...

As I type, I am exactly one week away from the YAV placement event held at Law's Lodge here in Louisville. According to Shannon's most recent email, this is what I can reasonably expect from next weekend:

• Thursday night: dinner, informational meeting, worship, small groups
• Friday: worship, two informational sessions led by the site coordinators for the two sites you have chosen for interviews, small groups, interviews, social time
• Saturday: worship, interviews continue, candidate feedback from interviews, worship, information about site placements, small groups, site meetings
• Sunday morning: nuts and bolts meeting, lunch, departures

My stomach has been in knots about this for weeks now. More accurately, my stomach has been filled with butterflies that have been attacking the knots in my stomach for weeks. I'm SO excited to finally have an answer to those people who have been kindly checking on my progress since I first told my close friends about it last fall (or took it semi-public when I went to session for approval in December). I am SO nervous that the reality is finally sinking in. In just a little over a week, I will know for sure if I have been accepted. I will have to walk into my office where I love to work and tell them that I'll be leaving in just a few short months.

...I have to leave in just a few short months!



Cora and Aunt Tricia. BFFs.
Photo by Kate Chapman



This weekend, my youngest niece Cora (2) ran up to me with her arms wide for a hug. I scooped her up and told my sister that this was the thing I would miss the most while I was away. In the year I'll be gone, my sweet baby will become a 4-year old child, and I'll miss all the giggles and hugs between now and then. I asked Cora if she would miss me if I went away for a long time - she stared at me, shocked, with the saddest brown eyes I've ever seen and begged me not to go.

Yep, I cried.