All the cool kids...

I recently bought a fun belated birthday card that said all the cool people are sending birthday cards late. Yeah - that's me. I am also going to go out on a limb and assume that all the cool people have been neglecting their blogs. Yeah - me, too. Any chance the cool people have also been neglecting their kitchen floors, the tops of all their furniture, balancing their checkbooks, and going shopping for groceries? I think they might also have overdue library books, clothes that need to go to the dry cleaners, even though they picked up stuff there just today, and a pile of papers on their kitchen counters. Cool people also don't have the energy to get on the treadmill tonight and would prefer to watch Pride and Prejudice. Really cool people have leaves to rake, need to spend more time reading their Bibles, and find themselves knee deep in their kids' end of year projects. Cool people of the world unite! (And make me feel like I am not the only one with too much stuff to do ;0)

Brothers and Sisters

The first song playing today is the English version of one sang by a group of Togolese believers on the morning we left for home. I will try to get the real video and audio of that moment on here at a later date. We were moved by these brothers and sisters in Christ and their open acceptance of all of us. They humbled us with their gratitude. Especially in the hospital setting, the staff was so thankful to have the team and their skills. Even outside the hospital and clinic, were all treated with such kindness and openness and gratitude. The missionaries, who we had hoped to encourage in some small way, ministered to us directly by their kindness and patience and indirectly by their example of steadfast service and gritty hard work. As we left, we found ourselves asking, how they could thank us when we were the ones leaving with hearts so full?

I could write a novel about the fifteen days we spent away from home, and I won't attempt to do that here. My journal from the trip is but a splash in the pond of our experiences, but I will share drops of it here over the coming weeks. The days were full, and the memories already spill into each other as I look back.

For now, as I already begin to fade as jetlag rears its ugly head, I will say that the thing for which I fervently prayed was granted by our awesome God. I asked that we would all return changed. We have. I asked that the experience would be positive for my boys. It was. I asked for safety and health and fun for our little ones with Grandpa and Grandma back home. All four did great! I asked that we would come home and not forget the ways God moved in us while we were there. He continues to move mightily. How awesome to know that the One who moved over the faces of the deep, the One who parted waters and felled armies, the One who raised the dead to life, is alive and moving in the hearts of our little family. I am humbled. We are blessed.

Friday

It is eight in the morning and already hot and humid. The boys are playing with two monkeys that one of the missionary families has. Jeff and Dan have a major case today - be praying! It will take several hours. Also pray for Jason and Teresa, who will arrive today from Ghana. It is difficult to decribe what it feels like here. Remember the old song that says, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. I can feel His mighty power, and His grace..." That song sums it up better than I can. It is wonderful to see the physical, practical, tangible work of God, as the believers here, missionary and Togolese alike, are truly the hands of the Great Physician to so many in need. Then, I see the awesome power of God as the believers here rely on prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit to provide for their needs and to stir the hearts of the lost. There is one missionary here that the Togolese call Grandma Jesse. She is an old saint and she is so loving and sweet. When she heard that the guys were in need of something for the OR that they didn't have, she said, "well, let's pray about that - right now!" They did and it was a done deal in her eyes! :0) Later that day, they discovered that the maintanence man was able to rig up something that would work perfectly. What a privilege to see the simple, but powerful work of God and such quick answer to prayer! The boys are loving it here. Each night when we pray as a family, Alex remembers to thank God for the things and the people and the work here and recognizes in prayer that none of it would be here if not for God being at work. Luke is thoroughly enjoying the other missionary children and is eager for any adventure. We so appreciate your prayers for us, and for the rest of our family at home who we miss terribly, and we can't wait to share with you pictures and stories!