I'll do better this time!

I promise to try to do better this time. As far as the weight loss is going, I'm doing pretty good. I have lost 35 lbs. since Feb. 28. It's slow but it is working.

I have been reading several blogs of children in our missionary parent group and thought I would put down some thoughts as to what it's like being a missionary parent.

It is such a big responsibility to think that we are parents of a son (and daughter-in-law and granddaughter) who are so committed to God that they would leave their homeland to live among people who are unreached. Would I have been that committed, I don't think so. And that is very humbling. As a parent, my first thought is "what can I do to support them?" To say the least I can do is pray is to minimize the most important way of support. Daily prayer has become much more a part of my life since they left. Not just for them and for those in their group but for the people around them.

When people ask me how I could let them go "way to the other side of the world", I reply, "how could I stop them?" In my "mother's heart", the last place I want them to be is France. However, God has given me another heart, one for their mission. In that heart, France is the only place they could be. When we went to visit them this summer, I saw how much happier they were in the center of God's Will for their lives than they had ever been in Austin.

We have found a mission here in the States, reaching out to other missionary parents. Many of them have children in areas where Christianity is not accepted and cannot be openly practiced. Our fellowship group is a ministry to these parents as well as those like our children who can openly profess their Christianity.