devastatingly good.

As our plans continue to move forward, our excitement builds. Our plane tickets are being locked in. Our water filter and electrical transformers are on the way. Our stuff will soon ship to Africa (okay, not as excited about that one... lots of work!).

But spending the past weekend with Charity's family and the church in Grundy county helps us to realize the gravity of our decisions. Now, I am not complaining... we are getting to live out our greatest desires... but with some dire family consequences. Charity's grandparents are aging, and their health has declined markedly over the past year. Elijah will not enjoy the close bond with his Nana and Papa, or his grandparents, that Josiah has enjoyed. And Josiah will not understand why he will not be able to see some of the people he loves most for close to three years. He will eventually get distracted. Family here, however, will not be so easily distracted.

We have the easy part. We get to see firsthand the significance of our work and efforts, which diminishes any sense of sacrifice involved. But those who remain behind have little to counter their sacrifice. The call pays a heavy price, and the burden is not always evenly shared.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, giants who reluctantly bless us to go while they secretly desire for us to stay. What reward is there for them?

perhaps we should reword Matthew 19:29; surely there is blessing for those who do not abandon children for the gospel, but rather bless them to "abandon" them.

Did Abraham blog?

probably not. He was too busy moving around.

And keeping up with those sons...

On a serious note, my blog discipline has suffered as late... and since most everybody has given up on checking the blog for updates, few will read of my blog penance...

So, there is so much to say, which makes it hard to get started. Here's a brief recap:

We moved from Nashville to Montgomery, Alabama on January 20th. And now that we are unpacked, we are repacking our stuff to ship by container to Tanzania March 25. This time we have to weigh and declare everything for customs. And hope it all doesn't fall off the ship in a storm (this has happened before!!!).

When we arrived here, it was full speed ahead on our Missions Sunday... the day in which our sponsoring church raises all the missions funds for the calendar year, and utilizes various displays and instructional times to build missions awareness amongst the congregation. The church set an ambitious financial goal, as they increased their involvement in other parts of the world, and committed to launch our ministry, and thankfully, the church exceeded the stated goal. So we still get to go!!!

Other positives: visitors, including our teammates, Jason and Emily (currently en route to Tanzania), Charity's parents, my sister, plus we have enjoyed the visits of Randy Harris from ACU and John Mark Hicks from David Lipscomb University who have been equipping the church staff and leadership. Tomatino’s pizza in Montgomery.

Plus, Elijah is now smiling… not just gassy grins. Full body smiles. They tend to disappear when we grab the camera, though.

We weren’t doing much smiles the last couple weeks, as the flu passed through Alabama (including our house) like the Union Army through… Alabama. It hit us with a vengeance; I was walking up to front of church to lead opening prayer, holding Josiah, when… well, no more details necessary. It was a rough week. My sister Shannon spent her entire visit as nurse and cook.

Further updates to come… Thanks for stopping by again!!!