How Our New Home Came to Be--timeline

Los Cardinales, our condominium complex
Our house is at the far back
(more pictures at the end of this post)

On Mar. 23, I reluctantly began looking at houses and land.  Reluctantly, because the amount needed to fulfill this dream was more than I could imagine.  It was a rather discouraging process.  Everything was sooo expensive (the least expensive house I had seen was $235,000, and did not meet our needs; land was at least $65,000 a lot, and we would need two for the size of house we require.)

Only a few days before I was to leave for the US, I received a call from Tere, our very excited realtor!  She had just come from seeing a new listing, and insisted I make time to see it before I left.  "I think God built it for your guys!"  March 25 I went with her and immediately fell in love with the house, though kept reminding myself as I was walking through the house, "This has got to cost more than you can spend."  It was the end of the tour before she told me the price, grinning as she did so--$170,000 US.  This was $65,000 less than anything I had seen.  Surely she was wrong.  I even asked her to go back to the office to confirm the price--and it was $170,000.  I began to think maybe she was right in her original statement to me.  Maybe this was THE house God had in mind for us.  

Still, $170,000 seemed an impossible amount to raise for it's purchase.  I left for the States asking God to help me hold the desire for this house with open hands.

Our Taste of Guatemala dinner was held April 25.  It was originally scheduled for last September, but staff changes here changed my travel plans and I needed to stay in Guatemala longer than I expected.  I am awestruck, once again, that God had His perfect timing in arranging for our dinner and finding THE house to fall within a month of each other.  At the dinner, we raised $27,000, more than we needed to make an offer of 10% down.

On April 28, I called our realtor and made an offer on the house.  She emailed me the papers to sign, and I sent them back the next day.  I had no sooner hit "send" than I received word from her that there were two other people interested in the house--both with better financing than we would have.  I have to admit that while I was disappointed, I was content knowing that we at least now had a floor plan which I liked and could use to build. I returned to Guatemala fully ready to start the search for land, yet again.  By this time, we had received over $50,000 towards the house.

When I got back, I talked to Tere and we arranged to have coffee and discuss other options available to us.  I almost fell off the chair when she told me the head of the real estate firm had said we should resubmit our offer; the owner of the land had not accepted either of the other offers.  It was my turn to knock Tere off her chair when I told her we would now have $40,000 to make a down payment!  

After almost a week of waiting, we received word that our offer had been accepted.  However, the head of the firm had concerns that we were not eligible to live there since the condominium by-laws prohibit businesses.  I had an appointment with my attorney that afternoon to review the paperwork, I felt a small amount of panic, but decided to proceed.

When I met Manuela Rosales, the attorney, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  Fluent in both English and Spanish, and a woman of deep faith, she immediately took charge and started making phone calls. (Thank you, Judy Kerschner, for referring me to her!)  It just so happened that Manuela was an attorney often used by the real estate firm we were going through.  It just so happened that she was able to reassure me that this was a very reputable company.  After talking with the owner, and stating that under Guatemalan law our home is considered a family (since we don't rent rooms, and have a stable list of residents) so there should be no problem on that account.  Also, it just so happened, that she personally knew the attorney for the seller (who happened to be the owner's father) and he, too, was a man of integrity and faith.  For those of you not familiar with business dealings in Guatemala, let me tell you that working with three trust-worthy firms on a business deal of this type is nothing short of a Godincident!

The next step was do make the down-payment.  The owner of the property actually lived in the US, and I thought that would make transferring the money easier.  WRONG!  Since I was not in the States to sign for a wire transfer, that was not an option.  The realtor sent me the phone number of the owner in the US, and he graciously agreed to accept a personal check.  This I could do electronically, only it would be six days at least before the bank would send the check.  I have to admit that it was a tense time waiting for confirmation that he had received the deposit, and that somehow I had not gotten his address wrong when I spoke to him long distance.

