We're on Facebook now!

Well, it's been a while since our last update on here ... but we're alive and well in the "update world" of Facebook.  If you don't have an account set up yet - set one up and find us!  We'd love to keep up with you on there.  We finally have an easier way to post our pictures and videos online - so we may be migrating this family blog to a mac website.  Stay tuned!

The DeWeese Family

Some of you have expressed a desire to get to know the DeWeese family better as a result of our decision to serve alongside them in Buenos Aires. Here is their contact information and you'd be welcome to include them in your circle of friends, as we do!

(Photo, L to R): Greg, Jaden Luke, Ethan Bud, Laile

DeWeese@worldventure.net

We are blessed to know them and to have them in our lives. We encourage you to get on their email list of prayer supporters so you can get their updates and photos. We would enjoy seeing them receive that kind of a response from those who know & love US!

Here are some of the things that we had to say to WorldVenture on our debrief forms about the DeWeeses (the posted comments are parts of longer answers we had on the forms so it might not all flow - just go with it!).


Jordan said: I wanted to encourage Greg and Laile DeWeese as they continue to work in Buenos Aires which I had heard was a very difficult field to work in ... Our goals were met and exceded in almost every way. I believe that we were very encouraging to Greg and Laile, personally and in their ministry ... Our friendship and compatibility with Greg and Laile is very strong. Greg, Marie and I had known each other well in college, but our friendship deepened as we shared our lives together over the course of the 2 and a half weeks in Argentina. Our passions line up with their passions and our style is very similar, even down to the way we parent our children ... There was a period of time when Megan and Jaden realized that they had a sin nature and it started to come out against each other. It was interesting because I don't think either of them had been in a situation where they spent so much regular time with another person of their similar age. It became a bit of a challenge to parent Megan as she showed selfishness toward Jaden, while we were in a culture where we wanted to be discreet about how we parented our child ... I was very encouraged and motivated in my spiritual life and my life as a parent by being with Greg. He is a passionate disciple of Christ who loves the Word of God. Being around him made me love the Word more and motivated me to study it more ... Greg and Laile were fantastic. We felt very much welcomed by them and they were great in taking us around to learn about the culture and their ministry. I would be honored to serve with Greg as the field chair of my ministry and also after hearing him preach on Sunday, I would be honored to have him as my pastor ... One specific way the experience changed me was to see how many opportunities I miss in parenting Megan and Micah. Greg and Laile are very intentional in their parenting and I realized that I can be much more so in my parenting as well ...


Marie said: Greg & Laile expressed and showed much encouragement and excitement as a result of our visit and interest in their lives and they have expressed that they want us to come back and be part of "Team Buenos Aires" ... we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the DeWeeses on a deeper level ... I loved hearing Greg DeWeese preach the Sunday we attended their English speaking church in Buenos Aires. God has been so faithful to him. I've known Greg since college, but to see him as a husband and father and a gifted, passionate, holy man of God - a true pastor - was a blessing to the depths of my soul ... It was good for me to spend some time alone with Laile DeWeese and to get a perspective from a wife and mom of young children about missionary life which is so different from my memories of my own MK experience. I walked away from Buenos Aires wanting to pursue a deeper friendship with her … which, after 17 days of being together constantly, is probably a gift from God - for both of us ... Greg and Laile were wonderful to us … they opened up their home, time and their lives to our very loud family, on the heels of some rather crazy weeks of traveling, hosting another family, and a decent-sized change in ministry obligations. I can imagine that we threw a few wrenches into their routine and rhythm, but we never once felt as though they resented it and we felt very welcome to be ourselves around them. I noticed that Greg is a great team player and when he had an idea of how to go about doing something, then another idea would be brought up that was different, he was always humble enough to entertain or go with the new idea if it worked. It empowered me to speak up and say what I really thought instead of worrying about "what is he going to say about this idea?" I learned to trust Greg's heart while we were over there and how to communicate with him and that was a blessing to me. I also learned how to entrust my heart to Laile while we were there. I shared some really deep and personal things with her on several occasions and I felt understood and loved, not judged or ignored. I also appreciated Laile's honesty about her frustrations about living in Buenos Aires, so I got a more realistic picture of what life there could be like for my family. She and Greg didn't try to paint such a rosy picture that we would fall in love with a city without knowing the truths about life there. It was nice not to be pressured to make a decision either. I think God had more freedom to work in our hearts because of the open invitation, without the pressure. They shared with us that their philosophy of team ministry would look more like a cohesive team all working together, living their lives together, instead of having two or more couples who are called a team, but are functioning in totally separate locations and ministries. This is a perfect fit with how we view ourselves working with a team in the future. We know that even though we would have different roles than Greg & Laile would on a team, we would still be working together, not apart. That really appeals to us ...

