Saying Good-bye long distance

Wow, so many changes are taking place at Beautiful Gate while we are away. Some have been great, some have been extremely difficult and some leave us feeling like we are missing a little closure by not being there. Benno and Wendy are doing a great job at Beautiful Gate and I thank God that He brought them there to fill in for us while we have been away. I got an email from Wendy about one of the kids who will be leaving soon and I got an email from Kristen (our volunteer in the BG office who is Bryan's right hand helper) about 5 kids who will be leaving in the next 2 weeks. It is good that there are a few kids leaving real soon as our numbers have just bounced to 74 today!

With these kids leaving it has caused me to reflect on a few of them and on how bittersweet it is that I will not likely see them again. In those kids are my "soccer buddy" who was deathly afraid of white people when he first arrived, oh how he screamed and hid from me whenever he saw me near him. It took about 2 weeks before he warmed up and became my buddy. His smile lights up a room. My "cuddler" is also being adopted. She would run to my side and hug me whenever she had the chance. I looked for her in play group because I knew she would give me her best smile and hug and then we could run off and play together. My "singer," I will miss my little singer. He is the brightest kid I have ever met in my life and he can sing and clap to the beat and though he is young, he has been doing it for years. I thank God that I have a little recording of his little voice because I will miss his singing and his amazing chubby cheeks.

The last little guy is a miracle, and today I got to write him a farewell letter. It was hard not to tear up as I recall how special and how miraculous his life is. So many nights I was on my knees in prayer for this little kid, praying that God would heal him and now the Lord has provided him a family of his own. It leaves me feeling awestruck by the goodness and faithfulness of our God. I am sad that I will not get to say good-bye in person, but it is only a tiny sadness that is overcome with the joy that God has not left these children as fatherless or motherless. He has given them the very thing they stand in NEED of, a family who will love them. Until we meet again my precious Beautiful Gate friends.

Back to the swing of things...

It took a little while to rest up and wait for my headaches to subside after all our travels. I have been taking it easy for the last week and a half which I think helped the headaches to go away. The kids started school last Monday and they were a little less than thrilled to start school only 2 days after returning from their travels, but they have adjusted this week and school has been going very well.

 

We also spent some time relaxing by the river and watching the guys do some fishing. It was a good way to spend some down time after the traveling. We still have so many people we want to see and not near enough weekends to squeeze it in so I hope that we will be able to manage our time well in the next 2 1/2 months!

 

We did have a day where we were missing Lesotho so I made a traditional Basotho meal in order to help us feel closer to our friends there. It turned out pretty good, yeah!

 

We are home in Michigan

We have arrived safely home to Michigan. Our last leg in the journey was pretty exciting so I thought I would share our final highlights. We spent the night in Green Bay, Wisconsin so in the morning we took our kids to see the Packer's stadium. I have been a fan of the Packers for a long time and it was fun to see how excited my kids got when I told them we were going to see the stadium.

 

The next item on the agenda was taking my brother across the Mackinac bridge as neither he nor our kids have been across the bridge. They thought it was pretty cool and had a lively conversation about why the lake has one name on one side of the bridge and another on the other when there is nothing separating the lakes :)

 

 

And the final stop was a very very special one for my kids. A few years ago, my sister-in-law Kristin unknowingly got Elijah addicted to a series of books by Jonathan Rand, the Michigan Chillers books. She mailed 2 books to us in Lesotho and within 3 hours, Elijah had read both of the books. I was shocked that a boy could read that fast and after that he begged her and his grandmother to ship him books for his birthday and Christmas. Bryan and I were going to be driving right by Chillermania which is his store in Indian River and it was late in the day so we figured we would just get a picture of him outside the building, but we saw a car in the parking lot and the door to the store was unlocked. My kids walked inside and found that Jonathan Rand and his wife had stopped by the store to pick something up (it was not actually open). They were kind enough to let my kids buy a few books and he autographed the books and even offered to let me take a picture with him and my kids. To say that my kids were excited would be a bit of an understatement!!! As we were leaving, Mr. Rand also handed my kids a free CD of some ghost stories for the rest of their journey. I was super thrilled for my kids!

