Our First Weekend Back Home

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived home was the appearance of our yard.  It never was anything to write home about in the first place, but now it was barren of grass and had unsightly clumps of weeds throughout it.  This was thanks to a few extremely hot months with no rain, as well as not having it regularly taken care of in our absence.

So what do we do?  On a Saturday when we really needed to spend more time in preparation for our first Sunday back?  Yeah.  We started to turn over the ground...by hand...with a shovel...in the VERY HOT sunny weather...  What were we thinking?!  :-)

 ( I think our beautiful palm tree has about "bit the dust!" )

We finally did get the one section of ground worked over and most of the weeds pulled out before dark.  Just as the sun was setting, we got it seeded, fertilized, and the water sprinkler turned on.  And now a week later, we actually have some little green shoots coming up!  Yay!  Now to get the rest of the yard worked over.

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We had a great first Sunday back in Tapachula.  There were probably 50 people or so there.  It was so nice to see how God has been working in the lives of different ones!

And, they served a delicious meal for everyone after the service!

Sunday evenings we usually head up the mountain to Santo Domingo.  Some of the people who had been attending previously were unable to make it, but we are hoping to see more this coming Sunday.  Everyone else was happy to see us and to meet Jacinda!

 ( Andrea meeting Jacinda! )

( Benjamin and his buddy, Parker! )

Our to-do list is ever growing, but I hope to be back soon with a report from this past week on how our two day evangelistic campaign and baptismal in Salvador Urbina went.  Stay tuned!

We're Home!

PTL!  We have arrived back home in Mexico!

I really didn't mean to leave y'all hanging here without hearing any news, but life got a little busy these past two weeks as we were preparing to leave.  Let's see:

•    April 2-4  -  Michael and the boys got to attend Missions Convention at Penn View while I stayed at home and packed.

 { Jacinda sleeping in the swing while I'm packing }

•    April 5  -  My sister ended up in the hospital with a blood infection.

•    April 6  -  Parker had a birthday!  He turned 3!

{ the boys }

{ Jacinda }

•    April 9  -  And finally...we left in the evening to drive to JFK for our red eye flight to Mexico!

{ Getting ready to leave.  We had 10 large checked-in suitcases, and 10 carry-ons, plus a dog crate and a stroller!  Special thanks to Gratz EWC for allowing us to use their church van and to Steve Miller for driving us!  }

•    April 10  -  We arrived in Tapachula!

After our last few flying escapades, we were hoping for a smooth, problem free trip.  And you know what?  God answered our prayers and we had no problems!  In fact, at every turn and with each official, we were shown extra kindness and given extra help!

When we arrived at the airport here in Tapachula, we were greeted with a good group of people from our church.  What a surprise!  They helped us to get our luggage loaded up and then brought us back to our house.

Now the fun began!  We had no electric and no water.  We decided to spend the night at a hotel until we could get the situation resolved.  Finally yesterday, the electric company came and turned on the power.  The only problem, the downstairs worked, but not the upstairs!  We called someone to come look at our electric box and it turned out to be an easy fix!  So, we were able to sleep in our house last night.

But, we're still having issues with our water pump.  So, we're hoping to work on that today so that we can have water!  =)    **Update:  we had to buy a new water pump - but our water is now up and running!!

What else can we say?  Even with all the issues that come with returning to your field of service after begin gone for an extended period of time...it's good to be HOME. SWEET. HOME!

Up-to-date News

So...it's been forever since I posted!  How is it that time can slip so quickly out of our grasp?

I've been wanting to do some "posts in review" so that everyone can be up to date with all the highlights from the past 8 months or so, but I've had a hard time knowing where to begin.  I guess that's what happens when you get so far behind!  =)

For now, I'll just do this short post with the condensed version of our current plans.

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September brought the birth of our baby girl (more about that in another post) and the return of Michael  to the US.  We then spent most of the fall and some of the winter doing deputation services.  The Lord really helped us and we were planning on returning to Mexico on January 16th.

The closer we got to that date, the more Michael was feeling the stress of having been in MX by himself for 4 months catch up with him.  Looking back, he feels that he had been close to having a nervous breakdown while on the field.  After seeking some counsel and advice, we decided to postpone our return to the field until the middle of March.

These last few months have been a time of much needed rest and relaxation.  Michael has felt the hand of the Lord touching him and restoring him to full health.  During the first week of March, he was scheduled to preach a camp meeting at H.I.M.'s hispanic church in Ft. Myers, Fl and so we scheduled our return flights to MX for March 20th.

And...here we are still!  Last Saturday night (the 16th), Michael and I were talking about our passports. I knew mine would expire in April and I thought maybe two of the kids' expired sometime this fall.  Upon returning home that night, I checked...and discovered that Kyle and Taylor's passports had already expired in January!  Woops!  Now what?  We were supposed to leave Tues. evening for an early morning flight on Wed.

