Guest Blogger: Stacie Wood

OH. MY. GOSH! You have got to try that! Skydiving was perhaps the most fun and exhilarating thing I have ever done. SO worth it. Even if you are scared, just have someone push you out of that plane, and I promise you that you will not regret it once your feet land back on the ground. It is crazy exciting!

Here's the video I took of Andy as he discovered that we were going skydiving yesterday:

Andy's 30th Birthday Surprise! from Stacie Wood on Vimeo.

He seems pretty calm in the video, right? What you don't see is after the camera stops rolling he immediately started checking his pulse and telling me that his heartrate was through the roof! He sat in a chair in our living room with his iPhone and didn't move for about 20 minutes. I asked him if he was okay and found out that he was reading articles about the risks factors in skydiving! He found out that you're more likely to die in a car accident over the course of a years time than you are by skydiving. That helped a little. :-)

It was so great that Jennalene, Jack, and Archie went with us. That really relieved a lot of the stress and made the day more lighthearted and fun.

Andy was scared, but not so scared that he couldn't even enjoy it. By the time I landed on the beach, he and Archie were already talking about when they could come back to do it again! I knew he would love it!! :-)

We have so many good pictures...I think there's close to 500 total. So it's hard to find my absolute favorites. But I'll share a few really cool ones.

Home At Last- Good work Caedmon and Stacie

Stacie, Caedmon and I arrived earlier this afternoon after 10 days in Fukuoka Japan with a team of 7 students from Breakthrough Church. Our travels were extremely adventurous and stretching. Our trip home lasted about 21 hours from start to finish and was made with a 10 month old who loves his own bed. I loved the look of the guy who realized he was stuck next to us on a 12 hour flight from Japan to the states. He kind of had a look that was somewhere between a deer caught in the headlights and a sad 8th grader who realized he had to sit next to the reject on the bus. Not to mention the Japanese man to my right who said, "stop doing that" when Caedmon was crying for a period of about 5 minutes. So, I must admit after this trip I will never get angry at the crying baby again.

All that said, Caedmon did exceptionally well. He hardly cried at all, laughed a ton, slept some and ate a little. We had another guy on the plane tell us that he thinks Caedmon might be the cutest baby he has every seen. I thoroughly agreed with his assessment.

So kudos Caedmon!!! You made the trek and had your first mission trip at 9 months old. The first of many more. May God burn in your heart a passion for the nations and his glory that consumes your life. May you one day look at pictures of yourself being held by Japanese college students and beam with joy. As you grow may you know that your mother and father care more about you loving Jesus and his kingdom than we care about our convenience, your convenience or the convenience of our church.

So now you've taken a total of 6 trips in your ten months of life. You've been to Michigan (2x), South Carolina, California, Tennessee, New York, California, and Japan! You've done great!! You've brought joy to so many people with your smile, many memories to our first year with you and much pleasure to my heart.

So in case you are wondering here is why we've chosen to take you on all these trips and involve you in the kingdom of God at such a young age!!
1. If you are going to love the kingdom we can't protect you from it!! You probably will won't know for a long time that your life is different from most kids. It is not normal to have a passport when you are 10 months old. The kingdom of God is messy, it is not convenient, it is a ride and it will stretch you. So as you grow we will involve you and your future siblings with the prayer that you will take hold of the kingdom at a young age.

2. It is good for our church and for other families. People need to know that you and other children are not a hinderence to the kingdom of God. You are a welcomed part of the kingdom. You are the future of the kingdom. So when you cried on this trip and it might have been hard, I prayed that God would show the students in our church that you are a welcomed part of our ministry and our family is a package deal. May many other children be involved in the kingdom because we involve you.

3. God is going to use your life... Did you know that your mom got to tell about Jesus to two young Japanese mothers because you were with us! We got to spend a whole day with 2 families on the other side of the planet and tell them about the love of Jesus and if you weren't there we wouldn't have had this opportunity. God is using your life already and he is going to use it more as you grow.

4. I like being with you!!! You make me laugh. Your little giggle brings me joy. You make your mother's life and my life more rich. You crack me up the way you look at people and engage them with the assumption that everybody is going to love you as much as we do!!

I am proud to call you my child. Even though my life is different with you, it is better because of you!! You are truly a blessing form the Lord. I want a bunch more of you in my home. I want you to know how much I love you, and how dear you are to my heart! May the Lord bless you and use your life and give you a deep love for his Son, for his kingdom, and for the world.