Beauty from Ashes (Part 2)

I wish I could say that this positive pregnancy test calmed all my fears, but no, they just morphed into a new, hormonally-charged worry. This time I felt much more pregnant than I had with the two we lost but we decided to do some hormone testing to be sure everything was looking okay. When my progesterone levels were headed in the wrong direction, we decided to supplement. I filled my progesterone prescription and began the supplements, preparing myself for about four weeks of this, since I could stop once my placenta had formed around 14 weeks. I was ten weeks along and my crazy hormonal anxiety was a daily struggle so we decided to have an ultrasound for some peace of mind. We celebrated as we heard a good strong heart beat but wondered why baby was much smaller than a normal ten week old baby in utero. Baby was only about eight weeks and four days old, based on measurements, but doing well. Long story short, we moved my due date a couple weeks later and praised the Lord that I had already started supplementing my progesterone when baby needed it most! While these were all good signs, I am ever the skeptic. I wavered back and forth between trusting God with whatever outcome He had planned for our family, and worrying that I couldn’t handle losing another baby. Every morning I would wake praying for the baby and every night I’d fall asleep praying for the baby. I tried to remind myself that the Lord alone sustains life and He wants me to pray for the desires of my heart. It was for this reason that we shared the news with a few people so they too could join us in praying. I prayed more consistently for one thing than I ever have: God, please preserve the life of this little one!

Three weeks passed and I needed to refill my progesterone prescription since the due date adjustment had thrown it off. I had slowly stopped regularly reminding myself about God’s trustworthiness and became increasingly fearful that I didn’t need this prescription refilled because baby was already gone. Sure, I had absolutely NO basis for the fear, but hormones! Not coincidentally, the week before my prescription was going to run out was the week that my husband was sermonizing (preparing to preach) for Sunday. During one particularly difficult day, I texted him asking for prayer and he responded that the passage he was studying said the phrase “fear not” three times. Lots of tears. How could I fear not when I had no guarantee of the outcome?? Oh, right, that’s kind of the whole point… Could I rest in perfect peace because I trust the God who wrote this story long before I was born? Did I believe He would be with me if we lost another baby? Did I believe He is still good if we had to say another premature goodbye? I called to schedule another ultrasound for the following Tuesday. When my husband preached that week, I had to fight hard to keep my shoulders still as I wept… IN CHURCH (gasp!)!! But I couldn’t hold it in. I knew God was telling ME not to fear. I could trust Him and His plans for me and this baby and I could make it to Tuesday before we got to actually see how baby was doing. This time the tears flowed when we heard that swishing, fast heart beat and watched our little peanut wiggle all over. We needed the refill! Baby was still alive and kicking and I was still an emotional mess of a hormonal pregnant mama.

After this ultrasound we decided it was time to tell the girls, which meant I needed to be ready for EVERYONE to know. But it would explain to our very observant Emma why mama’s belly seemed to be getting bigger (because let’s be real, baby #3 at nearly 12 weeks is hard to hide). These pictures are the girls’ reactions to the news (photo cred: Stephanie P).

All along I’d been convincing myself not to get my hopes up that we would have another biological child, but it was becoming harder and harder. I was starting to get excited. I was starting to think this might really happen. Talk about emotional roller coaster. My husband has dealt with so much of my up and down, back and forth, trust and fear, faithfully praying for me and our little one. He’s a keeper. In the weeks following this ultrasound, more people were made aware of our coming addition and were SO very excited. Honestly, I had a hard time dealing with the excitement of other people because all I could think every time someone beamed another “congratulations” at me was that it would be one more person who would have to deal with another loss, if that happened. Obviously this is connected to when we lost Josiah. Our whole church mourned and wept with us and came alongside us so well, but one of the biggest lessons I had to learn through that was to be willing to be the recipient of help and prayer and love. NOT my natural tendency. I’m a strong, smart, capable woman and I’VE GOT THIS. Psh. This time around I’ve been so hesitant to be excited that I think I’ve missed out on so much of the joy. I’m thankful that others have been excited from the day they found out, even if I was still fighting to believe it could really happen.

Once I made it to fourteen weeks and five days (the age Josiah was when he stopped growing), it felt like I was watching every second of the day tick by. My next midwife appointment wasn’t until I was sixteen weeks so I just had to wait and pray and hope and trust (like women have been doing for centuries!) that it would go well. I still had the image in my mind of the midwife searching for Josiah’s heartbeat on the Doppler when I was eighteen weeks along with him. She never found it and that was the start of me realizing that all the weird little things about his pregnancy were indicators that it wasn’t going well. This time the midwife searched briefly, found that heartbeat, and let me listen. To her, it was routine. To me, it was a miracle. This baby made it past Josiah’s age. This baby might actually live. I might start feeling this baby moving soon!

After this appointment, we could set up an ultrasound to find out the gender of our little one. Again, bad memories and difficult images were etched in my mind as we planned and went for this ultrasound. I’d been telling myself for months that I was probably having another girl because I probably can’t have boys. I’d even started telling my husband and others that I thought we were having another girl. I’d begun looking at baby girl names because we’ve had a whole list of boy names forever, but girl names always seemed hard for us to agree on. Imagine my shock when baby happily cooperated with the ultrasound technician and revealed a VERY different ultrasound than we’d previously seen! Before the tech revealed the gender both my husband and I looking at the ultrasound thought to ourselves “Wait a minute….. is that….. a…..?” BOY!!!!! Holy moly. That’s definitely a boy! We’re having another son!

I still can’t describe how I felt in that moment. Shocked? Amazed? Excited? All the emotions all at once? Alice and Emma both said they wanted a baby sister. They’d had Little Dude as their baby brother for 8 months now and were apparently ready for a change. Uh, sorry girls? We decided to buy some boy onesies for our July baby BOY and let the girls unwrap them to reveal his gender. I sort of expected Emma to say “NO!” and start wailing, but they were ridiculously sweet. They are SO excited to have a baby brother and just want him to hurry up and get here.

July is still four months away, so I don’t even know the end of this story yet! I feel like every day the Lord is challenging and convicting me and teaching me to relax and trust Him. The emotional roller coaster seems to be evening out (ish) and I’m feeling our little man wiggling around inside me every day. Sleep is getting harder as my body adjusts to this big belly, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. All these things mean my boy is growing. We will meet him soon and it will be hard, but so so worth it.

