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| The Deacons praying over Craig and Sam |
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| Excitement + Exhaustion! |
A Tradition we started over 5 years ago is to take our children as teens to the foreign mission field. Naomi got to go to Papua New Guinea and ministered with the Keck family as well as the Rowe family. This was a life changing adventure for our oldest daughter, who was at the time, 13 years old. She turned 14 soon upon returning home. Anna-Renee had the opportunity to minister with the Tracht family in Uganda, Africa. She turned 14 the day they landed in Uganda. It has been our hope to bring our children one at a time soon after their 13th birthday. For some reason, God had other plans for Sam. He just turned 16 and is now, finally, on his missions trip with Daddy! He and Craig were set to go to India a year ago, when Craig's visa was denied. This was most disappointing for both Craig and Sam, and was a little strange considering Craig had been to India twice before! It was during the time that they would have been in India that Anna was diagnosed with leukemia. God was merciful to keep them home for this time in our lives.
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| Final goodbyes |
This being said, Samuel is now in Uganda visiting and ministering with the Tracht family. It was a crazy time of preparing, with a new baby, a trip to Alaska, men's retreat, Christmas, and an Eagle Scout project to do, picking up supplies both for Craig and Sam as well as the Trachts and packing kind of got pushed to the last minute! Needless to say, Sunday morning everyone was terribly exhausted! After Craig preached, we hurried out the door and loaded up to get to the airport. Goodbyes are always hard, especially when it's going to be for 3 1/2 weeks. I know that to those military wives out there, this is nothing, but it's a long time for us! I am truly thankful for technology! We have been able to text and FaceTime with each other everyday! This has been an encouragement to me when I miss them the most! They are 11 hours ahead of us, so we "talk" either in their evening and our morning, or our evening and their morning! This works pretty well. They have a very full schedule and Craig is posting on his blog over at www.Soundpulpit.com to keep us all up to date on their ministering adventures! Please be sure to pop on over and please pray that God will use them mightily during this time! And that souls will be saved!
