Clearly, we're too young to have been married this long

My beautiful kids...amazing to think how they have grown in the last two years. Time has definitely not stood still!

Not to us, O LORD, no to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. Psalm 115:1

It is a beautiful morning in Prague, and I am settling in to write with a delicious cup of German coffee, courtesy of friends who brought us a treat from their trip to Berlin. One of the joys of living in this part of the world is the ability to travel easily (borders are open between EU countries) and see a little more of the world than we could from Russia (not an EU country, and definitely not an open border!). To be honest, we could do nothing but travel around Czech Republic and see some amazing things--this is one of the most beautiful places God created.

We are settling in slowly but surely. The boxes arrived from Moscow on Wednesday, and while there is still a great deal to do in order to be done unpacking, we are definitely heading in that direction. It is good to have our pictures and the things we have collected in Russia--it makes this feel more like home to us. We have spent some time with friends, which is wonderful. It's a blessing to have some built-in relationships, but also fun to build new ones. Prague is a much smaller city than Moscow, and even the folks who are "way out" from the center aren't more than an hour from us, and many people are only a few blocks away. (In Moscow, it took us right around an hour to get to the homes of friends...that was the norm.) So we feel like we can see anybody we want without making a big production out of it. That's fun. There are a good many kids here, and our children are definitely enjoying that. Hannah spent the week with our friends, the Lewises, in Plzen--about an hour or so by car from Prague--working in an English camp. She had a wonderful time. Hannah loves to go and work...she is definitely not content to just "live life" and have that be her ministry.

Tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary. That's just bizarre to even think about, frankly. (I hope you just thought, "Wow! They must have been teenagers when they married." C'mon. Be a little surprised that we have been married that long!) We were young--22--when we married...and so stupid. When I look back and think about some of the decisions we made over the years that were just idiotic...well, I'm amazed by God's immense grace toward us. We ran for years from God's call on our lives. And it isn't like we didn't live a fulfilling, fun life as we ran from that call. But on this side of the call, having finally listened and obeyed, I can definitely testify that God's best for us is infinitely better than the "good" lives we were living. Even when this life is hard, it is far better than what I would have chosen for us if left to my own devices. Safe, secure lives are fine, but living this adventure with my very best friend...so good.

It hasn't been all sunshine and roses for the last two years, though. It's been hard. Really, really hard. For one thing, change of any kind stresses a marriage. Add to that children who are transitioning and a country that isn't your own, and it could be a recipe for disaster. But God has been faithful and gracious, and we've survived. You know the hardest thing about the last two years, at least for our marriage? Marc's happiness and success. He came to the field and thrived. I came to the field and completely lost who I thought I was. Every single thing I counted as mine--my career, my success as a teacher, my ability as a student, my ability to communicate, my singing--gone. Wiped out in one plane trip to Russia. I would love to say that I stepped into Moscow, donned my apron, and became a quiet little wife. That, of course, would be a lie, and I am contractually obligated to tell the truth. In my own defense, I tried. But oooohhhh...how I failed. Failed at being the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect missionary, the perfect language student...the perfect anything. And that was hard, my friends...on me, on the kids, and definitely on Marc and our marriage. Over time, I have learned that being successful in this life looks different than being successful in my former life. I've learned that being a missionary might look a little different for me than for other people, but that's okay. And I've learned that nobody on earth, not even my parents and sisters--who are completely biased about me, thank God--nobody believes in me more than Marc. Marc, it turns out, never wanted me to be anything but exactly who I am. It is one of God's greatest blessings--having someone who loves you exactly as you are, warts and all. Just one more blessing to add to the list of the many, many things I don't deserve, but am oh, so grateful for on a daily basis.

Normally, I would end this by saying something like, "So this morning, I am thankful for my husband," but that would be too little. There is never a morning that I don't wake up and thank God for Marc. Literally. Before my feet hit the floor. It's the first thing I say to God every morning. I hope I never get over the blessing of being married to Marc. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are amazed by the person God has given you to love best, and that you get to spend the day with one of your closest friends, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Thank you, thank you...did I mention, thank you?

My babies on Red Square. They have certainly grown in our two years on the field, haven't they?

