Sighs and lows

I'll confess a little here and share that the only reason I am writing right now is to ask for prayer. Several times today I have felt more than a little stressed at what is ahead...this adventure that starts Thursday with my trip to the US to start the bus moving process from Indianapolis to eventually Miami.

I am not totally naïve...I knew this was going to be a lengthy, detailed, and time demanding process...but I do not think I was mentally prepared, or time prepared, for the demands required....

or more accurately, for the faith required. I fail there of course...but in Whom I have such little faith, ah...there is no failing in Him.

The planning continues. We have the itinerary, we have insurance (finally...and expensive. I am hoping I can cancel our year long policy in a month or so and only pay for the month...they said I could!), we have the players in the scene...now I am mostly praying for mechanical divine intervention to keep everything running just as it should.

In other news, we met with an insurance salesman today to talk turkey about getting all of our staff (and us) medical insurance and life insurance. What a headache. I whine and complain...but this is my job to have to sweat all this stuff. Not just sweating paying for it, which will be interesting, but the pros and cons, which policy, how much coverage, all those normal questions. Then there is the whole issue of public government insurance (at their hospital) which covers everything....but the reality is that their nationalized healthcare really covers almost nothing...that the safety net we would be helping pay for would actually when needed just leave them in the lurch...versus this private insurance which means you can go to any of the top hospitals...if you can cover 20% of the expense (the insurance pays 80%) So...how we balance what we can do with what the needs are...it is hard. How we balance charging for insurance to the employees but trying to save something to help them in that time when they would need the 20% for a life threatening emergency...is hard. (here if you do not have money to cover the bill...you do not get the operation...they send you to a public hospital where they will treat you for free...but if you were going to get what you needed done there, you probably would have already gone there!) I ended up saying something to Valerie and Oscar like "well, the idea we have is not perfect...but life is not perfect." Nothing like sharing that to rally the troops.

And then of course I remember my kids. Good grief, I am going to be gone for a week, they are going to start back to school on Monday...I have to make some good quality time for them! This time is fleeting, precious, and I feel so much weight crushing down on me that from time to time instead it feels more like an obligation than a blessing. Not good. So, we made cookies today. We should have used a spoon to drop the dough on the sheet, but we used our hands...more messy, more fun...and more to lick off. I have one more day tomorrow to soak them in...nothing like taking them to the bank with me for a marathon session in the morning to get things ready for while I am gone to either: totally enjoy it or make them happy to see me go for a while.