Mathew's Memoirs: The Year of Good-Bye's

Saying good-bye is something that we are used too, but this time it's different... this time it's final.

This time it's a year of good-bye's. We work through seasons here: spring, summer and fall. Each season brings a vast array of beautiful and colorful people that we've met and come to cherish over the past several years. After every visit we've always said, "see you next year!" but this time we have to say a real good-bye with no certainty of whether or not we'll ever see these amazing people again.

Today we said our first series of good-byes to our spring teams. It was the strangest feeling when we waved these teams off for the last time. There was a team we said good-bye to today who was our very first team when we arrived a little over three years ago. The leader encouraged us last night saying that he has enjoyed watching us grow into our position here and loves seeing us in "our element." It hit us today that leaving this place may be more difficult than we imagined. This is our element... this is our home... this is our life. When we leave, we will be leaving behind four years of our lives that very few people will understand and be able to relate too.

One thing I love about God is that he doesn't waste any oppertunity to teach, stretch, and grow his people. I can tell that this year, like the many before it, will be a year of stretching and growing. We are so excited for this year of transition as we become parents, as we hand off our ministry to another wonderful pair, and as we move. I know great things will come of this year. I have to say that after today however, I'm a little more nervous than I was yesterday.

So on a completely different note... we went whale watching about two weeks ago with our friends and below I posted a few photos from our trip.