On Monday, June 15, I finally signed the agreement to purchase.  We have a $13,000 payment due on August 1st, after which we can assume possession of the house if we pay 1% of the remaining balance as rent until the house is paid off.  Our plan is to move in late October, when our lease here runs out.  It just so happens that All Nations Church in Omaha working with the Josiah Foundation is sending a time to help us make the move!

Our final payment is due February 1, 2016.  We would like to have as much of the balance as possible before we take possession October 15 as it will reduce the amount we pay in rent until the house is paid off.  

Will you join us in praying for God's provision to make this happen?

Our house is the one to the right
Yes, that is a swimming pool
(if it ever gets warm enough here to use it!)

Floor plan--2000 sq. ft
Five bedrooms
Open concept
Where the cars are drawn is our private entrance from the road

This is the private entrance
from the road at the rear of the house

You can see they were still working on the house when I first saw it

The kitchen has easy wheelchair access
as well as plenty of cabinets

You can see how much room there is for wheelchairs to move around

While there is plenty of common green space
we also have our own interior garden

Detours, Rough Roads, and Reaching Our Destinations

A young man who visited Guatemala once told me:
"A road crew here is two men, a pick axe, and a box of rocks!"

Today as I headed out for New Life School, I turned to go down the street I usually take to avoid the city traffic, only to find myself at a street which was closed for repair. (With cobble stone streets, this is not unusual.)  What was unusual, though, is that on my trip up to the village, I hit two more road blocks, including one on the nice road that leads into Santa Maria and required a significant detour.  I was already running late, and this last closure seemed to add insult to injury.  It meant I would have to go about a mile and a half on a dirt rough which probably saw its last maintenance back in the '70's.

Feeling frustrated and discouraged, I prayed, "Why God, when I'm already feeling stretched?"  His immediate answer was "I am with you."  I was so struck by this simple truth that I almost had to stop the car.  I confessed all the subtle ways I try to control my life and humbly surrendered once again to Him.  I quickly recalled a line from my spiritual reading this morning, "When you face unexpected demands, there is no need to panic.  Remember that I am with you.  Talk to Me, and listen while I talk you through each challenging situation." (May 14, Jesus Calling)

So I settled my emotions, and went on, down this really terrible back road that leads into Santa Maria.  Still grumbling a bit in my heart, I looked around.  I was astounded by the amazing beauty I was seeing all around me, which you don't see from the highway.  The mountains, the valleys, the volcanoes were lush and green and full of life.  I was struck anew by the beauty of the fields, with crops growing in stick straight rows which are absolutely parallel--all the while they are on the side of a mountain!  I was wonder-struck the first time I saw them, but had grown accustomed to them.  I decided I would enjoy the scenery as I drove along between 5 and 10 mph! I felt Him saying, "You'll get where you're going, maybe not as fast, and not the way you wanted to go, but you'll get there."

As I drove I reflected on how this was a metaphor for what I had been experiencing in our search for a house.  First, no land to be found in Parramos, which is where I first thought we would go.  Then, finding an almost perfect house a few days before I left for the States, only to have another buyer make an offer I could not match.  Then, weeks later, receiving word that the owner still had not accepted the offer, so we should make another go at it.  Offer accepted.  Problem with the condominium covenants, which the realtor though would eliminate us using the house as a group home.  And this is where I was sitting this morning, as I read, the first two sentences in the devotion I mentioned above.  "I am a mighty God.  Nothing is too difficult for Me."

I reached the school with a new sense of calm and a revived energy level.  I was ready to get to it with the kids before I met with our attorney this afternoon, though I was still fearful of being too optimistic.  Through all of this I really have held this house with open hands, but it's not the house or the lack of it that was getting to me.  It was the uncertainty.  I don't do well with uncertainty, and this whole process has been one huge ambiguity after another.

Somehow (through the grace of God, I know) I have managed to be at peace with everything--right up to receiving the realtor's email questioning whether or not we could use the house for a group home.  It has taken conscious, continuous effort to maintain peace and joy for the last 24 hours.  I realized that I had been willing myself to be peaceful and joyful.  While not a bad thing, it's quite a strain on the emotions.  After hearing God speak to me through the situations in which I found myself today, I was once again able to fall into His arms in "holy confidence and humble dependence" (I read this in another devotion this morning) and it felt wonderful.

