family

Matt is home, and just flowing with great stories, good relationships and the blessed experience the last few days have been.  I was thrilled to get to read some of the survey feedback from the weekend (though it made me aware that MANY of you shared my burden of suffering through Matt's endless repertoire of Bible and Theology jokes.)

SO GLAD it was such a good time for so many of you, and your appetite for Christ and for deeper study of the Word was heightened.  We're supposed to want more of Jesus after time together with other Christ followers!

THANK YOU:  to everyone who took care of Matt, to Uncle Don and Aunt Brenda for all the food goodies, to Doug and Julie for housing and feeding him, to Sharptown for welcoming, supporting and encouraging us so generously, to Sam and Cammie for feeding the girls and I many a'night so we wouldn't have to do dinner alone, to Junior for checking on us every few hours and THANK YOU to the many of you who have prayed for our little family while we were apart!

We're so overjoyed to have Matt finally home this morning, but almost simultaneously received news that Blaise's wife  (from this post a few days ago) went into labor this morning, and their little son passed away.

I'm just so heartbroken for them, and have seen visibly the burden on Blaise's shoulders as he's been sleeping in the hospital, trying to calm and strengthen his wife, come to class every morning, minister to his church...

What a great burden and what a great heartbreak.  The one thing that does not change: What a great God.  A great God who weeps with Blaise today.

man.

Thank you for being our family, which means you're Blaise's family, too.