Mud pies in slums or a holiday at sea? A somewhat funny story from Iguazu ...

Jordan just told me a funny story from the end of our trip to the beautiful falls. As I shared in an earlier post, Megan had a great time celebrating the goodness and majesty of God while we were watching the waterfalls in action ... and we were in awe of God! On the way home, Megan reminded Jordan & Greg, once again, that she is still a kid after all ...

Greg: Megan, weren't those waterfalls that God made amazing?!
Megan, looking at Greg coolly and with a slight pause: I want a cookie!

So ... it's a good reminder that, as much as we try to teach her the glory of God ... she is still a four-year old with a VERY sweet tooth ... and sometimes, the goodness of God just doesn't quite cut it in her world - not when the promise of a delectable treat is around the corner. (At least she was in awe when she was actually looking at the falls!).

One of my favorite writers and Christian THINKERS, C.S. Lewis, once spoke in his sermon entitled "The Weight of Glory" about this idea of being consumed by the 'unmagnificent' things of life when the glory of God's ALL is at our fingertips:

“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Lest you miss my point ... I'm not saying that Megan should be perfect in every response to seeing God's creation (let me say it one more time - she IS four years old and human!) ... I'm saying that Megan's response of awe one minute and wanting a cookie the next is much like ours spiritually - consumed by God's goodness and holiness and majesty one minute, then being anxiety-ridden the next by what Jesus called "the cares of the world": What will I eat, drink, or wear? What TV show should I watch? Which person shall I please before Him today? How shall I meet MY needs?" And all the while, our Creator stands above it all, watching, listening, waiting ... for us to remember that while cookies are a good thing ... watching waterfalls thunder and flow are much, much better and much more satisfying in the end. In what am I reveling today which keeps me from enjoying a greater Pleasure from His hand?

Anyway, enjoy the picture (above) of one of those magnificent places where Megan did express awe (I have no idea where she was standing when she told Greg she wanted a cookie!).

We're back ... sort of ...

The famous obelisk at the intersection of two of the world's largest streets

You know that song, "I left my heart in San Fransisco"? Well, we're singing that song around here these days, but the syllables of 'San-Fran-sis-co' have been replaced by 'Bue-nos-Ai-res.'

An aerial view of Buenos Aires we WISH our camera had taken!

As many of you have surmised by now (most likely), God did confirm in our hearts with a resounding YES that our family is being called to serve Him in His kingdom work in Buenos Aires, with WorldVenture and the DeWeese family. Micah hasn't had much to say on the subject, but the rest of us: Jordan, myself and even Megan, have found our hearts very much filled by the things we saw, heard, experienced and learned in Argentina. Even when we're not bringing it up, Megan often reminds us that we were just in Argentina and she has not allowed us to forget that we long to go back one day, in God's time. It has been a blessing to our hearts to see Him working in Megan's little heart, even though she does not yet fully comprehend the meaning of this decision. We know even WE do not fully comprehend it, but as God's goodness has been poured out upon us, He has given us a peace that does, indeed, pass all understanding. He IS guarding our hearts and minds with it, as we continue to seek Him in prayer, the reading of His word, and godly counsel.

Please pray for us all the more now. We are slowly updating this blog with pictures and our thoughts and experiences from the trip, so if you haven't heard from us personally yet, we're getting there. Some of you have had the opportunity to ask us in person how things went. We are grateful to God for your interest in our family's life! There is much before us as we adjust to our "new normal" of living here in Colorado, but having our hearts "turn southward" as our friend, Greg, put it. We are leaning on the Lord for all that He will require of us in the coming days. It has not been easy so far - and we know we're only beginning the process - there is much more to challenge and stretch and grow our faith as we proceed, with faith and obedience, towards all He has for us.

