Friday, January 28, 2011

A Scripture to Share

On Wednesday, the day I wrote the last post, we had our weekly family worship. Our church is reading through the Bible in 2011 from the Message Bible. On Wednesday nights, we gather as a family and discuss any scriptures that stood out to us from our reading over the past week.

If you recall, my last post talked about our challenge of packing light and of the house that we will be renting while we were there. Don shared a scripture that speaks to both of those topics.

The scripture he shared comes from Mark 6 where Jesus is sending out the 12 disciples. It doesn't seem near as relevant in the NIV translation but read this from the Message Bible:

"Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.
And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave."
Mark 6:8-11

I love it when the Lord speaks so directly to us from His word. I will now be leaving any "extra" equipment behind. I am also excited about our "modest place" and being content there (widowmaker and all)! He makes me smile and I wanted to share it with you! Hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Two Weeks from Today!

Can you hear God "stretching" us from there? We have been going to Guatemala since 2003 so you would think things would get routine and simple, right? We have learned that the Lord stretches us a little bit out of our comfort zone every time we go.

The first new part of our adventure has to do with our flights. The cheaper tickets we found saved us over a thousand dollars but they leave from Chicago. We will be renting a van and driving on Wednesday, February 9th. Our flight then leaves bright and early on Thursday morning. Don and I have alot of peace about doing this and are actually looking forward to a day of driving. We are trusting the Lord for good weather. When we found the tickets, we looked at each other and said, "Well, we have never done it this way before!"

The second new part has to do with where we will sleep! We have stayed at the children's home where we serve and we have stayed in the clinic building where Don helps with weekly clinics, but we have never stayed in a house by ourselves. Guess what we are doing this year? Since this is a "new" part of our trip, I am assuming that you guessed correctly - in a house by ourselves. There are other visitors expected during our trip so the missioniaries that we serve with are looking into a house we can rent. During the phone call from Guatemala, they told us that we would be "living like Guatemalans". This means we will have a pila instead of a kitchen sink. The house is made of cinder block which is better than the adobe alternative. In Guatemalan style, the bathroom is located in its own separate building (like an outhouse but with a toilet and running water). The shower is cold but they are going to install a "widowmaker" for us. I know . . . doesn't sound good, does it? One friend told me to just not think about it too much. Don't worry, I will post pictures as soon as we arrive! : )

My other challenge on this trip is that I have to pack light. We generally take 10 to 11 bags (maybe even 12 once) but we have had help getting everything to the airport. This trip we have to fit everything in our rented van. I am praying about the things that we "need" as opposed to the things that I "really, really want"! I always takes things like chocolate chips, brown sugar, cocoa and other "North American" products that are very expensive in Guatemala City and do not exist where we will be living. I am thinking that the kids will need their clothes more than baked goods so I may have to lighten my "food" list slightly. It will all come together, it always does!

The good thing is that life does not stop just because we are leaving in two weeks so we have plenty to distract us! If the Lord puts us on your hearts, please pray for us as we prepare. Please join with us in trusting the Lord for good weather on the 9th when we drive to Chicago. Please pray that I will pack all the things we "need" in as few bags as possible! Thank you!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Tickets are Purchased!

We have been praying and searching and praying and waiting and praying and searching since before Thanksgiving. We have been trying to be very flexible and open-handed with a Guatemala trip this year. We knew with cancer and Don's mom, there was a chance that we wouldn't be able to go. Or a chance that the trip would be shorter than in the past. We were really wanting to seek the Lord for His plan (which is always soooo much better than anything we could come up with!).

His mom is almost done with her radiation treatments and she is doing great. We have scheduled her 3-month check-up with the oncologist for Feb. 2nd. Since we wanted to be able to go with her, we knew the trip could not be before that appointment. Don's brother is getting married in March so we knew we couldn't go too far into March.

We played with dates and flight options until this morning. We found a great flight that will get us to Guatemala on February 10th. We will be able to stay for a little over three weeks until early March. It feels so good to finally have something set!

We will be giving you more details on our trip as we get closer. If you want to follow our trip, we will update the blog as well as facebook while we are down there. We would really appreciate your prayers as we prepare to go, while we are gone and for our return.

I have also included some of our Christmas and New Year's pictures. We did have Christmas with our extended family as well but, of course, we forgot the camera! We are counting on Aunt Jen for those pictures! Here is just our family Christmas.

Since Caleb was little, we have had a "Christmas book". It gets packed with the decorations. It comes out as we decorate and then is read before we open our presents from each other. Then it disappears utnil next year. It is one of our favorite traditions! Here is Don reading it this year.
 
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The kids all purchased gifts for each and then gave something to us as well. Samuel bought Don a 1970 Hot Wheels "old school" car. He was so proud of his gift!
 
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Don and I purchased a "family gift" of a Wii this year. As you can tell, it was a huge hit!
 
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So guess what we did on New Year's Eve??
 
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Based on Samuel's face here, I must be winning!
 
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But we did make up later!
 
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Finally, we let the four of them play by themselves! So much fun!!
 
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