Hope. What is hope? Hope gives a person life. Hope is what keeps a person going in the midst of difficulty. Why do we hope? We long for some dream to be fulfilled. We look forward to better things. To have no hope is to give up. But what happens when you hope and then your hopes are crashed? Proverbs gives me the answer, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." That's what our family has been dealing with this week. We've had such a roller coaster of emotions as Lorne, Regina, & Nevin returned to Indiana and the youngest 3 children and I have stayed behind in MX waiting for Tania's visa. The separation is very difficult for all of us, but we felt like it was the plan that God was showing us that He had for us at this time. Thank God, He gives us a greater hope over and above our circumstances. He gives us the hope that only Jesus gives us and that gives us a reason to go on.  We could dwell on the why's but that gives us nothing. So we choose to look to Him for strength for each minute and continue to pray that He would provide an open door so that our family can together return home to Indiana.

We are waiting right now for the MX passport, which we were scheduled to pick up last Wed. but then, like normal in MX, there were delays and so hopefully in a week or so we will have the passport and then can move ahead with the visa appt. God has been doing amazing things with the green card process and so we continue to place it in His hands and trust that all in His time will be completed.

January was quite full with preparations for the move to Indiana. Dentist, eye dr., & orthodontist final visits and bringing closure to all the things that were our life here for more than three years. The pottery load was completed and shipped. Farewells for our family, but of course only some are going.
So, we continue on... We know not what the future holds, but we trust the God who does and we wait for Him. We thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf!

Waiting on God

God is in time, on time, every time. But we sure don’t always understand His time. Our life in Mexico has changed a lot, but we continue to wait on God to know what His plans are for us. As most of you know, we have not been able to get permission to enter the US with Tania at this time yet. We are applying for a green card which will give her permission to enter but do not know at this time what the time frame will be for that process. It is not a quick process, but we do have the option to appeal for an expedite and we plan to do that. Until then, we carry on and live one day at a time knowing that God will provide and trusting all things to be perfect in His time.

Lorne and the children have started working full time in the pottery business. They have a semi load of pottery that needs to be ready as soon as possible so they are putting in long days of painting, varnishing, & packaging. I’m kept busy keeping up the house, keeping break ready for them and meals ready on time so they can head out again. It’s a wonderful blessing for all of us as busyness helps in so many ways. Makes time pass more rapidly, makes an income, and it’s fun to work together. There’ve been a lot of fun times out there! Here you don’t see a lot of pots because they were packaging about as fast as they were ready, and have 10 pallets loaded off to the side that are finished.

We enjoyed having Lorne’s parents here for a week. It was special to have them here over Christmas. They came with their truck and returned home with it loaded with things of ours that we were ready to send home.

Today was a special day for the church here. We had a baptismal service for 17 yr old Loyda. She was a child of the home a number of years ago, and had returned to live here a number of months ago because of difficulty at home. She has a beautiful testimony and truly is serving the Lord with her whole heart.

Then, there was great rejoicing when we witnessed God working through His Spirit in the lives of a set of parents that have been attending church here for quite some time now and have been hungry to learn about God. They have 3 children here at the home, and are in the process of reintegration but it’s been taking a long time, which appears to be God at work, giving them more opportunity to hear His word. And today when there was an invitation given at the end of the message, they both responded with the desire to experience salvation. They originally had their children removed from them because they were drug users and now God has used that experience to bring them into contact with His word and to be able to be saved. What a difference that will make in their home when the children return to live with them!

We thank all of you very much for your prayers on our behalf! We desire to continue to glorify God in spite of the difficulties we are facing and need your prayers to lift us to the Father on those days when it seems the devil is doing all he can to pull us down. It does make a difference and we also really enjoy hearing from you.