On my mind

I've been wanting to update the blog for several days now, but there's been so much on my mind and I wasn't sure how to put it all into words. The first has been this little guy...

We came home from church Sunday and noticed he was flushed and very warm. We took his temperature and it was 100.4. This is the first time Riley's had a fever, so Daniel and I kind of freaked out. Since then he's had a fever off and on, but really no other symptoms. Sunday afternoon, especially, you would have never known anything was wrong. Yesterday and today he's been a bit more fussy, but he's eating well, sleeping very well, and when his fever isn't too high, he's laughing and talking like normal. Thankfully, his 6-month well-visit was already scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:30, so hopefully we'll get some answers from the doctor then.

Second, like many of the rest of you, I have not been able to get the people of Haiti off my mind. For those of you who don't know, the country of Haiti was very near and dear to my heart prior to the earthquake. I've been on 4 mission trips there (1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005), and during the first one, the Lord clearly confirmed my call to missions. There are so many vivid images in my mind of traveling around the country participating in medical clinics and day camps. I can hear the children singing, "Amen, Alleluia," "Jesus loves the little children (in Creole)," and so many other songs. I can feel the dirt on my face from riding in the back of a truck for hours in order to get to a remote village. I can see the smiles on the children's faces as we gave them clothes and toys and snacks. I can smell the burning trash mixed with exhaust from vehicles mixed with wild goats and pigs. I can feel Aye's hand in mine (a precious orphan who won my heart on the first trip and was later adopted by Marie Prinvil, an amazing Haitian woman who began an orphanage) and then see his face as I had to say goodbye not knowing if he would still be alive the next time I came to his village. As you can tell, a flood of memories have overwhelmed my mind and heart over the past week as I've seen pictures and heard stories about the devastation in Haiti. Because of other circumstances in our life right now, all I can do is pray (the most important!) and give. But, please pray with me that if it's the Lord's will, I will be able to travel back to Haiti sometime in the next year to help with relief efforts. If you'd like to keep up with a first-hand account of what it's like to be living there right now, I highly recommend this blog. Licia is the sister of one of our friends (Casey) who used to be a member of our church here in New Orleans. You'll see on the right side of the screen a box to click if you want to donate money.

The final thing on my mind is very exciting! Because of the nature of it, I can't share too many details just yet, but in less than 2 weeks we will be traveling to Texas for Daniel to preach at a church in view of a call. After preaching both the morning and evening services, the church will vote on whether they want Daniel to be their new pastor. If the vote goes through, we will load up our stuff and head west! We are both so excited, and we really believe this is the direction the Lord is leading us. But, until it's official, I don't think I should share the name of the town or church. Stay tuned for those details... :) We would really appreciate your prayers, though, as we continue through this process. At times, it can be a bit grueling and tiresome. The exact dates we'll be at the church are 1/29-1/31. Please pray especially for Daniel as he preaches both services and meets with pretty much every age group earlier in the weekend. Thank you so much!

I pray you're all doing well, and I promise I'll post about our almost month-long trip over Christmas soon!