(Not to keep you in suspense, the meeting with the attorney went splendidly.  We are considered a "family" under Guatemalan law and, while I can't run a school or community center out of the house, it is will within the guidelines of the condominium association to use it for a community home!  Yeah God!  But that's another story. . .)

Risk and Reflections

I'm not much of a risk-taker.  Skiing, surfing, even ice skating hold no appeal to me.  Moving fast, physically or experientially, scares me.

I've not always been this way.  As a barely twenty year old, I packed up everything and went to teach on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.  I had never been west of Iowa, and, embarrassingly, thought South Dakota was west of Idaho!  I knew nothing about Native Americans, even less about working cross culturally.  If truth be told, I think I did it to move far away from a dysfunctional family situation. (Of course, I brought my dysfunction with me, but that story is for another day.)  But the reservation school was desperate for a special ed teacher, and I needed my first teaching job.  If I had known when I left Chicago just how much I didn't know about teaching. I never would have packed up my car, let alone driven 1000 miles to Saint Francis.  (BTW, I had only learned to drive two months earlier!)

God was gracious to me, though.  The Executive Director of the school, Frank, taught me more about living and working in a very different culture than any missionary training school or college class in multi-cultural education every could have.  Even today I use the lessons he taught me, often after he had laughed at my foolish mistakes that brought me to him in tears.  I am forever grateful to him.

Do I believe God led me there?  I'm not sure.  I do know that he used this experience. as well as many other wise and not-so-wise moves I have made, to mold me into who I am today.  I have never, even for a moment, regretted moving to Saint Francis, nor teaching at the school.  The growing pains that came with this position were well worth it, and I discovered I loved the Native American culture, and perhaps even fit into it better that I did my own.

But then something shifted in my heart.  I got married, had children, and my goal in life became to find and hold on to security, no matter how healthy or dysfunctional it was.  While I desired to follow God, I surely didn't trust Him to give me all I needed.  I placed my security in a husband, owning a home, getting an advanced degree and finding a stable job.  I asked God to bless my plans, never really considering if they were His plans for me.  And then everything fell apart.

Don't get me wrong.  One of my greatest joys and blessings have been my four kids (and now two grandchildren).  All the pain of those middle year of my life cannot hold a candle to the gratitude I feel that they are my family. I would not be who I am today if I had not had many rough edges ground off my personality by their four very different personalities.  God used them to make me who I am today. And I am grateful to them, even as they continue to mold me into who God would have me become.

He has also use the degrees I've earned and what I learned in my various jobs to prepare me for where He has me today.  So, even as I clung to my own security, God has been faithful to use my self-centered decisions to prepare me for what He had in store for me.

It may surprise you to know that I don't see my move to Guatemala as a big risk taking decision.  I had years of planning and wanting to be here.  God gradually weaned me off of my independent security and onto His abundant provision by the way  He structured my move.  First, through the whole process of raising support.  I had planned on waiting until I was 65 and could collect full Social Security and then move down here on my own dime.  (Oh, what I would have missed if I had clung to this--I still wouldn't be here!)  He provided a safe place for me to live with a family for my first two years, and though the relationship has changed over time, they provided me with a safety net I needed at the time.

Moving from their house, out into my own, for a year and a half was a good transition which did not challenge me too much.  I was still working at Hermano Pedro, and my only expenses were my own support.

Starting our community home, and signing a lease for the house stretched me further, financially and personally.  Having the legal and personal responsibility to provide for two young men was a challenge I had not planned on, but one which I believe God has ordained.  (It's very different having the house than teaching in the school.  I can walk away from the school if things get too hard--not that I would or desire to do so--but Osmi and Fidel are my responsibility, well into the future.)

