Summer.Time.Ness

Am I the only one who, every single year, when July rolls around, the realization hits that the upcoming Christmas is now closer than the most recently celebrated Christmas? I mean, it's the middle of summer! Christmas is supposed to be a loooong way off at this point, not almost peeking over the horizon! There are times when I'm convinced that a day in summer is only half as long as a day any other time of the year. I call this phenomenon - summer.time.ness.

Photo cred to the greatly talented Levi Hebert

Last time I wrote, we were heading into June with our sleeves rolled up - or maybe with sleeves cut off since it's sweltering here ;) As most of you know, Miguel and I took the position of Team Trip Coordinators this year for FCA Domincan Republic. Prior to this year, FCA DR partnered with another local organization for hosting teams in one of FCA's multiple locations; but we wanted to be able to connect mission teams to more places where our staff is working and be more intentional in cultivating recurring relationships with our staff and the coaches and athletes being ministered to. 
Part of this strategy has meant creating the ability to host teams in three locations now, instead of just one, so that our staff members, spread out in these areas, each work with only several teams a year. This allows them the ability to continue with their normal ministry and discipleship work without too many distractions while still receiving the blessing of having teams add additional support and contribution to work projects for several of their coaches each year. This does, however, mean for Miguel and myself the responsibility of traveling to where each team is located. Since most teams coming down are connected to sports and schools, the vast majority come during the months of summer-break (June-August); this happens to the point of having multiple back-to-back teams where we would be telling one good-bye and welcoming another one sometimes within less than 24 hours. July finds us right smack in the middle of all this flurry of mission trip activities! This week's team has been doing a men's conference in Higuey, where we live, so I've finally been able to get ahead on work projects, including updating the blog and sending out a newsletter :D 

We, miraculously, were able schedule a necessary trip Stateside toward the end of June, and looking back, I still marvel that we were able to do so. It was God's hand holding those dates for us, because we surprisingly didn't even have a team wanting to book a trip over those ten days. Right before we left for ND, our wonderful friends, the Heberts, came and spent a week with us (our first personal visitors from the States!). 
Our ND trip was a time of great encouragement, as always. For the past 3 years, my sending church has held and continues to hold us faithfully up in prayer; and every time I schedule the yearly trip to ND, my heart is always full of excitement in being able to personally share what God continues to do with and for us here, as well as witness how He continues to work there. The picture below demonstrates with so much truth what we continue to learn, both within our local church here and other parts of the Body back in the States. Its message has resounded in our hearts so many times this summer and I am continually overwhelmed with gratitude for how God has provided for us through the Church on so many levels. 

The same day we returned from ND, our intern arrived. Hannah is with us for the month of July helping us out with the mission teams, doing some English tutoring with our staff, and pitching in with daily life. It's been a true joy having her here! Apart from having another pair of hands on deck, her joyful, serving attitude has been a big contributing factor in making all the crazy summer.time.ness go smoothly.
She'll be abandoning us (I mean, returning to her other responsibilities) the same day our last team of the summer comes in. 

In this season of crazy summer.time.ness God's whispering reminder to us has been "rejoice in the details." Just this week, we had another conversation of the slow transitions beginning at the close of this summer and moving into next year. It seems like so much when taking in all the factors - we came up with no less than 10 contributing factors that will determine how these transitions will work out. But as we live and move in this current season, we see how God works out all the details. He goes ahead of us before each team comes down and the details we think will be complicated all get ironed out with seemingly little effort. It's like He's taking this crazy summer.time.ness as a small scale demonstration of how He is more than able to handle the crazy life.ness coming up. 
I, as a human, have the habit of projecting things too far ahead of time and getting caught up in everything that could go wrong. Our Father, in His sovereignty, keeps whispering, "rejoice in the details." 

Rejoice in the complicated made simple. 


The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Deuteronomy 31:8

Living a Life of Prayer

I like living a life filled with charts, criteria, and check-lists. These are things that make me feel safe. Running down lists and checking off boxes gives me a great feeling of accomplishment, seeing right in front of me that I succeeded in something that day. 

As you can imagine, I tend to apply my charts and check-lists to all aspects of my life - marriage, ministry, friendships, relationship with Christ. I mentally write out my little list of criteria for what it means to be a good wife, a good missionary, a good friend, a good Christian, and once (in my mind) I acheive that standard, I raise the bar and keep on going. 

