It's been crazy busy around here. The holidays were great, but slightly chaotic, not unlike what many of you probably experienced. But add to the normal hub-bub this list of guests: Karen's parents (and they are always a blessing) and then three of the five children had friends staying with us at one time or another, filling the house up to the attic. They've mostly all left and now I'm taking three of my daughters on a final date tonight.

Karen left on New Years Day for a conference in New York. Tomorrow I leave for a week in southern Mexico to help train Talia and her fellow 50 World Racers as they embark on their year-long mission trip around the world. Emily will continue to hold down the fort with Leah until Karen gets back. Unfortunately, with the launch of several new ministries in 2007, we'll be galloping ahead for a little while longer (with five overseas trips in the first half of the year).

We don't consider this kind of pace particularly healthy, but we hope to bring it back into balance somewhere in July. It's just one of those seasons in life. So, if you're the praying type, please pray that the Lord gives us grace to handle this and that we can find a quiet center to our lives as we try to keep up. If you log on line to www.TheWorldRace.org, you can get a better picture of what we'll be doing. My premise is 'why shouldn't the Kingdom of God get our best and brightest?' We invest heavily in them, knowing that their potential is great, and then we challenge them like they've never been challenged before.