The joy of difficult paths!

We have a big, rewarding challenge coming up this Sunday.

It has been 7 days since I posted A Week of Trials. A Week of Joy!
On 2/11/13 I posted about our week of doctor visits, strep throat, news of Grandpa's failing health, and Shaka's seizure. It was a busy week full of bad news.

Well, this week has been back to normal and we even caught up on a week's worth of laundry!

This week has also brought about much thought and prayer over a decision to be able to minister to grandpa in his time of need. He is mostly paralyzed and requires much help to do all the simple tasks he used to be able to do himself. He has had a feeding tube inserted since he can no longer swallow and, though he still aspirates his food, he is being moved home for comfortable hospice-type care.

Our family has decided we need to be there for grandpa, whatever it takes.

We will be leaving Sunday morning and traveling 14 hours to Virginia.

There we will set up the our 300sqft RV in grandma's backyard so we can be there to help and serve her and grandpa for however long we can (we have 30-60 days in mind).

The hardest part of being in a new city, away from our church family and friends, living in a 300sqft RV with one bathroom and 5 kids is that Brian cannot stay with us.

Brian, being our only source of income, will have to sacrifice much and come back home to work.

This will most likely be the hardest thing either of us has ever done.

Being away from each other will be painful but through much prayer and thought this is what we are being led to do.

Caring for the needy is more important than our tremendous pain of being apart.

Being living examples to our kids on the importance of family is more important than the discomfort of small living space.

Loving on grandpa and serving grandma is more important than the fear of being a mom to 5 kids in a different city.

This will be an opportunity for both Brian and I to rely more heavily on Jesus for strength and grace. This will allow us to be obedient to minister and serve. This will once again take us down the difficult yet joyfully rewarding path of God's will.

Me + 5 kids + 300sqft - Brian = quite an experience!

We are fearfully excited.

Please pray for our family during this time of preperation and travel. We will be sure to update along this journey.

Update 2/22/13

We will not be leaving this Sunday. Due to grandpa having MSRA, grandma had to be tested. Her test came back negative, praise God! She will be tested again next week to double check and grandpa finishes his antibiotics next week and will be tested again as well. Our plan is to continue with our trip next Sunday (March 3rd) if family in VA still welcomes us to do so. Thank you for all your prayers. God's timing is always good!

Posted by Shannon

Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone