We´re Back in the Saddle

Greetings to all from Guatemala! We are remiss at providing an update, due to our travel to the U.S., and want to provide this with all intentions of returning to regular posts now that we´re back in action!

June 17th we departed Guatemala for Boston (All 8 of us) and began our 6-week visit. The reason for our visit was to 1. Present Micah Nathaniel to our family and friends. 2. Visit several churches and share our progress/find child sponsors. 3. Meet with my former company and solicit their support of our child sponsorship program. 4. Attend various meetings regarding the loss of our small home in Alton Bay to fire/handle insurance obligations and plans for reconstruction if possible. 5. Rest and prepare to assume the Directors position at AMG Guatemala upon our return, as Bob Hastings and family return to the USA on furlough.

Our trip was con-sponsored by State Farm insurance, thank you Lord! We had a provision for "loss of use" in our policy, and therefore were given a budget for lodging and some meals. This was an amazing blessing, as we were able to travel some to visit friends, family and various churches...without any cost for lodging! While we were in hotels they even covered our food bills. We spent several nights in Boston, 2 weeks in Maine, 3 in Alton Bay in a rented cottage and then several nights south of Boston at our former church, Easton Baptist. I don´t know how we would have done it without this provision! Thank you State Farm!

We arrived in Boston and I prepared to speak at the launch of the NEW Spring Air International (my former company). I shared AMG´s work with the new management team and they have agreed to include our organization in their new "Spring Air Cares" program, by helping children in our programs. This was very exciting and indeed an interesting combination of my two worlds!

We then were loaned a Suburban from Rob and Holly Groom (from our church First Baptist in Portland) THANK YOU SO MUCH GROOMS!!!! This vechicle was such a blessing as we travelled without problem around New England. We headed from Boston to Augusta and spent a wonderful week with our families; catching up, enjoying little Micah and loving on each other! We had a wonderful time presenting AMG and then fellowshipping at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Farmingdale (both Mary´s Mom´s and my parent´s church) Thank you Pastor Kline! From Augusta we headed for a visit to First Baptist to share an update and visit with our church family...what a blessing! Next we headed to York Beach with family and enjoyed a week of rain and cold on one of New England´s nicest beaches (that we never really saw). Despite the weather and poor choice of location during rain, we had a wonderful time swimming and playing games with the family.

From York we travelled to Alton Bay where we enjoyed spending time with our many friends and family there. We enjoyed the blessing of having our parents there with us and visits from many friends (Reeses, Ulmers and more) and family members. I shared a presentation in the chapel one night, soliciting child sponsors and giving an update on our past year and a half. Many agreed to spons children and we enjoyed answering many questions about our life here. We ended up enjoying several good weather days and got out on Lake Winnepesaukee with the Turners (Thank you Steve and Beth!) and also the Paulls (We love you Jimmy and Karen!)

From NH we headed for the last days of our trip to the Easton, Mass. area. We were so warmly welcomed by our former church, Easton Baptist and shared in both services. Steve and Becky Lundberg invited us for a wonderful dinner with the Richards and then Sunday we were deeply touched by Vinnie and Nancy Marturano´s invitation to a barbecue, which turned out to include almost everyone we knew from the area!!! You are the best hosts Marturanos!!!

We spent a restful night in Boston and then with many mixed emotions, departed on July 28th. As we walked into the airport in Guatemala that night, we all agreed as a family that we felt like we had arrived home and were excited to move forward with our life here... what a blessing. We swiftly and uneventfully passed through customs and then collected our luggage to leave. An employee of the airport stacked our 10 bags on a cart, lifted 3 of my children up on top of them to ride and took us out to the curb, where Bob Hastings was waiting to bring us home.

We have spent the last 2 weeks readjusting to life here, settling back into our home and me rapidly trying to learn everything I need to know before Bob leaves. We celebrated Aaron´s birthday on Aug 1st with many friends and had a wonderful time. I will be travelling soon to Holland for meetings with Word and Deed (our partner organization) and have also been preparing for that, reading many documents about their relief work and plans for the next five years.

Please pray for our next year here...that I have the wisdom to lead our organization forward, demonstrating the love of Christ and transforming many lives. Pray that our children re-integrate nicely into school later this month and that our family can be a light to those around us. We love you all and will keep in touch!