World's Worst Conference Call

Today our church had their annual mission's luncheon. They invited us to be a part of the luncheon by hosting us on a 5 minutes conference call. I wasn't planning to be a part of it, but at the last minute, John asked me to change my shirt and sit down next to him. The video portion didn't work and we couldn't see the church, but they could hear and see us. They called us on our American line so that we could hear their questions and their greetings. And the moment I heard them greeting us....I just broke down crying. I spent the next 5 minutes wanting to crawl into a hole and wiping tears from my eyes. The pain of missing our church and my best friends that go there was almost too much to bare. I kind of zoned out and the tears kept streaming. I didn't say much except that I am taking care of the 4 kids and growing a new one. They all clapped! And then I told them how much I love and missed them. Pastor Steve said he was sorry we couldn't see them. If I could've seen them all, you would've had to peel me off of the floor from weaping. WOW! When does this pain go away? Or does it? I feel awful for crying, but at least they got to see the reality of missionary life. It's not all glamorous and adventurous like it might seem. There are some very long days with a lot of hurting and sadness. Even though that 5 minutes brought me pain, it also brought me joy to know that God has knit our hearts together through Him and that we will see some of them in August when they come here to do missions. YEAH!!