Many a soul begins to come to God when he flings off being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart, and that is not religion but Jesus Christ. --Oswald Chambers

It is a cold, rainy, gray morning here in Prague, and if I'm really honest--I'm glad. It was super hot a few days this week, and it was miserable. Eighty-five may not sound that hot, but when you live on the top floor and don't have air conditioning...it's a little sweatier than I like to be! So we're enjoying the cool a bit, and we're definitely not complaining about the rain, no matter what it does to my hair. I am enjoying a cup of Starbucks and listening to the quiet. Not a bad way to spend the morning. We are keeping our friends' children--a four-year-old and three-year-old twins--so quiet has been quite the rare commodity for the last few days. We must have worn them out yesterday, though, because they are still asleep this morning.

It's been quite a week here in our new city. Hannah has had two different sleepovers--one at our house, another at a friend's--and headed to Plzen (pronounced Plizen in Czech, which is notorious for its lack of vowels) with our friends Larry and Melissa yesterday. She will be working with them at an English Camp this week along with a team from FBC Forney, TX. Sarah Beth and John have been helping me with the kids, and Sarah Beth is getting ready for (and very excited about) her five weeks in the States in August and September. We spent some time at the park near us, which is the most amazing park I've ever seen, and I met several women who spoke English and were very friendly. (Parks are great for meeting people, but I could never get much conversation going in Russia--a combination of my so-so Russian and a general distrust of strangers in that culture.) But the big event of our week was, unfortunately, Marc's accident.

Marc is working from home, and in order to do so, he needed a desk that can accommodate his equipment, so the office here gave him a large, heavy metal L-shaped desk. On Tuesday, he was in the loft putting it together (the living room has a nice-sized loft in it), and I was below him making a call to the States when I felt a vibration in my feet and heard him scream. A metal beam from the desk had fallen on his face, and a second beam had hit him across his arms and chest. Of course, this did a pretty good amount of damage. After an emergency trip to the dentist and a series of x-rays and a root canal, he has a splint on his top right teeth and a lot of pain. He fractured his front right tooth right under his nose, and the other teeth moved inward. The dentist is still not sure if the teeth will remain "viable," but we're hopeful. Above all, we are grateful to God for the little damage that was done in comparison to what could have happened. After I looked at what fell on him, I began running different scenarios--what if it had hit an inch upward, or what if he hadn't turned his head when he saw it coming--and realized that our situation is about as good as it could be given the circumstances, and it could have been a thousand times worse than it was.

So, we're grateful this morning. Grateful for a God who looks out for us in every detail of life--even the accidents that happen along the way. Grateful to work for a company that takes ridiculously good care of us. Grateful to every Southern Baptist who has ever put money in the plate for the Cooperative Program or for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Maybe until now, that was just something you did "for the missionaries"--that nameless, faceless group of people somewhere in Africa. And don't get me wrong--there is nothing wrong with that. But I hope the next time you contribute, the next time you tithe and your church gives part of that money to the CP, I hope you will remember that your offering isn't going to nameless, faceless people, but to my family in Prague, to pay for our home, our homeschool materials, our salary so we can buy food, and yes, in some cases, our emergency root canals and dental work. Your offering is going to our friends in Plzen, our friends in Brazil, our friends in very dangerous and closed parts of the world. We aren't nameless or faceless, but real people living everyday, real lives across the world, praying that God will use us to impact the darkness of a world that doesn't know Him. Sometimes, in the midst of those real lives, desk parts fall on us--and you make it possible for us to not worry about the financial aspect of the accident. You make life here, in one of the most atheistic nations on earth, possible. We could not be here without you.

So this morning, my family says thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For every dime you've given. For every prayer you've said. For just remembering us. Thank you. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are grateful for the people who make your life possible, and that no desk parts fall on you this week. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Good morning from Prague!

Me and my man by the Aegean Sea. Not a bad life we lead, is it?
The family posing in front of the Aegean Sea. Sarah Beth had a worship service she had to attend, so she couldn't be in the picture, but otherwise, I think it's pretty good. Not real sure what John is looking at, though. No telling, really.

