Thank you for your comments and prayers. Both Owen and Robie are doing very well. Yesterday Robie had a level 2 sonogram to check out the lemon-sized cist. Two nurses and one doctor all confirmed that it is a fibroid- a muscular outgrowth of the uterus. Apparently, 70% of women have them and they serve no purpose (that we know of). Robie has a doctor’s appointment in November to follow up on the “melanoma suspicious” cells, which must mean that the doctor isn’t too concerned about them.

We have been encouraged by the responses of our friends and family. It’s good to be loved.

News on the baby–it’s a girl! She is due in February and is forming well and on schedule. With gratitude and praise…

In the recent issue of Christianity Today, church historian Mark Noll has written an outstanding article on the historical influences of the 20th century upon Evangelicals: “Where we are Now and How we Got Here.” Tracing the wandering steps of evangelical theological integrity and cultural sensitivity, Noll alerts us to the historical influences that push evangelicals from Church-against-Culture to Church-transformer-of-Culture.

Read it here.

The recent issue of N.Y. Times magazine reports the success of child psychologist Wendy Mogel’s book,The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children. The book attempts to countner declining parental attention and deficient parenting methods with wisdom from the Torah and the Bible.

Mogel writes: “Jewish wisdom holds that our children don’t belong to us,”“They are both a loan and a gift from God, and the gift has strings attached. Our job is to raise our children to leave us. The children’s job is to find their own path in life. If they stay carefully protected in the nest of the family, children will become weak and fearful or feel too comfortable to want to leave.”

See the magazine for more.

Since I left my family on September 15, a tornado of trials touched down in the Dodson household. I write this from Malaysia, eager to get on the plane which departs tomorrow night for Boston. Over the past three weeks Robie’s severe cold turned into walking pneumonia, a biopsy came back as “melanoma suspicious,” and, just yesterday, she was informed that there is a “lemon-sized cist” in her body. In addition, she has been caring for our one-year old son, Owen, and carrying our second trimester daughter. Owen has also made trips to the emergency room amidst sickness and difficulty in breathing. On Tuesday, the day after I return, Robie and I will be in Boston for tests regarding the cist. We desparately desire your prayers. This is, no doubt, a time of testing and faith-strengthening in the greatness and goodness of God and a reminder of this curse-ridden, Satan-oppressed world.

All of this comes at a tenuous time of life, a time of transition into churchplanting, a time of family relocation, a time of uncertainty. Nevertheless, we will sing of the lovingkindness of God forever, we will proclaim his faithfulness to generations, beginning with our son. Pray for strength and focused hope in the Lord who works all things together for our everlasting good. In advance, thank you.