You're probably curious about a time frame, among other things. At this point, we foresee that it will most likely take us sometime between 3-5 years to pursue long-term appointment with WorldVenture, finish paying off our debt, discover our support team, prepare for the missionary life overseas and go through language study (most likely in Costa Rica). We are excited, of course, but we are also mindful that through all this ... our main goal is still becoming the family God wants us to be: Christ-like messengers of His love to the world around us, whether in Colorado, Buenos Aires, or somewhere in between. We hope you'll continue to pray for us in this way!

We'll post more updates about this down the road. For now, though, the Foote Rest is gladly enjoying being 'at home' in Colorado, while we prepare to, one day, make our new earthly home south of the equator ... until He leads us elsewhere ...

"Mommy, we forgot!"

The first afternoon we were in Buenos Aires, we stepped out onto the balcony of our 9th floor (noveno piso - is what the computerized voice would say when we would arrive at our floor) and I pointed out to Megan all the apartment buildings which surrounded our building. I told her that there were many people there who did not yet know Jesus. She looked at me in horror and said:

Megan: Mommy! We FORGOT to tell all those people that Jesus loves them!
Mommy: Honey, we've been here only 6 hours ... and we haven't met a lot of them yet. That will come later.
Megan: Oh, ok.

The rest of our time in Argentina, she would ask almost everyone we met and spent time with: "Do you love Jesus?" If they said yes, she'd point to the people around us and say, "Do THEY love Jesus?"

On a bus ride one Sunday night, Megan turned to the lady sitting next to us and opened her mouth to say something, then she got shy and hid her head in my shoulder. I asked her what she was going to say to the lady and she told me she was going to tell her about Jesus' love, but she got shy. We prayed for her to have courage and my heart was overflowing to see how the Spirit of our living God is moving in her heart to tell people about Him when she becomes aware that someone doesn't know what we do. We pray that as she grows older, this innocent desire to tell everyone will not lessen with peer pressure, nor a lack of boldness, but will only increase as her love for the Lord increases, by His grace!

To give a complete picture ... she has had her moments of missing home and melting down because we weren't in Colorado and also having a tough time sharing her things with Jaden, but overall, Jordan and I have had many moments and opportunities to pray with her and instruct her about her heart as she has wrestled with her usual 4 year old struggles ... we are grateful to God for this chance to parent her together every day, instead of me being alone between the hours of 9 and 6, then being too tired to deal with it all when Jordan walks in the door. It has been a blessing to be together as a family all this time … the TV has been off (with the exception of a couple of ½ shows in Spanish) and the phone has not been an interruption … we’ve really been able to focus on some things as a family – it has been wonderful – praise God!

Where there's smoke ... there's fire ... and a good God!

We haven't had a chance to blog about much of our time in Argentina so I'll try to bullet point some of it while I can. You know me ... the details will follow, as I like the details more than the general ideas in my writing!

When we stepped off the plane in Buenos Aires on April 18, the city had been subjected to a month's worth of smoke from the burning of grass (and possibly trash) in the surrounding areas. Every Argentine, including the DeWeeses, were sick of the fumes as they were incredibly pungent and the morning Greg came to pick us up at the airport, the smoke made visibility only about 1 block and a ½. Having grown up in Manila … I felt like I had stepped off the plane and landed in the Philippines. I actually felt quite at home! =) It was quite bothersome, but thanks to Greg’s warning before we left, we brought our allergy meds and it helped out a lot with the sneezing. Unfortunately, there were many people who were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation … I can only imagine what a month’s worth of it would do.

Our first night there, Jordan and I prayed for the burning to stop, for rain to come, or for the winds to blow the smoke away. On Saturday morning, there was still smoke. On Sunday … and every day we were there after that … there was no smoke! PRAISE GOD! Either the burning had stopped or the winds had taken it towards another area, but we enjoyed some beautiful weather and clear skies the rest of our time in Bs. As.

