Tag: anticipation

Leo

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One year ago today, I was in Lima looking for some of our students’ parents. As I walked amongst the rows of identical, green houses, I saw this little guy, sitting all alone in the dirt. He had no pants on, and he was filthy. I asked some kids running by if they knew his name. Leo, they told me. I knew nothing else about him, but I remember leaving the village thinking how wonderful it would be to see Leo at Freedom one day.

Guess what? This week, Krista delivered Leo’s very first sponsor letter to him right there in front of his house! He didn’t completely understand what was going on, but he paused and gave the tiniest of grins when he saw the picture of his sponsor family.

I’m excited to see how Leo’s little life will be impacted in the months and years to come. While he’s undoubtedly endured some hardship already in the few years he’s been alive, he’s also got a lot of people in his corner. Sponsors, missionaries, and teachers are already advocating for him in some special ways.

Maybe in another year or two, I can share his adorable, round face again. We’re praying this sweet man learns what it means to love God with all that He has.

Our Colorful New Home

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We are so excited! The apartments on the Freedom campus are coming along – railings are going on the porches, tile is being put down, closets, kitchen cabinets, and counter tops are going in… (The Hilgemans have actually already moved – they say the quiet atmosphere is so relaxing!) Life will be so different once we move. I’m personally counting down the days til I get to flush toilet paper again!  More than anything, I’m praying this move will help us to more effectively minister to our sweet students and their families.

To keep things moving, missionaries are painting their own apartments. We were thinking it was going to take us quite awhile to finish painting, considering our three little munchkins. Guess what? Scott’s brother Ryan and his wife Erin decided to come for a visit. Perfect timing, right? We put them to work! And it was much more fun painting with company. Scott and I may have gone a little color crazy, but it was so fun picking all the paint and thinking about how we’ll decorate! Enjoy some pictures (click to enlarge)!

It’s a Girl!

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sanda-0124Big news! Baby #3 is a girl! We are so excited for this new addition to our growing family!

Ang and baby are doing well as of now. At the last sonogram, the ultrasound technician said baby girl’s got a head full of hair! Ang’s blood pressure is continuing to rise slightly. She’s also taking even more iron supplements to try to get her iron level up before giving birth, but we’re keeping an eye on things as we get closer to having the baby. We’re still looking at an August 21st due date.

It won’t be long now! Bring on the diaper changes, sleepless nights, cuddles and coos!

Now to think of a name…

Home

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“Are you excited, Noah? We’re going home in a few days!” Noah’s wide, cheesy grin indicated his enthusiasm as he quickly colored in another airplane on his countdown calendar. Soon, we’d be headed back to the States for an extended furlough full of raising support and adding another little minion to our family.

Finally! We’re going home!  Then I started thinking. Are we really headed home? No, not really. We’re just headed back to our precious families and to houses filled with memories of what home used to be for us.

Over the last four years, Noah has called four different houses in two different countries “home”. We haven’t lived in those places with any sense of permanence. We’ve held off hanging pictures and buying certain furniture because we knew we wouldn’t be settling there.

Even after three years in the Dominican, I still don’t know that I can call the DR “home”. There are amazing aspects to living in the Dominican. We’ve somewhat acclimated to DR life, but we aren’t Dominican. Can we ever really call this country full of beloved people “home”? The truth is, we’re living as strangers in a foreign country.

The past 14 days stateside have been strange, though, too. I keep forgetting that it’s OK to drink the tap water. It’s weird being able to throw the toilet paper in the toilet. (TMI? Sorry.) Vehicles (usually) follow traffic patterns. I don’t feel like I’m going to run a moto concho off the road at any moment. It feels odd to walk through the grass with bare feet. People aren’t as “friendly” here – you don’t walk into a room and say hello to every person within hearing distance. I’m beginning to feel a little like a stranger in my own country, too…

So where is home? It isn’t in the States, but it isn’t in the Dominican, either.

And then I remember something Paul declared several times throughout his writings. This world is not my home! I’m living as a foreigner and stranger on this earth. Neither the Dominican nor the US is my final destination. My true citizenship is in heaven! I’m so excited that someday I’ll be able to experience the place I truly call “home”.

Our New Home

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Gabe and his family will be joining our team in a few months!
Gabe and his family will join our team in a few months!

Apartment construction has been in full swing for several months. It’s miraculous to see the building come to life. Two work teams joined us this February, enormously boosting the amount of labor done in a given day. The first team built up the entire first level of block, and the second team poured a ceiling and continued the walls on the second level. It’s neat to see the physical results of their efforts.

When we’re finally able to live on the Freedom land, life will change drastically for us missionaries. We’ll be able to more effectively minister to our students and their families. I remember when we lived in our first house here in San Pedro. The school-day process was long and hard. We were lugging school materials over to the truck, driving out to the bateyes, picking up our students, setting up the school rooms, tearing down after school, and dragging everything home. Every day. That set-up/tear-down process took about 3 hours! Thinking about simply walking across campus to start the school day makes me absolutely giddy. It will be so much easier to invest in the lives of our sweet kiddos and their parents.

Our family will be living on the second level (left-hand side) of this 8-unit apartment building. The work crew that left yesterday made this “real” for us – they were mostly working on our home. I’m excited for all the new memories our family will be able to enjoy together. (And while I’m sure we’ll have some sort of critter visit our apartment at some point, I’m hoping the ant infestations, cockroach friends, centipedes, lizards, and mice that we “enjoyed” at our first house will be minimal. Either way, God is good.)

