Baby Gonzo

Some of you have been asking about our baby in waiting. Sorry, we haven't said much about it. Unlike with your first kid, where everyone knows within a week of conception that you are expecting and what you'll name the kid, but the fourth, we're not quite as jubilant (don't worry this baby will never read this!). In this case, no news is good news, since it has been a fairly uneventful pregnancy. I will say however, that age and gravity catch up with you!!!! I'm not the spring chicken I was 9 years ago with Victoria.
So, all medical evidence points to a girl. Sam and a few others are holding out for medical error and hidden appendages. I'm getting all the pink stuff ready, again. We only have about 4 weeks left to go, so it shouldn't be much longer until you can meet our precious baby. Until then, here are a couple of images from the 3-D ultrasound we had a few weeks ago. If you can't make anything out, just let your eyes relax and think baby! You can see her face from different angles here -- nose in the middle, eye on the side with her arm up around her head. Have fun making it out!

Goodbye to Stacey and Salvador

Salvador and Stacey with their children: Mariah, Luis, Salvador and Ezekiel


On May 5th, in the middle of the night (crazy flight schedules), we put Stacey Torres and her four children on a plane back home. You might remember them from previous blogs. They made the difficult decision that it was time to head back to the States. So, they gave away their belonging in Ciudad Hidalgo and headed home. It was a tense evening as Stacey had to talk to immigration here since she and her kids have been living in Mexico with expired visas for 2 years. At the airport, Sara and I stayed with the kids (it is 11 o'clock at night) while Sam and Stacey went to the imigration office. After an hour we were sweating bullets, but Sam finally came out to get money. The immigration officers were gracious and charged her fines for a lost visa rather than an expired one, which would have been $2800 for each of them!!!!
So, with mixed emotions for them, we hugged them goodbye. God's divine intersections are always amazing. We pray that they will settle back into life in the States. It won't be easy. Please pray with us that they will all re-adjust, especially the kids.

Some VERY excited kids headed to the airport long past their bedtime!

Happy Mother's Day

For mother's day, the school always puts on a music festival where the kids dance. This year was exceptionally good. Each group danced a typical Mexican dance. They all did an amazing job, and even the junior high kids seemed something less than bored, embarrassed and put out to have to dance. The costumes and numbers were all very well done. I guess I was especially impressed, because in years past, the numbers have included dubious outfits, a lot of hip movements, and not my choice for grade school kids to swing to. So, this year was really good.
Victoria did a dance typical of our state, Michoacan, and Sofia did a number from Jalisco. They did great and looked beautiful. Here are some pictures of the grandiose moment! There aren't any of them in action because they were both on the back row most of the time and it was hard to get a good shot of them.

Victoria and Sofia (you can appreciate Sofia's attempt at a hair cut, focusing on her bangs)



Victoria with her classmates (Here you can appreciate the distinct separation of boys and girls prevalent at this age)


Victoria and Sofia with some of Victoria's classmates and their moms. This is the group of women I am closest to at school. God is opening doors into their lives, which is exciting.


Sofia and her English teacher, Miss Mari Carmen. She is so sweet, and really the epitome of a kindergarten teacher. We love her very much!



Our beautiful blond Mexican!

Happy Anniversary Church!

Last weekend we celebrated five years since the Iglesia Rio de Vida started. Wow, that's all I can say is Wow! (for a more comprehensive understanding of this statement, read "Lilly and her Purple Plastic Purse). It was an amazing weekend! We knew it would be a lot of work, but we came out of the weekend full and blessed and amazed at God's greatness.
We had several visitors from Richland Hills who joined us. These included Ron and Marilyn Holland, Duane and Debbie Jenks, Phyllis Needham, Carol Maples, Don Box and Norm Meyer. It was great to have them be a part of the activities, but more to be blessed and encouraged by their words and prayers.
We started the weekend with sightseeing on Friday (me and my little chicks all stayed home for this). That evening we had a night of praising God, prayer and the ever necessary potluck! People from the church here got to meet our visitors and hear a little bit about their involvement in this work. On Saturday we met with our leaders. This was again, an amazing time and a very emotional time. Each of our leaders shared how a little of their testimony on how they came to know God, how they came to this specific body of believers and what God is doing in them now. It blew us away! and we had already heard their stories! Our guests shared a little about how they have been involved in this ministry and what God is doing in their lives. They gave us all words of encouragement and prayed for us. Since this was also Mother's Day, we opted for a very nice, quiet banquet at the office. The food was yummy, the conversation flowing, and no noisy restaurant to battle with. A perfect choice!

Friday evening's praise and prayer time


Banquet time on Saturday


Now, this is only half way through the day. After a little rest time, we headed downtown for some local sightseeing and dinner. As much as it frustrates us sometimes, connections in Mexico are everything, and this day God used it in our big favor. A friend of ours works at a restaurant right in the middle of downtown, and when Sara stopped to say hello, he offered us the terraza of the restaurant to have our own private dinner overlooking the city. It was beautiful! The weather was gorgeous, and we got to watch the lighting of the cathedral ceremony complete with fireworks. Everyone was awed and amazed that we could have planned something like that (except we didn't plan any of it! Hard not to take credit for it). To top the evening off, as we headed to our cars, we were serenaded by a rondalla -- this is a group of young men in tights (a Mexican irony with machismo so prevalent), who sing and play various instruments. They were quite impressive with their dances and tunes.

