Two Weeks with Our Kaleb

At 8pm on December 20, after a long and full day, we drove away from Boston Children's Hospital into a flurry of snow with our boy in the backseat. It was a surreal feeling. God has done so much and has been so gracious. 

Seven weeks of waiting

To feel you heart to heart

Seven weeks of hoping

Not knowing if we'd start

But now the bud begins to bloom

A mother's love felt from the womb

And joy floods in where distance plowed

And grace begins to grow this flower 

(Brittany Hope, 11.23.24)

The first few days home were intensely non-stop for me (Brittany) as we sought to work out the kinks of caring for Kaleb's medical, nutritional, and respiratory needs, while balancing all of that with caring for our other two toddlers, keeping everyone fed, and pumping. Though it's been intense, being able to have all of our kids in one place in our home and not having to go to and from the hospital and arrange timing and childcare has been a relief and an indescribable joy. Kaleb seems to be very happy at home. Zion and River adore him and love helping out with his needs.  

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 106:1

An Unexpected Journey

As most of you know, we are heavily involved in a ministry called the Great Commission Council, which is a coalition of 60+ long-term missionaries from around the world from various backgrounds who all agree on one central thing: the greatest need on the mission field today is to establish healthy indigenous churches. Exciting things have been brewing as we've recently finished the 50 statements and corresponding articles which address a wide spectrum of important issues related to missions and local churches. 

We have both been hard at work (Todd carrying the greater load) the past few months in order to get things ready for CROSS Conference, where GCC will have a big booth space and lots of stage time in order to promote these resources. CROSS conference happens to be taking place in Louisville this week (today!!). Since Todd had to be there and we wanted to avoid a situation where we were far away from each other, we decided to try to make a family trip out of it, depending on how life with Kaleb was like. We prayed a lot, talked a lot with Kaleb's doctors, and did a whole lot of planning and prep, and decided to make the trip. We arrived last Friday and will return to Boston on January 10. It has been a sweet and refreshing time!

• That God would keep us all healthy and free from sickness—especially Kaleb

• That God would grant Todd peace, wisdom, and clarity of mind as he heads up the promotion for GCC at CROSS this week

• That we would be faithful with whatever opportunities we have to testify to the goodness and faithfulness of God while we are here. 

• That God would increase Brittany's milk supply so she can continue feeding Kaleb with her milk. And for perseverance in pumping and feeding Kaleb by tube (it’s the most challenging part of his care for her)

• That God would multiply our sleep and give us joy as we go about our still very full days. 

We thank God for you!!