Birthdays and Other Family Updates

It has been too long since I have posted here so wanted to give a quick family update. We have had a few birthdays over the last few months. First, Ben turned 40 in April and Luke turned 18 earlier this month. I mentioned earlier this year that this is a big birthday year for us. Below are a few pictures from our birthday celebrations.

 Ben's 40th Birthday

 Luke's 18th!

 We took him to a pizza place that had this jeep and spent some time in their playing.

Below are some other activities over the last month or so. 

 Jennifer and the boys on Mothers Day!

Levi participated in the ministry's rally day in which they did an obstacle course like event. Lots of fun! (Read and see more about that day here)

The Faithful Prayers of a Mother, Godly legacy and the Providence of God...

My mom recently sent me a letter. (see below) It was a letter written by her in 1984. I was 6. (Yes I am old and turned 40 this year ;-) My parents were headed to be missionaries in Peru before I was even born. They worked hard to raise support and then left for language school. While in language school my father became sick. He was eventually diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  

He battled this disease for many years and eventually passed away. They finished language school and then returned to their home state in New York. After my Dad passed away my mom considered going to Peru but as you can see in the letter below decided to not go. In the letter there was something that stuck out to me. Something she told me when we shared with her our desire to move to Guatemala as missionaries. Here is the sentence I read that confirmed what my mom had told me. Seeing it in writing though gave me chills and reinforced once again in a challenging time of ministry the calling God has on my life. So here is the sentence: "Perhaps some day I will have the privilege of sending one of my boys to replace their dad on the mission field." I have tears in my eyes as I write this and think of all the ways God has worked to make this possible. I never thought this would be the direction my life would take but God in his providence had something different planned for me.

God is so good and gracious. One of the things that Lord used to bring us to Guatemala was this. As I mentioned above my mom shared with us when we were in the process of deciding to come and preparing to come. She told me that she had prayed ever since my father had passed away that one of her boys would become a missionary in a Latin American country. It was another confirmation of this calling that we could not shake.

God is always good and knew that in this time, I needed a reminder of my calling. Calling is a hugely important thing as we follow Jesus. It is easy to forget our calling and become discouraged in challenging times, instead of allowing the Lord to remind us why we are doing what we are doing and that all of it was his plan. I am grateful for this reminder and for a praying mom and the God is guiding my life!

To God be all the glory!