The unmarked path is exciting and scary

First off I want to say that yesterday I was googling FM2 renewal because its that time of the year again and guess whose web site came up top of the list. Oh yeah that would be me, Borders Aside was the first page to come up. I laughed because here I am looking for any updated info and my page came up. Anyway that process is for another post when its all said and done I just wanted to brag about finding myself on google like that. lol

So about that unmarked path. Well when we got this job offer it seemed to good to be true and so we committed it to a lot of prayer and asked others to do the same for us. Issac and I both felt that moving and taking this job were the right thing to do. And we still do. But let me tell you it hasn't been as clean and clear as we had expected. Like most things in life I see this as Gods way of helping me to see where my faith lies. There have been many changes in just the two months since we stared. We are doing more than teaching which is all we expected at first. We are both doing a lot of soliciting, and are both writing a curriculum for different classes. I actually dont mind this Iv always wanted to try my hand at new things. I worked in the healthcare field at 15 1/2 and aside from a pizza job on the side for 6months its all Iv ever done. The other change is that sometimes... well... more than once we have have not gotten paid on time. And we know that the person who is suppose to be financing this program is more than a month late on paying. This is pretty stressful if you can imagine especially with the new move and new baby. On top of that our transmission is going out on our truck and we cant drive more than 40mph most of the time. We need a new vehicle anyway because we need more room and more seatbelts. Anyway I wont go on an on about that I think what Iv said can show you that this can be quite a stresser for us.
Im writing this because I want you all to be witness to the goodness and personal care of God. Christ is not only my Saviour he is my friend and doesnt like to see me stress. Especially when he has gotten me through so much in the past. Im sure it breaks his heart. I tried as much as I could not to stress but it happened anyway. My faith filled and always calm husband prayed over me and helped me through that day. He reminded me of all the tough times that God has pulled us out of. And his peace helped to sooth me. I cant be more thankful for what God has given me in my husband. So the Sunday after Lily was born and during the peak of all these (and a few more) issues we went to church. Yes she was only a week old but I was feeling good enough so we went. We tithed out of our past check even though we had still not received the new check (over a week late), because we had both prayed about it and we knew God would see us through. But let me tell you I didn't do it without a little fear in my heart. The sermon was perfect, he was talking about how we should respond to things that we do not understand. He spoke of Mary the mother of Jesus, and how imperfect she was. He had to go into this of course because living in Mexico even if you are not Catholic you may have been raised putting Mary into a higher place than she should be. Anyway I cant even imagine what her life must have been like raising him and knowing all that she knew. Anyway there is a verse that says that "she put all these things away in her heart." So even a women who had been spoken to by an angel and raised the Christ child didn't understand why God had her where she was. And when she didn't understand something she just tucked it away knowing that some day God would shine his light of understanding on it. so after church I told Issac that I am going to work on filling up my box and tucking it away to give to the Lord. God always knows the words we need to hear and gives them to us. Not always through a sermon, sometimes through the rustling of the trees or the words of a child, husband or friend. Later in the week here is a devotional I read (thanks Rebbecca Im reading Streams in the Desert and its perfect timing for it although you gave it to me like a year ago)
I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)
Lead me in a straight path. (Psalm 27:11)
Many people want to direct God instead of surrendering themselves to be directed by Him. They want to show Him the way instead of submissively following where He leads. Madame Guyon.


I did skip a couple post that I still want to write and hopefully I ll have time for them this weekend but this one seemed more important.

Much love.

advent calander, tree decorations, messy house.

Well I'm glad that sometimes when I think of something I want to post about I save a title and leave it at that if I dont have time to make the whole post at the time. I love to share about our advent activities. Today I will do it with pictures, here goes. Oh in case you were not around last year we do advent a bit different, I make it my own. We have a calendar that I made last year with pockets for each day. On a piece of paper I write a bible verse and an activity usually pertaining to the story we read. The girls also get a piece of candy with each activity, this usually keeps them quiet long enough to hear the story. We start with creation and move through the bible chronologically for the most part up to the birth of Jesus which we talk about on Christmas eve.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us. 

