it feels like home...Lupita warmed up even quicker this time. we're having so much fun with all the kids. they are so loving.....and hungry!! about 10 of them wandered over for dinner tonight. we're feverishly working on craft preparations for 100-200 kids. tomorrow is church in Salitre. I can't believe how much has changed in the last year. the kids have grown so much! there are more stores and painted homes. i'm having a blast with my own camera this year, and I can't wait to get home and sift through hundreds of photos. we had a thunderstorm this afternoon....pretty common here as the climate is semi-tropical. We have plans this week to visit the falls, go all the way up to La Joya to preach and treat patients and then stop in la viga for the kids club. Oh, and there are three women who are due any time, so we may have a delivery here!
Sabina is back home. I mentioned her in the last blog. She had to deliver her own stillborn baby, and then they tried to convince her that she'd had a C-section, so the hospital could collect more money from her. Meanwhile, she was begging for a new room b/c two of the eight women in it had gangrene so bad, there were worms in their open infections. She did minister to 13-year-old who lost a baby and was disowned by her parents because of it. Sabina's faith is so strong!!
Well, we're getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to Nina, one of Lisa's daughter. Maybe I'll get to post more later!!
We love and miss you all. Give our love to the kids!
xxx
ooo
Amy & Dan
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Hola from Mexico
Continuing with this weék´s theme, Satan has continued to mess with us! We arrived to have one of our bags end up in Florida. It would be the bag with Dan´s ashma medication and work boots in it. He´s stuck with flip-flops. Luckily, Garnet has some medical connections, so she´s going to get his medicine for him later today. The luggage we may never see again....or who knows, maybe it will be in Matehuala when we come home next Sunday. Fortunately, I separated our items between our two suitcases, so for now, we do have clean underwear and clothes. Praise God for that, right! We´ll be shopping at Super Walmart today for our food, so we can get some of those necessities and working shoes for Dan.
Poor Garnet has been dealing with Satan, too! On their way to get us, the hood of the van flipped up and shattered - but left in tact - her windshield. They secured it with tape!! Also, the brake lights are out on the trailer, so highway patrol was waiting for us when we left the airport. What a sight! A van full of Americans with a broken, sagging, taped up window and no brake lights. But we made it! With a little help from God, we should be able to get back on the road with a new windshield this afternoon. We may end up staying in Matehaula, or Garnet may have to because of Sabina....
Sabina, the wife of one of the preachers, Juan, is six months pregnant with a menopausal baby. She´s in a hospital, and they are trying to deliver....the baby is dead. She´s been there three days with induction not working, and her blood sugar is too high for a C-section. Please pray for her and her family! Also, we learned when we arrived that Gay´s neighbor´s son, a boy of about 12, has a malignant - and aggressive - brain tumor. Our hearts are breaking for him, and we pray that the doctors are able to treat this disease! He needs your prayers, too.
We have so much to accomplish, and Satan is definitely trying to stop us. Please keep praying for all of Garnet´s work, and especially for her health. She has a group of nearly 30 coming two days after we leave, VBS is quickly approaching, and patients are calling non-stop. Also, there have been terrible power outages in Zaragoza, so she can´t get online. This may be the only update we´re able to give....stay posted!
Love to my family, my kids and my church family at home!
Poor Garnet has been dealing with Satan, too! On their way to get us, the hood of the van flipped up and shattered - but left in tact - her windshield. They secured it with tape!! Also, the brake lights are out on the trailer, so highway patrol was waiting for us when we left the airport. What a sight! A van full of Americans with a broken, sagging, taped up window and no brake lights. But we made it! With a little help from God, we should be able to get back on the road with a new windshield this afternoon. We may end up staying in Matehaula, or Garnet may have to because of Sabina....
Sabina, the wife of one of the preachers, Juan, is six months pregnant with a menopausal baby. She´s in a hospital, and they are trying to deliver....the baby is dead. She´s been there three days with induction not working, and her blood sugar is too high for a C-section. Please pray for her and her family! Also, we learned when we arrived that Gay´s neighbor´s son, a boy of about 12, has a malignant - and aggressive - brain tumor. Our hearts are breaking for him, and we pray that the doctors are able to treat this disease! He needs your prayers, too.
We have so much to accomplish, and Satan is definitely trying to stop us. Please keep praying for all of Garnet´s work, and especially for her health. She has a group of nearly 30 coming two days after we leave, VBS is quickly approaching, and patients are calling non-stop. Also, there have been terrible power outages in Zaragoza, so she can´t get online. This may be the only update we´re able to give....stay posted!