I think if I had fully thought through the implications of starting Casa de Esperanza, I might have been paralyzed in fear and insecurity.  God has used this to teach me He will provide all the resources I need to do this work He has brought me here to do.  He provides the staff, the finances, the facilities, and even the personal energy that I need to carry out this mission.  He taught me to focus on the one step He has put in front of me, to take that step in obedience, and to look into the future focusing on His past provision, rather than the future need.

What may appear to be risky to me (and to many outsiders) is actually strategically thought out (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with the wise counsel of advisers He has provided) and covered in much prayer.  I am learning to only worry about being obedient to the next step He has placed before me, confident that even if I mess up, He is there to set me on a course correction.  I have finally learned that the only "catastrophe" in life is missing out on what God has in store for me.

So, it is with this attitude that today I signed the papers to purchase our new facility in San Pedro Las Huertas. We have made a down payment of $40,000 (more than I paid for my first house!) and the balance ($130,000) is due February 1, 2016.  I can sit here today honestly saying that I don't know where the rest of this will come from, but I believe God does.  It is my sincere desire to be able to pay this off in cash, rather than assume the burden of a loan, which is doubly tricky since the property is in Guatemala and as part of a condominium here things are more complicated.

I trust though that God has the money set aside for us.  Before you assume I am being irresponsible here, consider how God has led us to make this purchase.  (Don't know the details?  Click here.)  Time and again, while here on the mission field, I have seen God provide--usually at the 11th hour--large sums needed by ministries to complete a purchase or fulfill a contract.  While I don't ever want to see God's provision as common place, it is not an unusual occurrence.  In the States we just don't often wait long enough to see Him act, or are too cautious to take a God-size leap of faith where only He can meet our need.

Is this an easy time for me?  My flesh frequently cries out "What have you done?  What on earth are you thinking?"  My emotions turn toward panic mode.  At times, even my heart races a bit!

And each time I turn this back into the hands of the Father, some days with more perceived confidence than others, but always trusting His best for us.  I recite two Scriptures, one of which God gave me as my focus Scripture for 2015, and another He has brought to mind frequently when I begin to fear.  And my heart is calmed.  Don't ask me how I do it. For a recovering worry-holic this is only by the grace of God.  So I am learning to live in the midst of risk, and even enjoying it a little.

A final scripture is my desire for my life:

Please pray with me that the Lord will make this so!

How One Guatemalan Mama Celebrates Mother's Day

About every six weeks or so, Dick and I make a regular visit to San Andres Iztapa, just outside of Chimaltenango, to visit Edgar and his family.  We have been working for over two years now to get his frequent seizures under control.  Thanks to generous sponsors, he has seen a great neurologist in Guatemala City and his current medication has reduced his seizures from more than 60 a day to around 10.  While not perfect, this has greatly improved the quality of his life.  More than that, though, it let's him and his family know that there are people, both here and in the US, who care about him.  That, I think, has been the best medicine for them all.

This time, we arrived two days before the Guatemalan celebration of Mother's Day.  We found the courtyard outside his house filled with ladies who were peeling what seemed to be a small mountain of carrots.  Edgar's mom told us she frequently does catering for people in the village, and they were preparing a large Mother's Day dinner for one of the local churches.  She would be spending her Mother's Day serving other mothers.

She told me they were cooking one of my favorite Guatemalan foods, estufado (stew).  This particular dish uses four different types of meat, and must cook more than 24 hours over an open fire. She asked if I would like to see where they were cooking it.

Looks like quite a bit of stew, doesn't it?

This gives you a better idea of how big the pot really is!

Can you imagine tending to, let alone regularly stirring this for more than 24 hours?  But she does it and says she loves cooking and is grateful for the work because it helps her feed her family.

If you think this is hard, her kitchen is located on the third floor of their home.  I can't imagine carrying all the food, and water, up six flights of stairs to get it to the kitchen.  Then again, I don't know how they get all the hot stew down without killing themselves.

This is the view from the doorway of their kitchen

This type of extremely hard labor is not uncommon among the women here in Guatemala.  They often work long hours daily to care for their families.  Many don't have any running water in their homes (Edgar's family does), and must also carry whatever water they need long distances from a public faucet or a river.  Many have to go out daily to collect the firewood they need to cook their food, and most have respiratory problems which come from cooking over an open fire.