Please don't misunderstand me in thinking it's wrong to challenge oneself and set standards that keep us accountable, but...if we get to the point where we think we've figured out God, in my experience, we can expect Him to chuckle, bring something else our way, and show us just how mistaken that thinking is - especially when applying it to our prayer life.  

Now, do I think we shouldn't use strategies and charts in our prayer life? Absolutely not! In fact, I think we don't use them enough. 

Miguel and I have personally had many, many prayers answered simply by applying a discipline in the way we pray. For example, the home we live in currently was nothing short of an answer to a long list of requests in our prayers. 

At friends' wedding in May.

A few months before we got married, Miguel found an apartment halfway between where I lived at the time and where we currently live in Higuey. We knew we would be moving to Higuey that summer (in fact, ended up moving only a month after our wedding) so while he was working, he would keep his eyes open for a place we could rent. Between the two of us, we had a very specific list of what we wanted. 

- At the top of that list, even though we had no plans to buy a place or live in one place permanantly, our greatest desire, knowing it was part of what God was calling us to, was to have a home where we could host people - coaches, youth, friends, strangers passing through, family. Whether just to enjoy a home-cooked meal, spend the night, or even temporarily live with us, we wanted to be able to open our doors into an atmosphere of welcome and encouragement. 

- For Miguel, that meant a house not an apartment. He despised living in the apartment building we spent our first month of marriage in. He had lived there several months by himself and it just felt too lonely after having grown up on a street in a town where everyone knew eachother. And along with the house, he also wanted an outdoor patio area since we'd have a dog running around to keep the place safe. And... it should have some fruit trees. I threw in the request of having it be large enough to plant at least a small garden - and having some grass would be nice. I love sticking my feet in grass (pebbles and cement just aren't very friendly to bare feet) but it can be hard to find around here. 

- For myself, it meant having at least two bedrooms and a decent sized kitchen. The bedrooms request was obvious. The kitchen request was practical because Dominican kitchens in general are small, sometimes with only enough room for one person to move around in. I also specifically requested a place that had reasonably dependable electricity since most of my work is done on my computer via internet. 
- We both also wanted barred windows and doors, especially after my computer had gotten stolen out of my former apartment through the windows. And really, really wanted a quiet, reputable neighborhood without worry of music blaring from the corner stores at all hours of the day and night (a very common occurrence around here!)
- And of course, all this had to be within our, pretty low, budget!

At one point, about 2 months into looking (again, Miguel had been keeping his eyes open even before we got married), we added up all the places we had looked at - apartments and houses in every shape and style - and it came to a grand total of 22 places. Of the 22 there was 1 house and 1 apartment that would maybe be ok if we were willing to let go of some of our criteria. We were frustrated but kept looking, confident that God had the perfect place for us. 
This brought us to the day that we had a conversation, discussing all this, with our pastors; they referred us to the realtor who had helped them find their place, and we were able to still meet with him that day. After giving him the list of what we were looking for, he told us he had 2 places he could show us right away. On the way to what was going to be the first of the two places, he pulled up to this house that he said made him think of us but wasn't going to be on his list to show that day. 

Current picture

As soon as we saw it, before even getting out of the car, Miguel and I looked at eachother and both said, "This is it - this is our house!" It was painted two-tone orange and the patio wasn't cleaned up, but that didn't matter. Cleaning and painting would be easy. 
It actually ended up being a house that the realtor's company wouldn't be getting the keys to, from the landlady, until the following day and we were the first clients to see it. No one had lived in it for 2 years and the landlady, who lived in Puerto Rico, was trying to sell it. The realtors convinced her to allow them to rent it out for her in the meantime so that it would remain lived in and not fall apart. 
The front had a patch of grass that was nicely shaded by the big tree on the corner. We walked around to the back to find two huge mango trees, a cherry tree, and plenty of space to create a garden.  Through the windows, I saw the largest kitchen that could possibly fit into this size home and to this day we joke that Miguel said yes to the patio and I said yes to the kitchen without caring about the rest of the place! It ended up meeting every. single. one of the criteria listed above, plus a few more, and in the year since we've lived here, we have had minimal upkeep expenses (bonus blessing). 
Our house has since been used to host many, many people. This past month has been no exception, with hosting multiple dinners (like when new missionaries moved into a town close by or when a coach currently seeking more spiritually wanted to bring his girlfriend over for deeper conversation on what Christianity means), a few overnight guests coming through town (the most recent just left this morning), and friends coming from the States to spend a week with us. And even though we still don't have any idea of how long we'll be here, we praise God for His provision in what has really served as a valuable ministry space for this season in life. 

