As I'm writing this we've been in Sweden for 6 days and there have been fevers and puking and next to no sleep and Levi had to go to the hospital two nights ago because his fever was so high.

Jordan & Levi on our flight from Dallas to London (London sucked, I'll tell you more about that soon) 👇

This morning as I sat in the quiet for a bit, this quote came to mind:

"Philosopher William James said, "In some people religion exists as a dull habit, in others as an acute fever." Jesus did not endure the shame of the cross to pass on a dull habit."
- Brennan Manning

Often analogies fall short, but this is a good one.

A fever is always present. It affects everything that we do and no matter how hard we try, it tends to keep our attention. This week so far has been a reminder for us that whether in challenge or in triumph, we have one job -- to keep our attention on God.

Once the fanny pack is clipped on, it's game time 🛫👇

We had a plan for this week. A good one. To read and pray and rest and walk and spend time with family.

But more than anything, this week became a welcomed reminder that our family has been trained for the challenge and our job in this new season is to:

Keep our attention fastened to Jesus, to listen to what He says, and to respond immediately.

These fevers changed our plans. We would do well to make sure we willingly allow God to do the same.

Cheers to a brilliant start to the journey. More updates (and a lot more pictures) coming 🔜

A few final notes:

We dressed Lukas in a navy blue sweatsuit and still had people telling us that we had "cute daughters" 👇

Maybe his identical top-knot and Olivia's old pink tablet doesn't help... 🤷‍♂️

We may be living in Sweden now, but I still like some Maryland on my eggs  #smuggledoldbay 🦀

Nobody is ever too sick for homemade Swedish cake 🍰

Happy double-birthday, nerds 👦🏼👧🏼

Oh yeah, and Levi is home and fighting that fever like a little baby viking. He's gonna be just fine 🫡