One of my fears has been that I would put a son in the place of God. After praying that God would give us a son, being afraid to even want a son and then finding out we were going to have a son, another Isaiah sermon brought Isaiah 43:6 to my attention: “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.” In context, this verse is God speaking to the people of Israel, but the Sunday that we read it in church it hit me: God loves ME. He really, truly loves ME and has gone to great lengths to show me that He loves ME. I’ve been a Christian since I was sixteen and I’ve “known” this a long time, but over the years came to believe more in a God who wanted to judge me for my sins (which are many). As a sinner who deserves nothing, God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and then conquered Satan, sin and death by rising from the grave three days later. I’ve told myself for years that I don’t deserve any good thing in my life, but I think I missed a very essential aspect of God’s character in the meantime. The God I serve loves me enough to bring me through losing two babies, hear my heart’s desire when I was afraid to utter it to Him, and grant me that desire at the moment I least expected it. He spent YEARS patiently orchestrating events to teach me that He loves me and wants to give good gifts to me, as His child. In the weeks following this sermon, the Lord has continued reminding me that He loves me and that He has given me what I need for today to trust Him and love those around me. I still don’t know what the future holds, but I do know Who holds the future and I know He is faithful and good and trustworthy and He hears and knows and loves me. What more have I to fear? He has been my salvation and I cannot wait for the day when I see Jesus face to face in heaven. Oh what a day that will be!

Beauty from Ashes (Part 1)

It’s hard to know where to begin writing about something that has been in process for years, but since I process better through writing, I finally decided to write this all out. My purpose isn’t to glorify myself or our circumstances, but to point others to the Lord. He has so patiently met me and taught me in my weakest moments and revealed to me more and more of His character in this process. There’s some pretty raw stuff in here as I've sought to be open, but please understand that I am not glorifying my sin, or seeking approval from others. I’ve been talking more and more with other women and new moms lately, sharing parts of this story at times, and have felt convinced that I should share how God has worked in my life and what He has patiently taught me so others can love and serve Him better and know they aren't alone in their struggles. For those who take the time to read this (as it will likely be quite long), I hope it encourages you to seek the Lord and never give up asking Him for the desires of your heart. I hope it challenges you to lean on Him each and every day, knowing He is good and he never leaves or forsakes His children. I hope it reminds you that He is worthy of ALL of your trust and that it is good to fight to believe He is trustworthy. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I hope this gets you thinking and wondering about the God I serve, the God of the Bible, Maker of Heaven and Earth and YOU and ME. He is not far off or distant and wants us to run to Him and know Him through His Word.

The story starts long before this, but I’ll begin with the birth of my first daughter: Alice. I had a very hard time bonding with her. I didn’t feel the immediate adoration that I’d heard of and thought I’d seen again and again in other moms. I felt lost, confused… pressure. I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t just “fall in love” with my daughter. I figured something must be wrong with ME for feeling this way and was too scared and prideful to let anyone into my whirlwind of a world. I pushed my church family away because I felt ashamed that I didn’t simply “get” motherhood. I pushed my husband away because he didn’t know how to help. I pushed God away for “making” me go back to work full-time when I clearly needed to figure out what I was doing. It was a rough start to parenting.

By the time Alice’s first birthday rolled around, I knew I was pregnant before I took the test. We were excited. I was scared. It felt like Emma’s first year of life I was constantly asking myself “WHAT DID I DO?!?” While bonding with Emma came a bit easier, largely due to feeling less guilty since I was home with our two girls, it certainly wasn’t easy having her plugged into the wall for the first week of her life as her tiny body fought jaundice. Those lights (baby spatulas, as we came to call them) were incredibly frustrating and disheartening and I wondered if I could really do this whole thing again when I already felt like a failure of a mother. Clearly I lacked something really motherly-important because these two beautiful girls God had entrusted to me felt like more of an inconvenience or disruption than a blessing or gift from Him. I just wanted to sleep! I just wanted my body back! I just wanted some quiet! Once again, I pushed God away and tried to muster up all the motherliness I possibly could.

Not surprisingly, I became the kind of mom I never wanted to be: easily frustrated, unhappy and often losing my temper and yelling at little people who had expectations placed on them that were beyond unrealistic. So when I found out I was pregnant for the third time, just after Emma’s second birthday, I wasn’t excited at all. I dreaded “how I could do this” and prayed that God would somehow work out all the obstacles that I saw in our lives before we could have three children. He answered my prayer, but certainly not the way I’d hoped or expected. Josiah Nathanael, our first son, quietly slipped away and met Jesus face to face long before we said goodbye. I watched my husband process by reading God’s Word so often that I wondered if he was really actually “processing” the grief. But I realized that he didn’t know what else to do, just like me, so he clung to the Lord. Blissfully aware of my bias, I’m sure my husband is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, but he’s not God. It hit me that I’d been putting God-sized expectations on my husband, when that was clearly never his role. So, he led me by quiet example and I quietly followed. Those days and weeks were a blur of tears and guilt and hiding myself under the shadow of the wings of my Great Comforter. I became determined not to push God away after loss when I had pushed Him away after blessings. Since I had no clue what to do with this “determination,” I read and listened to God’s Word a whole stinking lot. I focused on the promises that He hadn’t left me, He comforts and He gives us a future hope. I memorized and frequently recited to myself a handful of bible passages and prayed earnestly for another son. I so badly wanted to see the kind of little boy we would have and watch the man I adore raise a son to be just like him. Yet I saw myself as the “weak link” in our family. My husband loved our girls so well, right from the start, and here I was, ruining them. I also began thinking more and more about foster care, though wasn’t fully convinced I could do it.

As the year drew to a close, we did begin to seriously pray about fostering and started an initial application, only to find out weeks later that I was pregnant again, which brought foster certification to a screeching halt. After losing Josiah and having never “felt” pregnant with him, I was very sensitive to the lack of pregnancy symptoms this time around. I never felt sure this baby would live and was less surprised when my intuition proved correct. Baby #4 never got a name from us and never grew past six weeks. While this loss was less unexpected for me, it was much harder in some ways. Not many knew of this loss, so I felt more compelled to plaster a smile on my face and pretend everything was fine. I became convinced that our second loss was also a boy and maybe I couldn’t have boys. Maybe there really was something more “wrong” with me than I thought and I needed to focus on thanking God for the healthy girls He already gave me and pursue becoming a foster mom. As we processed through our grief and attempted to help our girls do the same, we talked and prayed more and more about fostering. It seemed like the question that constantly entered my mind was “why SHOULDN’T we foster?” instead of my previous “why SHOULD we foster?” Up to this point I’d thought we needed to have a special draw towards it, or have always wanted to do it. As we prayed and waited, the Lord was patiently teaching me that I wasn’t the “weak link” because He had already made me new through Jesus. God had provided a three-bedroom condo for us to rent at a price well below market value (with my very own WASHER AND DRYER!) and provided a minivan for us. He had plans and they weren’t finished. He continued growing me in my relationships with my girls and even now keeps reminding me that He gives me what I need each day, each hour, each minute… if I just ASK!