Greg preached a sermon that following Sunday at International Baptist Churchand he commented on how the smoke and everyone's typical reaction of repulsiveness to that smoke was just a small picture of the ugliness and stench of our sin before God. Interestingly enough, my first thought upon smelling the smoke as we exited the airport was, “This is a tangible reminder to me of the reality of hell … and how many people here in this city who will be going there because they have not responded to (nor heard) the gospel of Jesus Christ.” So, even though I was glad that the smoke did leave our area and did give us some reprieve, I was thankful for the picture it gave me of the reason we were there in the first place … to point people to a Savior who can save them from an eternity apart from him.

Pray for the people of Bs. As. There will be a long list which we will share later, but I’d like to close this post with a request for prayer for those who have no idea of the spiritual ramifications of their sin and their lack of surrender to the Savior of mankind. How gracious is our God to bring all this to our attention because of some smoke …

Iguazu Falls

Greetings from the beautiful rainforest of northeastern Argentina! We are winding down our time here in the province of Misiones, specifically the city of Puerto Iguazu, where we have been attending WorldVenture’s Latin Field Leaders Conference. It’s an understatement to say that the four of us have had a wonderful time here. First of all, we’ve experienced the joy of having a multitude of “aunts” and “uncles” around to love on us and our children. All of the missionaries who have attended this conference are missionaries whom we had the joy of serving while I was Ken Flurry’s assistant at WorldVenture (then CBInternational), but it's been great to interact with them as a family, after being out of the office for four years, especially since several of them had never met Jordan, Megan & Micah. It brought such a deep joy to my heart to see my family developing relationships with some incredible people ... and to dream about how those relationships may deepen in the coming years. As the week progressed, we got used to "losing track" of Megan as she would be a few feet away, in the arms or lap of yet another aunt or uncle ... of course, interviewing them about their lives and asking a million"why" questions. The big joke of the week was that it was such a shame that Megan wasn't more outgoing! =) It really is a wonder that she didn't come out of my womb ... she is EXACTLY the way I was at her age - just ask my parents!


Unfortunately, we aren't able to post our pictures from the falls today - our camera won't hook up with laptop we're borrowing from a missionary to Brazil - but as soon as we can when we get home, you'll see the amazing CREATION
we got to see up close and personal on Wednesday. We took a whole day as a group to go and visit the falls on the Argentina side from 3 different view points ... we were in complete AWE as we saw and heard the power of God displayed in those powerful waters and beautiful vistas. So many times, I said to myself, "How can ANYONE see all this and NOT believe that there is a God? I think it takes more faith to believe all this happened by accident than to believe that there is a creative and sovereign being behind all this beauty. We took more pictures than we needed to , but we didn't want to leave any of it up to our memories ... Iguazu Falls is truly one of the most amazing places we have ever visited in our lives! Someday, we'd like to return when the kids are older so they can actually remember it. =) My favorite part (one of many) was looking at a particularly beautiful view and I leaned down by Megan's ear and we had the following conversation:

Me: Megan, isn't this amazing? Who made it all?
Megan: GOD DID!
Me: Is there anyone else in the whole wide world who can create all this?
Megan: No! No one else can make this, Mommy - just God!

Oh gracious Lord, may this faith in my four year old remain in her heart forever, for your GLORY and her JOY!

We'll post pictures on Monday!

Our support level - we're almost there!

Just a quick blurb that we're at 84% of our needed funds for this trip. The remaining amount needed is to reimburse for the airline tickets and doesn't include the Brazilian visas ... thank you for continuing to pray and to consider giving! It's not too late! Thank you and praise God!!

Our evening with Argentines

This may very well be our last post while we're in Bs. As.

We just finished a five hour dinner/social evening with Greg & Laile's Argentine small group. We had a blast ... we talked, ate, played games, and Jordan got to share with them through a translator (Max, an Argentine, not Greg!) about what God has laid on our hearts in the last two years. They were very welcoming and interested in our lives and we feel like we just made four new friends ... even though we don't speak Spanish fluently. God is SO GOOD! We have so many amazing stories, thoughts and feelings which we wish we could put here right now, but we need to sleep (tonight) and pack (tomorrow) before we head to the airport Sunday morning for Iguazu Falls. Jordan just said he's probably not going to post until we get back, so you'll have to wait until next month (not too far away). I know this is really disjointed. It's 1:20 am and we're still gabbing with the DeWeeses and we still need to cart some sleeping kids back to our apartment.

