Home

I love that word. Home. It's like a warm blanket and cozy fire on a snowy day. None of those things are actually things I need when I'm home so I'm not sure why I chose that particular metaphor but hey, just go with it.

We chose to have the baby in the US knowing that logistically it would be difficult but in my heart I knew I needed to do it that way. I needed a birth experience that would be completely different from Caleb's just to help me get through it. I will post more about Zoe's birth in another blog post. I'm still writing out the story. I want to remember everything about it.

There have been many times that I have looked around me while I've been in Peru and thought. "I miss my home." At those times I thought I would never get used to living here and I would always miss the states. But this trip made me realize something. I realized that Peru is my real home. I missed it so much while I was away. Of course there are still things I don't like. Of course there are things I miss about the states. I think I will now live in a constant state of missing one place or the other. But that's ok. Peru is where I'm planting my roots. Here I have experienced great joy and great tragedy. Here my family has embarked on a huge adventure. Here is where I intend to grow old and watch my children grow up.

When we arrived in Lima, I walked out of the airport and I was so happy I wanted to cry. When I left in February nothing was certain. I knew that I would be in the states until the baby was born and we had her papers to travel. (yes Newborns need passports. Somehow that surprises everyone lol) I knew that my "due date" was April 7th and I was going to have scheduled c-section but I had no idea when that would happen. I knew that Jose was coming March 10th and would be leaving mid April but we didn't know when. There were so many variables.

About 2 weeks before Jose came to the states it became clear that we needed to move out of our church location and find a bigger more permanent situation. He found a place and about the same time got appendicitis. So he ended up getting an emergency appendectomy and not being able to do anything about moving the church. He ended up having to leave the whole thing in other peoples hands. Our timeline was to move this week. (April 21st will be our first Sunday in the new location.) The new building is rough. It needs a few modifications like a roof and bathrooms. But its ours. When we realized we needed to move this week Jose decided to return to Peru April 10th. He knew that would keep him in the states until Zoe was born but would also get him back here to oversee the most important part of the move. He was planning to bring the boys with him if I couldn't make it with the baby.

But God moved in every way possible. Zoe was born perfectly healthy 4 days after Jose got to the states. She was able to leave the hospital with me. (she is the only one of our kids who was released with me) When I filled out her paperwork they told me it would take 6 weeks to get her social security card (which we needed for her passport) but it actually came in that next week. We went to the courthouse to try to get her birth certificate a week earlier than it was supposed to be ready and it was ready. We went to get her a passport and even on the website it says expedited passports take 2 weeks. Hers was ready in 2 days. God was moving behind the scenes in every way and we were able to all travel back home together 4 weeks after she was born.

I'm typing this on my own bed, in my own room. I have my beautiful healthy baby girl laying on my chest, I hear my boys playing in the other room, and all I can think about is how happy I am to be home.

our little miracle

Zoe Rain Milagros Lopez is the name we have chosen for this little miracle inside of me. 

Names are important to us so we have put a lot of thought into this one. 

Maybe a little extra thought because of the circumstances. 

If you have read my blog for very long you know that Caleb was supposed to be a girl (and I'm still hesitant to believe we are actually having a girl now even though we had a 3D ultrasound this time.) You might also remember that the name we had planned was Zoe Marie.  

Marie is my middle name and the middle name of my great grandmother (I was actually named after her.) I like the way the names sound together but was not altogether fond of the meaning. 

Zoe means life and Marie means bitter or bitterness. I've always kind of hated that my middle name means bitter even though I love the fact that I was named after my grandma. So after a lot of thought and prayer I told Jose I changed my mind and we needed to find a new middle name for this little girl.  Unfortunately, we were stumped. There are lots of girls names we both like but didn't like the way they sounded with Zoe. 

One night while Jose was reading the Proverb of the day to the boys it was the 4th and much of the Proverb is about finding wisdom and never letting her go and all the good she will do for you. 

So he joked we should name a little girl wisdom. 

Sometimes I can't tell if he's joking so I vetoed the idea and googled "girls names meaning wisdom" I found a list with all these names I have never even heard of from all over the world but one of them stood out to me. 

