God Provides

Ok, in case there is anyone out there, #1 still interested in reading this neglected blog, and #2, that hasn't heard that we are now safely tucked away in our home haven in Mendoza, well WE ARE!!!

Part of the front of our house--love those pretty sunbeams :)

  Wheew! Moving is Super Nuts-o Crazy! {As if you didn't know that, right?! ;) } Yeah, it definitely is.
God worked in a marvelous way and allowed the paperwork to finally go through on the house that I mentioned in my last post {here}. He helped us to find a good price on a moving truck (1/2 the cost of every other company that we had gotten quotes from--yay us!) and it came with workers included to help with the loading and unloading. Boy, did we ever need that! Plus, 3 men came from a church/city 3 hours away to help us move in. The Lord truly performed some miracles on our behalf, as we needed every square inch in the moving truck {I still have no idea how it all fit, it was definitely of the Lord! Maybe, he zapped things with a shrink-ray as they went in?! ;) } and we needed every ounce of strength that each man possessed to clean out our house and move in all of our stuff!

Our miraculous moving truck! Yep, it ALL fit in there!

 And, right when I wanted most to be healthy and feeling best, I got sick. Yep, the night before we moved I could feel it coming on--sore throat, stuffy head, body aches and complete lack of energy. Just what I needed going into a move. Evidently, the Lord wanted His strength to show through my weakness. He reminded me {again!} that "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". I leaned hard on Him and my hubby and just took it one day, one hour, one box at a time. After all, it wasn't like the dirt and piles of treasures were rushing off somewhere. They were there waiting for me each day and little by little progress was made, boxes unpacked, things scrubbed, trimmed, pushed, pulled, unwrapped, cut open, de-taped, and this unkempt shell of a house was transformed into a wonderful, comfortable haven of rest home for us lowly missionaries.

Our quickly filling up living room and one of our hard-working helpers

 What a joy it is to:
Cook in my own kitchen!
Sleep in my own bed!
Have my own things around me--such as books, pictures, decorations, etc.
Play "hostess".
Watch my kiddos run around in our backyard and enjoy their own (long-lost) toys.

3 cuties on a bench in our backyard

And so many other little things, that all summed up just simply whisper to me...
"You're home....Home in Argentina, home in Mendoza, home in this sweet place, with this sweet family that I have given to you, and home in the center of My will."

I am so thankful. It is good to be home.

On "Being Homeless"

I know, I know...I said that I was going to "jump back in" to blogging...but, what do you say when you feel like you are stuck in a major holding pattern and going nowhere fast...I know we say those kind of cute little quips from time to time, but what if they were literally the truth?! Yep, that sums it up pretty well for me right now...

When we were on furlough, and staying mainly with my in-laws with a little bit of "here, there, and everywhere" thrown in, I would often joke with my daughter about being "homeless" as we didn't have a house of our own. But, it's not so funny when you really are/feel homeless.
Since returning to Argentina on July 1st we have been staying at the church that we worked with during our first term (in the Buenos Aires suburbs).

The first few weeks were a flurry of activity:

• We FINALLY finished up Clara's paperwork and received her Argentine document! Huge blessing and answer to prayer!
• We traded-in and bought a different vehicle, which will much better suit our needs as a family of 5.
• Our container made it into port, and after a long and grueling week of lots of running around, waiting, and paperwork for my hubby, it was safely unloaded into storage with our other belongings. Wheew!

• We then made the long 12+ hour trip out to Mendoza to begin our house search.

That's where the fun really began...we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, that's for sure!
We spent 2 1/2 weeks out there as a family, stayed in a cabin type place and then an apartment in the downtown area, made tons of phone calls, scoured the paper and internet daily, set up lots of appointments to see houses, went to see around 20 houses all over the city and suburbs, and drove around checking out neighborhoods/looking for "FOR RENT" signs, etc.
Sprinkled in amongst the house-hunting madness, we took the kids to the park a few times, to the zoo, visited the mall, tried to give them a few fun moments amidst the stress of being toted all over the place...

