Worrying About Tomorrow **An Honest Perspective**

**This is from my heart, so it may be gritty or raw. You've been forewarned and disclaimers have been said.**

Whew! This stay in America has been SOOOOO good for my heart. I'll be honest with you, living in a foreign country (although we have a sincere love for the incredible work we are apart of) can sometimes be exhausting. You are constantly living at a high level of stress that quickly becomes your norm. The interesting thing is that you don't realize how stressed you are until you return to your familiar home culture.
At times our stay at home can become stressful, but I feel that it pales in comparison to life overseas. The part of our time home which is stressful is also the greatest joy of coming home- it's planning, organizing, and traveling to see YOU and sharing with you about the amazing things we've seen God do in Indonesia! We have been intentionally traveling since January. Kate has now been in or through eleven states just shy of four months old. Every weekend she's woken up in a different home. She has been loved on by friends all over the States. We are so blessed to have shared our joy with you.

You guys were SO encouraging about this little blog. The place where I share my thoughts and feelings about this journey we're on. Sometimes it can feel like no one is reading it and no one except our family cares. I'm writing it for you, but I'm also writing it so years from now I'll be able to look back and remember and "re-feel" these pieces of my history with a vivid recollection.
Traveling around the States produced a fair amount of worry for us that had to be worked out and pride that had to be dealt with.  Worry like where are we going to stay, what's the weather going to be like, are we going to be able to "fit in" all these places during this time, can we afford this. Pride like we're not gifted speakers, what did they think, how did I sound, will they partner with us. We were both exhausted after we shared a church because it stirred up so much worry in our hearts. Even though on the outside we appeared to be calm on the inside butterflies were fluttering around in our tummies which some how scrambled the thoughts in our minds making us stumble over our words. Each time we prayed that God would be glorified and that He would shine through those jumbled thoughts. That His truth would shine through our inadequacy. Honestly, I think He was.

Now we can breathe easily. We're finished sharing across the States. We had the privilege (honestly, it was SO wonderful) to share in Washington, California, Oklahoma, and five churches around Texas- the last six were just in February! (Remember I'm being honest here...) It would seem like we would be able to breathe a bit easier, but I find myself STILL worrying about tomorrow. Now we turn our attention to other worries like packing- how are we going to get ALLLLLL of THIS in a few duffle bags weighing 50 pounds each? What do we NEED? What can we live without? Another worry that is constantly there (this one is silly because there is nothing we can do to speed things up, it's totally out of our control) is the arrival of our visa. That sticker that takes up a page in our passport which gives us permission to live and work in Indonesia- when will it come? Will we have to change our plane tickets? Will it be temporary or longer term? Will we have to leave again in a few months to pick up a long term visa? My back hurts just thinking of these things!!

I desire/long/hope to lay down these worries at the feet of the One who can handle them all. He already knows the plan. His plans don't shift or change- it is constant because He is constant. He gave some practical words in Matthew chapter 6- "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." This kind of life without worry is a choice.
I am choosing to focus on the now and not worry about tomorrow- the packing, visas, money, plane tickets, travel...

The World Traveler

The world traveler needs a passport. This was taken at the passport office by a professional at 4.5 weeks old.

The world traveler needs a visa in certain countries. In Indonesia you need to have a red background. We've got some options. These were taken at 11 weeks (2.5 months). Which would you choose?

 

Snuggles with Kate

Kate is a sweet girl who loves to snuggle with everyone. She can sniff out grandmothers in a crowd, and will give adorable smiles to strangers and ceiling fans alike. Here are a few friends and family that she's met along the way.

Meg, Tyler, Amber, Kate, Charlotte, and Cozette

Big G, Valen, and Kate (Valen and Kate were born on the same day
eight minutes apart!)

Mr. KD and Kate

Kate's BFF

A sweet look for you

Travel Log 2- Flight to Phoenix, AZ

Our second trip was a flight from Texas to Phoenix, Arizona. We tackled the road, now we tackled the air! We learned a few things on this trip, too.

Here are a few lessons about flight:
1. Expect and anticipate delayed flights. We didn't expect delays but made mental notes for future flights. Kate slept during the delay in her car seat/stroller combo.
2. You can gate-check car seats and strollers, so she was comfy in her own space until we were on the plane. If the flight isn't full her car seat can fit in the seat, which is great! :) She slept the whole leg.
3. Any diaper blow outs are most likely going to happen AFTER you've changed them while on the ground and right after you level off at altitude. With that being said, you learn how to change a baby on your lap on a full flight.

4. Airline aisles are not big enough for more than one person to comfortably (and un-awkwardly) fit through at the same time- especially if one (or both of you) have babies.
5. Kate will cry at some point on the flight. The solution was to strap her into the Baby Bjorn and rock until I felt sick to my stomach.

