Life

You know those people that have mountain size faith? They get hit with something that seems impossible to recover from and they just kind shake it off and move forward. In my mind they are to faith what Rocky is to boxing. You should never count them out because no matter what hits them they always come back stronger than ever. Jose is one of those people. His faith and steadiness in the storms we have gone through always points me back to the one who holds our future in his hand.

I on the other hand am not like Rocky. I usually get blindsided by that first punch and then reel for a little bit before I get my head back in order. Then I'm usually ready for the fight. A couple months ago I mentioned that we needed prayer for the baby because I have low amniotic fluid. Last night I was talking with a friend and we naturally started talking about the baby. She asked me how I'm doing. I kind of just spilled my guts about how I've been feeling in general. It was good and healing and while I was talking to her God was talking to me.

About a year ago a big percentage of my prayer life was me telling God I wanted to have more kids but it just didn't seem like it was possible. I had so many questions and logistical concerns and was just trying to get God to show me what to do. Then La Casa Del Padre had a conference and brought in 3 prophets. I was not at the conference and didn't even expect to meet them, but on Sunday they called Jose and I up on stage so they could pray and prophesy over us. One of them told me he saw divine protection for our family and angelic assignments over our children not just the ones that we already had but the ones that were coming. He said that I had many, many questions but God just had a smile on his face as he poured out a divine grace over our family for more children, even when the circumstances are not as great as we may think they should be. The things that he said gave me peace and I let it go. Just waiting for God's timing. Jose and I decided that April would be good timing for us to start trying for another baby. That was obviously the right timing because I got pregnant right away. Long before the pregnancy test would have come up positive I knew.

Since we were moving in the middle of the pregnancy and our plan was to visit Piura in my 12th week. My US Dr never saw me before 12 weeks so it seemed like a good plan. Things for us are always subject to change though and through about 4 different circumstances we ended up postponing our trip to my 15th week. The week before we came La Casa Del Padre had the Pastors mentors (Pastor Danny an Giselle Bonilla) in town. They happen to be American and they also operate in the prophetic. They were talking to Jose and I after the service and she told me she saw a little girl that looked like me preaching to a crowd. Then she asked if I had a little girl. I told her no but I'm pregnant so you never know.

So we get to Piura and I have my Dr's appointment. He couldn't find the heartbeat, so he did an ultrasound. The baby's heart beat was strong but my amniotic fluid was low, the baby was measuring a week small and wasn't moving around. He was kind but told me what to watch for if I were to have a miscarriage. I was blindsided by this he didn't have anything he could do and there was nothing I could do. I started to think I would lose the baby. We emailed a few people and told them to pray. I didn't tell everybody and I didn't know when I would be able to. I didn't want to hear anything good or bad about other people that had been through it. I just needed to process and pray.

My mentor emailed me Exodus 23:25-26 "So you shall serve the Lord your God & he will bless your bread & water. And I will take away sickness from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days." Jose randomly decided to listen to the recording of the prophecy from last year and I heard the things he said about angelic assignments over our children to come. Then God gave me Jeremiah 29:11 "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." And I remembered something Pastor Danny Bonilla told me when we were talking that night. He said "I feel like God wants you to know that everything is going to be ok with your baby" Those things bound me up and got me ready to fight. We shared our prayer request with the world and many people joined us in praying for the little life inside of me. I had confidence that this child would live.

We went back for another appointment last week. I felt ready for any kind of news. The news we got was that my amniotic fluid is still low. He couldn't tell for sure but he thinks it's a girl and she has caught up in her growth. (no small babies for me) She was moving around a lot and her heart beat is still strong. Then he told us he had thought we were going to lose her when we went in the first time but she's growing and active and it seems like she's going to make it. I left feeling ok. I knew that it was possible my amniotic fluid was still low and to be honest I'm 6 months pregnant and still look like this.

Which he said is because of my amniotic fluid. So I wasn't really all that surprised. But a few days after the Dr I started to worry.

Have you ever read a story in the bible and gotten frustrated with the people and their response to God? Whenever I read about the Israelites and their time in the desert I just want to shake them. I want to yell "God just let you walk through the sea and then drowned the Egyptians! WHY are you complaining? Did you already forget?" But I'm not like that with myself. I come back to God praying for peace and comfort when he gave me a pile of comfort to fall back on. I mean, how many pregnant women get 3 different prophets telling them their baby is going to be ok? yeah, not many. I know I'm weak and just as bad as the Israelites I want to yell at.

But now I'm fighting. My little girl is going to be named Zoe. It's a name Jose and I picked out 8 years ago. Before we were even married. Zoe means Life which I think is prophetic in and of itself.

2 Sundays 2 guests

Sunday was our second service here at Powerhouse Church Peru. The first week was a little disappointing because it was just the 5 of us. I kept thinking that we should not despise small beginnings so we keep pressing forward. This Sunday we were happy to have 2 visitors! So excited to see increase. Jose and Victor go out everyday to minister and invite people to our church. I stay home most of the time and work on school with the kids. We are getting settled into our life here in Piura.
It's still not easy but we are getting used to the differences of living here. It's funny how something as simple as a new grocery store can take some getting used to. I'm really happy to know that we will be here for an extended amount of time. I'm ready to let my roots stretch out some.

I have updated our prayer needs in the pages tabs. Some things will be there for a long time and some things change almost daily. We really appreciate every one of you that prays for us, as always we can feel them and see them working.

