While Matt is enjoying his Thailand experience, Lydia and I are back in Ohio to visit friends and family. It has been so exciting to introduce Lydia to her Great-Grandma Prather! They have hit it off very well and it is so sweet to watch them together. Lydia did pretty well during the LONG drive from Richmond to Columbus and we had a great visit with Ronda (and Kevin) the last couple of days. Ronda came with us to Gran’s yesterday so we could take the four-generation picture my mom and grandma have both been anxious to get. I hadn’t thought much about it, but after seeing it printed and in the special Four Generations frame she had, I was really excited. What a blessing to see the women of our family all together like that! I’m now enjoying letting Lydia and Grandma get to know each other over the next couple of days 🙂
On a side note, I had the privilege to attend our old church this morning and there were several people giving testimonies about recent missions experiences. I was so blessed by the work God is doing in that body! Several youth spoke and their spiritual maturity and heart for others was truly awesome. And the many others who shared inspired and challenged the congregation to look for opportunities to minister in the community, state, country, and around the world!! I even got to share about what God has done in the life of our family in the two years since we left 🙂 Words cannot express the joy I feel in seeing familiar faces developing a passion for missions and daring to walk in obedience regardless of where that takes them!!