Few of them complain.  Most, like Edgar's momma, are grateful if they have food to cook for their families, and a roof over their heads.  They are more than grateful for our friendship and whatever little we can do to help them.  Their secret?  They know all they (and we) have, comes from God.  They believe that, if they are not grateful for what He has provided, they don't deserve to receive more.  I think we could learn from our Guatemalan sisters. . . .

Family Updates--and a Big Announcement

Yes, a big part of the reason I come to the States twice a year is to see my family.  I had not originally planned to do this, but it was strongly recommended to me by a pastor with whom I had worked and who knew me, and my kids/grandkids well. I'm glad I took his advice.  I anticipate that in the future, my trips to Omaha will become fewer, as my grandsons become older.  I long for the day they are old enough for  THEM to visit ME, and the opportunity to show them first hand my life and work.  For now, though, I travel.

When I travel back in September, though, it will be an especially exciting time for our family.  My only daughter is getting married October 10 to a wonderful young man.  Brian is everything I would have wished for her to find in a husband, and I am so excited to have him as my soon-to-be son-in-love.  (My kids the best taste is spouses!)

Amid all the fund raising activities of this past trip, I managed to squeeze in a fair amount of time with my grandsons.  It was strange this time--I didn't see too much of my own kids.  Jeremy was traveling a lot for his job, the bank that Mikayla works for recently bought some other banks and she was working long hours as they were merging computer systems (or some such thing--I really don't understand what it is she does exactly!), and Joel is working evenings as the night auditor at the Fairfield Inn by the new stadium downtown, and sleeps most of the day!  Jon is still in San Diego, and I am anxious to see him at Mikayla's wedding.  I think I actually spent the most time with my daughter-in-love, chatting at the island in her kitchen!  Thanks, Lindy, for keeping me up on life in Omaha and what's going on with everybody!

Soccer games are required activities for visiting grandmas
I have to admit, they are much more fun now that Zach is getting older
and he and his teammates have better skills

The Zach and Nate, though at school during the day, had plenty of time amid their sport practices and play dates, however, to spend with grandma.  There is nothing sweeter in the whole world to me than, when Nate hears my voice, he comes running from wherever he is in the house and jumps into my arms.  This is probably going to have to change, soon, since he is now big enough to almost knock me over.  I love it while it lasts, though.

I got to celebrate Zach's birthday with him on April 23.  His mom even took him out of school early and we went out to the Bookworm bookstore to buy his birthday present.  Zach's fascinated with maps and geography these days, and he picked out a pop up children's atlas for his birthday present.  This went with him wherever we went for the remainder of the time I was there.  In his words, "This is the best birthday present anyone ever got me!"

We ended the night at the Panda House restaurant, sharing a plate of orange chicken.  Somehow this has gotten to be one of his favorite foods, and it's kind of a tradition that we go there to eat it each birthday.  It was so good to spend time just visiting with him, and I am awed by what a wonderful young man he is growing into.

One of Nate's favorite places to go is Barnes and Knoble bookstore.  He has a love of trains, and they have a big set there for kids to play with, so that's kind of become a regular grandma date place for us.  It was such fun to chat with him about anything and everything.  It's hard to believe that just a year ago he needed intensive speech therapy after having the frenula (the little piece of skin under your tongue) clipped.  He is never quiet!  Even when he sleeps he mumbles and trashes around, which I quickly discovered when we had a sleep over.

The one thing that grieved me when I moved to Guatemala was missing my children and grandchildren.  Would it be different if I lived in Omaha?  I'm sure it would.  I would be more directly involved in the daily goings-on of their lives.  Their lives have moved on without me, and I'm proud of who they are and how they manage life.  It's hard, though, not being right there.

I am so grateful that they include me when I am back, and am more than pleased that the boys like to spend time with me.  Zach told his parents at one point, "You guys need to go on a vacation.  Then we can have grandma to ourselves!"  Yep, I'm ready when they are!