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would protect him so that he could do his work, but she wasn’t so sure about her own future. She feared that she might die before Mitch was grown and that he would suffer because she was not there to take care of him. Every day she prayed that God would allow her to live long enough to raise him.
    It wasn’t just her natural mother’s love that made her believe that Mitch was special. Everyone recognized that he was different. Even Keith, who did not like to think about God being too personally involved in people’s lives, admitted that Mitch was destined to do “ something big”.
    I n mid November , Keith announced that he had to “check something out” and that he would be gone for a day or two. He said that he was following up on a lead that Jessie had given him and would tell the rest of the family all about it when he returned.
    Three days later his dusty J eep pulled up in front of the trailer , and he burst through the front door looking as though he had just won the lottery. “I found a house that ’s perfect for all of us!” he exclaimed. “Jessie spotted it when he was flying missions, and I wanted to check it out on the ground, but it’s perfect.”
    “What are you talking about?” Kris inquired.
    “Well, Jessie saw this big old house out in the middle of nowhere. Every time he did a flyover he looked around to see whether anyone was living there, but there were never any signs of life. He finally decided that it would be safe for me to go check it out in person. 
    “It’s a huge one-story made out of concrete. Concrete floors, walls, the whole package. There’s a little watch tower on the roof where you can see for miles in every direction.  When I was looking around, I discovered a tunnel that you can access through a trap door in one of the rooms .  It has concrete stairs leading into a concrete tunnel that I could stand up in. I followed it several hundred yards. It exits at a spot in the desert behind a pile of boulders big enough to hide anyone coming out. Whoever built the place wanted privacy and an escape route. It’s probably a hundred years old , and it doesn’t look like anyone’s been there for years. 
    “You’re always saying that God makes provision for us in advance; well, if He had built a hideout especially for us, this would be it. When Mike and Jeff get back, I’m going to talk to them about heading out there ASAP.”
    Kris felt an icy-cold fear spring up in her chest. She knew that if they were supposed to go there, something really bad was about to happen.
    ∞
    Keith had been right about the house. Karyn, Jeff, and their children took one wing , and Kris, Michael, and the baby took the other. Although there was plenty of room on the ground floor, Keith insisted on taking over the watch tower, which was actually a fifteen by fifteen foot upstairs room with a three-hundred sixty degree view.
    One day when Michael and Jeff were away , Kris told Mitch, “After I married daddy I wanted to have a big house, but I didn’t think we would ever be able to get one. Now just look at us! We have a huge house, and Aunt Karyn and Uncle Jeff and your cousins live just down the hall, and Uncle Keith lives upstairs. We are the luckiest people in the whole world.” Kris laughed out loud as she looked around the dark , depressing concrete building which more resembled a prison than a private residence. Following her lead, Mitch squealed with laughte r, and she picked him up and kissed his chubby cheeks. “I don’t care what anyone says,” she told him. “I love you and daddy so much, and even though things are hard, I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Every day I thank God for protecting us and bringing us to this place. Some day this will all be behind us, but for now I ’ m thankful for every day I have with my two men. The only thing I couldn’t stand would be for us to be separated. ”
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
    B y early December, Mitch was four months old.