Life on the other side...

Here we are at the beginning of July 2009. Hard to believe we are here already...yet I sit typing to you from the living room of our home in Hamilton, MI. In some ways Guatemala seems like a dream...some great times that could have only been a fantasy in my mind, but then you get e-mails and facebook notes from your loved ones there and the reality sets in. Hard to be the ones not there...but...there's always a but....but our decision to return to the states has been reaffirmed again and again in God's amazing ways. Through needs, through conversations, through what we see or hear, through the miracles of God's perfect timing in so many things...impossible to doubt a God who has orchestrated things so perfectly. For instance, our last two weeks we were in Guatemala my grandmother got very sick. We started thinking about how we would make it back as we were packing up our lives but in God's graciousness we made it home and had a chance to see her in the hospital and talk with her and see her smile at her great-grand-children. Then we went to Mendy & Steve's, and she was doing better and they moved her to a nursing home to recouperate, then she took a turn for the worse again. But once again God provided mercifully and we were able to visit with her, in a weakened state but very responsive and very happy to see pictures of Mendy & Steve's family doing so well. Early this past Sunday morning she died, surrounded by her children, and yesterday we had her funeral and all 17 of her grandchildren (and many of the 24 great-grand-children) had the blessing of being there and celebrating Grandma's life together. We figured out that the last time we had all been together was at my cousin's Julie's wedding in Texas, June of 1995, 14 years ago. It was a sad day, but glorious as we gathered for pictures and enjoyed company, knowing that this unique opportunity may not come again. What a treasure and one I will continue to thank God for. What an awesome God we serve, merciful and loving. And he takes care of us. I pray that that testimony is my legacy as God works to shape me into the person he's planned for me to be. Thanks God!