The Unexpected

The last 7 months have been so many things.  We settled into our temporary home in Florida quickly and have had wonderful fellowship with missionaries who have retired here after serving 20 up to even 50 years of service in Africa!!  Florida culture is different than we expected and much more transient.  There are SO many cultures represented here from all over the US and the World.  The children adjusted well to our new home once the homesickness began to fade.  They have had many unexpected opportunities.  They both played 2 months of rec soccer and then began taking gymnastics.  They have had several opportunities to spend time with the residents here on a regular basis like taking piano lessons from our next door neighbor and a pottery class upon our arrival and lots of bike riding. We have also had special friends come from Mississippi and gotten to spend time with dear friends returning from the field.  Lew's mom came for a visit and my parents made the long journey as well.  The kids loved showing them all our home.  We were buzzing right along toward our July leave date for Madagascar.

All was going well until one day I sneezed and herniated a disc horribly. So in May I had back surgery.  That was NOT our plan for our time in Florida! So the last 9 weeks have been pretty difficult for our whole family due to extensive nerve damage in my leg.  A walker and a cane were not my plan either but I have conquered them both!  But we have all survived and I am doing better each week.  We now have a new leave date for September 27th!  Also the other 2 families on our team that were raising support have reached their support targets!!! So we are only weeks away from putting our luggage, our children, our lives and our faith on a plane for Diego Suarez Madagascar!!  God has sustained us and taught us much more than we expected here in Florida.  But isn't that always the case?

This week we have some incredibly exciting news....Abigail is getting baptized!  We are so excited for her and celebrate her making her decision to follow Christ public.  She has been a believer for quite a while but has been afraid to go up in front of people to say so.  So this week she has decided that she will be brave for Jesus.  She will be baptized at a service at the beach in true Florida style this Thursday with our church The Church at Southlake.  Tomorrow we are leaving for a churchwide family vacation for 4 days at Daytona Beach and that is where it will take place.  A beach baptism will be a first for one in our family though we attended them in France.  We decided to go on this trip because the last 2 months have been so hard on our family and I am finally able to function semi-normally.  Now we are thrilled that we get to be a part of such a special service and Lew will be able to baptize her.  I wish that our family and FBC Kosy family could be here to witness this but the Lord's timing is always perfect and we are thrilled for her since this has bothered her for a long time.  Pray for small waves at 4pm Thursday!!!  :)