The view from our restaurant


Enjoying the rondalla


The guys in tights


As if this were not enough, Sunday was icing on the cake. We had our usual celebration time with several first time visitors, and we even had a couple of baptisms. Mayte and her son, Julio, decided to be baptized, so we rejoiced all the more! We had 130 people be a part of the activities this day! After services, we enjoyed yet another yummy meal, a mariachi band to serenade the mothers and cake. In closing the activities, we watched a video diary of the last five years (it brought tears to my eyes more than once) and then we opened the floor to those that wanted to share about what this church and ministry has meant to them. Again, we were overwhelmed by people's thoughts and feelings. By the end of this, we all needed a nap!!! Sunday evening, we closed our time with our visitors over tacos (I know, more food!) and a time to look into the future. Again, we were blessed and encouraged. We especially took time to think of former team members and their contribution to the work here and even to mourn their not still being here.
As I said, our cups were running over by the end, and I had just expected to be drained. The last five years have been a wild ride with it's definite ups and downs, but we praise God for what He has done, is doing and will continue to do through us and in spite of us. Praise His name!!!


Olivia getting ready for a full day!


Duane preaching with Sam translating




Mayte and Julio with Aldo and Sandy who have studied with them


Mayte being baptized



Cake


Mariachi band serenading



Some of the ladies enjoying the day!

Quick Getaway

May is a crazy months in many ways! We have quite a few major activities planned for the church, there are a lot of holidays, and it's hot! The girls have several weeks in a row when they have at least one day off from school for one or another reason. The first week in May, they have a 5 day weekend (for labor day, catch up from labor day and Cinco de Mayo, which is NOT Mexican independence day). So, we took advantage of the opportunity and headed for the coast for a couple of days. We got to stay in our friend Phyllis' house, which is awesome! We only had to share the beach with the construction workers next door, but otherwise, it was all ours. Sam's mom came home with four bags full of sea shells and treasures.
We really, really, really enjoyed our time away. It was an opportunity to rest, to not answer the phone, to delight in God's creation. The girls spent most of the days in the water, and were rather waterlogged by the end of our time. It was such a blessing to get away in the midst of all the activity that we have going on, and we thank God for these kinds of opportunities.

The king of the house and his princess'... Sam won't let me post the picture of him swimming in his underware (I told you we were all alone on the beach) and wearing Victoria's pink goggles...quite the sight!



Victoria and Sofia looking much too grown up and beautiful!


The girls really wanted to fly this butterfly kite that Phyllis had at her house, but barring the traditional methods for kite flying, Sam hooked it up to his fishing pole, and it worked wonders!

Our Olivia turns 2!

During our church retreat, Olivia turned 2. We took advantage of the opportunity to share cake and sing happy birthday with 50 of her closest friends! She liked the cake, but was pretty shy when it came time to sing and blow out candles. Her sisters were right there to help blow out candles.
Olivia has been such a joy in our lives. She is developing a personality all of her own and it is so much fun to watch. She is communicating quite a bit and it is interesting to see how she chooses to use English or Spanish. She chooses one language for each word or thought, for example, she says: "milk, juice, sucio, sister, agua, etc." There is only one word that she knows and uses in both languages -- you guessed it, "mine or mio." We're working on the sharing concept.
She loves her sisters so much and wants to do everything they do. She also loves her daddy and cries anytime he walks out the door without her. She has especially grabbed the heart of people here, probably because she was born here and they have watched her grow up. So, at any church activity, I can usually rest assured that she is in good hands with someone! That is a huge blessing.
We look forward to watching our Olivia Grace grow up in the Lord and be the beautiful woman that God has created her to be.

Church retreat

The weekend of April 25-27th, we had our annual church retreat. This year, due to popular demand, we decided to have it in April, rather than October, since it's much warmer and there isn't rain (usually). We had our friends, David and Janie Padilla, who worship and work at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, come to speak at the retreat. Our time as a church in the word was an incredible blessing! David did a beautiful job of speaking God's word, encouraging us and inspiring us to live victoriously for Christ.
We had a great number of people come; although, the men were clearly absent in the mix. We had many, many more women and children than men. Our prayer is that God will bring these men and draw them to what he truly wants in their lives and raise them up as leaders of this body.
We enjoyed a couple of days at a "water park" equipped with cabins for us. The kids loved being in the water, and playing endless hours with each other. We even had a talent show where everyone was good sports about participating.
We praise God for these times of getting away, refreshing and fellowshiping with one another.

One of our sessions together



Food is never lacking and we love sharing a meal together!!!




Victoria wasn't so sure about playing organized games with the rest, so she played sloth for a little while


Sofia did an excelent job with the doughnut eating contest



The swimming was a highlight, and the kids really enjoyed swinging into the water; although it was a little shallow.



Just as an update, in April before the retreat, we said goodbye to our intern, Jeanine. She was here for almost a year and did an amazing job integrating into the Mexican culture, working with us and making lasting relationships with several of the people here. We already miss her very much and our girls especially were sad to see her go. We pray that God will continue to use her mightily wherever and whatever she does stateside. The next weekend, we also hosted the annual music seminar here in Morelia. We had five other churches from central Mexico (Cuernavaca, Lazaro Cardenas, Leon, Mexico City and Tlaplan) join us in learning new songs and praising God. It was such a blessing to fellowship with other Christians and be encouraged by each other.