Getting moms med care

When my mom said she wanted to come but was worried about her medications I began asking around about it. I had many people who live here tell me that it would be no problem. I even went as far as going into a pharm simi to ask a doctor if she would write the scripts if we needed them. Everyone told me it would be no problem and that it would not be difficult to find her medications. Let me tell you they were all so very wrong. Thankfully my mom told us a good two weeks before she was running out of anything and we got started right away. First we had to look up the names of all her medications in Spanish, this turned out to be the easiest part of the process. It was all very confusing and I didn't understand why some pharmacies had what we need and others didn't. In the long run when we asked my OB about the issues we had, he explained that in Mexico the pharmacies are owned by the drug companies. So if a drug you want is from a competitor drug producer that pharmacy will not carry it. Considering my mom was on more than one medication that still had no generic this was a big problem. Also as we were visiting all these different places we found out that three of her medications had to have a written prescription. One that was for anxiety and one that was for sleep we were told by one doctor had to be written by a psych doctor and only a psych doctor. Thankfully this turned out to not be the case. Because I was in my last few weeks of pregnancy and seeing my OB often we brought this whole issue to his attention and he agreed to write the scripts we needed. So we showed him her pill bottles and the names of the drugs in Spanish and he wrote them out. This happened the day he gave me the small dose of pitosin to induce my labor ( he was expecting it to take a while to work). Well I went into labor less than 4 hours later so Issac didn't go to fill moms scripts till the next evening. When he did he found out that all the medications had to be written on their own personal script and not all together the way our doctor wrote them. So my OB was kind enough to rewrite them. And again the next day Issac went to get them filled. This is when they informed us that her pain medication was not to be found here in Mexico. So three days after the baby was born and my first day home Issac brought my mom to a doctor to have them write her something that would help her with her arthritis pain. The doctor at pharm simi was kind enough to write this one and we were able to get it filled and it did end up easing her pain. She ended up needing another script written for her sleeping meds because they didn't give us enough for her entire stay the firs time. But again I was going back for my one week OB appointment and our doctor was kind enough to write it again. In the end we got it all figured out and for sure next time it will be easier but gees what a pain in the butt it was. We spent at least three night going from pharm to pharm, and in the state I was in just before and after the baby it was frustrating to say the least. Really I just wanted to write this post in case any of you have family that will be visiting for a long time you will know what to expect better than I did. It is a better idea for them to explain to their doctor and insurance that they will be on a prolonged stay in Mexico and need extra fill on their meds. If the insurance or doctor will not do this be sure to visit your pharmacies and doctors and be very very clear with them what medications you will be needing and if they will have them. Well that is that... Im trying to get my blogs up to date today so I can spend some time reading others this weekend. :)

Having the baby

Lilian Andrea was born Saturday November 27th, she weighed 3kilos and was 51cm long. I had gone in that morning around 9am and was given a very small dose of patosin and sent home. By noon I was admitted to the hospital and she was born at 245. She came fast and I was so glad and ready for her. To be honest my whole labor and delivery process was so much closer to what I wanted with the other two. Issac was allowed by my side the whole time and every one attended to what I asked for as far as when I was ready for different things. Heres some pics.

My moms first couple weeks

Once again I started this a few weeks ago. So some of it may be a little out dated. Things like that Im no longer pregnant and we have a new member of our family around. Ill post about that on a different blog hopefully tonight. ;)
My mom flew in on the tenth of November. She made it through all the checks well but did get the red light. She said she was ok with it because they had reassured her that her family was on the other side of the next set of doors. As soon as she got through my girls were in her lap in the wheelchair and the attendant pushed them all out to the truck. My mom was only here two days one of which Issac and I both worked before more family showed up. Issacs sister came on that Friday with her husband, son and dog, and his mom came in on Sat. They were all here for about 3 days and although it was fun I was way stressed. Everyone and more are coming back for Thanksgiving but I think Ill do better this time because my mom has had some time to get use to the place. Really his family are the best to have around they cook, buy food, clean and everything its just the constant commotion that got to me.
So far all we have gotten to do is go to an art sale and listen to an orchestra band in the park. My mom loved it and Ill post some pics, shes the gringa redhead in the middle and Issacs mom is sitting next to her. My mom had a great time and regardless of the language barrier she actually made some friends. We will be going back this Sunday because we ordered a painting she wanted to have made for the girls.
We also went to a parade which was lot of fun for all of us.
A few of the things my mom has noticed that I forget about is how everything is built so close to each other. She is now telling me how I need smoke detectors in the house and I'm trying to explain how everything is concrete and fires dont spread like in the states. To be honest she hasn't seen to much except wal-mart because we still needed so much for the house and although we were dealing with it my mom wasn't willing to. Which is great because it was those things that makes life so much easier.
Even no weeks later I haven't been able to get her out much because I had the baby last weekend.
For work now I'm staying home and writing a curriculum for a medical English class. I'm glad I have something I can work on from home and still get paid during my maternity leave.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us. 