Basically, we have had a marvelous time traveling around in this busy city, meeting people (we had a chance to be a witness to a Kodak store owner - in Italian!), getting to know the DeWeese family even better ... it's been a wonderful whirlwind and we are so grateful for your prayers!
We have a pretty good idea about the direction we're going to head in, as God continues to open doors, and we're excited to share more about it with you all when we get home.

Good night!
Marie, for us all

When in Rome ...

Funny moments which have taught us about life in Argentina, in no particular order ...

On Sunday afternoon, we went to a local mall with the DeWeeses to let the kids run out their energy and to escape the humidity a little ... on the way home, Jaden & Megan really wanted some ice cream, so we got a couple of cups to share between the families. When Megan was done with hers, she tossed her cup and spoon down a very steep driveway as her stroller rode by it (not unlike a "drive-by"). I ran down the driveway and came back up telling her that it was no appropriate to throw our trash onto the streets and she looked up at me with a strange expression. A few minutes later, she pointed to a trash-covered area on the sidewalk and said, "See, Mommy, there's some over THERE!" Oh, we had a good laugh about it and it gave Laile a chance to tell me that, unfortunately, it IS common here for even high-class, well-dressed women to drop trash on the ground as they're walking around town. We did end up finding a trash can, but it did show us that Megan is a LOT more observant and impressionable than even I had thought. =)

This morning (Friday), we were on our way to Laile's women's Bible study at church and unfortunately, we got on the wrong bus ... which led to us walking a ways, then taking a taxi to get to the train station ... after a few stops on the train, we had to disembark because the trains were on strike and were not going to be running anymore. In the middle of all this ... my back was starting to go out on me, Jaden's arm got pinched in the bus door (accidentally) and screamed for a few minutes, Megan ran into a metal stair-rail and screamed for a few minutes, then Laile spilled hot chocolate all over her shirt ... she and I didn't scream but we did laugh. I learned that no matter where we are, kids will be kids, life will happen and we just have to laugh and take comfort in the fact that God is with us no matter where we are! We ended up not making it to Bible study at all, but we sure learned a lot about ourselves and this city and now we have something to laugh about (and the kids are fine now ...). =)

Our first hour in our apartment last Friday ... after we had hurried off the plane, grabbed a quick bite to eat at the DeWeeses, raced to the public health office to get our yellow fever shots, then headed home to unpack and get washed up, Micah pooped in the tub for the first time ever in his life. It was SOOOOO gross! I had to laugh with Laile later because I told her that through all the stresses of the trip, I had had a really good attitude (by God's grace!) ... but the moment he pooped, I lost it. THAT's what it took to make me have my meltdown. Oh yes, that was because at the precise moment he pooped, Jordan plugged our "white noise" fan into the transformer we bought in the U.S. and it promptly blew up, smoke and all. I realized that if the fan didn't work, my heating pad for my back wouldn't work for sure ... and that realization, on top of Micah's poop, was simply too much for my sleep-deprived brain and my over-stimulated heart!). I learned that it's often the little things that can push me (and us!) over the edge and yet, how glad I am to have kids that can poop in the tub ... it's better than NOT having kids (or a tub!).

I may add to this later. Jordan is also working on a post of his first impressions of Bs. As.

Marie

Hola, Buenos Aires

Here are small snippets from my journal entries here in Buenos Aires:

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Today, the city woke up with its usual creaks and groans - the music of a body filled with arthritic age, eager to lubricate its joints with life ... the cacophony of a metropolis all joining in one chaotic chorus of echoes and lively lament ... the stalwart cement rhythmically throwing syncopated sounds back and forth between street, sidewalk, dwelling place, over and over again. There can be no applause, for the aria never ends. Buen dia, Buenos Aires, morning has come ...

Two days later, Thursday, April 24, 2008
(because that's how long it took to get back to my journal!):
My heart has officially fallen in love with Buenos Aires. I know I felt at home from the very beginning, but today, I am grieving my imminent departure and am already longing for a return ticket. I can sense full-well how living in a city like this can get tiresome and overwhelming and aggravating ... perhaps one day I too will be there and the "honeymoon" will be over ...but for now, if this city asked for my hand and heart - it would have it! Lord, you are so good and kind and gracious to give us this amazing experience. THANK YOU!