Answered prayers such as these have added up over time, and I reached a point in my prayer life that I kind of assumed I could keep making lists and expecting the same results. So when Anti Trafficking Bureau (ATB) approached us to invite me to join their team (read more on about those details in Come What May), I assumed I could take the same approach - lay out my list before God, do a little fasting, do some intentional praying, have a few conversations with Miguel about logistics, and, wala! get our answer within our timeline.

ATB team and partners

Again, I don't think that approach is wrong. But at this point, the approach I was taking came out of a prideful place. I thought I had the solution to resolving all things and if it didn't work, then it wouldn't be my fault. 
A week went past and no answer. I had no peace about saying "yes," and zero peace about saying "no." So, I talked to Miguel again to see what he was thinking or if maybe God was telling him something that I wasn't hearing. I was following my checklist, so by this time someone should know what we were supposed to do. I didn't know, so obviously Miguel, as the spiritual head of our home, should at least have an inclination, right? But he didn't.
So, then I got frustrated. Frustrated at God and at my husband. And I started casting blame. Obviously (from my viewpoint) it wasn't my fault that we had no clue what our answer was supposed to be because I was doing all the right things. It must be Miguel's fault. He must not be doing his part correctly. And it was also God's fault for not cooperating with my little strategy plan. After all, I was being reasonable; I wasn't being stubborn in asking for a "yes" answer - I was ok with a "no" answer if now was not the time. That must mean I was being humble in my asking, right? 
The result of this blame casting was a tension in our marriage that we hadn't ever had before. One evening, after arguing about what to do, I told Miguel I was tired of this - we rarely argue and the tension was taking over our home. I didn't have peace either way, "yes" or "no," and if he didn't know what we were supposed to do, I was just going to tell them "no." At least that would take care of making a decision and we could get past this. 
"But do you have peace that saying 'no' is the answer God is actually giving us?" he asked.

Ouch. 

My pride in my lists and strategies had brought me so far, that I didn't care anymore what God's answer was and instead was willing to create my own answer. My problem with saying "yes" is that Miguel couldn't go down my little checklist and say that every one of my expectations in how the answer was supposed to come about was met. Instead, he was completely willing to have me join the ATB team and see where God would take us without fully knowing how it would work out long term. He was willing to take a step of faith. 
But was I? 

A call to faith. That was my answer. Faith in God speaking through my husband and faith in my husband's advice. 

I texted my used-to-be-former boss to let him know that, yes, I was on board; but sending that text was a shaky step of faith. I was still so uncomfortable to step outside the box I had created this decision to fall into that it took several weeks before I truly surrendered and allowed God to give me peace to walk in the "yes." 

Since then, my position with ATB has been officially named Executive Assitant, meaning for now, I report to my used-to-be-former boss (the cofounder of ATB) and assist him and the director (the other cofounder) with the large project of setting up an assessment facility for all victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, along with other little details in the administrative department such as translation, liasing with legal processes, etc. 

At a recent build project with our latest team. Miguel decided to hide his face behind the palm branch at that exact moment. 

As time goes on, we'll be including more about the ministry and work of ATB while continuing to include FCA ministry details. 
In the meantime, we want everyone to know that basically nothing has changed:

1. I am still in the same position with FCA DR as administrative assistant and mission trips coordinator. As of now, I'll be continuing full-time this year. ATB is an additional role that will develope with time. 
2. Miguel is still doing what he's always been doing, including coach discipleship and leading visiting team trips. 
3. We also continue to be heavily involved in our local church, as I've briefly touched on in other posts and updates. 
4. Our fundraising remains the same.


We are excited for new opportunities for ministry and to be able to be used in multiple ways to spread the love of Jesus and share the Gospel, individually and as a couple. 
If you have any questions, please, please let us know and we will answer them!


"When we take the talents God has given us and hold them with open hands, knowing they really belong to Him and not us, then we are able to truly live a life of full potential, making an impact for eternity." 

Come What May

If you head over to the "About" tab on this blog, you'll read at the very top, "Being a voice for the voiceless and bringing healing to the broken and abused are those heart-tugs that keep me awake at night. They are what God uses to refuse to allow me to live a mediocre life or do anything that is void of purpose or meaning."

