We have a gracious and compassionate God.

Asia and I flew down to Santa Barbara for the weekend to celebrate the marriage of his father, Warren.

Warren is 70. His wife died 2 1/2 years ago after a 14 year battle with cancer.

Last year, Warren sorted through hundreds of women on E-Harmony and found a sweet, sweet woman named Mary.

And yesterday, they were married.

It was such a celebration. To see how God brought them together and how blessed they are to have found each other... it was an amazing picture of God's goodness to us.

And if anyone thinks that life at 70 is less exciting than life at say, 20, or 30, or 40, I challenge you to consider this couple - who will no doubt continue to serve God together for all their remaining years. They're not slowing down any time soon.

We are simply head over heels in love with Mary. And her family.

Now, we get to add foster-step-sisters-in-law to the already interesting and unusual mix of people we call family around here. Because we really, really love Mary's daughters and her 11 grandchildren.Unfortunately, two of the three daughters live in Australia - so it's difficult to say if we'll ever see them again - although we're hoping maybe we could tack a visit to Australia onto the end of our time in Africa a couple of summers from now...

It makes me long even more for heaven. Because my family just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more spread across the globe.

For now, though, we're content to know God has given us so much... and rejoice that he gave Mary and Warren each other.