The Aughinbaugh's are in Wilmington!

Hey friends and family! It has been a really great last three days.  We basically blew through the mid west because we were so eager to get back to our "home".  Wilmington has always been a special place to all of us.  As many of you know we lived here for 12 years before the Lord called us to go to Kansas City.  It hasn't been the easiest thing to do but growing in God is never easy and walking in obedience is sometimes even harder.  As I teach my children this reality they also get to see it walked out daily by their parents.  The analogy I use most is that of someone who goes to the gym quite regularly to keep their bodies in shape and push themselves to grow their muscles.  When you are at the end of a set the burn you feel in your muscles is one of intense pain, but you push through it because in the end you strengthen your muscles by going past the previous end point of resistance and create a new one....... thus making yourself stronger.  It is sometimes really hard to do this when your walking with God.  But walking in obedience creates a new depth of trust in your relationship with the Lord.  I know many of our friends were wondering if we lost our minds when we said we were moving.  We had the perfect american life.  A beautiful home, great small groups, awesome church, I had a great job I retired from early, the kids were learning well at their school.  The best I can tell you is that when you hear the voice of God and He asks you do to something in obedience you have a choice,  you can go your way or His.  We chose to give up everything here to go and follow Him whom we trust in completely.  So that is what we did.........

The last 20 months have not been easy at all and to sum it up have been tremendously difficult at every turn.  We have had to rebuild from scratch.  Making friends has been a challenge in Kansas City.  I don't know why exactly because Rory and I are pretty outgoing and usually can make friends pretty quickly.  We have persevered through much as challenge after challenge has been to us.  Through is all one thing has remained, God's love has been with us and we have felt that through everything.  Thank you to all those that stood with us and prayed and were warriors for us through the last season.  Thank you to the Critchfields who have blessed us abundantly through their prayers, special messages of encouragement, and desire to serve us.  You have been monumental in our lives and it is good to know that we have true friends like you.  Thank you to my awesome sister in Law, Audra, who has always been by our side to be a listening ear! You bless my wife so much Didi!  Thank you to the Steighners, our lifelong friends.  Steadfast, one word to describe you guys! Both of you have never desired to use us for your advantage and have always been willing to give and give and stand with us in prayer.  Thank you to the Tippets for always giving us an ear to listen and speak wisdom in our lives.  The Lord has blessed you two abundantly with this and we know you are well that we can go to sometimes quite often! Thank you to the Blair's who have been faithful to us as true friends.  Matt and Erin, you are so humble before the Lord.  Your messages of encouragement to us have been steadfast.  Thank you to the Raines.  I was blessed to to see Davids' handsome face when he made a surprise visit to come see me through a very difficult circumstance last year! Thank you to his wife Anna who was a wonderful friend to my wife and encouraged her so much through that season.  Thank you to Allison Miller our faithful friend who has become part of our family.  You are a blessing to my family in so many ways.   Thank you to the Smithsons in good ol' Kansas City! I do not have words to explain the depth of our gratitude for our Aussie friend Glenn and his better half Kari, and I really do mean she is better! HA!  Thank you to the Masters, Roger and Sarah.  Thank you for the depth of wisdom you have given to us freely over the last 6 months.  Thank you to the Bryants.  Your friendship has always been genuine and you guys have always had beautiful hearts for us and most of all for the Lord.  Thank you to the Faagutu's! Thank you to the Thibedeaux's!  Finally thank you to the Hopkins.  Your guys rock! We can not wait to see you in Texas!  Thank you for praying and praying and praying!  Thank you to the countless others who stood with us when we needed it the most. All of you not mentioned here that have stood with us! We are grateful for each one of you.  Your prayers before the Lord petitioned Him on our behalf and I know the sweet smell of them all was beautiful before the Lord.

As we spend the next two weeks here it will difficult to see all of you.  We will certainly try our best and ask you to forgive us if we do not get to the see all of you this time around.  The beauty of making our own schedule is we can always come back! We are staying at the KOA off of Market St.  spot 37. Please call first if you would like to drop by.  We will be in and out and we do not want to miss you!  Today we will be at the beach  off spot 11 on Wrightsville from 10-1 depending on the kids!

Thank you to all our friends.  We cherish your friendships deeply.