We pursued foster certification even as I wrestled with feeling as though I had somehow failed my husband by not giving him a son. And then I would feel guilty like somehow my girls were a consolation prize. How awful. Meanwhile those two girls were (and still are!) growing into caring, considerate, fun-loving, beautiful young ladies. I can’t imagine our family without my best little “helpers.” Yet, I still wrestled back and forth between feeling a failure and the guilt but was too afraid to continue asking God to give us a son. I thought maybe I could have another daughter, but we just needed to be content and thankful without a son. In hindsight, I think I was too afraid to ask God for a son because I didn’t believe He could be THAT good or THAT loving. After all, I’d known plenty of women who had struggled with infertility and prayed for years (some are still praying) for healing and a child. Here I was with two healthy girls, struggling to love them well, and discontent with the blessings God had given me. I believed God loved me, but didn’t owe me a single answered prayer, least of all for a son I would likely ruin!

After the summer, our foster certification process really began and we accepted our first short-term placement of a sibling set in April. It was NOT pretty. I realized then that we weren’t in a place to foster a sibling set, so we changed our profile to singletons. Our second placement only lasted eight days, but our third placement began just a few hours after #2 was reunified with his parents. Little Dude came to us June 15, 2016, one month before his first birthday and weighing in at 27 pounds. He had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen and was a pretty easy-going baby from the start. However, his easy-going temperament didn’t change the wrestling in my heart. I found myself resenting him for being born. How ridiculous I feel just writing that! He and I have gone up and down on this roller coaster of grief and foster care unknowns. There were days, sometimes weeks, when getting through a day with him felt only barely possible.

During this time we began studying the book of Isaiah at church. It felt like every week we were talking about trusting God and every week I would cry and beg God to help me truly trust Him: most especially for our family and the number of children we would have, biological or adopted. Little Dude and I would have some good days and some bad days, but we were getting used to each other. Part of God’s working through the Isaiah series was regarding my attempt to control the timing of another possible pregnancy. The Lord kept challenging me that He was the one in control all along, no matter what I did that made me feel like I had set my plans in motion. So we stopped preventing pregnancy. Having gotten pregnant four times before without any issues or delays, I anticipated a positive test the very next month. How little I had learned about Who was really in control! Several months went by and each month, with every new sermon in Isaiah, I cried and prayed that I would trust God in the waiting and remember that He alone is the Author and Sustainer of life. Isaiah 26:3 grabbed my heart during this time: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Oh, how I longed for that perfect peace! Yet here I was, anxious and wishing somehow I could just know what was ahead. Will I ever have another biological child? Will I be a failure of a wife that couldn’t have the four children we hoped and planned for?

Then October came. October has historically been a difficult month since I moved to California as I miss my formerly treasured autumns in New England, but now I mourn the loss of Josiah and his little brother or sister because they weren’t born that month. Coupled with the Isaiah series and a handful of other (perfectly orchestrated) events, I was so glad to finally enter November and put the emotional mess behind me. But that’s when we saw the positive test!

Plus Two

If you've been reading our blog since before kids, thank you! Also, you may (or may not) have noticed that as we've added kids, the blog name changed from "The Happy Couple" to "The Happy Couple +1" and now "The Happy Couple +2." Yes, we are now blessed with two little girls. Right now, I can honestly say they are a blessing, though there are certainly times when I lose sight of that.

Lately I've been realizing that I had NO idea what it would be like having two kids under two. While mine are certainly no more difficult (or easy) than many others that have experienced the same thing, it's stinking hard. Even on the "good" days, it's hard. On the "bad" days, it's REALLY hard. But God is faithful. I won't say I've always responded well in the midst of two screaming children and a month's worth of sleep deprivation under my belt; but I know the Lord is with me. Sometimes I just want to scream back at them and accomplish absolutely nothing. Yet there have been so many things that the Lord has provided to help me keep my sanity: my mom, my mom-in-law & dad-in-law, women at my church, good friends... baby gear where I can leave my baby safely while I step away from her wailing... But most importantly, and most wonderfully (second only to Jesus) the Lord has given me my husband. I am incredibly blessed to have a husband who patiently sacrifices himself and his desires to help his wife on days when she feels like she's lost it. Even if he has to stay up even later to finish a sermon or Hebrew homework, he'll help me get Alice to bed or hold Emma in a number of different positions to keep her calm so I can get a little break. Not only does he help with the girls, but he also helps keep our apartment clean when he can. He prays for me, encourages me, loves me, and seeks to follow Jesus' example in all he does. I know this makes him sound pretty amazing (which he is), but he's not perfect--just perfect for me.

But again I say, having two kids under two is hard. I can't imagine how women have multiples (twins, triplets?? HOLY COW!) or more than two that are very close in age. How do you make a phone call? How do you get dinner ready? How do you manage to clean the bathrooms or vacuum or dust? How do you grocery shop or run other errands? Right now those are ALL things that are falling by the wayside in my life and I just have two. Whenever they both sleep at the same time (rarely), the ONLY thing I want to do is sleep. I keep reminding myself that this stage will not last forever. Alice is learning to talk more, which will help tremendously. Eventually, I'm sure, Emma's wailing for hours and hours will go away. Things will settle down and we'll get a routine and I'll love being a mom of two girls that are so close in age. Right now I don't always love it and sometimes I think it'd be "easier" to get a job outside the home and let someone else go through these days other than me. But then I remember how badly I wanted to be home with Alice when I couldn't be. And God reminds me that THIS is a high calling--to raise these two little girls. I pray they will come to know Jesus as their Savior at a young age. I pray that they will follow Him faithfully throughout their lives and go where He leads. I pray that on the days when I want to throw something or scream that God would remind me that He's there, leading me as I seek to follow Him faithfully throughout my life. I pray that I don't look at this stage of life as something to "get through," but see each day and every breath as a gift from God and find joy in knowing He's using this to make me more like Jesus.

Love Mondays

Yesterday was the first Monday that I haven't been working, Happy's been home, and NOTHING else was happening for the entire day! It was a very excellent day, especially having been followed by two partial days of nothing else happening. While I do enjoy doing things and seeing people, I also REALLY appreciate having nothing scheduled. We ran a few random errands and went for a long afternoon walk. Just a relaxing not-much-happening sort of day with my husband and our little girl. I am so blessed.

Today was also a very good day, though very different from Monday. Started the day with breakfast for Alice & mommy and then Alice blessed mommy with another blueberry poo (She really likes blueberries and we have some that need to be eaten. When you don't have much variety in your diet and you take care of business in a diaper... It's messy). Then Alice had some great playpen time during which mommy was able to take a shower. We spent the morning reading and re-reading the same 6-7 books, folding & putting away laundry, and playing with her obnoxiously loud ball-popping contraption (which, of course, she loves). After lunch, Alice took a good long nap and mommy got some more laundry done and did some tidying of the mess that had been made earlier. Mommy also got to catch up on emails and plan dinner. Once Alice woke up, around 2:45, it was back to reading books until I had to start dinner and get it cooking so we could bring it to daddy before 5. Actually, I was shooting for 4:30 but it was closer to 5. Ah well. We ate dinner in Happy's office, came home, then went for a long walk. Alice lost the battle towards the end and fell asleep for 5-10 minutes before we got home. After walking around the apartment complex for 15 minutes, we came back home, gave Alice a bath & bottle and then put her to bed. She's been asleep for almost an hour and I'm about ready to fall asleep in this chair. Time to wash dishes and then off to bed for this tired pregnant mommy! I love being a stay-at-home mom :-)

August Already??