 



Almost home

I want to write something eloquent and beautiful to describe the journey our family has been on since August 2nd, but words fail me. SO many friendships renewed, new friendships formed, and experiences that will NEVER be forgotten. My children have so many highlights that I cannot even begin to narrow it down. Each city and each family we stayed with has blessed us and enriched our lives by sharing theirs with us. I thank God that He could orchestrate all of our divine appointments, give us strength to share how He is working through us, give us the strength to share our hearts about Beautiful Gate, keep us all in pretty good health as we traveled from place to place, bless our children with experiences that few children their age have been blessed with, and so much more. Thank you so much to all of you who have opened your homes and hearts to us. Thank you for the many meals, tours and heartfelt conversations.

With the chance to share and answer questions, came the million dollar question, over and over again. "Will you be coming home after your 5 year commitment is up, or will you extend your stay?" Time and again we have felt a tug in our heart one way or the other. To come home and be with the ones we love and have missed so terribly...how we yearn for it. However, being with the precious children and staff that have carved themselves in our hearts and who we love and truly feel humbled by and called to serve...how we yearn for it. So we cannot in any way answer the question of what we will do yet because we are seeking the Lord so if you would like to help, please pray for us to hear from God and that we will do His will, not our own, not our family's and not Beautiful Gate's.

We are slowly making our way back to Michigan and hope to be there either Saturday or Sunday this week.

More Colorado fun

On Wednesday, our new friend Michelle set up a few opportunities for Bryan and I to share the story of Beautiful Gate. Both of the meetings went well and we had a little extra time to meet for lunch with Michelle and her friend, April. Michelle wanted to make sure the rest of our road trip went well so she had a "few" goodies to share :)

I'd say that Mercy liked some of her gifts :) Thanks Michelle and Dave.

Thursday and Friday were relaxing days. We stayed home and enjoyed some outdoor backyard fun and then had a nice dinner and a smore fire with Sara's parents.

Today, we went to Estes Park and it was an amazing day. We saw a lot of wildlife as well as beautiful mountains, streams, lakes and waterfalls. Lots of driving, but it was worthwhile to enjoy God's creation once again :) I think the kids and I are really enjoying the freedom to not be in a "compound" but to walk, run and play all over the place and not worry about fences or being in by dark, etc.

Colorado Fun with the Willetts

We left our cabin and met our friends Zach, Sara and Elly in Breckenridge for an additional 2 nights in the mountains. I can honestly say that the mountains could never get old for this family! Wow, God's amazing creativity is so apparent in Colorado and no offense to MI, but we think that Colorado is by far the most beautiful state we have been in as a family!

I'd say cooling off in the pool, but that would be a lie because we were at a pool heated by some hot springs! I would love to come back on a cool day and relax in the hot pool :)

Sara and Elly enjoying the warmth. It is the perfect pool for little kids because they will not get cold in this pool.

Enjoying a ride in the cable cars. 

A view from the cable car up to the top of one of the Breckenridge peaks.  

On our way home, Sara took us over a mountain instead of through the tunnel so I got to give my girls a little lesson on the continental divide.

What a view!

Back Online - update

We were given a beautiful cabin to stay in as a family and the timing of it could not have been better. I was very sick on Monday and Terp (Christina) had the joy of taking me to an urgent care for about 5 hours. They were unable to determine the cause of my symptoms and so I headed home with antibiotics and no relief from my symptoms. We flew from California to Colorado and headed to the cabin on Tuesday and I tried to relax and unwind and enjoy some family time, but mostly slept for a few days with headaches, nausea, and feelings of dizziness and lightheaded. On Friday, my poor family got to sit in the waiting room at an ER because it got to be too much and Bryan and I needed some answers after 5 days of constant symptoms. After MUCH testing, they determined that I have vertigo (virus infection in the inner ear). So at least that has been determined and I think the stress of knowing what was causing these problems has caused a bit more relief than the medicine they gave me :) Besides my being sick, we found some time to build a little teepee fort and spent one day in Colorado Springs doing some sight seeing. Our time as a family went way too quick, but it was a special time and we had a cozy place to share it together!

Lion's Head

Cut throat game of monopoly :) They were forced to play the Broncos vs the Packers Superbowl edition and it was only bad for them because they are all Packers' fans and the Broncos won that year!!!!!

The start of their teepee fort.

The finished teepee fort which was built especially for Pastor Bill. Elijah even made him a treasure map to see if he can find it on his next visit :)

Panning for GOLD! We even found some tiny specks of gold, but we were nice and left them for the next visitors.

We are now at a different cabin (for 2 nights) with our friends Zach, Sara and their daughter Elly as well as my brother Bob who they generously flew out here to hang out with all of us for a week.