For those of you that are interested we will be visiting the dr on Monday. I will be 6 months pregnant and he will do an ultrasound to check on my amniotic fluid level and find out the gender. I can't wait! Girl or boy I'm ready to call this child by name :) Please keep us in prayer for all good news, especially about the amniotic fluid. I'm praying for a miracle increase.

what we have been up to

So yesterday I had this blog all written out. I had even published it and announced it to facebook and twitter. Then because I am amazing, I deleted it never to be seen again, in a way that is both frustrating and entirely too complicated to explain. So I'm back with a new and completely different blog post. Because once I write something down it's out of my head never to return, unless I read it. Aren't you glad you know that now? I feel better just having written it down. ;)

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, moving things, sleeping on the bus, getting to our new town and home, trying to figure out exactly what the most important things to buy are with our limited resources, buying 4 mattresses and strapping them to the top of a car roughly the size of a prius. Going to the car shipping place every day for several days in hopes that ours had arrived. Going to Starbucks more times in one week than I ever have in a year just so we can check our internet stuff, putting the kids to bed and going out with Jose for a hot chocolate just so we can breath and flirt with each other. Practically living at the mall where all the things we need are sold so we can check and check and check the prices of the stuff we need. Watching our boys exult in the joys of having a yard after a year of living in an apartment and almost 3 years of living places where we had no yard. (We have decided to call Timothy dirty harry, because his hair is all over the place and he has developed a dust cloud similar to charlie browns pal, pigpen.)

You can add into the list Jose working with a printer so we can get flyer's made up for inviting people to church, a Dr's appointment, and all the other things I'm forgetting that Jose will remember and that is what our last 2 weeks have been. Just typing that makes me tired. I think I need a nap now. ;)

God has blessed us tremendously and we have been able to get quite a few of the things we needed. We now have a table and chairs, mattresses, a fridge, and washing machine. We also got a double burner to cook on until we can manage to get an oven. For the curious, the things we are still praying for are as follows.

*bed frames
*a living room set
*an oven
*a bigger bed for me and Jose
*rugs
*chairs for our church services
*a lectern or podium of some sort for Jose to preach from
*a set of pots and pans
*a trampoline for the boys and the kids that come to church

Obviously there are more things that we need or could use but these are our priorities over the next few months. It's really amazing how much stuff you need to make a house a home. But with or without "stuff" we are blessed to be where we are. This house is exactly what we prayed for. Everyday I walk around and thank God for everything he has done for us and blessing us with the amazing people that pray for us and support us financially. You are all a blessing to us and we really do think of you as a part of our family. Thank you so much!

It's the final countdown...

Two weeks from today we will move to Piura! The rest of our time in Lima will be spent helping with the Salvemos A La Familia conference and packing. 

We don't have much stuff which should make packing/moving easy. It also makes it a little difficult once we get to Piura. Please pray with us that we will be able to get a fridge, washing machine and stove quickly and also beds. Everything else is just kind of extra but those are the things we are believing for as soon as we get there.

Thank you for praying with us. We already see God's hand move every day and we know that nothing is impossible with God.

Happy Labor Day!

Baby steps.

Yesterday, August 25th was the one year anniversary of our arrival in Lima. It's hard to believe it's been a year. Sometimes it feels like it's been longer and sometimes it feels like it has been only a couple months. The past year has been a time of stretching and growing. Trial and error, and tons of learning.


Last night Jose and I went for a walk and we were talking about our move to Piura in less than a month. In Lima we have been renting a furnished apartment so when we get to Piura we will just have the stuff in our suitcases. Houses here don't come with any kitchen appliances so we will have to get a stove, fridge, along with a washing machine and furniture. So we were discussing what the priorities are considering we are not millionaires. It reminded me of our first week in Lima when we were thinking we would buy everything here. We were looking at big refrigerators, etc... and thinking like americans. That we need the biggest of everything we can find. Here most of the refrigerators are about as tall as me (5' 2") or shorter. The ovens and washing machines are also much smaller. If you want to get U.S. sizes you have to pay a lot more.


This time around we were talking about things like "we only need a small fridge because we mostly use it to keep water, meat and dairy cold, and I don't have to have an oven that lights automatically unless we can get it for a great price." There was a lot more to our conversation and honestly the logistics of furnishing a house on faith can make your head spin. But the conversation we had made me think. A year and a half ago we were giving everything away but we still weren't as selfless as we thought we were. We thought we could live the american dream as missionaries. We expected to live in an American house with american amenities. But reality hit us hard and we had choices to make. We had to choose to give up the nice big apartment for a much, much smaller one. We had to learn to prioritize.


In Piura we saw some amazing houses. But we knew that even if we could afford them they wouldn't be the best use of God's money. So we told the realtor our price that we could pay and asked her to only show us the ones we could afford. She only had one. It was ok. The neighborhood was not as nice and there was only one bathroom on each floor (2 total). It had no closets and was quite frankly nothing like what we thought we wanted. I knew that I'm the one Jose was thinking of as he looked at the house so I told him. "I know this sounds crazy but I think this house can work". It was actually about $100 below our minimum price and I was thinking we could at least live there until the baby came. He looked at me skeptically and said let's think about it.


The next day we found out about a house through a friend. It was one of those "I know a guy who knows a guy" kind of things so we didn't have a lot of details. It took us 2 days to go through all the people to even find out more about the house and then get to see it. We saw it our last day in Piura. It was perfect! There is a small yard, a garden area and 4 bedrooms which is really important to us. There are even 4 bathrooms! Plus, it's on the low end of our budget. And it's ours. The landlord had one other person interested in it but in the end God worked it out so we got it. When we found out about the house I told Jose "I wonder if God had this house all along and was just waiting for us to be content wherever we go."


Whatever it was God had a plan and we are so happy to be a part of it. He is still doing a work in us and we still have a ton of learning to do. But when I think of who we were and who we are now I'm amazed at the grace of God.


As a side note if you have not read the book Radical by David Platt I highly recommend it. Especially if you are interested in missions it is a great book.