I realized that I haven’t updated this blog since last September. Many of you keep up with us on Facebook, but I still wanted to give a quick summary of where we are at now. We returned from Mexico a year ago, thinking we would be going to Guatemala or back to Mexico pretty quickly. We rented a 2-bedroom apartment since we assumed we wouldn’t be there too long… and sure enough, here it is, a year later and we are still in Ohio. We pursued many things this year, and always the answer was “no” or “not yet”. So Gabe kept on working at his business, I homeschooled the kids, we hosted Yasmine from Africa, we loved our neighbors and life was good overall. Not what we had envisioned, but then again, that happens, right? Many days we were frustrated and felt “stuck”… but there were other days when we could see God at work in little, daily things, and we would resolve to keep on following Him day by day, just doing what He had given us.
In the past few months, though, there are three bigger stories of God at work in our lives. All of these are stories that started 3-5 years ago, and then in different ways, came to the forefront of our lives this year.
1) Hosting Yasmine, a 9 year old girl from Africa.
Yasmine lived with us back in 2013, and then again this year, we hosted her from August until just this week. She had surgery and her legs are straightened out. But her story is not about her legs. Her story is about her heart for Jesus and the amazing impact this little girl had on us and others around us. I have no doubt God worked through her and also in her during her time here. In this post are the specific stories about her… but suffice it to say, if living in Ohio was ONLY so that we could host her, it was worth it. Eternal impact.
2) The passing away of 11 year old Fabrice
He was the first medical mission child we hosted. Fabrice lived with us for a year in 2010-2011. Our relationship with him continued since then, and included a trip to see him in Africa in 2013. He passed away this March at age 11. We loved him so much. Thanks to his surgeries while he was here, he had an additional five years with his family. We had the chance to do a video call with him right before his death, a true gift. In spite of the pain, God comforted us and was so real and present in the midst of it. If Yasmine is the story of the blessings of following God, Fabrice reminds us of the reality that life is still hard when following God and our prayers are not always answered in the way that we would choose. But we know Fabrice is healed and with Jesus, so that is good.
3) Courage for Parents
A few years ago, Gabe and I were invited by a friend to a parenting workshop. We learned Biblical principles and unlearned a lot of “American parenting” and the implementation of those has totally changed our family. We have replaced anxiety and frustration and unhappy kids with peace and love and joy and happy kids! We really want other parents to experience this peace and joy, and so we have started this ministry to encourage other parents.
So far, we have led 11 free workshops in 4 states. We are receiving great feedback after the workshop itself, but praying about how to pursue this. We don’t want to just give parents information, but rather truly help those who want to transform their families. To that end, we don’t know what the most effective model is… working with individual families or churches or workshops or small groups or online versions or in-person versions or some combo of all of the above? But I know this is of God, because I would never choose to do this! Yet, if we can help other parents more effectively disciple their kids, it is worth it. So we will see where that leads. You can check out our website (which Gabe did himself and I am so impressed with!) here.
And now… this month we are visiting two more sites in Mexico, to see if either will be our next place. If not, we are content to stay in Ohio but hopefully in a house, not our squishy apartment! 🙂 God uses all things in our lives… and He is at work everywhere. We are thankful for all of the big and little stories of Him in our lives this year… and trust in Him for the future.