With all the lessons that Baby Kate taught us, we arrived safely in Arizona. We enjoyed seeing Josh's family and introducing Kate to them.

 

Tummy-Time with Uncle Ed

Kate and Aunt Jenni

Sweet snuggles with Granny Lu

Four Generations- Josh's Grandpa Clyde, Marilu, Josh, and Baby Kate

Josh's cousin Brandon and Family

We also enjoyed sharing meals and ice cream with friends. Although I always carry a camera with me, pictures are not always taken. :(  Nevertheless, we have many wonderful memories of laughter, warm weather, and testifying of God's grace to us as a family.

 

Travel Log- Road Trip

We have officially hit the road! Our first road trip as a family of three was from Texas to North Carolina.

Here are some lessons learned from that first trip:
1. You'll never get any where as quickly as you did in your "pre-baby" life.
2. The majority of items packed are for the baby. I'll admit this is nice, because *finally* I'm not the only person who brings too much stuff in our family! :)
3. The floor between the seats or the seat itself is a great place to change a dirty diaper.

4. Kate does not enjoy listening to audiobooks on the road, but prefers Bob Marley.

We arrived safely in North Carolina. Josh completed training related to "Non-Destructive Testing", while Kate brought me through my own training- How to Care for  a Baby On Your Own 101. It was an intensive four day course, which I am proud to say I completed. We all enjoyed catching up with friends who moved from Indonesia to North Carolina. On our way home we stopped in West Monroe, Louisiana to see the Duck Commander site. It was short lived, because as soon as we walked in Baby Kate was unhappy and wanted to hit the road. We snapped a quick shot, bought some gifts, and hit the road.

Merry Christmas from the Harringtons!

This Christmas season we can imagine how Mary and Joseph felt with the special arrival of their newborn baby, the Savior, the King! Many of you have been praying with us about our daughter's health. Our special blessing, Kathryn Joyce Harrington, arrived on November 8 at 2:50 P.M. Over the last few months of our pregnancy we were faced with constant concerns related to her health or to Amber's health. The Lord in His goodness and grace healed Baby Kate, who was born with no health concerns! She was born alert, wide-eyed, and smiling.

 

Kate is a constant reminder of the Lord's willingness to answer prayer. She is also a reminder of the blessings that we have. It is easy to take blessings, both big and small, for granted. This Christmas season we are thankful for the blessings of health. We are grateful for time with family that we can spend together instead of through an international Skype call.

We are thankful for YOU and how you have blessed us in both big and small ways. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers! We pray for showers of blessings on you and your loved ones this holiday season!

We are thankful for the best gift of all: a tiny newborn, who lay in a manger and would forever change the course of history through His love and sacrifice on the cross.

Failed.

In the world of Pinterest we have a wealth of opportunities for failure and few successful attempts at creatively cute masterpieces. Today I join the thousands who have [once again] failed at a Pinterest craft.

Here are some examples of others failed attempts:

Every Christmas we try to send out a card to our friends and family. This year we have precious Baby Kate. So I cruised around on Pinterest looking for "Newborn Christmas Photos". I found hundreds of adorable shots of wee ones ranging from posing with Christmas ornaments to being captured sleeping in a little stocking.

Here's "THE ONE" I chose for our 2013 Christmas card:

I know, too cute, right?

Here's what we TRIED:

Those, friends, are NOT smiles. She was SO upset. So upset that fluids started coming out from everywhere! After a few pictures, lots of screaming, and a few laughs from us we called it quits and called Target. Target happened to be running a deal on Black Friday. The deal was all the photos taken in the photo shoot on a CD with all the copyrights to it, which would allow us to print our Christmas cards through another company like Shutterfly. Little did we know that you did not get the CD on that visit, you had to wait a week.

A week later a HUGE storm hit most of the United States, bringing with it ice, sleet, freezing rain, freezing temperatures, and crazy road conditions. "Crazy road conditions" mean that if there's anything white on the ground around these parts we freak out and forget how to drive safely. To the joy of every school aged child, some schools were closed for almost a week. News broadcasters were emphatically pleading with the whole state to stay home. Basically it looked like this:

 

This storm delayed our photos getting to us in time, but we still got some super cute pictures of Kate. I don't know how those ladies at Target did it, but here are a couple:

So maybe my Pinterest project failed OR maybe it didn't. I love all the shots we got of our sweet girl. I'm glad that we have proof that we tried to do something creative with her. Really it's so we can look back at these attempts later and laugh, but also next time we just skip the trying to do it ourselves and go to a "pro".