"That MISSION Family!"

My husband always says,  " With a last name like OUTLAW, you might not want to look very far into your family tree!"  With a name like ours, you expect that your family might have a reputation! When our kids were little,  strange looks were the norm when we'd holler "lets go Outlaws" trying to wrangle our five kids ages 10 and under out of a MickeyD's playland! Most people thought we were talking about our family's character -- wild and rowdy - rather than our actual given name! We'd just smile and say, "Yep, that's who we REALLY are -- The Outlaws!" 

Over the years we've gotten a reputation for more than our last name -- some good things, and some not so much!  But when people run into THAT family whose name they can't remember just heard was crazy enough to take their 5 little kids across the ocean, they say, "Oh, you're... THAT MISSION FAMILY."  To some that might be a compliment, and others just might mean we are weird.  There are a few other ways we know we're THAT MISSION FAMILY like when....

• our kids just want change for the coke machine, but can only find Euros, Rubles, Won, or Kazakh tenge in his parents change jar.
• our youngest daughter got in trouble for wearing "gang paraphernalia" in her elementary when she really was just trying to wear her bandana as a headcovering like her Tajik friends.
• our teenage daughter's friends are always confused  because she has her cell phone settings in Russian, and no one can understand Siri's directions.
• our dad is always out of the country are needing a ride to the airport.
•  our mom is always peddling maps, globes, and missionary cards.

Okay, so maybe we ARE just weird! Or maybe we got a jumpstart by living overseas. But truthfully, wouldn't it be great if the world would see ALL christian families as THOSE MISSION FAMILIES! They would see how much we LOVE the WORLD and the people in it!  They would see that we live with purpose and mission for our lives. ​That's really the purpose of every family no matter our vocation or our location!! In Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham that through his family, all the families of the earth will be blessed! And truthfully, that covenant continues today. We are all Mission Families with a mission from God to bless all the other families of the earth -- Kazakh families, Syrian families, Chinese families, immigrant families, neighborhood families, poor families, your soccer team families -- all the families of the earth! 
 
 JUMPSTART your Mission Family today by doing this ONE thing!  But be careful, you might be get the reputation for being "THAT MISSION FAMILY."                      

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