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!!!