If you've been following along with our journey, you know that last year I put my involvement in full-time anti-trafficking ministry on hold for at least a year, knowing that it was time to take a step back from the intensity of what my life had become to be able to fully focus on investing the necessary time and attention to beginning our lives together as a married couple. Even before we got married, our desire and dream was to work in ministry together, in some way or form, and when God opened the doors last year for me to take a part-time administrative position with FCA DR it was a huge answer to prayer that allowed both of those things to happen.  

When we made this change, it was difficult for a lot of people to comprehend. Everyone who had known me before getting married had no doubt of what I was most passionate about - and sports was never mentioned! It was a big change. We even moved a month after getting married so that we could plug into a good church and start in a new place where neither of us had any history and thus no prior expectations from other people around us would interfer in being able to walk in obedience to the steps God directed us to take. 

At the bottom of the same "About" tab mentioned above, you'll read, "There are so many details that come along with carrying out the call of Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. This blog is our way of sharing stories of what God does in our own lives and the crazy twists and turns He takes us on."

I wrote everything currently on that tab last year, knowing that the decision to come on board with FCA DR was the decision God had for us - for now. Knowing that He does not change, even when He takes us down those unknown roads. Knowing that sports may be out of my league (I am learning a little!) but discipleship isn't, ministry isn't, and administration definitely isn't. 


But another factor that has played a part in the background of all this is something I wasn't very public in writing about. I was exhausted last year - emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. Without taking that step back, our marriage would have been strained before it even had a chance to start. Without making a move in location and focus, we would have had a very difficult start to marriage and ministry together. 

Along the way, a healing process took place. The first three months after our move, I found myself sleeping a lot without knowing why. I loved having time on my hands to organize our home and settle into a new part-time job, working from home, and  most days I holed myself up at home with my own work and didn't venture out much. It got to the point that Miguel was worried that I kept to myself too much and wasn't making friends, but I told him I preferred it that way for now! The thought of being around people more than several times a week exhausted me. Don't get me wrong, I love people, but I also love alone time and was getting it for the first time in way too long. Having this time also allowed me to better process my brother's death, which had a habit of getting pushed to the side prior to making these changes. 

God knows just what we need when we need it. After about 3 months, I started getting restless and went through a period of time of not feeling useful. The drastic change of being on call almost 24/7 to only working part-time, and by myself no less, caught up to me. Miguel, wonderful husband that he is, started pushing me to connect more with people from church and we started opening our home in various ways. It was a slow process, but everything happened at the right time when it needed to happen. Spiritually, I was getting strengthened again (our church playing an important role in that), emotionally I was much stronger, and physically my energy started coming back. As time went on I started taking on more, such as Mission Trips Coordinating, and becoming more personally involved with ministry and church. 


Sometimes it's hard to believe it's already been a year since these pictures were taken! Yet, looking back over this past year, it seems difficult to grasp that so much has happened in only 12 months. 

We headed into this year knowing that changes would be coming ahead. Miguel is set to graduate university at the end of this year. Miguel's ministry here in Higuey is growing, the church is growing with more opportunity of involvement, more teams are coming to the DR through FCA, there are general shifts in the minstry as a whole taking place, and Miguel and I began having random conversations of the possiblility of me becoming involved in anti-trafficking ministry again this year, if the right opportunity came along.

In January the girls' home I worked at previously shut down, due to various reasons. They talked about moving it and there would have been opportunity for me to get more involved, again, but we don't know if that will ever happen. 
My former bosses, with who I had moved to the DR in 2015, had resigned before I got married and have been going through a similar healing process. At the same time, they have been influential in registering the Anti Trafficking Bureau, a Christ-centered training model to combat trafficking and develop victim care, here in the DR. I helped with translating the paperwork and was offered a position on the board last year, but turned it down because of the above reasons.  

Last week marked one year since we legally got married (yes, we have two anniversaries!). And that same week, my former bosses came for a visit to catch up with what has been happening with ATB and to offer me a part-time position as their lead planning and development strategist for an assessment center for victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. It would begin as a part-time position, meaning I can continue with FCA without making changes at least this year. However, in the long run, there is potential of becoming more involved, creating a team, yet having the flexibility to set my hours as best for our family. If this happens, it means we'd need to look for a new Mission Trips Coordinator for FCA next year and possibly even someone to take on my admin responsibilities. It really all depends on how involved we want to become. Down the road, the trainig model will include community outreach through sports, churches, schools, and other avenues to create awareness and teach Christian values specifically pertaining to lowering exploitation risks. It seems like the perfect fit for our long term vision, but we are still praying about what the right decision is. We don't want to say "yes" when God says "not yet."

