A special day

Today was a big day. It represents the twelfth anniversary of the day we became parents! Or, as someone else in particular may see it, today, Feb 22, is Pierce's birthday! So even when we have been working hard to make a difference in the lives of people we visit we still are able to take a moment to celebrate the gift we've been given. The hotel w are straying at does not have an oven and pans capable of making a cake, the owner was good enough to go into town and buy one from the bakery (one of our cultural lessons, things aren't always planned, but just seem to happen in Guatemala), and after dinner a round of "Happy Birthday" was sung to Pierce by sixty or so people.

All evening I thought about how with all we are doing that each day should easily have at least one takeaway, but it seems muy dificil to appropriately summarize each day, and by the time we are able to find time at the end of the day to write we are very tired, making the task even harder. Each day we are confronted with the dichotomy of working all day in very poor towns only to return to a comfortable hotel, good food, and fellowship. The relative inexpense of the accommodations show the comparative financial wealth of our own lifestyle follows us wherever we go. But yet we still travel far from home and ask for your support and prayer all in obedience to a belief that we are to not be satisfied with the status quo of whatever life we have and yearn to share the good news that you are loved regardless of wealth, country, culture, race, ability, or whatever tag you find appropriate. Our hope is to radiate this love as a reflection of a creator who has made us in His image.

So maybe that's the lesson for the day. We do not deny where we come from while living on this earth, but moreso we cannot deny the more we turn our eyes to God that, as the Biblical writings tell us, he will give us the desires of our heart. No matter where we live or where we travel we are given the gift that we can both show God's love as an overflow of the fullness of our being while at the same time celebrate the blessing He has given us. He gave his son for us to be redeemed from our selfish choices, and he gave us our own son to care for to teach us to understand unconditional love. Both which exist to glorify Him.

Happy Birthday Pierce - our prayer for you is that you radiate the joy in your heart and grow to mature into a man who remembers this love and exists to bring your love to the next generation.