Love to my family, my kids and my church family at home!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Good-bye for now
Tomorrow morning we leave for Mexico. Somehow, I feel less prepared than last year. My non-Christian friends, please bear with me here...if I had heard one of you utter this three years ago, I would have thought you were crazy. I would have loved you anyway, so I pray the same for you when you read this. My faith has grown so much in the last few years in ways that even I don't often understand. In an earlier blog, I contemplated why God was rattling me this week. Not long after that, I experienced another "blow" and another and so on. I had a long talk and an awesome prayer with a minister, plus a talk with a girlfriend, and later it became clear. God has nothing to do with this. Satan knows the good works that we have in mind for next week, and he's throwing stones at me. I kept telling my minister that I feel so ill equipped to handle this "bad stuff" this week. But I know with God, ALL things are possible. So even though I feel sad, depressed, miserable, angry, bitter and confused this week, I'm not letting my emotions control me. I dove straight into my mission devotional. I want God on my side as we prepare for this trip. I want God on my side always, and I acknowledge that it means there will be challenges ahead. Satan has a way of finding our weaknesses and playing on those. Still, I will go on. Pray for us these next 10 days; we have much to do!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Rattled
My week started out on a good note. As I reflect on just the last three days, I think that's the last time I may use a positive word to describe this timeframe. A good friend came over Monday night to pray about our upcoming mission trip to Mexico. We went to the back porch where it was quiet, as Abby was still bopping in and out of bed. We had a powerful prayer, and I think -- though I may have been too absorbed in prayer to notice -- that Abby even stopped peering out the windows liked a caged zoo animal. We cried and giggled, and then 10 or 15 minutes into it, there was the loudest rattling sound. At first, I kept my eyes closed and half expected to find a 5-year-old trying to break out a door onto the deck. I opened them, and it was clear something was on the roof. A rather large animal, perhaps? It was a very large rattling, rumbling in frantic, uneven tones. Then, it stopped. We didn't see a thing and wondered if maybe God was trying to get our attention. Maybe our prayer was too serious? We continued on, joking about it later.
We woke up the next morning, trying to quickly get ready and out the door. You see, Dan has been switched to nights, and he is rolling into bed around 6:30 a.m. Ryker -- now dressing himself like a big boy (I would say "finally," but I don't want to damage his ego!) got ready in a snap. Abby, on the other hand, put on a skirt that was horribly stained. I told her she had to change. And she happily did...big surprise there. But she tried to put on a ballet skirt. Any other day, I wouldn't care. Today, my girlfriend would be babysitting. She has three boys, two of them older than Abby. I insisted that she needed a skirt with shorts underneath. This set off Abby, and the fit throwing ensued. My suggestions only encouraged her ire. This was getting ugly fast, and I could see that we could potentially argue for 30 minutes. At this point, it's been 15 minutes since I asked her to get dressed. So, I grabbed the nearest clothes and dressed her. I told her to put on her shoes, and she screamed at the top of her lungs -- just outside Dan's door -- the whole time she did it.
We get in the car. She's still screaming....and I mean screaming. She's crying that the skirt is too big. I'm crying. I cannot believe she's having a fit this big, and I wonder if I could have prevented it. What is this really about, I wondered? I dropped off Abby, and my friend offered a much needed hug. And I left. Something that really hurt and hardly felt right. I mean, it's one thing to deal with this sort of thing. It's quite another to endure it a few days before you leave the country. I felt horrible. I came home and prayed and cried. Why was God rattling me when I really needed peace at this moment?
More tears were shed Wednesday. Our dear out-of-state friends were visiting and decided to come to a Dave Ramsey class with us. We dropped off the kids at the church and were heading to our minister's house when their 3-year-old caught up with their car at the edge of the highway. It broke my heart. I've often had that fear about my own children and to think that they actually had to endure it was heartwrenching. To leave them with that impression of our church just hurt. Once again, I felt rattled.
I felt rattled all weekend, as our crazy schedules had us going in a bunch of different directions. I felt rattled since Dan was switched to nights. Each day holds a new challenge that I feel ill equipped to handle. Just like the chaos on my roof on Monday night, I feel chaos in my life, in my heart. God is rattling me. I hope come next week in Mexico, He shows me why.
We woke up the next morning, trying to quickly get ready and out the door. You see, Dan has been switched to nights, and he is rolling into bed around 6:30 a.m. Ryker -- now dressing himself like a big boy (I would say "finally," but I don't want to damage his ego!) got ready in a snap. Abby, on the other hand, put on a skirt that was horribly stained. I told her she had to change. And she happily did...big surprise there. But she tried to put on a ballet skirt. Any other day, I wouldn't care. Today, my girlfriend would be babysitting. She has three boys, two of them older than Abby. I insisted that she needed a skirt with shorts underneath. This set off Abby, and the fit throwing ensued. My suggestions only encouraged her ire. This was getting ugly fast, and I could see that we could potentially argue for 30 minutes. At this point, it's been 15 minutes since I asked her to get dressed. So, I grabbed the nearest clothes and dressed her. I told her to put on her shoes, and she screamed at the top of her lungs -- just outside Dan's door -- the whole time she did it.
