This Boy

6 years ago today this boy made me a mom

This boy makes me laugh

 This boy pretends like he has a serious side 

But this boys face usually looks like this

To Logan Shalom Lopez. You are one of the best things that ever happened to me. 

Thank you for being my son. You always brighten my day and I'm so blessed to be your mom. 

Happy 6th Birthday!

So Blessed!

Sunday morning Pastor GF gave Jose and I the opportunity to speak at Powerhouse. We showed this video of our time in Peru so far and Jose ministered on the attributes of our house. 

I've spoken here before about my dislike for public speaking. I have to say it is getting easier. I still get really, really nervous but I'm doing much better with the whole standing in front of people and talking. The trick is to look for some smiling people and talk to them. :) 

After we finished Pastor got up and encouraged everyone to give into the mission. The things he said were really encouraging and inspiring to me. While he was speaking I could feel the presence of God in the room and I couldn't help it, I started to cry. He asked everyone that would give into the mission to stand up and bring their offerings forward. As people came forward to give they hugged us and told us they are praying for us. I just want to tell you. Many of you read this blog and it means a lot. When things get hard here we have that day to think back on and remember the way God moved and blessed us. It reminds me of the old testament when people experienced a touch from God they would build an altar and remember that place and worship God because of what he did for them. I'm not going to build a physical altar. But I have that place that I can look back and say to myself. "look, remember that day? That is when God showed you tangibly that he will always take care of you. Your church is your spiritual family holding up your arms from America while you are in Peru" I know that I can count on my God and my church!

One of our challenges here has been the fact that we only get 90 day visas. It's not a huge deal if we stay over a visa by a few days, but we get charged $1 a day per person. That adds up fast when there are 5 people. This time we were praying on the way to the immigration agent. Jose told her we are missionaries and are trying to get long term visas. The immigration officer was soft hearted and she gave us each 185 days on our visas! We don't have to leave Peru until we go to Piura which is so much closer to Ecuador and a much cheaper trip! It has been awesome to see God moving in our lives in large and small ways!

Please pray for us that we can work out some things with At&t to save some money while we are here. Thank you for holding up our arms!

By the way, I know a lot of you picked up our new prayer card. If you did or are praying for us and are not on the prayer partner list please leave a comment here or email me. Our email addresses are in the tabs on the top of the page. 

Dream On

I've been thinking a lot about dreams lately because I have some pretty enormous ones. The funny thing about dreams is that not everyone has the same ones. Some people dream of being rich and famous. Some dream of accomplishing a great athletic feat like running a marathon or becoming a professional athlete. There a millions of kinds of dreams and they are as varied as the people that have them.

I know that most people think my dreams are crazy. Who would dream of giving away everything they own, moving to a third world country, (away from most of the people they love) and living totally by faith in God? Not many at all actually. It has to be a God given dream. I can't imagine ever having dreams of being famous, a politician, an athlete...those things seem crazy to me. Necessary (I guess) but crazy. But that's not my dream. Maybe it's yours.

Living your dream, no matter what it may be takes work. Hard work. Sometimes you will feel like it's impossible. Sometimes you will doubt if that dream is really the right one for you. The thing about dreams though is, if it's worth doing it won't be easy. Athletes aren't just born good at their sport. It takes years of hard work and practice to build up the skill and strength to be good. It takes the perfect balance of skill, discipline and talent to do what they do.

Even something like being a parent can be a dream. But any parent will tell you becoming a parent was (for most people) the easy part. Raising kids requires decades of self sacrifice, discipline, and lots of hard work. Which seems to me like its the recipe for living any dream worth dreaming.

A long, long time ago, I tutored 2nd graders. In those class rooms I would always see signs that said things like "go confidently in the direction of your dreams" "if you can dream it you can do it" "DREAM BIG" "Shoot for the stars, if you miss you will still reach the moon" and tons of other little statements about dreaming. I loved it. I'm a strong believer in dreams. I'm a dreamer. But the real world is hard on dreamers. The real world says "be practical" "be normal" "how can you even think of doing something like that?" "Maybe you should rethink this" Strive for a big house, a good job, a nice car (or 3), 2.5 kids and maybe a dog. Or as my Pastor says "get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can" People long for comfort. I'm not going to lie, one of my dreams involves an ocean view with a bay window and a good book.  Total comfort dream. But I know that God made me for greatness and that is not going to happen if my only desire is to be comfortable.

So if you wonder how I feel really. Overall about everything we are doing. This is the answer. It's hard. Really, really hard. But I am living my dream and I love it. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

What's your dream?