It has been good to be home. Good to see our family and many of our friends. We often wish we could have hours with everyone, but often we need to settle for quick hugs and a few minutes. But, I know that we have all felt so very loved in so many ways. We are amazed at how many people know the details of our lives because they have been reading our updates. I've had moments when I am in the midst of family and friends when I just feel a "warmth" which leads to an overwhelming thankfulness for the riches of relationships.
It has been good too in the sense that we are beginning to see how our time in Nicaragua is positively impacting us. One of our first days back, the kids and I went into Wal-mart and Target just for fun. It was fun to see how each of us was so excited just to look at everything. We bought a bag of goldfish pretzel crackers and we felt a thankfulness for goldfish crackers that we had never experienced before! Rebekah has also seemed quite reflective this summer commenting on how the things we are doing this summer are so much more special to her than they had ever been before. When people ask her if she would like to live here or in Nicaragua, she will answer "Nicaragua". Will's heart is attached to the US, but one day he surprised me when he said, "Mom, I really like our life." Dan and I too have had conversations about how the simplicity of our life in Nicaragua suits us individually and as a family – it is so centered in relationships with each other, with others, and with God.
The final three weeks of our stay in Nicaragua were quite a whirlwind. We found out that a house up the street would be available a week before the kids and I left for the US. This was such an amazing answer to prayer as the timing was so clearly a gift from God (had it opened up a few weeks later, it is likely that it would have been rented by someone else before we returned). There were a lot of significant things wrong with the house and we were told that the landlord knew about them but was not fixing them. However, God answered so many prayers as we watched how attentive the landlord was to each thing that we pointed out to her, fixing most things before Dan left. A neighbor recently emailed to say that the landlord is continuing to fix things through the summer. This house is truly a blessing too in the sense that we will not be dealing with the intensity of noise issues that we had in the last house because the houses are spaced further apart and have sliding windows as opposed to slat windows as we had in the last house. We will also have better water pressure. Our kids were often taking bucket baths in the evening because we would - during certain times of the year - not have much water. So, we would heat water on the stove and fill a bucket with cold water. This house is smaller and hotter, but the advantages do for us outweigh the disadvantages.
Our time so far in the US has been busier than we had hoped, but we feel that it has been better than last summer. The kids have really noticed the difference and have commented on how they are having a much better summer, as we have been intentional about giving them a break when it comes to being "on stage" and we have been doing some fun things together too. However, with doing fun things sometimes brings guilt for me because fun things sometimes cost money and I wonder if it really is OK to be doing this – a struggle of so many of us that live on financial support. Some of that comes from ourselves, but some of that comes from others who have expectations that missionaries should not necessarily use money for entertainment. So, a couple of weeks ago I took the kids ice skating, for laser tag, and then to Perkins – three things they mentioned that they wanted to do while in the States. The next day, I woke with that sense of guilt again. Should we have done that? Could we have done other things that didn't cost money? Then, that afternoon, a friend handed Dan a $50. A couple hours later, my Mom said that she talked with someone that day who wanted to give us a gift of money they were not able to get to us at Christmas. The money we received covered more than what we had spent in entertainment. I received this as confirmation that - once again - God saw us, He saw what was in my heart, and He responded through these two people to reassure - leading me once again to a place of peace. As I reflected on this, I thought a lot about how God is an extravagant God. He certainly calls us to be good stewards of His money, but He – I believe – does delight in giving His children good gifts, guilt free gifts.
Will's poem:
I've been having the kids journal this summer to try to help maintain their writing skills. The following is something that Will wrote. I'm thinking that he may have been inspired by all that we are hearing on the news about the oil spill.
Nature
Blue, yellow, green, red, brown is nature.
Birds, plants, animals, creatures is nature.
Not cared for properly is nature.
Getting killed by pollution is nature.
Nature is nature.
A few things we ask you to pray for are:
1) Safety in travel. We are on our way today (Saturday the 10th – Tues. the 20th) to travel to MI and then OH to visit family, friends, and churches there. Please also pray for and give praise for our health. It has been amazing to me how healthy we have been with our crazy schedule.
2) Rest. Please pray for Dan that in the midst of business that he can find and that I can facilitate rest for him. I spent a day this past week in solitude with the Lord. Please pray that I would continue to be open to hearing His plans for my relationship with Him, with our family, and what He desires for me to be involved with this year in ministry.
3) Peace in Nicaragua. This next year will be a critical year politically as Daniel Ortega's term is coming to a close in November of 2011. It is expected that the election will not be peaceful or fair. We pray for God's Hand to be at work in the hearts of Nicaragua's leaders.