We get in the car. She's still screaming....and I mean screaming. She's crying that the skirt is too big. I'm crying. I cannot believe she's having a fit this big, and I wonder if I could have prevented it. What is this really about, I wondered? I dropped off Abby, and my friend offered a much needed hug. And I left. Something that really hurt and hardly felt right. I mean, it's one thing to deal with this sort of thing. It's quite another to endure it a few days before you leave the country. I felt horrible. I came home and prayed and cried. Why was God rattling me when I really needed peace at this moment?
More tears were shed Wednesday. Our dear out-of-state friends were visiting and decided to come to a Dave Ramsey class with us. We dropped off the kids at the church and were heading to our minister's house when their 3-year-old caught up with their car at the edge of the highway. It broke my heart. I've often had that fear about my own children and to think that they actually had to endure it was heartwrenching. To leave them with that impression of our church just hurt. Once again, I felt rattled.
I felt rattled all weekend, as our crazy schedules had us going in a bunch of different directions. I felt rattled since Dan was switched to nights. Each day holds a new challenge that I feel ill equipped to handle. Just like the chaos on my roof on Monday night, I feel chaos in my life, in my heart. God is rattling me. I hope come next week in Mexico, He shows me why.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
A quick update
I've been neglecting all blogging lately, and for that I apologize. A few updates....
I was priveleged to attend Women of Faith this weekend. Wow! I was blown away. It was such an inspiring, faith-infused fun time. The laugher, the music, the dancing and a few tears. Patsy Clairmont had to be my favorite speaker. She is the funniest gal. One story she told pertained to her grandson complaining just as a show was about to begin on a vacation. He thought everyone's head would block his view (not realizing the stadium design prevented that) and blurted out just as the crowd quieted in anticipation of the show, "These people really annoy me," or something to that effect. Isn't it true that we so often immediately begin complaining and griping? We're so consumed by all the grumbling that we forget that God's created a great design and there's an amazing view. I loved hearing Natalie Grant, Nicole C. Mullen and Ayiesha Woods sing. Nicole C. Mullen has this great crew of kids who dance with her on stage. I kept thinking Abby would love it. I'm thinking I need to take her to a concert. It was electrifying! I am bummed Women of Faith won't be in St. Louis next year. I was trying to think of all the lovely women in my life who would really enjoy going. But I'm not sure that even I will make the trip next year. We'll have to see! If I haven't mentioned it lately, going to Women of Faith reminded me of all the wonderful ladies I have in my life. My family, friends and church family have been so supportive of my business venture and my growing relationship with Christ. I love you all and all you do for me.
Today I got to do another great thing...the wonderful and talented Sandy Puc was in Peoria on her Bellies and Babies tour. I learned so much from her and can't wait to implement it in my business. It was a great reminder that I'm so lucky to love what I do, and also of all the hard work that lies ahead for me.
We're getting ready for Mexico this week, and my dear friend Nancy and her family are in town. There's so much to do, so I better wrap this up quickly! Pray for our upcoming trip and for Garnet, our group and all the work that needs to be done in Mexico this summer. Thanks to each and every one of you for your support of this mission and our trip. We love you so much!
I was priveleged to attend Women of Faith this weekend. Wow! I was blown away. It was such an inspiring, faith-infused fun time. The laugher, the music, the dancing and a few tears. Patsy Clairmont had to be my favorite speaker. She is the funniest gal. One story she told pertained to her grandson complaining just as a show was about to begin on a vacation. He thought everyone's head would block his view (not realizing the stadium design prevented that) and blurted out just as the crowd quieted in anticipation of the show, "These people really annoy me," or something to that effect. Isn't it true that we so often immediately begin complaining and griping? We're so consumed by all the grumbling that we forget that God's created a great design and there's an amazing view. I loved hearing Natalie Grant, Nicole C. Mullen and Ayiesha Woods sing. Nicole C. Mullen has this great crew of kids who dance with her on stage. I kept thinking Abby would love it. I'm thinking I need to take her to a concert. It was electrifying! I am bummed Women of Faith won't be in St. Louis next year. I was trying to think of all the lovely women in my life who would really enjoy going. But I'm not sure that even I will make the trip next year. We'll have to see! If I haven't mentioned it lately, going to Women of Faith reminded me of all the wonderful ladies I have in my life. My family, friends and church family have been so supportive of my business venture and my growing relationship with Christ. I love you all and all you do for me.
Today I got to do another great thing...the wonderful and talented Sandy Puc was in Peoria on her Bellies and Babies tour. I learned so much from her and can't wait to implement it in my business. It was a great reminder that I'm so lucky to love what I do, and also of all the hard work that lies ahead for me.
We're getting ready for Mexico this week, and my dear friend Nancy and her family are in town. There's so much to do, so I better wrap this up quickly! Pray for our upcoming trip and for Garnet, our group and all the work that needs to be done in Mexico this summer. Thanks to each and every one of you for your support of this mission and our trip. We love you so much!
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