I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too often the realization that something has to be done and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the spiritual saint, his aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

It is a rainy, cold morning in Prague, and I am thoroughly enjoying a cup of Starbucks House Blend. My wonderful husband brought me some from a trip he made yesterday. It's my one extravagance on the field--I like to have really good coffee every morning. Things here are going well--we arrived on Monday afternoon and have been working on settling in ever since. Our boxes are on a truck still in Moscow, so that's not ideal, but it worked out okay, since now we will have everything ready before our stuff arrives sometime this week or next. Hopefully, that will mean that when it does arrive, unpacking will be a little bit easier. It's never easy, though, is it? But we are settling in to life here, which is very different from life in Moscow. We are enjoying the new apartment, which has a good amount of space, and we are getting to know the neighborhood. It's really nice to have a neighborhood--definitely something we missed in our part of Moscow.

One thing that has been particularly great about our week is the incredibly warm welcome we have received. We really feel like people are glad we are here, and that is such a blessing. It was not an easy decision to come here--we love Russia and Russians, and we really struggled with the idea of leaving both. But God has confirmed for us, again and again, the decision we made to be here. That doesn't mean I don't miss my friends in Russia, because I do, or that I am not a little overwhelmed by Czech, because I am. We have already begun to seek out places where Russian-speakers are. Sarah Beth came home from buying shampoo earlier in the week with the good news that the owner of the store was Russian and very nice. I am looking forward to heading in to meet her some time in the next week. The great thing about speaking some Russian is that there are pockets of Russian-speakers everywhere in the world. We are definitely not limited to Russia. I cannot help but think that is not a coincidence, but rather a Divine design. I don't really believe in coincidence, anyway.

So what does any of this have to do with the Oswald Chambers quote above? I've been reflecting all week on my time in Russia, on my life for the last two years, the victories and struggles, and I've come to realize that many times, the struggles were God's way of bringing me back to a desire just to know Him. Not to do anything for Him. Not to learn Russian for Him. Just to know Him. I am a worker bee, and I definitely enjoy when I feel like I am doing something. But sometimes, the best, most important thing I can do is sit still and worship. Sometimes, rather than always trying to be busy doing things for God, I need to shut my trap and listen to God. I am praying that my time in Prague will be a time to renew my mind, renew my strength, and renew my joy in serving the God of Everything. All of those things are wrapped up in knowing Him more.

Well, I am going back to get a second cup of coffee, and it's time for me to grab the clothes out of the dryer before they get all wrinkled. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you would take time today to stop and listen to the God who longs to know you and be known, and that you are going with your husband to Bohemian Bagel for breakfast, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,

Kellye

Saying farewell

A statue of Karl Marx overlooks a block of the center of Moscow. His philosophy formed the basis of communism, which had and continues to have a profound impact on the people of Russia.
General Zubkov's statue outside the entrance to Red Square. He is trampling a Nazi flag beneath his horse. Russians are extremely proud (and rightly so) of their involvement in defeating the Nazi forces.
Probably our city's most famous landmark--St. Basil's cathedral on Red Square. It is said that Ivan the Terrible had the architect's eyes gauged out so that he could never create anything to rival the beauty of St. Basil's.

Blessed be the LORD, for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. Psalm 31:21

You're the God of this city

You're the King of these people

You're the Lord of this nation

You are

You're the Light in this darkness

You're the Hope to the hopeless

You're the Peace to the restless

You are

"God of this city"

While it is only Tuesday and we don't leave until Monday morning, today is likely the last chance I will have to write before our big move to Prague. The apartment is mostly empty. Our belongings are on a truck between Moscow and Prague. We are taking care of last minute things, spending time with friends, and saying our final farewells. This morning, I have spent some time reflecting on what God has done in the last two years as we have lived in this massive city--Europe's largest, and the third largest in the world. The latest calculation I've seen puts the population of Moscow at 15.1 million people. Eleven million people ride the Moscow Metro each day, including the five members of the Hooks clan. So what has God been doing as we have lived in this large place, as David says earlier in Psalm 31? More than I could have imagined two years ago.

