Some Meandering Thoughts on Life Here & Prayer Request

When we started this blog, I honestly thought that I would be posting at least weekly. Unfortunately, the reality of our busy schedule has made that difficult. I envisioned sharing cute stories about the kids, ministry news and other interesting experiences in our lives here in the southern Baja of Mexico. (In fact, I sometimes feel guilty for not posting more often.)

It has started to really warm up here and I must admit, this mom is no fan of the heat like my husband is. Today, when I walked into my kitchen to start getting our lunch ready, it was absolutely stifling and knowing this is just the beginning can be a pretty depressing thought to say the least. My wonderful husband did get me a new blender for Mother's Day so I can at least make fruit smoothies and frapacinos to help us get through the heat a little more comfortably. Doing school in the heat can also be challenging at times, but with a little grace and lots of patience with each other, we are doing it. I love to home school and the flexibilty really helps so much as missionaries but I do find myself envying those who have 3 months off from school right now. The up side is that my kids won't have much time off so they won't forget as much (at least that is my hope) and having a routine (as much as possible down here) really does help every one. We are all much happier and do so much better.

Something really cool has happened for our family esecially for our daughter, Abby. (I shared this in our most recent prayer letter...if you want to see the letter, follow the link to the left and select the Sping 2009 letter) Magy and her oldest daughter, Elisa, just "happened" to come by our church on the Sun. evening last month when we were celebrating Mother's Day. We do not normally have meetings at the church on Sunday evenings so we know this was not just a coincidence. Her family had moved here from Mex. City a while ago and they were trying to find a church that also had meetings in the evenings since her husband, Enrique, often has to work Sunday mornings. After talking some more, we discovered that Magy is home schooling their oldest daughter who also happens to be close in age to Abby. Their family has been faithfully attending our cell group as well as church services and Elisa and Abby have become good friends. In fact, we had been praying for more girl friends for Abby, especially in our cell group as she is surrounded my boys. Last week, Magy and Elisa also shared with us that they had been praying too. Elisa had been praying for another little girl like her who is home schooled. (Home schooling is not very popular here and this is the first Mexican family we have met here who home schools.) Enrique and Magy are having a difficult time right now and we would appreciate your prayers. On Thurs. Enrique began experiencing severe abdominal and back pain. After going to the ER in the middle of the night, he was sent home with pain meds to control the pain for suspected kidney stones. Yesterday morning, they called us around 5:30 to ask for a ride back to the ER because the pain had worsened in spite of the pain meds. After an entire day of waiting on lab results, it was confirmed last night that he has kidney stones in both kidneys. They are still waiting today to hear from a specialist regarding what course of treatment they can provide, if any, beyond pain meds. Please pray for strength and energy for Magy since someone has to stay with Enrique at the hospital all the time to care for his needs. (The socialized health care system here does not provide for full nursing care in the hospital.) Please also pray for special grace on behalf of Enrique's employers. With the economy the way it is here, many are losing their jobs. Missing work, even for a medical emergency, could cost him his job.