Reflections: Family Tradition

I have been serving in Arizona for the past eleven years and my wife has been part of it for nine. For most of our children's lives we have headed out west each spring while they spent a week with their grandmother in Tennessee. They knew it was a special time for them, but they also came to appreciate the work that we were doing as we shared stories and pictures with them. I think that they have always understood how important this trip is to us and how much we care for the people we get to serve alongside.

The sharing of our trip has changed over the past two years as we have started to bring our daughters out with us. It has always been a rite of passage to observe as they had to wait until they were in high school before they could come with us. Our oldest daughter made her second trip this year as our middle daughter joined her (our youngest will make her first journey next year.) It's a place that we have been eager to share with our girls and we couldn't be happier about the impact it has had on them.

It is the fulfillment of my own personal dream to have our family serve together and to do it in a place that means so much to us is especially valuable. It's a part of raising our girls that shows them the contribution they can make to people around them and the great value in consistently serving those in need. I can't guarantee the results, but I feel confident in the lifelong lessons we are teaching them and hope that they maintain that passion as adults.