Rejoicing!

"Rejoice in the Lord . . . " - Philippians 4:4

PRAISE God that the paperwork from Ginger made it halfway around the world in 1.5 days!  Thank you so much for your prayers concerning this matter.

Oh, I forgot the rest of the verse

". . .  ALWAYS . . . "

Artyr's passport did not arrive today.  We do not know if it will arrive tomorrow or Friday at this point.  If it arrives tomorrow, there is a slight possibility for us to still leave on Friday at a later time, we believe (but we would have to change airlines, foregoing our original tickets and buying completely new ones).  If it comes on Friday, we will be here until at least Monday (which requires paying change fees and difference in fare fees plus additional living expenses for the weekend).  Please PRAY that in some way God would let it work out that we could still leave on Friday at our original time.  We know that "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26), and if He chooses to make it work out for us to leave on Friday, then we will.  If He chooses for us to stay here longer and pay obscene amounts of money to change our flights, then we will :).  We don't know always get to choose the things God allows into our lives, but He tells us in the rest of the verse:

"... AGAIN, I say rejoice."

And so, we rejoice!  We give Him PRAISE, not because we want to spend more time here away from our family and friends and not because we want to spend more money and not because we like our circumstances.  We PRAISE Him because we have seen Him work in our lives and in the lives of others (first hand and throughout the Bible) in the midst of dark circumstances to bring about results that we could never have imagined (see Ephesians 3:20-21).  We ask that you would please PRAY for some sort of divine intervention to get us home on time, and/or that we would be content if God brings us home in His time!  He is in control, and He is good . . . all the time.  And so all the time, We will rejoice!  We love you.  Thank you for praying!