This month has FLOWN by! After the camping trip with church and our vacation, we came back to a wedding, a prayer meeting, a graduation party, Vacation Bible school, high school camp for Happy & an almost camping trip for Alice, Grandma Gilmore & me. Crazy month!

Vacation Bible School (VBS) was the week of July 18-22 from 9-11:30AM. I helped with crafts and had SO much fun. This was the first time I've been able to be any part of VBS at our church and I definitely want to help next year! I was amazed at how many kids and workers came out for it and even more amazed at seeing the Lord's hand in it all.

Right now Happy, 2 other counselors and 26 students are headed back from Wildwood (at Hume Lake). I was able to spend part of the week up there and see some of the students... and of course my hubby :-) I had planned on camping but when another youth pastor's wife found out that Happy's pregnant wife was coming up to camp with a one year old and mom-in-law to help she thought I was insane and offered for us to stay in their cabin in the loft area where there were two extra beds and a bathroom (with shower) they weren't using. Such a blessing! Needless to say, we were glad to change our plans and have easy access to a shower! Plus, Alice made two new friends with the 3 1/2 yr old son and 17 month old daughter of the other youth pastor's wife. I was encouraged to talk to another young wife of a youth pastor & mom of two and hear how ministry happens at another church. I had my plans for the week but God had better ones!

So, it's true, if you haven't heard yet. We are expecting baby #2 in mid-January. Not entirely sure if the due date (Jan. 16) is accurate, but we're going with it. We already found out (very early) that it's a boy, so we're all looking forward to meeting little Caleb Michael in the next 6 months or so. Well, at least Happy & I are looking forward to meeting him. I'm sure Alice will warm up to her little brother eventually. I am hoping I don't get as HUGE as I did with Alice, but am assuming that another moose baby is headed our way. Around 8-9 months of pregnancy I just look like I've got a beach ball under my shirt... not a basketball, a beach ball. They're bigger... MUCH bigger. People ask me if I'm having twins, if I'm about to burst, can I still shave my legs... all sorts of exciting questions. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. Maybe Caleb will be nice to his mommy and stay under 9 lbs as well.......... Is it wrong to pray that he stays under 9 lbs?

Okay, last thing before getting Alice up from her nap. My wonderful husband will be 27 years old on Tuesday. Even though he points out almost every year that I am older than him, I still love him and am looking forward to celebrating with him!! Don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!

Stay-at-Home-Mom Life

Happy Independence Day!!!

Andrew is back and we're in full-blown fireworks stand mode. Actually, that has just meant a few more phone calls than normal and making trips from the stand back to church with money so we don't have too much at the stand at one time. It's wonderful having him back home, though he seems to have some residual effects of Guatemala still bothering him. Fun fun fun.

This morning Alice & I went for a walk around the "lake" at the park down the street. It was HOT, but Alice was smothered with sunscreen and wearing her sunhat (which she is getting better at leaving ON her head) in her nice shaded stroller. If you haven't seen it already, Alice likes to wave at just about everyone who walks by. When we go to the grocery store, the doctor's office, Costco, to get the mail, she waves and smiles at anyone she sees whether they're looking or not. Today in the park there were a number of people running/walking around the lake. Some received a smile and cheerful wave while others elicited the coveted giggle. Only a select few were privileged to witness her overjoyed exclamations combined with all-over-body-wiggles and leg kicks. Those are my personal favorites.

As we made our way back home and I anticipated a dip in the pool I couldn't help but marvel at the blessing it is to be home with my daughter. I feel like I'm finally getting to know her better and seeing her personality blossom. Then again, it could just be the age she's in where things are easier to see now. Either way, I'M LOVING IT!!! Though I will say that the dip in the pool was less than pleasant with a squirmy almost 14 month old wanting to get in and out of the pool and run around and "jump" in and sit in her floating boat thing and get out of the boat thing and... well, you get the idea.

This week we're preparing for the college/F.I.T.(career) camping trip from Friday to Monday and then we'll take the rest of the week as a family vacation at Bass Lake at a friend's cabin. SO wonderful! My goals this week are to make an extensive packing list, have the first meeting of the girls' bible study (SO exciting!), get all the laundry done, and clean everything before we head out at a ridiculous hour on Friday morning. Hoping that Alice will transfer and fall back asleep in her car seat :-)

Almost time for Alice to wake up! The picture is from my sister's visit when we went to Disneyland (THANK YOU JACQUELYN!!!). Alice loved the merry-go-round. Have a lovely 4th of July!

The Move and More Pictures

New pictures of Alice are available in Web Album 2 on the sidebar or by clicking here.

Okay, so that was the big news. In other news, we're totally moved in to our new two-bedroom apartment. We moved a couple hundred yards across the complex we've lived in since March 2009. We are really enjoying the blessing of more space and of Alice not sleeping in our room! She's sleeping so well, too. In fact, this morning, Amy had to wake Alice up to feed her. That almost never happens!

When we signed the lease, we were astonished to find that instead of having a rent of $1,495/month, we were given $100 coupons for the next 11 months of our lease, effectively lowering our rent to $1,395/month! Praise the Lord!

I've started school again and am taking World of the Old Testament with Dr. Ken Way, Evangelism and Follow Up with Dr. Tom Steffen, and Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, which is offered through Trinity International University and will transfer.

Amy and I are planning two vacations coming up in 2011 and looking forward to Christmas in New England. I'm also leading a mission trip to Guatemala June 23-30.

This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

New Sneakers

Remember when you were little and you got a new pair of sneakers and really believed you could run faster and jump higher? I used to wear my new sneakers (or shoes) to bed at night before wearing them outside because I was so excited about the new-ness.

That's how I feel today.

Alice has been sleeping "through the night" since she was 5 weeks old, but that really only means she slept for 4-5 hours at a time, which was wonderful in comparison to only 2, but not quite enough for mommy to function on a day to day basis. For the past week or so, she's been sleeping 8-10 hours at night, allowing mommy to now have a full week (minus one night) of being well rested.

The sun is brighter, the breeze is sweeter and the Lord has perfect timing!

The little things...