So we ask your prayers on our behalf. Please be praying for us and for God's perfect will to be done and His best to come about. 
Come what may, we are here to be obedient to His calling and to further His kingdom! 

Until next time. 

Doing, Doing, Done...Maybe

FEB 18. (a.k.a. beginning of busyness) -
We were off to Orlando for 8 days of conferences. International Capacity Conference spanned the first half of the week and Realtime the second half, with, of course, travel time before and after. Every year, FCA hosts ICC at a location somewhere around the world close to one of their international partners. This year, it was hosted in Orlando so that the 43 international leaders who were able to attend could also enjoy Realtime Realtime is an event that happens every 3 years where the majority of FCA staff and many of their spouses come together for a time of fellowship and fun.
ICC days were packed with sessions and workshops and just enough time to connect with other international leaders over lunch and in the evenings. Our main highlight was getting to personally know other Latin American leaders. We Latinos (I was told on several occasions I seem more Latina than American so, yes, I say “we”) were known as the rowdy bunch - no surprise there. Pretty sure Asia wasn’t quite sure what to think of us, especially during bowling night.
One of my personal highlights was connecting with a few Guatemalans - I felt like we already knew each other just from talking about familiar places. ICC will be held in Guatemala next year and I’m fully planning to take extra time, if we go, to show Miguel my other home country :D
Miguel’s personal highlight was having Willie, another one of our 3 Dominican directors, along. He was approved a visitor’s visa and was able to make the trip with us, much to Miguel’s delight. He enjoyed, still enjoys, poking fun at Willie’s reaction to America - I guess since Miguel considers himself an expert on all things travel and America now ;)
The entire ICC conference was so encouraging. There’s nothing quite like seeing so many countries represented in one place, united under one goal - to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Realtime was a very different experience, with 1500+ people in attendance. Our highlights there were being able to connect with people who have been to the Dominican before on trips and have supported the ministry here in various ways.

MAR 3 (a.k.a. busyness sets in) -
Only a few (short) days after returning home from Orlando on the 26th, our first visiting team of the year arrived. A 16 member team, consisting of fathers and their baseball player sons, spent 5 days with us helping with a much needed house addition for a coach Miguel works with and running baseball clinics - and of course enjoying playing several games, Americans vs. Dominicans. It was an incredible start to the year for mission trips! We are hoping to host up to 15 groups this year and are within sight of that goal. Five Dominican baseball players gave their lives to Christ after hearing the gospel and testimonies of who Jesus is come from the lips of other players and coaches. One of the American baseball players, who joined the trip last minute, also gave his life to Christ! God knows every person’s heart and how to reach them. He was baptized in a pool that evening at the facility where the team was staying and has truly gone home a changed person.

MAR 11 (a.k.a. crazy busyness begins) -
Several (even shorter) days after the team left on the 8th, our boss flew down from the States to oversee some staff training and evaluations for several days. We were away from home for most of that week since these sessions were taking place in Boca Chica. We came home for the day on Thursday and headed right back on Friday because...

MAR 16 (a.k.a. crazy busyness full force) -
Two guys, J & A, flew in for a weekend stay to get to know the ministry and begin planning a mission trip in August. Miguel had university that Friday and Saturday, as always, so I met them and arranged lodging for them in Boca Chica. That evening, Miguel took them for dinner as I headed right back to Punta Cana with our two other directors, Willie and David, and Willie’s wife for a dinner with the FCA board of trustees who traveled to the DR for their annual directors’ meeting. We had the opportunity to share what is happening here in the ministry and what kind of impact is being made in the DR through FCA.
We stayed in PC overnight and headed back to BC Saturday morning to take J & A to San Pedro and visit staff and several ministry spots there all morning. Back to BC for the same thing in the afternoon. Lots of questions and answers later, I left them with Willie and another staff member who speaks English pretty well while I kept an appointment with our accountant.
On Sunday, Miguel and I headed home to Higuey for church and to (try to catch up on) rest before heading into what was “supposed” to be a normal work week. J & A had been in Santo Domingo meeeting up with some friends that Sunday morning and were planning to spend the afternoon and evening with us.
We got a call two hours after church ended, from the international office in Kansas City, where someone happened to be in the office since she wouldn’t be at work on Monday. A call had come in from the son of a German couple who was on the board of trustees. He said his parents had been in a car accident here in the Dominican Republic but didn’t have good phone or internet connection, so they hadn’t been able to share a lot of information yet about what had happened. All their son knew was that his parents were at a hospital somewhere and no one knew yet how badly they were injured. We soon received more information on which hospital  they were taken to and headed out the door the same time as J & A arrived at our house. Upon arrival at the hospital, we were grateful to find that no internal injuries had been sustained. Mr. G. had a few fractured ribs and his wife had a broken rib and several fractures on her leg. The injuries were enough that they were admitted to the hospital for the week before being cleared to fly. Their original plans had been to stay a few days for vacation after the trustees’ meeting and instead they spent twice that time in a hospital room.