• He has grown me out of my comfort zone. It was extremely difficult for me to live in a place where nothing anyone said to me for the first six months made any sense whatsoever. I was accustomed to being a smart person. Suddenly, I had trouble communicating with small children, who had a much broader vocabulary in Russian than I did. My first reaction was complete frustration. But it was clear that God had called us here, so I just kept plugging along at the language. I still am not nearly where I want to be with Russian, and Marc is way, way more advanced than I, but God has definitely used this time to grow me out of the idea that I had to rely on my own "smartness" to get by. Now I know--I have only to rely on Him.
• He has taught me to pray constantly. I literally have an ongoing conversation with God all day long. I could not possibly have survived the first year on the field without a true sense of His constant presence. I have learned that nothing is too small to bring to Him.
• He has made me understand that He doesn't need me to do anything but be obedient, even when it doesn't make sense. When I came here, I genuinely wanted to offer God all of my skills to use as He saw fit. I believed my God-given abilities would certainly be useful to Him. But I have spent the last two years feeling like a failure because I couldn't seem to accomplish anything for God. What I have come to understand is that it isn't about what I can do for Him, but what He can do through me if I just respond in obedience to Him. That means saying yes even when I don't want to or when it doesn't make logical sense to me. No matter what--yes, Lord.
• He has taught me that home is wherever the family is. It was a shock to me the first time I called Moscow "home." But it's where we all are, and so it's home. There are certainly people I miss in the States, and I'd give my right arm some days for a Chik-fil-a sandwich, but home is where Marc and the kids are. And for now, they're in Europe. So Europe is home.
• He has given me a heart for this city and these people. Never in a million years could I love Moscow and its people without fully relying on God. I am not a city person. My Russian is not terrible but not great, either. The culture here is 100% different from my native culture. Yet when I think about leaving on Monday, it's hard. Not because I don't love Prague and all its beauty, but because my heart breaks at leaving Russia. My heart remains here. I will find ministry in Prague, because that's in my nature. But I am praying already for Russian-speaking folks to be involved with in ministry. That, my friends, is completely and totally a God thing.

Goodbyes are never easy, and I seem to have done nothing but say goodbye the last couple of years. But in the midst of this goodbye, I can honestly say that wherever I look, I see the fingerprints of God's lovingkindness to me in this besieged city. I am thankful for a God who remains faithful, compassionate and merciful no matter what city I am living in, or in what part of the world. I am also grateful that He loves this city and these people more than I can fathom, and that His heart remains steadfast in His desire that they would each come to know Him personally. That will continue to be my prayer for Moscow, even as I say, "Dos vedonya." Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you have a heart for whatever city God has put you in for this moment, and that you are having dinner with some of your favorite people tonight, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,

Kellye

Could we borrow those life vests, please?

Hannah's best impression of a model, maybe? I love this, because you can see the lady who works at this shop in the mirror. It was sweet of her to let Hannah and her friend try things on and take pictures.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge"--which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. I Timothy 6:1-2

It is a gray, yucky morning here in Moscow. We are heading to house church and then a birthday party for a friend then back home to finish packing our room, so it will be a full day here. It has been a rough couple of weeks for us--packing, getting rid of stuff, packing, packing, packing. We did have a really lovely evening with friends Friday night, and we've actually managed to have some family time amidst the packing, but it's mostly been a long, steady stream of going through our lives and realizing how much we've accumulated in our two years in Moscow.

Three weeks from tomorrow we leave Moscow. It's hard for me to believe, and I definitely have mixed feelings about it. There are many things about this city that I love. There are also many things I hate about this city. I will miss my friends here, certainly. On Saturday, we will have some Russian friends over for a farewell party, and that will be hard. It will be especially hard to say goodbye to Sergei, who has become such a part of our lives here. But we know for certain that it is time to head to Prague, at least for the next year. We are tired, and to be honest, we need a break. We have had no vacation in the two years we've been here, except for a couple of days in Prague last October, and we need some down time. Of course, we will still be working in Prague, but it is a smaller city, a little slower, a little more Western than Moscow. It isn't America by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a place where we have good friends, where we know for certain that we can breathe a little more deeply and relax a little. I'm looking forward to that. And there is ministry there for all of us, because there are Russian-speakers everywhere in the world. Any major city anywhere in the world is going to have a group of Russian-speakers, making our time learning Russian time well-spent.