First off, I realized that we never posted on our blog that I'm pregnant :-) Really. I am. This isn't a joke. I know it's not a joke because I threw up, ironically mainly in the morning, once each day since Tuesday. Today has been a bit of a fluke since I haven't spent any time with my head in the bowl, but I'm definitely not complaining.

Secondly, and the real reason for this post, was to share my joy in the little things that the Lord provides. This morning my Aunt Laura called me after we've played a long game of phone tag (perhaps two weeks now). It's been a blessing to keep in better contact with her since our visit to the East coast in June. Part of our conversation was talking about finances with a baby on the way. I shared that I am mostly excited and confident that the Lord will provide, but I have my what-if days. She encouraged me with what she tells her two daughters, "Somehow it always works out." I'm thankful to serve a God who does always work it out, whether through trials and difficulty or through orchestrating events in a surprisingly pleasant way. He knows just what He's doing and it is exactly what is best.

After such a lovely conversation on my ride to work I realized that I still was feeling good (as in, not queasy) and thanked the Lord for that and my aunt's call. Since then, the day has been fairly uneventful as I've had an abundance of energy (which is abnormal) and been able to get much done. The next little thing came when I was supposed to be taking my lunch but working through it because food didn't sound pleasant. At about 12:20 someone came in with Chinese food and it smelled SO good. Unfortunately, I needed to be at the front desk answering phones at 12:30 and didn't have time to go get food. Chagrinned, I came downstairs to relieve Kelly from her phone duties thinking maybe I might convince her to stay a few minutes longer so I could run and get food. Here's how the exchange went:

Amy (carrying a bunch of papers and work to do at the front desk): Are you ready, Kelly?
Kelly: Oh! I'm so sorry! It smells a lot like Chinese food! I don't want to make you sick!
Amy: No worries, I've REALLY been craving it since Alicia brought it upstairs.
Kelly: Really?? Do you want some of mine? They gave me WAY too much!
Amy: YES!!! I would LOVE some!!! You just made my day!
Kelly: Okay, just take this (handing me her to-go box FULL of chow mein) to the kitchen and get a plate and take what you want. Thanks! I thought I was going to have to throw a bunch away!
Amy: Kelly, you are my best friend right now. Seriously. I'm so excited for this chow mein.

I know, I'm a huge dork. But I walked away thinking I have nothing to fear because my God will take care of me... Even when I don't think it's "important" enough to ask. Yeah, it's been a good day all because of the little things...

1.3 Miles from Church

Right now I'm so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to find and move to a nice (and relatively cheap) apartment that's 1.3 miles from our church. I say that because we've been here most of the day and there's a long night ahead for Happy & Nick as they finish the YUGO video for the Youth/YUGO service tomorrow. The entire service will be run by the youth and Happy will be preaching for the first time in front of our church. It's supposedly a 23 minute sermon, but most who've heard him preach know it will more than likely go a tad over :-) There's just so much to say! What a blessing to have a husband who loves God and His Word! The rest of the service will be filled with the video, music led by the youth and several testimonies from the students who went down to Mexico earlier this month. I'm really looking forward to it. Please pray for Happy and all the students involved tomorrow. Pray that it would go relatively smoothly and that the spark that God has lit in the youth will spread to the rest of our church. Pray that God would receive all the glory.

Memories

I know, it's been a long time since we posted, and even longer since I've posted. I could write about what's been going on in my life, but I'd rather write about what's been going on in my head lately--memories.

About this time of year is my favorite time of year. Growing up in New Hampshire, this is the season when the leaves started changing colors and the temperature began to drop. The air smelled crisp and fresh and cool. I LOVED it. My mom once told me that she thought I was her most "New Englandy" child and was surprised that I've ended up in southern California. I think that some times it's good to recognize that the Lord has plans that may be different than what we want, and that's okay. But I do still get my "autumn fever" (it's a bit like spring fever, except I get it in the fall :-D).

On Saturday, Mike (my brother) came to visit and we drove to Oak Glen, in the mountains, to pick apples. Two weekends ago I went up to the mountains for the Ladies' Retreat with my church. I must say that the 45 degree evening that we found ourselves in when we arrived was simply delightful. The whole weekend was on the chilly end (upper 40s to lower 50s in the daytime and upper 30s to lower 40s at night) and while many of the women expressed their belief that it was freezing, I enjoyed being brought back to New England autumn weather. It was wonderful!

The events of the past two weekends has brought me to thinking about memories. I keep finding myself reminiscing about anything and everything in my past--from 8 years old to 23. Just a little while ago I was crocheting at my desk and watching a slide show of pictures run across my computer screen. There were pictures of my family visiting for Tom's graduation from boot camp in July. There were pictures from apple picking on Saturday. There were pictures from our wedding and several of the weddings we've been to over the past year. There were pictures of friends we still talk to and ones we've lost track of. But, they all made me smile as I thought about the memories.

What's the point of all this? I think I'm starting to realize that my memory is an incredible gift from God. Even if I can't list out the events of my life or tell you about each particular birthday or holiday, it's such a blessing to be reminded of some sweet memory and smile as I play it out again in my mind. I think of how the Bible talks about itself and how the stories of old are for us to learn from. They are examples for us to follow. We talked about God's faithfulness at the Ladies' Retreat and how it's good to look back and remember ways that God has been faithful in your life. We wrote out lists to help us remember and then spent time thanking God for all the ways He has worked in our lives. Since then I've been trying to enjoy every moment. Some days my focus is better than others, but today I was thinking how blessed I have been.

I grew up in a home with a mom and a dad who loved me and worked hard. We had a home and always had food to eat and clothes to wear. We went to excellent schools and each received a quality education. My siblings and I had fun together--playing "Clean-up Crew" and climbing trees, sledding in the winter and jumping in piles of leaves in the fall, playing tag with the neighbors' kids and waiting for the school bus in the morning. We grew up camping a lot, fishing with mom & dad in the canoe and finding earthworms and salamanders under damp leaves. We went to the beach and teased dad when he couldn't find the blanket without his glasses on. We visited cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents when we could and spent time with family friends. We had cookouts, pool parties and picnics, went on hikes, bike rides and hayrides and I loved it all!

Then I went to college all the way out in California. Every time I hear the song "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks (by the way, I'm not a big country music fan) it reminds me of my mom as I left for college because it was her song for me. College was another blessing as I met many Christians who had walked with the Lord longer than me and wanted to help me learn what I was doing. I had professors who invested in me both inside and outside of the classroom and new friends who wanted to love me and get involved in my life. I learned about and studied the Bible in class and on my own and the Lord has been faithful every step of the way. Then I got to spend an entire semester studying in Israel! What a blessing to read the Bible and be in the place where it actually happened! It was already an amazing semester, but God decided in His great grace to allow me to meet and get to know my husband during this time. I can confidently say that I wouldn't have picked Happy out of a crowd, but now I wouldn't trade him for anyone in the world! He has been the biggest blessing of my life (aside from the Lord saving me) and I couldn't find words to express how thankful I am that God brought us together. Happy continues to be a godly example to me on a daily basis as he seeks to serve our Heavenly Father in all he does. To top it all off, I've been a part of three church families that have loved me and encouraged me and given me opportunities to serve the body of Christ.