Michael called the passport center in Philadelphia, but their first available appt. was for Thursday morning (the 21st).  So we called the airlines and told them we wouldn't be making our scheduled flights.

I must say that when Tuesday came, we were feeling a little out-of-sorts!  We were mostly packed and definitely ready to go!  But, we want to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit the most.

Thursday we were able to get/renew the needed passports and now we're ready to go again...only we're not sure of the exact date.  We definitely want to follow God's timing for us, so we're trying to patiently wait for a clear answer as to when to leave.  Would you help us pray to that end?

...And I'll try to keep everyone updated better!!! =)

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And just because a blog post is boring without at least one picture...here's one from when we were just in Philadelphia to renew our passports.  We took a short carriage ride around the old city.  Unfortunately, we had to do it on the coldest day of spring...or so it seemed!!

Our Trip to PA - Part III

If you haven't yet read Part I or Part II of this saga, you can read them by clicking on the highlighted links.

{ THE REST OF THE STORY }

And so, as you have read previously, we had a wonderful time in PA!  Sadly, our departure on Friday May 11th was drawing close.  But we were a little unsure how to proceed.

Because we already had planned that the kids and I would be coming home in July (because of my pregnancy, etc...), we were praying that the Lord would make it clear if we should return to Mexico with Michael as planned, or try to save some money by just staying in PA until the baby's due date.  We felt no direction to do anything other than what was originally planned, so Thursday before we were to leave, I spent the day packing!

Early Friday morning, we, along with my family, were off to the Harrisburg airport.  Well, when we finally got to the counter and tried to check in, we were told our first flights had been cancelled!!  They told us United had cancelled our trip because we had not shown up for the first leg of the trip back in April when we were having all those issues getting to PA!  (read part I) We had no idea ~ I had checked travelocity late the night before and printed our itineraries off, and everything appeared to be in order.  Now what were we to do?!

The agents at the counter said to call travelocity.  We called them.  They said to call United.  Round and round we went!  By the time we were able to get someone to get us straightened out, the boarding process for our scheduled flight had already been completed and we couldn't go.  Just great.

Michael and I looked at each other and realized this was our answer to prayer.  With this development and now the additional costs of needing to purchase new flights, it was not monetarily feasible for me and the kids to return to Mexico.

Although we would have chosen to know this information before we got to the airport that morning, we know that God's plan is the best plan, no matter the timing!

And so, we loaded our luggage back into the vehicles and headed north.  We were able to get a decent flight out of JFK the following week for Michael, and supposedly, we have a little credit from the airlines to help with our flight expense when we return as a family to Mexico in January.

Since that time, the kids and I have been enjoying spending the summer in PA with our families and trying to be a blessing in our home church, while Michael is ministering alone in Mexico.  The Lord has really been blessing and helping him there and I hope to post some updates from him in the next few days.  I'm sure he would appreciate your continued prayers for him.

Michael has plans to return home on September 20th, and our little baby girl is due September 30th!  As of now, we have plans to begin our fall deputation starting the middle of October.  We hope to see some of you at our services!  We'll also be able to spend the holidays here in PA with our families, and then we hope to return to Mexico the beginning of January.

And now, you know the rest of the story!!!  =)  Maybe I can try and keep this poor old neglected blog more up to date, you think?!!!

{ the boys have enjoyed going fishing with Pappy }

To see various misc. pictures from our time here in PA this summer, feel free to follow me on facebook, or my sister who posts lots of pictures of her nephews!  Or if you're not signed up with facebook, you can see pics on this album.

Our Trip to PA - Part II

If you would like to read Part I from our trip to PA, click here.

{ Our Visit }

We started off our month long visit with getting my sister married!  Congratulations to Josh and Brenda!

I hope you enjoy some of my favorite pics...

{ the beautiful bride }

{ me and my little sister }

{ the wedding party }

{ Brenda and her nephews }

{ our family }

{ Taylor preceded the bride down the aisle holding this sign.  It was so cute! }

{ my family - the Pardoe's }

Next, we spent a lot of time visiting with family and friends!  We had many evenings of enjoying good food, fellowship, and conversation!  We also really enjoyed worshipping with our home church family.  It was refreshing and a great blessing to our hearts!

And to those of you who don't know, we also had a doctor's appt. scheduled while we were in PA.  Why?  Well, we are pleased to announce that we are expecting baby #4 in about 10 more weeks!!  They also tell us that IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

We are very happy and excited!!!  It will also make life a little more interesting as we are planning on starting our fall deputation about two weeks after the baby is due!! Whew...I'd better get busy organizing and planning now!

So now you know almost all the news...but wait!  There's more to this story.  Check back for Part III and how the Lord guided our steps in regards to our return back to Mexico.  Sometimes, the Lord works in mysterious ways...