The verses above are important to me. The "Timothys" are some of my favorite books in the New Testament (I'm reading Numbers right now and finding it a surprisingly good read), and Paul admonishes Timothy again and again to "guard what has been entrusted to you." I feel as though my main job here in Moscow has been to guard what has been entrusted to me. Sometimes, it feels like our little family is on a dangerously small life raft, clinging to the sides and praying for help against a choppy, rough ocean. Think The Perfect Storm without the lifevests. In the last two months, that has been especially true. And as we prepare to leave Moscow, it has really felt like we were fighting uphill battles against an enemy we can't see clearly, but whose arrows are poisonous just the same. I'm sure many of you who read this can identify with feeling like you are under attack from every corner. But you know what? Just because it feels that way, doesn't mean that's reality. It's easy for the enemy of our souls to find strongholds in our emotions and use them against us. I'm not saying emotions are bad, because they aren't--they are God-given just like the rest of our characteristics. But the reality is that often, our emotions lead us astray. We don't have to ignore them, but we have to evaluate them against what we know of our God. And when I read the Bible, I find a holy God who claims that we are NEVER alone. And because I know Him to be true to His word, I can trust that even though it seems that we are fighting enemies alone, we really aren't. He's here with us, just like He's always been. And though we might stray, He never does.

One thing I will say about the move is that it has highlighted the differences between Marc and me. He processes everything aloud. I process everything internally. Frustration makes him talk, and it makes me withdraw. It turns out that those personality tests were right--we are pretty much opposites. The great thing is that no matter how different we are, we have grown together so much the last two years that we can laugh at the differences. Not always, but most of the time. We've laughed a good bit in the last week. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you know that you are not alone, no matter the circumstances, and that in a week, you will be heading to Greece for a week, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

The notebook

The outside of the notebook. It spells Aeroflot in Cyrillic. Aeroflot is the national airline of Russia.
The front page. The two quotes are both from Jim Elliot. One says, "Wherever you are, be all there." The other says, "Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Lord God, I praise You this morning, for I have trusted in Your lovingkindness, and I rejoice in Your salvation. As I sit at my kitchen table and look over the city of Moscow, I sing to You, for you have, indeed, dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:5-6) --first entry in my prayer journal after we moved to Moscow, October 6, 2007

I rarely quote myself. It's kind of arrogant and icky. However, for the purposes of this blog, I couldn't get around it. Yesterday was pretty momentous for me, because I finished the journal that I have been writing in since I became a missionary. It was a gift from my parents. Daddy received it as a retirement gift from Aeroflot, the national airline of Russia. It is a really cool notebook, with lined pages and lots of them. (I cannot write in a straight line without lines. Gotta have 'em.) I saved it to use when I went away to training with my family in August of 2007. And in it, I have recorded prayer requests (many, many of your names are mentioned), praise to God, answered prayers, things I think God is telling me, many confessions of my own failures, and anything else that occurs to me as I'm praying. One of my goals when I came to the field--and it remains a goal--was to improve my prayer life. Not to be more consistent--I've told you before that I'm a girl with a checklist and some discipline, and finding time to spend with God is not a problem. But I've always felt that my prayers were--I don't know--simple. Not really deep or meaningful, and not really indicative of the kind of relationship I want to have with the Lord of my life. So I began writing my prayers. Sometimes I write them and then read them aloud. Sometimes I just write them. So I spent some time yesterday reading the letters I'd written, and it was a pretty illuminating experience. Here are some things I learned, both about myself and about prayer in general.

• My prayers have grown up. At first, there are a lot of "make me happy and help me to live with these people who are in my family" kind of prayers. Then there are the "what are You thinking having that person in missions work?" kind of prayers. As the book progresses, the prayers are less and less about situations and people, and more and more about the love and desire I have for Christ. Fewer and fewer specific situations are mentioned--help me with that person, Lord, because they are driving me NUTS--and the focus of the prayers becomes more and more about Him.
  