This post is getting pretty long, but I hope it has challenged some of you to look back over your life and thank God for all that He has done and continues to do. It's too easy to become focused on myself. It's too easy to forget all the ways I've been blessed and gifted. It's too easy to get comfortable and discontent and always want more. I hope you spend some time today thinking over your life and praising God for anything and everything you can. He truly is the Giver of all good gifts!

Reflections from Mexico

After the last few posts of our Mexico updates, it feels like I just got back from the trip! I've been re-reading my journal entries too, which brings me right back to when and where I wrote them. Plus, I finally finished writing the update letter which many of the people who read this will be getting soon :-)

Even though it's been more than a month since we returned, the lessons the Lord taught me are still in the forefront of my mind. Rather than make a list of things, I'm going to focus on a few larger points. First, our trip to Mexico confirmed in my own heart that God has given me the gift of encouragement. It feels a little weird to talk about this, but hopefully I can accurately reflect the fact that this is a gift from God. It's my responsibility and privilege to serve as an encouragement to those around me. I learned that when I see a person who needs encouragement (which happens a lot--I'm not sure if it's because I'm more aware of it or if God puts these people specifically in my path... or both?) and I don't do what I can to encourage them, I am telling God I don't want Him to use me. Essentially I am telling God that I don't want to be used the way He intended to use me (see 1 Cor. 12:15-17).

Second, I was encouraged greatly by the people in our team, the church in Bernal and the church/school in Mexico City because of their heart for God. I know that's a phrase that is used often in Christian circles, but let me define what I consider a "heart for God." Someone with a heart for God has God's Word hidden in their heart so they won't sin against Him. They seek to follow Christ's example of humility, serving rather than wanting to be served. They don't complain when they are tired, but persevere, praying to God for strength. Not only that, but they do all of this with joy. Now obviously no one will do this perfectly, and I'm not saying that any of the people I was with did all of this at all times. But it happened so much that I couldn't help but praise God for His work!

Third, it was such a blessing to get to know Richard and Starla Kull a little bit better! Happy had more of an opportunity to do this since he stayed at their home, but I think we both realized (again) that missionaries are regular people serving in another part of the world. They aren't super-Christians, immune to sin. They have a heart to serve where they are and they do it. Unfortunately, it's too easy to get comfortable in the Land of the Free and then we start to think we're entitled to things and then we want more. Richard and Starla were examples to me of contentment. They don't have a lot, but they are thankful for how God has provided for them--and they serve Him. It's pretty humbling to see that kind of example lived out.

I think everyone knows I could write a lot more, but I'll end with these three. Perhaps you've noticed that Happy hasn't posted in... a long time. He's been working at Liberty for the summer (when we're here) doing maintenance so he doesn't exactly have a lot of free time during the day. When he gets home he works on his class and soon will be preparing for the start of the school year. Perhaps with LOTS of comments to encourage him, he may take a short time to update you on his take on the Mexico trip... or Hawaii... or life in general, but he might need a good amount of comments........ hint... hint.... ;-)

Bernal Update (Part III)

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY/ANDREW!!!!! That's right, today is Happy's 23rd birthday. And I won't see him until tonight at Jake & Amber's rehearsal dinner in Santa Clarita. So, send him an email or give him a call to say happy birthday!

Alright, now I can move on to the Bernal Update. Friday was an early morning breakfast with Raul & Christina and then we went with Raul in a cab to the school. We arrived sooner than everyone else since Raul had to get to work before we were supposed to meet the group that morning. It was a good opportunity for Happy & me to spend quality time with the Lord, which we did before everyone else showed up a bit later. The plan for Friday was about the same as Thursday. The some of our team went to the park to play with the kids while the rest of the team stayed at the school to work. I went to the park to play with the kindergarteners again and we had so much fun! One thing I found a little more challenging with the younger kids was communication. Five year olds are difficult enough to understand when you are speaking the same language! But, it was a good opportunity to practice what little Spanish I knew (and remembered while I was there). I did a LOT of "Como se dice...?" and pointing at objects. That means "How do you say....?" I told Daniel that I have a brother named Daniel who is 11 years old and he seemed to think that was cool. We spent the day walking around nearly the entire park, which was HUGE. We played on a playground for a while, swinging, carrying the kids across the monkeybars and cheering as they went down the slide. Then we walked around a large lake and ended up giving the boys (Friday only Daniel, Elias and Eliseo were there) piggyback rides for a large portion of that time. Joelle, Brian and I had the help of two women from the church. I'm still not completely sure who they were related to, but the boys listened to them well, which made things a LOT easier for us. We stayed at the park until lunch time and escaped into the cars just in time to miss the pouring rain. After lunch at the school, everyone got back to work on painting and cleaning. Our goal was to paint several rooms before the prayer meeting that night and by God's grace and some serious hustling, we were able to do that! The prayer meeting was a rich time of fellowship across a language barrier. The pastor asked people to share prayer requests and offered a few himself, but in between each request he would choose someone to stand up and pray at that moment for the request. He even asked a few from our group to pray out loud. Nathan and Bekah, from our team, shared their testimonies, we sang some songs in Spanish and then the whole team got up front and sang a couple songs in English. Afterwards we had a huge potluck dinner. Raul & Christina took the opportunity to use a translator to tell us how much they loved having us in their home and how we were loved and how much it was a blessing for their children to see a young married couple living for the Lord. I was nearly in tears when they shared all that with us. Christina seemed to have more of an outgoing personality and giggled a lot, but she had such a kind smile and was so sincere in all they shared with us. Raul was more of the quiet type, but he too had a kind smile that you could tell was one of love for his brothers & sisters in Christ. That night at their apartment we again attempted communication with our Spanish-English dictionaries (another late evening) before going to bed.

Saturday morning was like Friday, we got up early and said goodbye to Christina so we could take a cab with Raul to the school. We already felt incredibly blessed by them and so thankful that Andrew & I were able to stay together; but they went even further and gave us a key chain from when Mexico won the World Cup. It was actually a coin that Raul had fashioned into a key chain. We learned that he is a mechanic and does welding for cars (at least that's what we understood). They also gave us a picture frame, which he had made, held up by two figures made of car pistons. After hauling all our stuff down to the cab and shoving it in the trunk and back seat, we squeezed in and headed over to the school. We said goodbye to Raul, had breakfast, loaded up the bus and went to the marketplace for some shopping before our flight back to California. After about an hour of shopping we got back on the bus to brave the Mexico City traffic to the airport. Marcos & Aubrey, the couple who runs the school with the help of several others, gave us money for lunch at the airport and then we said goodbye to them too. They gave Andrew & me a little painting of Mexico as a thank you, which was very kind of them. Every time I see it I think of them now and am reminded to pray for their school. We got on the plane with only minor mishaps (one of the guys left his passport on the bus, but Marcos was able to call the bus driver, who graciously drove back with it). We arrived in LAX around 7 pm and after a debriefing at the church with the team, Andrew & I got home close to 9 pm.