Finding our OB and clinic

Gosh I just saw this under my unfinished posts and I suppose I should go ahead and write it.
It was a little hard finding the right place to go, more so because of all the options than anything. Everyone at each hospital and each doctor we visited were friendly and helpful. Our choice came down to convenience and cost. Luckily the closest hospital and doctor happened to be the best priced. My doctor is great, and takes his time on our appointments. He is responsive when we have to call him and has given us an alternate doctor to call in case he is ever unable to be reached. He is a young guy which at first I wasn't to sure about. I say young meaning hes prob about my age, 30, but that's young for an OB. But its actually great because he is so excited about it all. During one of my ultrasounds the baby had the hiccups and he just sat there and laughed and watched the babies stomach for awhile. After being at the IMMS for my last one this was a breath of fresh air. The hospital stay and medications will cost close to 8,000p and the doctors are about 10,000 so with the last few doctor visits and the exchange rate it will cost us about 2,000usd. Mexico is totally wearing off on me and we haven't even enrolled and started our payments... I'm 37weeks now. So this week we plan to go by the hospital and be sure they have my name in the system and start a payment. Here in Mexico you have to pay everything before you get discharged so we also have to start pulling the money out of my account so its ready when the time comes. I'm so ready to have this baby but to be honest we haven't even taken my maternity pics yet. We plan to get a few done today and then some more next Monday. With both my others I had them done by the time I was 8mo along.Anyway I'm healthy and my boss isn't letting me do any work outside of home. This is working well for us. This post sat for so long I feel like I'm leaving a lot of info out so as always please ask if you have any questions.

finding a place to worhsip

Our first Sunday in town we decided to join some friends of ours at their church. We had actually stopped by once when we were in town looking for a place to live so we knew where it was. El Camino was a great church and had a little class for Alana. We enjoyed the worship but didn't feel a pull from the spirit to make it our home. Also it was about 25 min to get home after ward. This is a long time when you have two tired and hungry kids. We hope to get to visit down there from time to time if they have an event or something but as far as every Sunday we decided pretty quickly that wasn't the place for us.
Thanks to some good friends who live in Tototlan (who we met while living in Tepa) we were put in contact with some missionaries who live here in Guad. Due to them having a hectic schedule at the time we haven't been able to meet in person but I know the day will come soon enough. They were able to suggest a church to us that is not even five min from our house. Well we love it so far. To be honest its a little more charismatic than any other place Iv called home but is something I can get use to. They are not flashy or showy about it but from time to time you might see someone fall out during prayer. There is so much we love about this church and I'm going to tell you now. ;)
1 They have a wonderful class for Alana, she actually comes out telling me what they told her about Jesus. She gets to go to a class when we do our class (this was an accident actually, we thought the service started at 10 and actually it was Sunday school, we liked it so much we plan to go at that time every week). During the class Issac and I sit in the nursery with Joslin which is right behind the sanctuary with a big glass window so you can see out there. They also have a huge screen TV in the nursery so you can hear and see the class. This is nice because Issac and I can kind of chat about what the guy is talking about when I dont understand well.
2. We pick Alana up for praise and worship and everyone joins in. There are so many youth at this church and I get teary eyed every time I look at the whole group of them praising God. I love for Alana (and Jos soon enough) to see us singing to Jesus and showing him how much we love him. They do up beat and slow music and let it all be led by the spirit. For example this last Sunday we ended up not even having much of a sermon because the praise session cut way into the sermon time.
3 Ok here is a great great great part to. During the sermon they have these little head phones they give me where someone is translating the whole sermon live. So last week I got to hear my first full sermon in English in over a year. Yeah I know this will cut back on my Spanish practice a bit but seriously people that's not why I'm there. ;) During the Sermon one of us (Issac or I) have to sit with Jos back in the nursery but my headphones work back there so we have decided to just take turns every other Sunday.
4 speaking of the nursery.... Its clean!!!! and safe!!!! And in Alanas class they were sure both Sundays to ask our names and who would be picking her up. They dont let any kids leave the room with out having made eye contact with the parents first.
5 people are so friendly and ready to chat. There is a little dinning area where I give the girls a snack between class and sermon and every week we have been able to meet someone.

I think there is more but I cant think of it right now. The best part is that to be honest we had decided we could go with out all these wonderful things in our church life but God has given them to us anyway. We feel so blessed. We are pretty sure at this point that this will be our church home but for now we are going to plan to go a few more Sundays and continue checking it out.