Wade and I sat down during the kids nap time with our shared reminder app up and started plugging away at contacts and our to do list for our visas. Wade ran out on an errand. In that time I looked at our account and realized that we received $200 in new support. Great!!! I couldn’t wait for Wade to get home to tell him. Seeing new teammates is a highlight of our day. I told Wade and we both got excited about what that meant. It was not 15 mins later that we found out that $200 that we had planned on coming in soon would, in fact, not be coming at all. So we have ended the day right where we started.
MAN! At this point the end feels so close. So close. But its still not quite there. We are at 92% and that means we only need $550 left in monthly commitments to be at 100%. You know when you have a really good dessert in the oven and you can just smell it. The aroma fills the air and you start getting hungry for what you know is to come. Then you realize that someone else already ate it. Yeah, thats pretty much how we felt today.
Its on days like this where I realize how it is decision to choose joy. And guess what? My kids woke up right after this and they were super cranky. They didn’t want to obey and made a mess of everything that I had just spent time cleaning up. Now I’m really reminding myself that I have a CHOICE whether to be joyful or pretty much act like my 2 year old. Which lets be honest…don’t we really all want to do that some days? I would have liked to whine and complain about things not going my way. As I changed Maeve’s dirty diaper I remembered a definition of Joy that we learned about in Church during our Philippians study.
“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that, ultimately, everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” – from ‘Choosing Joy’ by Kay Warren
(Insert breath) Okay so today I will acknowledge that I really don’t like some things that have happened and I feel discouraged about it. But ultimately God is in control and I can rest in that. So to my children who have no idea whats going on or why mommy needs a minute to calm down, and say “mommy, mommy, mommy” about a million times. I will pray for patience, and love that they have no idea whats happening. To all the other things that went wrong today that normally wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal, its okay. (Insert another breath). As I’m writing this Wade is on his way to finish SELLING OUR CAR (huge answer to prayer!) and Maeve is rolling around on the floor smiling at me. Just excited that I’m here. Yesterday Finn told me that “Maeve doesn’t really know anything. But she knows that mommy is mommy and milk is milk”. Just a side note from an almost 5 year old. 🙂
Praising God for so much today and choosing joy. Our prayer is to be fully supported by the end of this month. Thats 9 more days!!! Some people think, “oh I can only give ____ much. Its nothing in comparison to what they need.” NOT TRUE! Especially at this point in the process those $25 and $50 gifts mean so much. So would you consider how you can be a part of the remaining $550? Guess what? Thats only 11 people at $50 a month.
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Team McComas 
My dear Wade and Tara, I loved your post. It made me realize that there have been many times that I have felt the exact same way, but with different circumstances. The lesson you have described that God is teaching you, even in the midst of your preparations to come to South Africa, is His equipping work in your life. For there will be many days after you arrive and reach the goal you so long for that God will continue testing you in this area of your walk with him. Contented discontentment — only by His grace! Love, Mom