Many of you know that for the past months, I (Todd) have been training for a marathon.  This past Saturday was the big day. If you remember, back in October I got dehydrated and blacked out during a half marathon.  Needless  to say, after the beating that my confidence took in that race I was a bit nervous going into this full marathon.  Fortunately, with better training and more knowledge on staying hydrated I successfully completed my first marathon.  I had the privilege of running the race in a game park with Mount Kenya as the backdrop.  It was phenomenal. 

I spent the majority of my time during the race, and most of this term, reflecting on our time here at RVA.  We have maybe three weeks left, and we want to make the most of it.  Something we’re figuring out is that RVA (and Kenya) is our home.  I love waking up to our guys doing their dorm jobs (when they do them) and shouting as they rush to get to first period.  It’s hard to fathom that everything that we know hear will soon come to an end.  We’ve talked our guys through their drama with the girls they are dating, want to date or don’t like at all.  We’ve prayed with them, laughed with them, cried with some.  We know them, and they know us.  They know us well enough to when something is wrong, and vice versa.  It’s hard to think of them moving to other dorms and not being around to see them continue to grow.  We are so proud of the men they are becoming.  Some have grown six inches or more, their voices don’t crack as much anymore, some continue to wrestle with some really deep and ugly issues.  We know what these boys struggle with, what they’re good at, how to read their facial expressions and what food allergies they have.

There is so much that we are excited about in coming home to Ohio.  There is a lot of tension for us, though.  We can’t wait to see our new nephews, and to be near our families. God has clearly been working out all of the details for our move to Ashtabula.  We are dying for a good hamburger.  At the same time, we’ll miss the big milestones that are coming up for our students here. We got to be the proud parents when they pulled off a huge fundraising project called Sophomore Restaurant.  Just the other day I got to play rugby against the JV team (4 of our guys are on it), even if I may have cracked a rib.  In the next two years, they will be making big decisions about what kind of men they want to become.  We are confident that God is leading us back to Ohio, but it’s bittersweet.  Please pray that we would know how to close out our time here in a way that brings meaningful closure for all of us.  We want our guys to know how proud we are of them, how grateful we are for the time we’ve had for them and to know that we love them fiercely, and will continue to.

Thank you for making our ministry here possible.  We look forward to sharing with you all in person what we have seen God do here at RVA.