reflecting

the past two weeks we have been in the final stages of preparing our website to go live. what that means is we have been pouring through pictures and writing content for the site. when i say pouring through pictures, i don't mean looking through a few online albums. we have thousands and thousands of pictures and over the course of the last three years i have forgotten about some of them. what is awesome to see is some of the kids we met on our first visit and that we played games with are now a part of project dado and being taken care of. Also, through the photos you can see the progression of relationships and the projects being accomplished, it is wonderful. but it was not the pictures that caused the reflection, but it was the writing that did. as i sat at the computer, looked at the pictures, and began writing about each of the projects, emotions just came over me. i know i love these people and i want to serve them with everything i have, but i did not realize how emotionally attached and invested i am to them. i think sometimes when we do these projects that we rejoice in the project in that moment and then move on to the next project, so we never take time to reflect on it. as i reflected on the sights, sounds, people, emotions, and accomplishments of these various outreaches and projects, i began to cry as i sat and wrote. this was not a wow, look at what we have done, but a wow, look at the opportunities god has given us and the wow, look at the power of christ's love and wow, i am so not worthy for god to use, but he is so awesome that he is using me anyways. if this has been the first 3 years, i can not wait to sit and reflect on the next 3 years.