The Only Kind of "Baby" I Actually WANT to Birth

So, Dawn, should we make our big announcement? I think our loyal readers (or, any reader, really) deserve to know the exciting news.

Here goes: Everyone? Dawn and I are having a healthy little....PEACE trip to Rwanda next spring! Thank you, thank you. I know - we're just thrilled. It's the first one for both of us so, naturally, there's some nervousness involved. (I didn't use the word "anxiety" there because "nervousness" can at least connote excited anticipation, while "anxiety" just carries a sense of dread and terror that paralyzes every muscle in your body except the muscles that so obediently cause your stomach to reject any little thing it's hanging onto, and then promptly and explosively dispels of it all, ironically, the very way it came in. That kind of anxiety.)

Following the advice of other parents of PEACE trips, we have our manuals and will be doing some reading and research, and we'll get all the items necessary for two first-time participants after doing some comparison shopping via Consumer Reports. I just know all the hard work and 9 months (that part's not a joke - we're going next March. Maybe May, but we'll see) of waiting and wondering will all be worth it. I can't wait to see who our little bundle will look like. (Probably neither of us, actually. Because we're going to Rwanda and I don't know if you've seen either Dawn or myself lately, but... we're both pretty much the color of freshly bathed sheep fleece.)

Dawn's already let people in on it, but I'm waiting to make my announcement in the only appropriate, expected, and socially acceptable way: on Facebook. I think I'll do that on my upcoming birthday. You know, in order to counteract the ugly and less-than-fun day it will be. (3 and 0 are just nasty looking little numbers, aren't they? Nothing good ever comes from odd numbers.) Yes. I've decided that's a pretty good plan. So, that means you all get to hear about our fun news before the 387 or so "friends" I've forgotten I have on Facebook! You lucky people.

All this to say, Dawn and I are beyond excited and still in shock that we both agreed to do the trip. The story of how it all came about is pretty cool (due to the fact that God's presence and power to change hearts was all over it), and maybe Dawn will put it in her own words since it all started with her. I'm overjoyed at the thought that I get to share this experience with Dawn. God's doing crazy, unexpected things in our lives and in our relationships with Him, I think. And that's how He makes life exciting for us.

Now. Onto fundraising.... (My anxiety over asking for money and how terribly weak and passive I am when I attempt to ask for financial assistance deserves a blog post all its own. I'm sure I'll be dry heaving as I send out my fundraising letter. But (sigh)...that's what comes with morning sickness, I guess.)