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.

What a difference a year makes

We started last year with about 10 people in the church (yes that is including us) 

By the grace of God we started 2013 with about 150 people and we have new visitors everyday.

We've been able to show the love of Christ to many different parts of Peru through our servolution campaigns. 

We hosted our first ever "Save the Family" conference in September

All of this because you sent us here to serve Piura Peru. 

Thank you for being a part of our ministry and vision. 

This is a short year in review video we made 

Enjoy!

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

Fall on your knees

My all time favorite Christmas song is "Oh Holy Night" every time I hear it I am moved almost to tears. It's more than the words it's also the way the music ebbs and swells at the exact perfect moment. But this part gets me every time.

"The thrill of hope, 

a weary world rejoices 

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. 

Fall on your knees..." 

Just think about that. The whole world was in the darkest of places, weary really.

If you have every really felt hopeless you probably also experienced weariness. 

It's just this feeling of being so completely drained of anything left to keep going. 

When suddenly something new and glorious comes. 

Hope that makes your heart race. 

Hope that makes everything stop as you fall on your knees to worship the savior of your soul.

Without a doubt 2012 has been the hardest year of my life so far.
There have been good and difficult things this year but when I look back the difficult things seem to overshadow everything else.
I had started this post yesterday morning with a much different idea of which way it was going to go. Then I got word that a dear friend lost her 3 year old son in a car accident.
My heart dropped because I know that pain all too well.
I spent the last day of 2012 crying and praying for my friend
and grieving all over again for my sweet Caleb.
I doubt anything shatters your heart like losing a child.
Nothing anyone says can help.
It's a hopeless, weary feeling.
And yet, I woke up rejoicing. A new day, a new year broke and it is glorious.
I could hear my boys playing in the other room.
I could feel the baby inside of me wiggling and the man I love had his arm around me.
Yesterday all I could see was the pain in this world and today I see
HOPE.
I have no guarantee that this year will be easier than last year.
But I do have hope that it can be.


God gave me this passage last year and it carried me through the difficult times so
I wanted to end this post with it.

 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Christmas Outreach 2012

This year we are really excited to partner with Salvemos A La Familia

in the fight against child sexual abuse.

In Peru 4 out of every 10 children are sexually abused.

In Latin America 224 cases of sexual abuse are reported per hour.  

This totals 2 million children abused sexually every year. 

Most sexual abuse is committed by someone the child knows. 

The impact of that abuse is life altering. 

We believe that education is key in helping to prevent child sexual abuse.

Our plan is to give the book "Cuentos Que No Son Cuentos" to children ages 2-9 years old.

This book will help them to prevent sexual abuse, understand how to react if they are in a situation of abuse, and build their self esteem.

The publishing house has made the books available to us at cost.

 Would you like to partner with us?

For every $1 that you give 2 children will benefit. 

Our goal is to reach 2000 children in Piura and the surrounding area. 

This video is in Spanish but it gives a lot of the information I posted above. 

To give to this outreach please donate through the paypal link on the right. 

Our deadline to order the books is December 15th. Every dollar we collect through paypal until then will go directly into this outreach.

Thank you in advance for your part in impacting the lives of the children of Peru.