Dear Kids,
I want to write down several miracles that have happened for us that has reiterated the Lord's hand in our lives while we've been here. List form is the best way to write these things down:
-Elijah has almost been hit by a car a couple of times. One day we were coming back from getting laundry and he walked out onto the road without looking or thinking about it, and the car that sped past him missed him by like ONE INCH. My mom heart dropped and just went crazy. After this happened and I was hugging him the spirit told me VERY specifically, "Andrea, your family is being watched over. You are on the Lord's errand. You are protected." Then I could see in my mind's eye how angels were right around Elijah and they were the reason why he wasn't hit by the car. In their miraculous way, they held him back and pushed the car over just enough so he was okay. This happened on another occasion as well. Each time the spirit has reiterated the protection that we have as a family. I'm SO GRATEFUL for those miracles of protection.
-We were able to go to Cozumel! The kids really prayed that into our lives.
-It is just a HUGE miracle that the Lord pointed us to be here for our first "living out of country" experience. He knew we needed a softer landing than Guatemala. Brent and I have talked several times about how much more difficult the WHOLE process would have been in Guatemala, not just with living conditions, but with recording and getting the podcast project finished. It would have been three times as difficult. The Lord knew we needed somewhere that wasn't so distant.
-the other miracle we've experienced is becoming such good friends with Juan Lopez and his wife, Deanna. It was a miracle that we came where she was going back and forth to the states so much. And I knew we've been a blessing for Juan, especially Brent, because of the friendship they've experienced. Juan is going to be really homesick after we leave. I want to make sure to keep praying for their release from this legal issue with his green card. He is just a good guy.
-It's been a miracle that we DIDN'T have answered prayers about getting a longer term vehicle. We needed the time without a car. We wanted to get a longer term vehicle while we were here, but the Lord knew that we needed the experience to walk as much as possible. He also knew that we needed to appreciate having a car more and He knew that we would have been more distracted from the podcasts had we gotten one. With how it's been we've had a lot of stretching experiences and we've been able to focus on this project full time.
-the kids have had the miracle of not having any emergencies to have to go somewhere for intervention. There were a couple of times I was worried about some tooth infections because of how they bonked their teeth, especially Talia, one of her teeth broke off after bonking it super hard with her knee. I was worried about making sure it didn't get infected. I used frankincense everyday on it and we were very diligent about treating it, and no infection! No problems. That was been a MIRACLE while we've been here FOR SURE.
-Another huge blessing is how close we are as a family. There has been a lot of fighting with the kids and "working out their differences", but it's forced us into that space. It's been a lot of enticement moments, especially for me, but they have had to learn how to depend on each other and how to love each other while we've been here because they don't have friends close. I know it's been hard on them not to be closer to their friends, but I'm REALLY grateful for everything it's taught them as well. They've needed it.
-It's also been a HUGE blessing to not be so distracted. We've truly been on a mission while we've been here. We haven't had any distractions from the world or "busy-ness" of the world while we've been here. It's been REALLY refreshing in a lot of ways. There are many ways that I miss the classes and groups we were involved with. We've missed the theater and stuff, but there are so many benefits to not being so busy. As we've talked about going home, we're excited to be with everyone again - but we aren't excited about the "American busy-ness" that is going to enter our lives again. Gabe and Talia are at the ages where they are ready for more challenge in their academic lives - but I'm going to miss the simplicity that we've experienced here for sure.
-Another miracle is that NANA has been okay while we've been gone. Brent was worried that we might have to fly home for her funeral if she passed away while we were gone, but she's been okay. I don't know how much longer she'll be with us, but I'm really glad she didn't pass away while we've been here. SO glad for that.
-Another tender mercy that we've come to realize is how much the Lord helped us with GOOD landlords. They are from Canada and they are so reliable and they have an excellent network of RELIABLE people that we've had to work with. Our property manager that they have for us here is Melqui, and he's SUPER responsible. As we've talked with several other people, we've come to realize that the situation we have is VERY blessed. The Lord was looking out for us. So many other people who have had landlords from Mexico have had horrible experiences with their apartment, electricity, water, etc. while they've been here. And several locals have told us how rare it is to find the good situation we are in with people we can trust. The Lord had our back about that for sure, because we didn't even know that we could have had a harder situation, until our eyes have been opened after "being on the ground" longer.
I love you kids. I hope you remember good things from being here, and GOOD LESSONS. Not everything has been easy for you, I know that, but the lessons are ALWAYS important, especially from the NOT easy stuff.
I love you,
Your Mom
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