And, there's no end of the story...YET.
We finally came back "home" (except that is comical, because the whole point is that we are looking for just that, a home) empty handed.
So, Matt returned to Mendoza by bus a week later to scope out a few more options that became available. And, he found a great house with a good yard space for the kids. Hooray!!!
Wait, save the celebrating til later, we still have that infamous hurdle called "paperwork" to overcome. Yep, been workin' on that for a couple weeks now...so glad that they could get right on that for us (LOADS of Sarcasm inserted here). Anyway, without going into all the nitty-gritty and discouraging details, renting is no picnic here, in fact, it is probably more complicated than buying.

So, if you have stuck with reading my "pity party" post to this point, let me reassure you that honestly and truly we are doing fine. Has it been buckets of fun every minute of each day?? Absolutely NOT! BUT...
God is still on the throne.
God is faithful.
God is trustworthy.
 God knows exactly where were at, why things are going {or not going} the way they are, what we need, and WHEN we need it.
God makes no mistakes.
God has a beautiful plan for us, it just doesn't look anything like we thought it would. BUT, THAT'S OKAY...HIS WAY WILL BE SOOO MUCH BETTER. I know that.
I trust Him. No, really, I DO!!! It's so easy to say that, but another thing entirely to have to put it into practice.
God is teaching and growing me and my faith through this whole process showing me that I must be content "in whatsoever state I am" {Philippians 4:11} Even if that means sleeping on a mattress on the floor for over 2 months, having suitcases for dressers and a "limited wardrobe", lugging my laundry to our Pastor's wife's washing machine every week, my kids don't have their toys right now, everybody and their brother keeps asking me if we have a house yet and I still have to answer, "No, not yet."
I can still be content with where I am at and what I DO have. Because, when I stop and think about it I have:
A husband who loves me and is by my side day and night, 3 precious kiddos that drive me crazy and I wouldn't change it for the world, my health and the health of my family, an amazing family back home that loves us and is praying for us, sweet friends and church family here that are willing to put up with us and help us during this time and let us have a part of the ministries and activities while we are here, sweet friends in the states that encourage me by their kind words, notes, and prayers, and a GREAT BIG GOD THAT LOVES ME and has NOT forgotten me and His precious Love Letter to me to remind me of these things.

I can choose an attitude of gratitude for all of these things and choose not to wallow in self-pity, discouragement, and depression.
I can choose joy in the midst of this time of trial because joy has nothing to do with my current circumstances and everything to do with WHO HE IS!
I can choose to dwell on the positive and look for opportunities of service instead of letting my situation render me powerless and useless.

I am learning so much in "God's Wait Room"...it all boils down to this...Do I really trust God like I say I do, or are they just empty words? Because if I truly do trust Him, then I know that He has it all under control. I don't have to worry or live in fear of what tomorrow holds. Although I cannot see what is down the path or around the next bend, HE DOES. My part is to pray, do what I can, and leave it in His more-than-capable, powerful hands. That's it. And that is more than enough.

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

Psalm 27:13-14

 

About Brenna Bear

My Brenna Bear--She's definitely my little "mold breaker".
Clara and Ethan were so similar in looks and attitude as babies, but not my Brenny.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. She is a very good baby, just very different.

1st off, mommy wanted Brenna's pacifier to be her best friend. It is definitely one of mama's best friends and worked well to comfort Clara and Ethan. Brenna had other ideas. She did NOT like the rubber plug from day 1. So, she is my finger sucker. Yep, she broke me. She sucks her two middle fingers shamelessly, but mainly when she is tired out.

LOVE that little smile hiding under there!

Then there's the reason for her "Brenna Bear" nickname. She has a favorite blanky bear. Actually, she has 2 {it's always good to have a backup ;) }. My other two were never really attached to anything, but their pacifiers. Not Brenna. Brenna's Boo Bear goes with us everywhere. It makes her happy, so in turn, mama's happy and everybody can be happy. :))

Sleeping at the table with fingers in mouth and bear in hand

Precious baby blue eyes

She really is a joy and the older 2 love her dearly. Sometimes they love her a little too much. As in, in-her-face and on top of her. But, she is already learning as the baby of the family to make her little presence known and voice be heard. Her shrieks are heard loud and clear when the others get a little to carried away messing with her or taking her toys. Overall, it is fun to watch her grow and able to interact and play with them more and more.

