Still don't have pictures to post, but thinking tonight about a family that is very dear to us, on a plane right now to London Heathrow. It is nowhere near their first step in their journey toward a life of sharing Jesus Christ at the CMA Women's and Children's Hospital in Mali, Africa. That started quite awhile ago. In this past year they have sold their house, dispersed their possessions, quit their jobs and pursued what they would need to be useful as Christians and physicians in Mali. Tonight they are on the plane most of the night with their 4 month old daughter and more backpacks than anyone should have to carry around!
It was a wrenching good-bye for us Carnes because the Holsenbacks have been true friends to us. In the five years we have lived here they have become like our family. They have given fellowship and laughter and shared with us in happy and sad things. In a time of life where we have had no one to call on but the Lord, He brought Steve and Heather to us, to be His hands. They reached out and took responsibility for us. They have come over in the middle of the night to listen to wheezing, met me at the ER to deal with breathing problems, nursed us through a terrible flu (and any mother who has had to deal with vomiting and crying children while vomiting and crying herself will understand what this means), taken our children under their wings and loved them, pumped 20,000 gallons of water out of our backyard when it flooded....too many things to tell about. The neighborhood is empty without them.
In a sad way, we were happy to see them take off for this part of their journey. Glad to have their example in front of us. Praying that we will be just as faithful to go where God asks us to go. Because I believe that we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." I also belive that we can say "No, I won't walk there." And they haven't said that.
This friendship is one part of residency I will be forever grateful for.