Marie

Prayer request - VISAS

Some of you know about the snafu that is requiring us to pay for Brazilian visas. They are expensive and we still don't have them, although we have tried (and we really don't NEED them, but the law is the law!). SO ... without going into details as we're about to go out with the DeWeeses, please PRAY that God would be glorified in this process of us getting our visas and that His purposes would shine through us. Pray, also, that we'd show His love to the people around us who are involved in this process, as it has proved to be a little frustrating. We are still hopeful and prayerful that God will come through with a miracle ... but sometimes, as we've learned, the miracles He works are not exactly what we ask for ... but they are exactly what we need and are exactly what give Him the most GLORY! We'll share details as we are able to.

You hem me in, behind and before (Psalm 139:5)

As we got onto the Bs. As. plane, I prayed, once again, that the Lord would hem us in behind and before and lay His hand upon us ... and I was asking Him to give us extra seats to help us with the kids, even though it was a fairly full flight. When we got to our seats, it looked like we had been given seats in two different rows, but just off-set from each other a little bit; a side-row of 2 seats and a middle-row of 3 seats. Jordan and I were able to trade back and forth fairly easily with the kids and I was even able to make a little bed for Micah that would have satisfied Grandma Foote (as she's the best child-bed-maker on the planet) on two seats in the middle row so he could sleep lying down. WOW! I just marveled the whole time at how God had provided - and we didn't even "pick" our own seats ... it was just right for us.

In true Megan fashion, she began nesting as soon as she figured out which seat was hers. I wish you could have seen her with the pillows and the blankets. You would have thought the Queen of England herself was on board. And we were so happy to let her get comfy in her own way. She really was so good during the flight. One cute moment: When we were served breakfast, she opened all her little containers and said, "Mommy, it's like a picnic!" I told Jordan and he said she told him the same thing at supper time the night before. How adorable! =)

Micah and Megan both slept during the flight. Micah did have his meltdown moment, but thankfully, it lasted only about 20 minutes, or maybe it was less and felt like that much to me ... but once he fell asleep, he was conked until almost 8 hours later. For a 10 and a half hour flight, that was wonderful! Jordan slept a little and I slept for about 20 minutes because every time we'd hit turbulence, I'd wake up and put my hand on Micah. Interestingly enough, when the plane was roller-coastering in the air, he'd sleep soundly. When the flight was smoother, he'd be so restless. So between the two, I got virtually no sleep ... but I can't complain! I put on my earphones, hooked up our ipod and had an amazing time of worship in the middle of the night, while I watched the full moon out the window across the aisle. God met me on that plane, so how can I complain about sleeplessness? And besides, He created adrenaline and I got a good dose of that when we landed in Bs. As! When I get a chance to, I hope to write out all the things He and I talked about during that night of flight. I learned much from Him that night!

I'll end this post with Micah's first words upon seeing the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, outside of the plane window, standing on the seat, little hands on the window, with his sister's arm around his shoulders:

"OH WOW!"

You said it, my son!

Tour of the tarmac, Texas style!

As I said in our first email blast on Monday, we have so many God-stories already about this trip. You know most of them from before we left if you were able to keep up with our website. This one is going to be on our "favorites" list for a very long time ... how God got us onto our Buenos Aires flight from Dallas!!!!

Our flight leaving Denver was delayed and we sat on the tarmac for quite a while - nothing surprising there, for those of you who fly regularly. However, as we got into the air, the captain said that there was stormy weather over Abilene and in order to avoid it, we'd have to take a slight longer route to Dallas. We looked at our watches and, knowing that we had only an short layover in Dallas before our flight left for Bs. As., we began to pray that we'd make our connection. We knew we'd be ok even if we missed our flight, but the thought of being "stuck" in Dallas instead of Denver with two tired kids wasn't really our idea of a fun overnight vacation. No offense to those of you who love Dallas (or the airport there!). =) We don't know what we missed out on because we never even got to see the inside of the airport in Dallas, as God would have it.

