Making the Best of Our "Ifs and Thens"

It's been so refreshing to be here in Nampa and to be fed at church in ENGLISH!!!  And it has been overwhelming as our friends and church family have showered us with generous gifts and abundant time spent with us!  We feel like the center of attention and very loved.

It seems that each day is slowly clicking away so that one day can easily feel like one week.  There are times that we get discouraged because there still is not a full-time job/career for Cal and we start to wonder HOW we will make it (of course we are forgetting God's amazing blessings in the past, His promise to take care of us and His amazing love and guiding hand for our future) and that feeling can reoccur several times a day or every other day, but God has been so faithful in using the people around us to constantly remind us that we are in the palm of His hand and He is caring for us. 

For some reason our limited minds put those same limits on God.  After God has blessed us with some income or a generous gift, we are completely blown away and humbled and promise to never forget His hold on our lives and that He will always take care of us, and then, it seems that we always get attacked by the evil one immediately after when he tells us lies that that was only a one-time thing, but what about next week or the week after...how will you make it then?  And then all of a sudden we've forgotten our promise to REMEMBER what God has done for us and that He will always take care of us.  But God is so faithful to take our humanness and limited minds into account and remind us who He is and that His blessings never stop flowing.  It's not just a one-time thing...it's a life-time...no, it's an eternal thing.  :) 

For those who were at church this past Sunday will know what I'm talking about in my next few sentences.  Our pastor was talking about God's "Ifs and Thens".  For example: "IF you obey my commands, THEN I will bless you".  He was explaining that many of us are so busy rushing to the THENs that we handle our IFs poorly.  Cal and I do not want to be so busy complaining about our time of "ifs" (waiting) or rushing to the THEN that we don't see His blessings along the way and glorify His name. 

I am doing a Beth Moore study on Revelation at church every Thursday right now and she is encouraging us to write down all the ways that God is revealing Himself to us every week and as I look back, I am always so blessed to see how MANY ways He is speaking and revealing Himself to us as we are really in a very EXCITING time of our lives.  There are so many possibilities with jobs, places to live, etc...As Sarah said at church on Sunday, we just need to ride this roller coaster, throw our hands up, scream and enjoy the ride!   God knows the track that lays ahead and so even though we can't predict the next turn, we know that God can see it and will keep us safely in our seats.

We'd so appreciate your prayers for us right now.  We can feel a constant battle going on for our souls.  We KNOW that God's plans for us are right and good, but we want to be patient and not get the cart before the horse in our own power.  We need prayer for wisdom and discernment as well as a peace that can keep us and help us to persevere until God's direction is made known in our lives.  This time in our lives has been somewhat harder to "wait" than in the past and I think it's Satan's attempt to knock us down so that we will not shine God's light.  Please pray that Jesus's light will never go out in our lives and that we will daily put on the full armor of God!

We are so thankful for a church family, friends and mentors that have so faithfully loved and cared for us through many difficult times!  And for the miracles that Jesus has done in our lives, we PRAISE HIM!!!!  There is no one as worthy as He!!!  I am not worthy to eat the scraps from His table, to wash His feet, He is so Holy that if I was to gaze at His face, I would die, His power can calm storms, He can think it and mountains appear, at His command mountains fall into the sea and nations are destroyed and yet, He picks me up, cares about my smallest concerns, cradles me, wipes all my tears away and blesses me beyond my wildest dreams.  That's the God I serve!!!  Pray that we remember that each and every second of every day!

First month down...

<---Ella and Papa Jeff. They're two peas in a pod!

We've been back from Peru a month now and can hardly believe that it has not been longer!! It seems like we've been gone an eternity. Homesickness (for Peru) has set in and we are really missing our friends, family rather, in Peru. But there are so many wonderful things to be thankful for here. The newness of Ella in her cast is wearing off. We're starting to get the hang of a 2 1/2 year old in a full-body cast and how to maneuver her around. She's getting pretty sick of it, but is such a good sport. Her latest "accomplishment" was learning how to wiggle around and kind of "crawl". She'd start on her stomach and then put her hands under her body and push up. Then, with her half-free leg, she'd scoot forward and drag her immobile leg along. It wasn't a good idea though. The night after she figured out how to move she was in terrible pain and slept very little because it stressed her muscles that just been operated on. So, we're trying our best to keep her from scooting, but it's hard now that she knows she can do it. Ella's still as happy as ever. She asks politely to be moved from here to there and is more patient than I think I would be in her position. God has placed a peace on her little heart and body. We are so amazed at the signs of His love and fulfillment in her life. I know that there is no way a little two year old could understand what is going on with her body, but it seems that Ella does understand or is at least patiently accepting this new life-style, at least for now.

<--- Ari was doing a puppet show for Ella

Ari has been having a rough time. Not because of Ella in her cast, but we think because of all of the changes in her life. The biggest one being the move from Peru to the States. She is starting to settle in now, but the first three weeks were really tough. We had to continually comfort her and reassure her that we weren't leaving. Every time one of us would go somewhere (when she wasn't coming along) she'd cry and hang onto us until we'd finally have to pry her away and slip out the door leaving her in the arms of either Cal or me depending on who was staying at home with them. Ariana has however, enjoyed speaking English and being in her own element. One phrase she uses a lot at church when she recognizes someone is, "I know you!!" And then she runs to them and squeezes them tightly. All the signs of familiarity are very comforting to her right now. Cal and I have been struggling with a sense of "lostness" (just made up a word). :) But that's kind of where we're at. It's crazy that that feeling can even be around right now because we can see the amazing ways that God is leading in our lives! We've narrowed it down to the fact that it's Satan's way of battling us right now. Right now I am doing the Beth Moore study on Revelation and have been challenged to write down all the ways that God meets with us each day. How he reveals Himself to us and gives us divine appointments on a regular basis. I've been doing it for three weeks so far and when I read all the blessings and ways that God has revealed Himself to us aloud to Calvin the other night, we were snapped out of our frustration, and were overwhelmed as we reflected on God's goodness and love in our lives. We are absolutely certain that He has a great plan for us! We are still in need of prayer! Please pray that we would seek His will in our lives and that the distractions that Satan throws at us would NOT be effective. We want to follow Jesus whole-heartedly!

<---Ella LOVES dogs!! This is one of her favorite things in the whole wide world!

Another upcoming "event" is our (mine and Ella, Ari, Aunt Rhonda, Brianne & Ryker's) trip to Salt Lake City for Ella's MRIs and cast change. We're SO blessed to have such a great family and be so close-knit! I'm so thankful that Aunt Rhonda and Brie are spending four days to travel with me and my girls and help out while we're in SLC so Cal can continue working!! This will be a big visit for us because we'll get some important questions answered. Like, does Ella have cerebral palsy and how is it effecting her development? And is the dimple on Ella's lower back connected to her spinal cord and will it require back surgery? The trip will be a milestone as well because it's our half-way mark for Ella in her full-body cast! We'll only have 6 weeks left!
This past month has been a blur as we've reconnected with friends, cared for Ella in her cast, tried to settle into American life, and Cal's gotten trained at his part-time job at Paul's. It's been a hard transition, but so good. We are so blessed with the amazing friends and family that we're surrounded with. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our family as we seek what God has for us next. We could not ask for a better body of believers! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your out pouring of love on our lives! We'll continue to keep you posted.


<--- Here's Ella passing some time with her Papa Al :)





I just had to get one of her little bum....so if anyone's wondering how we change diapers and were "it" all goes...now you know. :)