Side note: We each got a salad from Jack-in-the-Box on our way home and both got food poisoning from it. That night Andrew was throwing up and I had a high fever. We stayed home from church on Sunday (we were pretty upset about that!) resting off the food poisoning. I went to work on Monday with a slight fever that went away completely about halfway through the day. Andrew stayed home, but also began feeling better around the same time as me. Tuesday we both went to work and then went back to LAX to fly to the Bay Area (near San Francisco, for those who aren't familiar with the California lingo) for the Gilmore Fourth of July reunion/celebration. It was a lot of fun, but I was starting to get a cold which got worse just as we got on our plane on Thursday from the Bay Area to Hawaii for our first anniversary trip. But that's all I'll say about Hawaii for now.

The final part of the Bernal series will be coming probably next week (since we'll hardly be home for the next four days). It was requested that I share some reflections on the week in Mexico, which I am very excited to do. Thank you for reading all about this and for all your prayers before and during the trip. We saw the Lord work in SO many ways and I'm looking forward to sharing more about that in my next post. Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Bernal Update (Part II)

Update to Back to Mexico (Part I):

I forgot some important details about the soccer tournament on Sunday (since I now have my journal). Apparently the mayor of Bernal started this soccer tournament but wanted someone to run it. Several months before that Richard and Gadiel had expressed an interest in starting their own soccer tournament and the mayor had said no because he didn't like the church. By the time the mayor wanted to start up a different soccer tournament and Richard & Gadiel expressed interest in running it, the mayor said it would be alright. While we were helping at the tournament the mayor showed up to watch! Ron was able to talk to the mayor who was so excited to have our group there that he invited us back again and offered his house for the team to stay in!!! It was quite encouraging for us, as you can imagine, to hear how the Lord had changed the mayor's heart.

Now on to the second installment of the Bernal Update. Wednesday, June 27th, the whole team went to Gadiel's house to pour his concrete roof. After nearly 8 hours of sleep the night before, I was feeling a little more rested but still pretty tired. I think everyone was feeling the same way because Ron challenged us to be bouncing golf balls and sink drains (This was part of a series that week of "Tales from the Garage." He had already challenged us to be nails, used by God as we were meant to be used; floodlights, allowing our light to shine without holding back; and penguins, encouraging one another and guarding against sarcasm). Our goal for the day was to get our energy from the Lord and let things drain off us, even if something bothered us. I clearly saw the Lord use that message to get the students (and me!) focused and working hard. Several times throughout the day students could be found taking a short break to pray for strength. Pouring the roof consisted of serious work. We had a cement mixer (thankfully) which mixed one bag of cement with two buckets (5 gal. each) of water, one bucket of sand and one bucket of gravel (our pictures include at least one of the cement mixer). Then the cement would be tipped out onto the ground where men would shovel cement into more 5 gal. buckets and our group (along with some neighborhood kids and church members) carried the buckets about 20 feet to an assembly line standing on a ramp to the roof. The carriers would hand their bucket off to the assembly line and the line of 3-4 people passed the bucket up to be handed off to the guys on the roof who carried buckets to the pourers. The pourers... poured the buckets... obviously... and sent the empty buckets back to another line which handed empty buckets to the guys bringing the cement from the mixer to the assembly line. Occasionally the buckets would begin to collect cement at the bottom and need to be rinsed out, so we had people doing that too. Then you had the groups of people who shoveled gravel and sand and carried water to the cement mixer. Now this may or may not sound like a huge job, but we figured at the end of the day (we were there from about 10 am to 3 or 4 pm) that the group carried approximately 12 tons of cement up to Gadiel's roof. It was an amazing testimony of God's grace that we finished in one day!

Well, Wednesday was longer than that. After Gadiel's, a small group of guys along with Joelle and I, went to meet some Bernal guys for a basketball tournament. Joelle and I walked around looking for kids to play with (jump rope and catch with a playground ball) while the guys played basketball. (The rest of the team went door-to-door again and I heard that at least five people prayed to accept Christ!) We walked up and down a few streets asking kids if they wanted to play and none did so we went back to the court. Eventually a few kids showed up and pretty soon we had about 7-8 kids. We played for a while, but had to get back to Enrique & Yolanda's house for the Mexico vs. Brazil soccer game. Part of our door-to-door visits consisted of inviting people to watch the game on a projector outside of Enrique & Yolanda's house. For those of you who don't know, fútbol is SERIOUS in Mexico. When there is a game on, everyone is watching it! Unfortunately, it started to pour while we were playing with the kids so it turned out that everyone was inside Enrique & Yolanda's when we got there. But, we were able to invite the kids to come with us and their families. We ended up bringing three kids with us when we left the basketball court. Once we arrived at Enrique & Yolanda's we found out that the mayor was going to turn on this musical lighted fountain in honor of the visiting Americans! Hopefully I'll get the videos of that up soon. It was quite amazing and it's expensive to run so it was a huge honor from the mayor. Again, what a blessing to see the Lord working in his heart! As you can probably guess, it was another late night.

Thursday morning was the earliest morning as we met for breakfast at 7:15 so we could pack up the bus and leave by 8:30 or 9 am to drive to Mexico City. We arrived around 12:30 pm at a small Christian school (with 10 students this year and 20, I think, already registered for the fall!) and a group of us went to a park to play with some of their students (four were between 5 and 6 and the rest were junior high-high school aged). I played with the kindergarteners (twins Elias & Eliseo, Samuel and Daniel) with three others from our team. We came back to the school (which is also where the church meets) for a 2 pm lunch, which was wonderful, and then began working on the school. Some cleaned the massive tarps that protect the outdoor patio area where we all ate meals and met for church (later); some helped wash & prepare the walls for painting; some organized a whole room filled with donated books; and others began painting. All that was done until about 8:30 or 9 pm when we met our host families and went to their houses for dinner. Happy and I were incredibly blessed to be together! We were expecting to be apart the whole week so this was wonderful! We stayed with Raul & Christina who have three kids (ages 20, 18 and 16), but only the youngest still lives with them in their apartment. We had dinner together and tried to communicate (both couples with a Spanish-English dictionary in hand) for a little while before they brought us upstairs to show us around. They gave up their room for us and we still aren't sure where they slept! Downstairs there was a small eating area that connected with a tiny "living room" area. The kitchen was attached, although we couldn't see in there because there was a curtain in the doorway. Some creaky boards served as stairs up to the second floor which had two small bedrooms, another room where Christina did her sewing (she's a seamstress) and a bathroom. We were completely blown away by their hospitality and love as we stayed there!