The flight from Denver to Dallas went smoothly, but we landed just 10 minutes before our Bs. As. connecting flight was scheduled to leave. We knew they had already boarded that plane and the flight attendants were giving out gate numbers like crazy for everyone who had connecting flights because we were so delayed. We looked at the airport diagram on the American Airlines magazine and it looked like we'd have to run faster than Eric Liddell (for you Chariots of Fire fans) to make our connection from one terminal to the other. My seatmate was doing her best to tell us the fastest way to get onto the train (you mean, we have to ride a train too?!) so we could get to our gate quickly. It was controlled chaos, but chaos, nonetheless. I can honestly tell you that as hard as my heart was racing, my prayers of complete dependence upon God were flying up to his throne of grace. He, as He always is, was listening ... He is so good and His timing is always perfect. Just typing out this story is encouraging my heart because today, I've had to remind myself that His timing IS perfect ... even as we're still waiting for our Brazilian visas (more on that later).

We were allowed to get off the plane first since we had a connecting flight to catch and the gentleman sitting next to us grabbed our stroller for us and helped us get all our carry-ons off the plane since Megan & Micah were being compliant, but let's face it, a kid is a kid whether you're in a hurry or not! (And Megan is always Megan, so she had to "study" every person she passed on the plane ... it would have been so hilarious if we hadn't been so anxious to make our next flight!). As soon as we stepped off the plane, a messenger of mercy met us at the door and asked if we were going to Buenos Aires. When he confirmed that we had all our bags with us, we were escorted outside the plane (we didn't even have to enter the tunnel to the terminal!), onto the tarmac and driven in a van to the employee entrance for our gate. The American Airlines staff was waiting for us with stroller tags and smiles (the latter is always a good thing when you're already stressed!) and we made it onto our plane with hearts full of praise and thanksgiving to our Almighty God who holds the planets and plane connections in His hands. Like I said, we knew we'd make our flight to Bs. As. ... eventually. HOW we made that flight, though, was up to Him and boy, did He make sure we had a great story to tell the world about His provision and timing. He is trustworthy, we have told Megan & Micah & each other. He is worthy of praise!! And we have a nice little story to stand on those truths (on top of ALL the great stories He has already given us in His Word and in our lives!).

My two favorite parts of this story are:
1) When we walked outside the plane, it was windy and we had to step out onto those long, metal stairs ... I was gripping Megan's hand tightly (because those stairs weren't made for children by Graco, by any means) and as we got to the bottom, there was a big jump and Tom, the grandfatherly driver of our van held out his arms to Megan and said, "Come on and jump, sweetie." She did so with glee and as he carried her to the van, I heard her telling him, with the wind whipping through her hair, "I like you!" It made me smile. Better yet, it made Tom smile. =)

2) When we got ourselves and our carry-ons settled in the van, Tom told us that we were waiting for one more passenger to join us and he'd go find him, so we had about 3 minutes as a family to rejoice in God's goodness and to pray as a family. It reminded me of the time when we got our airline tickets for this trip ... I treasure those "parting of the Red Sea" celebration moments in our family story ... Rejoice with us! Our children are learning along with us that God is a God who saves, a God who works miracles, even when He doesn't have to. He gets ALL THE GLORY - and we praise Him for that!

The computer "made me do it!"

Alright, for those of you who have been wondering where these much-promised blogs are ... well, "the computer DID make me do it!" Just as I was starting to type out the title for our first post on Monday ... the laptop completely died on me. I am certified in CPR, but I have never quite practiced on a laptop-ian mannequin. I'm just thankful it happened when it did, instead of after I had typed up a whole bunch. Apparently, it had overheated, but I didn't know that until everyone got back from the park and Greg said, "Oh, it did that to me yesterday too." I just took it as a sign that I needed to rest my back (which I did on the DeWeeses very comfy couch!) and decided to wait until the next "quiet moment" I could steal away to type. So, that moment hasn't come until now, Wednesday afternoon ... but all is quiet after a very busy couple of days. I'll post this one up now so you know we're at least alive and then I'll try to highlight the major things that have happened up until now (if I can keep it to just the highlights - miracles DO happen!).
Much love to you all,
Marie

Under Construction

We will be blogging soon. Stay Tuned!!!