426, but not 427

Today is my 426th consecutive day in Guatemala, and therefore outside of the United States. I know that's not much compared to a lot of missionaries, soldiers, and other folks, but considering that my longest period of time out of the U.S. previously was 7 days... it's going to be really nice to see that flag flying in St. Louis tomorrow.

We leave the children's home at 5 a.m. for 4 weeks of travel in the States, beginning in St. Louis, then on to Midland, then Atlanta, then Lexington and Wilmore, KY. We're counting on seeing many of you along the way.

Although not many of you will read this between now and then- One specific thing we'll ask you to pray for... obtaining our visas has been quite a process (of nothing happening for almost a complete year now). Since we still do not have them, we're not sure what we may run into at the airport in the morning... hopefully nothing, but if a Guatemalan migration officer wanted to use it to give us a hard time they certainly could. (We've been told that it's possible we could be fined up to $700, even though we completed everything that the law asks for a year ago.)

We appreciate your prayers during our entire trip. The blog may not be quite as active as usual while we are away, but we will do our best to keep it updated.