Our just-turned-4-year-old is at a stage where pretty much everything he does is adorable.  Even some of his disobedience is sweet enough to cause me to look away for a parent-face reboot.   And as for learning to say his “l’s” and “r’s”. . . well,  I wee-ly yike the way he sounds now.  He doesn’t run, he prances.  He plays with Legos while bridging off of his head.  We count the kisses he gives us at bedtime into the teens and twenties most nights.  Much like me, his whole attitude can do a 180 with the right application of TLC.

During one family exodus from the house, I took his hand and gave the boarding call.  He looked at the unlit stairway down to the garage door and resisted,

“But it’ s dark and I can’t open the door!”

Never mind that we had done the “get in the car” maneuver a thousand times before.  Never mind that I was walking with him, holding his hand.  He was thinking about what he could and couldn’t do, rather than who he was with and how I had always provided what he needed.

And so it is with our launch to serve at-risk children and host mission teams as missionaries at the Home of Life in Costa Rica.  When we look at the to-do lists to accomplish, the amount of physical stuff to be shifted, and the financial support to be raised in the next 6 months, the door knob seems beyond our reach.  Because it is.  Our tiptoes and outstretched fingertips won’t get it done.  But we walk hand-in-hand with a big God who is leading us forward.  We look to Him to open doors and move hearts to join with us.  We trust Him to establish the work of our hands in a new nation.  We climb into His lap for encouragement and rest between His shoulders when the road seems long.  He is able.  And how He must smile at our antics along the way.

“Put your hope in the Lord.  Travel steadily along his path.  He will honor you by giving you the land.” Psalm 37:34a

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”  Deuteronomy 33:12b

Psst. . . A word to all of you awesome people who follow our journey by email subscription.  I’m so thankful for each of you!  It’s great to have you with us along the way.  I wanted to let you know that the email format of the blog doesn’t include the feature image of the post, which is often the best part.  So if you’d like the cherry on top, click on the big blue post title to hop over to our website for a moment.  Today you’ll see one of my favorite little faces watching planes at the airport.  And if you’d like to have TheGoodNewsFamily delivered fresh and piping hot right to your inbox, scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email address in the box next to our family photo, and click “Sign me up!”  No lines, no waiting here, friends.