Hi. It's the beginning of 2011. This is the year of the World Race. My name is Ellen. I'm Emily's mom. My identity is unimportant other than being the privileged one who got to partner with God almost 23 years ago in the birth of our daughter and the fact that I'm blogging because I want to share my adventure of her adventure. Her adventure will be most exciting, so you will want to read her blog accounts, too, at emilytuttle.theworldrace.org. My adventure will be about my thoughts, feelings, hopes, and challenges as a parent of a World Racer. What's that? It's an 11-month mission challenge where she and her team of seven (who are a part of a larger squad of 45-50 people, ages 21-32) will travel to 11 countries in 11 months, partnering with already established missions organizations to serve and assist in many different ways including helping in orphanages, building infrastructure, relief work, working with girls who have been victims of human trafficking, helping in churches, and more. It's a wonderful way to see and experience opportunities to serve and meet the needs of others around the world and be exposed to other cultures and languages and peoples. Read more about this at www.theworldrace.org.
Emily has always been interested in other cultures and ethnicities. She grew up in a neighborhood where most of her friends' parents were from other nations and spoke other languages. She learned to love their customs and foods and appreciate the diversity of cultures. She began to travel with her Dad as he would visit other countries to raise up leaders to teach the Bible. It was during these trips that she first became passionate about travel for the purpose of understanding other cultures in order to gain awareness and get involved in meeting global needs. She decided she wanted to be bilingual early in school and worked hard to learn Spanish through high school and college. Along with Spanish, she studied Anthropology. So when she began to share with us her desire to go on the World Race after graduation for a year before grad school, we were not at all surprised, and we began to research this ministry and pray about her involvement. We knew she was serious, and everything she had done prior to graduation from college pointed her to the World Race as the next serious step in her preparation for a future of service in international fields. She spent time studying and serving in Spain, Honduras, the Middle East, and Guatemala during her college years, and as mentioned, her long term intentions are to work in international development.
So I wanted to give the history of why Emily is leaving in 4 days for a year. And now I am going to attempt to blog during these next 11 months in order to help me experience more effectively the highs and lows, hopes and fears, lessons of faith and humility and trust that will define my daily life in 2011 as a parent of a world racer. This is going to be one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced....and today, I'm not ready..... not excited. I'm trying to hide it, but she knows me and is pretty perceptive. I don't want to be a downer. She is also dealing with her own feelings. There's tension mounting with each day closing in on LAUNCH DAY. We want to get the goodbyes over with, but we don't want to get the goodbyes over with! It's bitterweet....it's hard. I'll tell you more later......I invite you to come along on the journey! If you are a parent of a racer or a future racer, you have your own story to tell. I'd love to hear from you and learn from you and walk with you this next year...
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