MAR 19 (a.k.a crazy busyness turns to just busyness again) -
The whole week while our friends Mr. and Mrs. G. were in the hospital, we were blessed to be able to assist them with translation, clarifying hospital reports, straightening out the police report, and following up with their rental car company. It did require a lot of road time, since the hospital is about 40 minutes away, but it was a joy to be able to serve and be relatively close by. They've been such an encouragement to our own faith with their stories of international travel to spread the Gospel.
They were scheduled to fly home, attended by a doctor, on Saturday (the 24th), but due to some unexpected pain, that flight has been delayed until tomorrow evening. Mr. G. is up and walking around and making use of the hospital cafeteria while Mrs. G., whose leg has several fractures, is patiently waiting to get back home.

THIS WEEK - (a.k.a. due for a break)
We are looking forward to Easter! Miguel will have a break from university classes for the weekend so we've already made plans with friends on Friday and Saturday. We look forward to celebrating the hope that Jesus Christ's resurrection brought and take a few days to rejuvenate before heading into, only God knows, what next week will bring :D

Best 16th Birthday Imaginable

This morning it hit me like a ton of bricks. It does that sometimes. 
I crawled into Miguel's arms sobbing until the wave passed. The rest of the day has gone well, but sitting here writing right now is really taking a lot. Writing has always been more personal for me than talking, and while I can have a conversation about it with people and be ok, a whole year and 2 months later, I still can't write about my youngest brother's death without a waterfall running down my face. 
Today, February 11, 2018, would be Anthony's 16th birthday here on earth. 

Since the bonds of time don't exist in heaven, they probably don't celebrate birthdays; but I know they do celebrate. They celebrate living in the presence of God for all eternity, no suffering, no pain, all joy - unfathomable, incomprehensible, complete joy. And I rejoice in that - knowing my goofy little brother is having the best, sweetest birthday right now. But while I find comfort in knowing the greatest gift has been given to me, the hope and confidence of eternity after death, on days like today, my humanity kicks in full gear and those moments of weeping need to happen for the healing of a broken heart to continue. 

Memories are powerful. I love remembering the goofy, corky person who is my youngest brother. I love listening to songs like "This Town Still Talks About You" that sooth the soul. But I want to also see the future. 
A comment one of the bros said once echos around in my head on days like today, "We'll never know Anthony as an adult, a father, a career man. He'll always be almost 15 years old in our minds." and my human self grieves for not getting the chance to know the man Anthony. He would have been such a good dad. 

A few months ago, right around the year anniversary of his death, I begged God to let me see a glimpse of Anthony as an adult - maybe even as he is right now. And Father God, in His abundant love and grace gave me a picture that I've been holding close to my chest until now. 

In a large living room with a crackling fireplace, he was seated at a beautiful grand piano playing music he composed himself - something complicated and upbeat that carried you along with it. He seemed to be around 22 years old. Our family was all there, including members who would be around by the time Anthony would turn 22. The main focus of everyone wasn't just the music coming from the piano made by the lively fingers dancing over the keys but also the laughter of quite a few children playing around the piano stool. He turned around with his signiture goofy grin as he threw one of the smallest children in the air while laughing off the compliments and general applause we gave him. It wasn't a quiet setting. Everyone was talking, the fire was crackling, the room was filled with laughter. And Anthony - I'd never seen a smile so big on his face. In that instant I knew God was showing me that right now, in this moment, he's the happiest, joyfulest he's ever been. 

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope."
1 Thess. 4:13

"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil."
Isa. 57:1