I think I shall end here since most of our readers would need to read this in more than one sitting :-) The third update will be later this week so keep checking for it. Hopefully I'll be able to add some videos as well, but we'll see if the computer decides to cooperate (since it hasn't been lately). Thank you for reading all of this and have a wonderful Tuesday!

Back to Mexico (Part I)

I'm sorry it's been so long that we haven't updated you on our trip to Mexico! This post is an attempt to cover the basics of the trip because obviously I could write MUCH more. I think most of our readers know how long-winded I can be.

I was planning to bring my journal to help me get the chronology correct, but I forgot it so this is my attempt to remember as much as possible with only our pictures to guide me. That said, we began our trip to Bernal, Mexico on Saturday, June 23rd at 5:30 am at Village Bible Church. Joelle successfully handed off all "Items to go to Mexico" to the team. Some people had an extra checked bag while others added smaller items to their own suitcases. After a challenge/reminder from Ron of why we were going, we prayed and left for LAX around 7 am for our 10 am flight. Getting through the airport with a group of 25 was a bit of a challenge, but we all made it safely to our gate (despite the fact that the departure gate changed when we were nearly all checked in and about half the group was at the wrong gate). Happy & I were able to sit together, which was nice, and we also were served lunch--a HUGE blessing since we didn't have time to get food and were all quite hungry.

We arrived in Mexico City around 3:30 pm (I think), got our bags, and loaded up the bus for our 4 hour drive to Bernal. After getting gas, we were on the road around 4:30 pm and arrived in Bernal around 8:30 or 9 pm. Everyone was really hungry and some were feeling carsick from the long, bumpy bus ride. We had an authentic Mexican dinner of tortas (at least I think that's what they were), got our housing assignments, unpacked a bit and went to bed. I stayed at the house where we ate all our meals (owned by Enrique--who insisted on being called Juancho for some unknown reason--and Yolanda) with 6 other girls, split up in two rooms. Happy stayed with two other guys at the house of our missionaries Richard and Starla. The rest of the team was split up into three other homes. All the people who housed us were part of the church that Richard and Starla planted.

Sunday morning (June 24th) we had breakfast and began setting up for church on the front lawn of Enrique & Yolanda's house. The new sound system that the team brought from the U.S. was set up and used for the first time. With minor glitches and getting used to how it works, the system worked great. The service was a wonderful time of fellowship, as we sang in English & Spanish and we were able to listen to Gadiel (he & his wife Marta assist Richard & Starla a GREAT deal) preach in Spanish and then hear his message translated to English. After church, we prepared some skits (which we never ended up performing) because we were going to go watch and help at a soccer (fútbol) tournament that afternoon. We had a little free time in between though and many of us got ice cream in town :-) The tournament was lots of fun and nearly everyone ended up playing, even me!

Monday began with an 8:30 am breakfast at Enrique & Yolanda's house and then we split up into two groups. Most of us, including me, went to Richard & Starla's house to help with construction there; while about 8 or 9 others went with Gadiel to prepare his new house for it's roof. Happy went with Gadiel. I spent the day grouting the tile in Richard & Starla's new house with Stephen, Stacia and Nathan. We didn't finish before lunch, which was our goal, so several people went back to complete the task once they'd eaten. I didn't return since I had raw fingers, but joined the rest of the team visiting door-to-door to share the gospel and invite people to a social at the new church (the church will be the second floor of Richard & Starla's new house) that night. We split into groups of 3-6 and had several of the kids from church come with the team to help translate. My group was me and 4 guys and we spoke to people at 4 different houses. At one house Ron shared the gospel with an older woman while her daughter (we think) listened behind her. The older woman politely listened, but wasn't really interested in accepting Jesus as her Lord & Savior. Her daughter, however, jumped at the opportunity and prayed out loud right there! Ron & I shed some tears of joy as we walked away. What a blessing to witness the start of a new life lived for the Lord! When everyone met back up again at the church for a social that night, we heard that several groups had people pray to accept Christ that day. The social was filled with songs in English & Spanish, a couple testimonies (mine & Enrique's), games, food and lots of fun.

Tuesday after breakfast we hiked up la Peña. The real top of the mountain is not easily accessible, but a small group of us attempted to climb up after we'd reached the "top" that most climbers stop at. I joined a bunch of guys and, after climbing for a while, we realized that it was unwise to go any higher without ropes so we turned around. Still, it was pretty amazing. I turned around at one point to look out over God's creation and quickly realized that it wasn't the best thing for me to do at that moment. Apparently I have a slight fear of heights :-) After a little time to shop at the base of la Peña, we got back on the bus and returned to the house for a later lunch. I think we had some down time in between lunch and the volleyball tournament scheduled for that evening, but I don't really remember (and I don't have pictures of anything in between la Peña and the volleyball tournament). We spent the night playing/watching volleyball in the pouring rain which came about halfway through the first game and lasted maybe an hour or two. Needless to say, once the sun set, many of the wet people were pretty cold, but it was definitely a fun memory and provided opportunity for our guys to invite some of the Bernal guys to a basketball game the next evening. Plus, many of those watching the game were able to meet some of the Mexicans and help open doors for Richard & Starla. Another late dinner and we were all off to bed. I heard everyone slept pretty well on the trip--imagine that!

This is where I'll end for now. The second (and perhaps third) part of the Mexico trip will be coming soon, especially since I have now caught up with the invoices that had piled up at work while I was gone! It really is one of the most satisfying feelings to move the invoices off my desk because they're DONE. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Non-Monday Morning

This morning didn't feel like a Monday to me. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm feeling better than I normally do on a Monday. I've put a little thought into this and I think these are some of the reasons for the non-Monday feel of my morning:

1. I spent an hour on Saturday doing the Advanced Tae Bo workout video and then did it again this morning. Despite all the sore muscles in every part of my body, I think my energy level has increased.

2. I went to bed last night after praying for the motivation to get up in the morning and exercise. I think God gave me the right perspective on it--I'm not a morning person.

3. Ruth is getting married on Saturday!!!! I'm a bit excited about going up on Thursday with Abigail and Heather to spend some time with Ruth before the wedding :-D

4. I just read Gunner's blog from last Thursday, which put to words much of what I've been thinking about and learning. What a blessing!

5. The project I've been working on is ALMOST finished! I worked on it for a while on Sunday afternoon and now only have "finishing touches" left. My goal is to finish it tonight.


But for now, I'd better get to my invoices. Have a wonderful Monday and praise the Lord because His mercies are new every morning :-)