• My prayers have become very, very Scripture focused. When I feel weak and pitiful and don't know what to say, God's word ALWAYS has the right words. And I truly believe that there is a great deal of power to be found in speaking God's words back to Him. Some of my favorite prayers in the book are passages that I've rewritten for my situation. There is comfort in writing, "But now God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the One who formed me, says, 'Kellye, do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I am the One who called you by name. Kellye, you belong to me! When you pass through the snow, I am right there with you. As you wade through language study, I am there, too. When things are at their most difficult, when it seems that all around you is fire--you will be safe. You will walk right through the hard times without being scorched, because I am with you. I am the LORD your God, He who saved you. You are precious to me, and I honor and love you. Refuse to be afraid, because I am with you in Moscow, just as I was with you in Richmond, and just as I was with you in Middleburg. No matter where you are, I am with you, and I call you by name. You, Kellye, I have formed and made for My glory, and I am always with you, even to the farthest reaches of the earth.'" (Isaiah 43:1-7, November 3, 2007) Who can feel weak and alone when the God of the Universe calls your name?
  

• The really important part of prayer is listening. I have never spent as much time listening for what God is saying to me as I have in the last two years. I have learned the importance of asking a question and then shutting my trap. I don't ask over and over and over anymore. God knows. He knows when I am anxious. He knows what I need to know and when I need to know it. And so instead of asking the same thing again and again, I listen and then record what I believe He is saying.
  

• He has been beyond faithful to me. There are hundreds and hundreds of prayers in that book, and when I read them, I am overwhelmed by God's goodness and faithfulness. And it's not so much His faithfulness in things or situations or people, though He's certainly faithful in those things. It's His faithfulness to show me more of Himself, to walk closely with me, to be my constant companion. It's His faithfulness to show me what He wants for me. It's His faithfulness in the big and the seemingly tiny aspects of my life. Oh, my friends--He is faithful and true. I will declare it with my last breath. He is faithful and true.

So it's time to start a new notebook. In it, I will record more prayers to my Maker. And I will record the ways in which He responds to those prayers. But I know that no matter what the future holds, when I finish that notebook and look back through it, I will see once again the goodness of the Lord. That is an immeasurable gift, I think. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you have recorded somewhere the ways in which God has been true and faithful in your life, and that you enjoyed a Weight Watchers chocolate smoothie after your workout this morning, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Saying yes to whatever He has

Sarah Beth and the boys at graduation. She loves these guys...and so do we!
Sarah Beth and the girls--Amanda and Tina. Great friends who have made this a great year.
Hannah and her friend, Amielle. These two love each other so much!
Me and my Rebecca at graduation. Beck was the valedictorian...we are all so proud of her and ALL the graduates at HCA.

My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:5-8

I don't know what it's like where you are, but it is a gorgeous morning in Moscow. Sunshine, blue skies...the sound of dump trucks below my kitchen window...it's all filling my soul with happiness. Okay, maybe not the dump trucks, but the rest is definitely good. It's been quite a week. Finals all week, awards and graduation on Friday, a farewell picnic and talent show on Saturday...it makes me tired to even write about it! But it was a great week, and now we are focused on getting ourselves ready for our move to Prague at the end of this month. In there, we also have a week in Greece, so we really only have three weeks to get ourselves ready. This morning, that doesn't feel like a lot of time.

If you pay attention to what is going on in Southern Baptist life at all, you are aware that the IMB has drastically cut appointments for the rest of this year and next year. Unfortunately, that means a lot of uncertainty has just entered our lives. How will this impact us? What will our next step look like, if we aren't appointed? Where do we go from here? It's enough to keep a worrier like me up at night, but I'm sleeping pretty well. You know why? Because God knew. He knew this was going to happen. He knows the next step. He knows what our year in Prague will be like. He knows the ups and downs, the uncertainties and certainties that we are facing. And He has it all under control. That doesn't mean we aren't thinking about it and wondering what the future holds. But it does mean that we aren't worrying about it. He'll make our path clear, and whatever it is, He'll provide for us what we have to have to take the next step. We love our life in Europe, but if the States is where He wants us next, then we'll happily go there. We aren't shaken, because He is unshakeable. So we pack, and we sell, and we pray that He will find us faithful no matter where He sends us next.

Well, speaking of packing--I must get moving in that direction. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are standing firm in the One who holds the world in His mighty right hand, and that you are looking forward to dinner with the girls tomorrow night, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,

Kellye