Our Trip to PA - Part I

Hello - my dear blog friends!  I finally decided after more than 3 months, I'd better catch everyone up with all that's going on in our world!  It's been exciting...!

I may have to break up this story into three posts, because it's a LONG story!  And, I'll try to make it as short and sweet as possible!  =)

Let's start at the beginning with our originally planned, month long visit to PA...

{ THE TRIP }

April 16th dawned bright and early in southern Mexico.  We arrived at our little airport in Tapachula around 5:30 a.m.  The line checking in was a little long, but we gradually arrived at the ticket counter, received our tickets, and headed towards our gate.  On the way there, we had to stop by an immigration counter where the agent checked our tickets and passports.  Since we had never traveled abroad with our FM2 visas, we asked if there was anything else we needed to do.  His answer was 'no," so we continued on our way.

We were off the ground around 6:40 a.m. and enjoying our short flight to Mexico City.  Upon our arrival there, we found our next gate with no difficulty.  Since our layover was two hours, we settled in, ate some snacks, and relaxed.  During this time, there was an official walking around handing out tourist visa papers.  He asked Michael if we needed one, and since we had our FM2 visas, we assumed we didn't need one.

Around 11:00 a.m. we got in the line to board our flight to San Antonio.  When we handed our tickets and passports to the agent, we were told we each needed one of those papers (that we had not been given in Tapachula when we asked and that we assumed we did not need and so had never filled it out...) to be able to board.  Oops!  Now what?  The agent told Michael he would have to fill them out and then return back through the airport to get them stamped.  Ok.  I stayed at the gate with the boys while Michael did a mad dash back through the airport.  About two minutes before Michael came dashing back, they closed the gate.  We politely asked if the airplane door was still open and if we could board, but the agents simply looked at us, told us "no," and went about their business with no inclination to try and help us out!

From this point on, things started getting frustrating!  Because we had made an intelligently incorrect decision while booking our flights - by scheduling two different trips on the same day because it was cheaper - we now realized until we sorted through this mess and got our next flight rescheduled, we were going to miss our next trip in San Antonio and that there would probably be fees involved!

Now on the agenda was to try and get our flight out of Mexico City rescheduled.  That was almost a joke.  Every place we stopped to get help, we were sent to a different place within the airport!  We finally found an AeroMexico counter that would help us.  After much talking, they got us on another flight.  And unbelievingly, we were able to retrieve our luggage which had not been sent on.  Thank the Lord!

We were also thankful that I have a Verizon phone with a plan for both Mexico and the U.S.  It became very useful to us now that we had to contact travelocity and make new plans for our trip out of San Antonio to Harrisburg.

When we first called them, we were given information that we could change our trip flights for $180 a person.  Michael said he would talk to his wife and get back with them.  I then called my sister to see if she could check online and find any flights that would be cheaper than the change flight price.  She wasn't coming up with anything better, so we called travelocity back, only to have them tell us that we must have misunderstood and it would be over $500 a person to change our flights!  WHAT?  Well, we didn't want to do that, and our flight was getting ready to board, so we decided not to do anything until we arrived in San Antonio.

Upon our arrival in San Antonio, we gathered our luggage and went through customs and received a nice "Welcome back to the good 'ole USA, kids!!!!"  We were so glad to be there that we went out into the terminal, sank down in some chairs and breathed a sigh of relief!  Now to figure out the next plan.

We quickly decided it was getting too late in the day and we were too worn out to be trying and getting a flight to PA yet that same night.  So we got online, found a decent hotel with shuttle service and headed there first.

We checked into our room, got online again, and found tickets for the following day for about the price of the original "change flight" price we were quoted.

Next was to try and find some food!  With free shuttle service in a 5 mile radius of the hotel, we decided on Cici's Pizza.  Yum!  And all the kids got to eat free too!  =)

Once again, bright and early Tuesday morning, we were in the San Antonio airport and finally on our way towards Philadelphia with a layover in Charlotte.

And without any more complications (except a MAJORLY bumpy airplane ride!) we made it to PA and were greeted by my family!

Now we only had a few days to tie up loose ends in preparation for my sister's wedding!  Stayed tuned for Part II and some pictures!

And...I'm taking a break from my mad dash of post dating out-dated blog posts!!!  (And, please excuse the strange word structure...)

I just wanted to let you know that I may be MIA from the blog for the next little bit (nothing new, right?). Why?  Well...we are SO EXCITED to be going home for a much needed rest.  Plus, my "little" sister is getting married!!!!!!!!!

So if you think of us at all on Monday, please say a prayer for a safe and uneventful trip to PA.  We leave in the wee hours of the morning, and get in pretty late at night.

And until my next blog post, please scroll down through the last several blog posts that I recently posted, but that are post dated!!!

=)