Understanding Father Abraham

Lucas and Kurt were nice enough to help John John with his Lego car he got for his birthday. Kurt is Sarah Beth's boyfriend, and Lukas is his friend from school. They came from Germany and spent a few days here in Prague, and we had a great time with them. Really great young men!
Hannah taking pictures in the mountains of Germany. We went to Munich last Sunday, then drove down to near the Austrian/German border to see a famous castle. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hannah thoroughly enjoy her experience.
This one's for Poppy. John John is definitely his grandfather's boy--he LOVES airplanes. This is at the Moscow Airport before we left for Prague. He literally stood there for about ten minutes staring at that plane. I know my Daddy will enjoy that.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. Genesis 19:27-28

It is a gloriously beautiful morning here in Prague, Czech Republic. If you've not had the chance to visit Central Europe, you really should try to come here. It's an amazing and beautiful place. We are enjoying our time here, though it's not too different from how we spend much of our time in Moscow--Marc is working hard every day, and I'm working on school with the kids. We have enjoyed a nice visit from Sarah Beth's boyfriend, Kurt, and his friend, Lucas. And, of course, we love spending time with our friends here in Prague. We are still waiting on our visas, and we are praying they arrive asap so we don't have to sweat making our plane next Sunday. If you would pray with us about that, I'd really appreciate it.

I am especially looking forward to tomorrow night, when our FPO group stationed here in Prague--us, Larry and Melissa and their kids, and Johann and Stacy and their boys--will get together with our missionary-in-residence from FPO, Ed. He is in town for a meeting, and I'm thrilled to have the chance to all be together again. I read the verses above and thought immediately of Ed--of his talk at FPO about Moscow, of his love for the city, of the fear and mourning Abraham must have felt as he looked out at the smoke rising from Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that Lot was there, someone he loved. It made an incredible impression on me. I have to confess to you that I don't love Moscow. It is a hard place, and my family has not been particularly happy there. But when I think about smoke rising from the city, and I think of the beloved friends we have there--both Americans and Russians--I realize a little of what Abraham must have felt to see the smoke rising like from a furnace. No, I don't love Moscow, but I love the people God has given me there. And as I grow more mature as a believer, I realize that what God has given me by showing His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city is a priceless gift, one I could not have experienced in my comfortable life of a few years ago. And so, this morning I am grateful for a God who took me out of the life I had envisioned for myself and into a much better (though harder) life that was His perfect plan for me.

Well, I just got invited to breakfast across the hall with some colleagues, so I'm going to run. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are grateful for the hard places God has put in your path, and that you had a date with your spouse last night in a beautiful city. Blessings to you and yours!

His,

Kellye