Well here we are, beginning our 7th week in the US and I've decided an update might be a little too long for a Facebook post:)
It's honestly hard to believe all that has taken place the past 7 weeks. It has felt like a roller coaster of emotions since the beginning and yet we have felt SO incredibly blessed the entire time.
We have been (and will be) in a process of mourning the past and rejoicing in our future at the same time. Not only are we dealing with our emotions but our 3 kids are also dealing with their own type of grieving. All in all, I have to say they have dealt with it extremely well, though they have more days right now that they long to be back in Peru (at least that is what they say:) We just ask a lot of questions, keep an open line of communication and make sure they know it's ok to be sad about Peru or happy about their life here.
Maddox and Sofia started their second week of school today. They would tell you that they really love it. They both made it into the dual-language program and that was a HUGE blessing! They rocked their Spanish evaluation! They are with lots of hispanic students and mainly speak Spanish with their friends (so they feel right at home!) We LOVE what they are experiencing but we were also a little apprehensive because these kids had been together since Kindergarten (Sofia's class that was 5 years and Maddox's 3 years.) We didn't know how well they would include our kids. So far the kids have come home happy, with new friends and they truly enjoy going! What an INCREDIBLE blessing and makes a mama's (and daddy's) heart SO happy! I went to a Birthday party for a boy in Maddox's class this past weekend and all but one mom introduced themselves in SPANISH! I almost started crying I was so excited! They had all had heard about Maddox and invited me to a Valentine's breakfast. I walked away feeling SO encouraged and felt as though God had given me a little community already! Oh, half of the families live close to our new house!
Liam just took his bilingual test today and ALSO made it into the pre-school at the same school!! We didn't think we would qualify for the pre-school but they said that because he spoke Spanish, he gets in and it's FREE!!! I seriously almost hugged the lady when she told me he made it and could start school tomorrow! So we will see tomorrow how Liam does on his first day! All I know is that I'm going to be sad for about 7 minutes and then I will go by Sonic, get a drink and rejoice in the fact that I have 3 hours to MYSELF! Not gonna lie!
Baby Boy Fletcher is doing well and kicking up a STORM! Met my new doctor last Friday and he is GREAT! One huge blessing is that we found out that my placenta has moved well out of the way so one high risk GONE (and just a few more to go:) We are about 8 weeks out from having this baby either by C-section or VBAC and either way we are ready to meet him:)
Lee and I spent the MAJOR part of the last 5 weeks looking for homes, figuring out insurance, buying a car, looking at houses, car insurance, getting the kids in school and looking for houses.
We now have a family car that will fit all of us. As of tomorrow all the kids will be in school in dual-language programs. Now for the major news....WE HAVE A HOME!!!
Lee and I have laughed so hard at the ALL the ideas we had about a house. Here is the short version:
It was getting WAY too stressful and we started wondering if maybe God was trying to tell us "WAIT you dummies! I have something better planned!" So, we decided to look for apartments and just slow down. On the day we looked for apartments, we found a small "for sale by owner" home.
The house was in the dual-language school zone we wanted but was just about as OPPOSITE as what we had been looking at so far.
It was fairly small 3 bedroom home (we had been looking at 4-5 rooms), it's a KB looking home (we were wanting something with character and this one has about as much character as I do when I'm 9 months pregnant...none), it's glued to all the homes next to it (we were looking for a little land) and it's next to UTSA (a college campus.)
So even though this wasn't what we were looking for it's the perfect home for us. Yes, we will have to make some sacrifices but Lord knows coming from where we just did and seeing what we have seen, we are incredibly blessed!
We just got approved for the loan friday and were hoping to move in in the next week or two. I couldn't even tell you all the small blessings that we have been given since making the decision to buy this home! Just a few... We found an awesome trail right by the house for the kids to play and ride their bikes! One of the girls in Sofia's class lives just 10 houses down! We already met some neighbors and they had done some mission work themselves! Lastly the people selling us the house have been ridiculously NICE and flexible!! They are giving us so many things in the house, letting us move in early and so much more! God had so much more planned for us:)
We have been living with my parents since we arrived in San Antonio and that has been one of the biggest blessings. They have helped homeschool my kids while they were waiting to get in school, inspected our homes, they have watched our kids while we searched many homes, have cooked many meals and have just been here for us during this process.
I could probably go ON and ON about this transition and how we have seen God work in incredible ways but this post is already pretty long:)
Next steps... Get into our house:) Our shipment arrives sometime this week or the next and Lee will be in Honduras all weekend so we are praying the timing works out. Once we are settled in (and await the arrival of baby #4) we plan on getting to know our neighbors, finding a church that we can be used in, traveling some and seeing what new adventures God has for our family!
We still tremendously grieve our life in Peru and especially our community of believers. We also have true peace that this is where we are suppose to be at and are excited to be a part of God's plans.
Thank you ALL for the roles you have played the last 6 years and for the roles in our transition! The prayers, emails, support, visits, gift cards, meals, recommendations etc... have kept us going and have meant the world. Y'all are the bomb.
