A Christmas Wish Come True!

I know it's not officially Christmas yet, but I'm sure many have already experienced the joy of receiving gifts from those you love!

This afternoon, we received a very special gift from someone we love very much...

GOD has answered our prayers and has opened the door and worked out all the details for us to be approved for the house we found three weeks ago!

I will spare you most of the details, but just to give you a picture of all that was involved in being approved for this house...

We first applied and needed two co-signers.

One was not accepted because he was a co-signer in a business transaction with someone else in this city of more than four million people...

Then we discovered that, sometime during our absence, the utilities company took over customers' accounts in small villages throughout the state and merged existing account numbers with these other customers' numbers, resulting in some unknown individual having the same account number as ours and not paying his utilities for seven months.  (We are still trying to get this problem cleared up, which has been another process of paperwork that could reach from here back to Iowa.)

We then acquired a new second co-signer.  In addition, a dear friend in one of our churches offered to rent the house for us in her name.

It has been over a week of trying to satisfy the agency with all the right documents from her.  Today, after playing phone tag with the rental agency, she finally went to their office and sat down until they gave her answers!

She called us with the good news as soon as she knew all was in order.

We thank you so much for praying!

Most importantly, we are grateful to GOD for His faithfulness and for His concern in the details!

May all your Christmas wishes come true and may God bless all that you set your heart to do!

Mañana, Mañana...

We've been hearing that a lot lately!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

We'll have the documents ready for you tomorrow...

We'll have the photos ready for you tomorrow...

The water jugs will be delivered tomorrow...

Sometimes, it's "after the first of the year"...

Flights will be cheaper after the first of the year...

Costs for your shipment will be cheaper after the first of the year...

I'm being reminded on a daily basis that, as one of God’s children, I am to "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Col 3:12).

I'm also reminded, after finishing the Book of Revelation in spanish this morning, that Christ's coming may be mañana, it may be after the first of the year, or it may be today!  That makes all the other details not so important anymore!

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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The Cake and the Rat

We've been back in Colombia for just little over a week, and life here started out with a bang!  For as many years as we've been here (over ten years), you would think nothing would surprise me!  But that's not the case...

Last Thursday, a pastor's wife/friend of ours helped us purchase cakes for the Bible school graduation.  The cake, "torta negra" ("black cake") is a very popular cake here, especially for celebrations.  The best way I can describe it is Christmas fruitcake.  Though, as its name implies, it is black; it is made with figs, raisins, and I'm not sure what else.  As the woman at the bakery told us, "You can save these for a month and a half and they will still be fresh!"  It is NOT our favorite cake, but that's another story...

Early Friday morning, we moved the cakes to the center of the table where they were sitting, so that our Beagle, Cocoa (who'd just been delivered to us after seventeen months of our absence), wouldn't eat them.  When we moved them, we discovered lots of crumbs across the table and on a nearby chair, but more importantly a huge chunk missing out of the corner of one of the cakes.

We expected a critter of some sort had a feast during the night.  Oh, well...

Fast forward to Monday morning, the day of graduation.  Kevin opened the closet in the studio office to get the video cameras out and ready for videotaping of the event later that evening.  When he opened the door, he was shocked to find the stash of cake chunks (and other bits of evidence) that the culprit -- a rat -- had hidden away, probably for his own celebration!

All I can say, is I'm glad we've been living UPSTAIRS and the rat hasn't yet found the stairs!

Rat poison was purchased.  So far, we've not seen any further evidence.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Have a great day!

Welcome to Colombia!

We are finally back!  We arrived in Medellin Monday night, with a warm welcome by our friends, Pastors Isai and Natalia, and Estrella.

It is so good to be back home! 

As a matter of introduction to my blog, this is a new thing for me! 

A dear friend, Betsy Bierle, has been working on a website for our family and ministry, and she has encouraged us to start blogging and adding that as a feature on the website.  (Look for more info on the website, when it is up and running.)

So I've chosen to feature in my blog what life is like for me here in Colombia, and let you see inside the humor and the seriousness of my life as an ordinary wife, an ordinary mother, living a not-so-ordinary life in a different place.

I know that God will never be surprised by the things I experience, and He is carrying me through every step.  But I expect that some of the things I experience might surprise you, the reader!  So enjoy the adventure with me!