Rain. 

Rain has special meaning to me so I took it as a sign that we found her middle name Zoe Rain Lopez was our name in my mind. Even though I hadn't confirmed it with Jose. A couple days later we were on a date and I told him what I was thinking. He liked it. Our only concern is we live in a country where both of those names are extremely difficult to say correctly. We didn't want our little girl to hate her name because nobody can understand what she's saying when she introduces herself. So we started discussing nicknames. Jose mentioned the name Milagros because it means miracle in spanish. We consider this baby a miracle so it just seemed to fit. Plus Pastora Milagros in Lima has been a huge blessing to us in so many ways through everything so we loved having the opportunity to honor her as well. When we talked about it I said "we could call her Mila (me-luh) here" and we knew we had a winner.  

2 weeks ago at 25 1/2 weeks pregnant

So you can call her Zoe, Mila, Rain, or littlest Lopez. We will probably call her all of the above and more but for right now we are calling her our little miracle

What else can I say? God is good! - an update on us

Jose is out right now taking the men from Houston to the airport. We had fun seeing our friends and Pastor this week. The came for the "Salvamos A La Familia" (saving the family) conference that La Casa Del Padre was hosting. It's a little weird being considered a Pastor. I got to meet and share our testimony with Molly Godzich as we were riding to the convention center. We also got to visit with Pastor Craig and Jan Hill and ton's of other men and women of God who's names I can't remember. :/
Not to mention all our friends, including Jack King from Faithful Men's Ministry, and our Pastor G.F. Watkins. I have to say we are so blessed. We are just starting out in the ministry and God has already begun to place us before kings. (so to speak)

In other news I am really loving our home (have I said that already?) I walk around in it everyday and just thank God for his grace and his love for us. We were talking today about it. You know sometimes God will ask you to do something that may seem like it makes no sense. In our case give away all your belongings...not sell them but GIVE them away. Pack up your family and move to another country. Most people when we tried to give our stuff to them said "No, you should be selling this to buy new over there" Trust me that sounds like the most logical thing to do. And I'll be honest there were times when my faith wavered. I would see all the crazy stuff we accumulated and in my head I would start calculating how much we could have sold the stuff for. I know, I know, shocking! But when I walk around my home, with my new furniture (our fridge still has the label, and the plastic sticker to protect the finish on it!) Stuff that is nicer than we had in America. I think "WOW!" I am so glad we listened and obeyed. We had no idea what God had in store for us! As a blessing for our obedience he has given us a beautiful furnished home. Honestly if we sold all our stuff we could never have bought the stuff we have here. God is so good! I know, I'm gushing. I just wish those of you that read this blog could have walked along side us (some of you did actually) and seen the progression. There is such a blessing in obedience that goes beyond the material things and the meeting famous people. It's indescribable really.
Proverbs 10:22 says "It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it." We don't have a lot of money but we have the blessing of the Lord. I feel this verse very strongly lately. I live this verse right now. God is good!

When we met our landlady she told us that she was going to get a biopsy done on a tumor she had. Victor prayed for her with Jose and I agreeing that night. The next day she was at a memorial service and began crying. Tears were coming out of both her eyes. The next time she talked to us she told us about it. She said she had just been told by a Doctor a week before, that she would never be able to cry from her left eye again. Jose told her to get her money back from the other Dr because the great physician healed her! The next week when we were moving in we were talking and she told us she was leaving the next day to get her biopsy in the U.S. I prayed for her with Jose agreeing. A couple days later she asked her assistant to let us know that when they went to do the biopsy the tumors were gone! I'm telling you guys it's fun to serve the Lord!

Please pray for my sister. Her water broke over 36 hours ago (at 10:00 am Saturday 9/11) and she is not progressing. I know the baby will be here by the time most of you read this but please keep her in prayer. I know she will appreciate it.
Also, my camera is dying a slow death and I really need a new one. I am believing God for a dslr because I want to get more serious about photography. Please pray for us that God would provide for it. :) THANK YOU!!