Giving Brenny some love

Happy Pajama Kids

Also, I think she is headed for anger management classes. Most of the time, she is a good-natured baby, content to play and keep herself occupied. BUT, watch out if she gets mad. She has been known to {rather violently} bash her poor little forehead into the floor. Which of course, only proves to make her more upset. Yeah, that is definitely something we are working on. Brenna and her means of self-inflicted torture. Crazy girl!

Then there's her crawl/scoot/jitter bug thing. I don't know what to rightly call it, but it's pretty funny to watch. Brenna would not want to be known as being conventional, so she invented her own way of getting around. She despised being on her belly. She did/does NOT want to stand. No really, when held up to stand her legs would go straight out in front of her! So, she sits and scoots using one arm and sliding her leg along the floor. Don't worry; it doesn't slow her down one little bit! She is quick as lightning! However, mama's thinking that it is about time to figure out this walking thing 'cuz the cold, dirty floor is not so good on the laundry or baby's bottom. I think she is holding out on me. One of these days when she finally decides the time is right, she's just going to hop up and take off and then I am going to be stunned and chasing after her! ;)

She's so full of smiles, ticklish spots, and baby belly laughs. Chubby cherub cheeks. Raven hair and blue eyes with flecks of brown/green. She is such a squishy ball of fun! I love my Brenny girl. She is so unique and special to me already. Can't wait to see the plans that God has for her life!

Jumping back in...

with both feet, or maybe it's "diving in head first" ?! Hmmm....sure hope there's water in the pool. :S

Anywho, not really sure where to begin with all that has happened in the past year. Furlough is a whirlwind, let me tell ya. But, I think I will get into that more later...

For now, I just wanted to let you know that, yes, I am still here...after a long blogging sabbatical, I am still a missionary mama, I still have an amazing family, I still have a Great Big and Very Good God, I still have joys and struggles, and I still want to write here, for me and whoever wants to bend a "listening ear".

I'm going to give you the very quick and abbreviated version of what's going on in our crazy life so that we can at least attempt to be on the same page and make sense of some of my future musings. Ok, here goes...

Brenna was born April 9, 2012--no, I absolutely CANNOT believe that it has been 15 months since then already. Trust me, she does not resemble those newborn itsy-bitsy baby pics anymore. Will try to give you a picture update soon, too.

Packed up our house and put everything in storage then headed back to the states for our first furlough at the end of June 2012.

At the airport in Argentina June 2012

Enjoying the plane ride!

On our way to meet Grandma and Grandpa!

Looking pretty and being sweet on the plane!

Crazy-busy blur of activity--traveling, reporting to churches, seeing friends, and family, birthdays, holidays, ya know, that whirlwind-furlough-thing.

Last few months have been spent doing some serious packing and preparing to send a container to ourselves in Argentina to help with our home and ministry here.

Fast forward to 1 week ago--Thursday, June 27, got on a plane (actually 3) and made our way to Montevideo, Uruguay for the weekend and on Monday July 1,  we had a 1 hr. flight and {after being gone for 1 year} landed in our beloved Argentina. Wheew!!!

And, although we are currently "homeless" and have a LOT to do in the next few weeks to really get settled again, it feels SO good to be back!

In spite of all the goodbyes {yeah, I really, really despise those} and tiring days and emotional moments,  there's still nothing like being where you KNOW that you are supposed to be, getting back to what you KNOW God wants you to do. That brings so much comfort...that makes it all worthwhile. 

So, don't go pitying me...I love my life and wouldn't trade this adventure of ours for the world! God is  so, So, SO good to me!

Matt and Ethan sporting their Argentina soccer jerseys, a going away present from the church!

A "bird's eye" view

And hopefully, you will be hearing from me again soon...yep, it's good to be back in Argentina and it's good to be back writing here, too! :)