So without further ado, check out our new home!

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Pouring the floor of our apartment

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We’ll have a deck off the back for laundry, etc.

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Leveling out the floor

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Hard workers!

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Our apartment walls going up

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Home Sweet Home

It’s Crunch Time!

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Wow. In less than a month, the school year will be over. (That’s not gonna be emotional at all. Ahem.) Summer will begin, along with the race to get our classrooms ready for the 2014-2015 school year. Since we’re moving to a year-round school schedule, there isn’t going to be much of a break. Just two weeks of in-service and preparation before moving our classrooms from Batey Lima to the Freedom property! Yowza!

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School in progress – February 2014

This is an exciting time in the life of our ministry. Classrooms are going up, academic standards and objectives are being developed, first-year teachers are preparing (and preparing some more), and new enrollments are being added. It’s easy for me to get caught up in the craziness of it all. I quickly become overwhelmed when I think of all that must be done in the next 6 weeks. I’ve been trying to stay focused on the bigger picture and remember that this busy time is only for a season.

My two goals for the next couple of months:

1.) Remember that it’s “people over program”. As I work with Mery in preparation for her upcoming year in first grade, I don’t want to forget about her. Each meeting about lesson plans is another opportunity I have to develop our relationship. And as I spend these last weeks with my kindergartners, I want to find time to just be with them, showing them how valuable they are in the Lord’s eyes.

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2.) Allow God to be glorified through every aspect of this process. When big “life” stuff happens, I often run to my Jesus for strength and comfort. But when the little, everyday annoyances come knocking, I generally tend to let the frustration fester. I know I’ll be up late laminating and planning lessons. I know I’m going to be frustrated at the scarcity of time. Through the coming days, I want to keep my eyes fixed upward instead of on the circumstances around me.

With that said… It’s crunch time, people!

Packing Up and Moving Out

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It’s official!  The plane tickets have been purchased.  Our belongings are slowly being sorted and packed away.  We are on our way to making the Dominican Republic our new home!  Thank God we have reached the point in our support raising where moving is a reality.  Come the afternoon of Monday, May 21, the four of us will be on Dominican soil for good.  While we’re not nearly 100% funded, we’ve never gone without our needs being met.  We trust that God will bring in the rest of our support over the next few months.

People are asking us how we are feeling.  There is no easy answer to that.  We’re excited about this “next chapter”.  We’re heartbroken to be leaving family and friends.  We’re relieved with each task we complete.  We’re nervous about adjusting to a new culture and way of living.  We’re eager to really build some relationships with people.  We’re dreading the exhaustion of the move with two little dudes.  We’re anxious about learning Spanish.  But we’re content in knowing that we are loved and cared for by One who is our source of strength and peace and joy.  Above all, we’re hopeful that Christ will use us as He wants.

With that said, we’re packing up and moving out!  Onward…

1000 Miles (And 3 Supporters) Closer

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What a weekend.  We’re home again after a long trip to Virginia. Over the last 4 days, we drove about 22 hours and racked up 1000 miles.  Thankfully that just means we’re 1000 miles closer to moving to the DR.

Noah and Leyton had fun hanging out with some families who are currently supporting us and who were gracious enough to host us.

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Want to hear another reason we’re closer to making The Big Move?  We gained several new supporters over the weekend!  It is unbelievable how God continues to bring us the people and funds we need to continue on this journey.  None of this is by accident.  And none of this is from our efforts.  Again and again, God has shown us that His timing and His will are perfect.  This experience hasn’t always been easy or pleasant.  But we want for nothing.  And we praise Him for everything.

Next step – buying those one-way plane tickets!  Still praying for a May leave date.

Eleven More Weeks

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So we’re inching ever closer to The Big Move.  Over the past few days, three new couples have committed to support us monthly!  What an absolute blessing to have people invested in us and in what God’s doing in the Dominican.

A month or so ago, I came across this little gem while I was reading.  Luke 8:1-3 states,

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

How cool is that?  While Jesus and the disciples focused on their teaching, they were cared for by these women who followed them from city to city.  These men were provided for because some people saw a very real need and were obedient to do their part.  So in an odd sort of way, the women mentioned here were the first “monthly supporters” ever.  Out of their own means, they sacrificially gave (of their time, money, etc.) so that the gospel could be given to others.  (Kind of like our supporters do for us.)  And I think that’s pretty awesome.

Can it be that we’re only 11(ish) weeks away from making The Big Move?  It’s becoming more of a reality daily. All because of our Savior’s faithfulness and because of your continued prayers and financial support.

Pray for us – we’re speaking at church here in Indiana tomorrow morning.  And we’re working on all the time-consuming parts of this process – like getting Leyton’s passport, extra birth certificates, shot records, and so on.  Exciting stuff!

2012… The Year of the Big Move

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The holidays are over.  We absolutely loved every minute we were able to spend with our friends and family over the past month, but I am so thankful to be home.  Traveling pregnant (and sick at times) was a little taxing, yet I made it.  God’s abundant faithfulness and blessings were simply overflowing throughout 2011.  A year ago, we were living in our “cozy” little one-bedroom apartment in Virginia with a 5-month old wondering what exactly our future held for us.  Now we’re in Indiana preparing for the arrival of Baby Boy #2 next month.  Two  kids under 18 months will be a challenge, I’m sure, but we’re ready to get to know our new little guy before we make The Big Move (as I’m now calling it) to the Dominican Republic.

Speaking of The Big Move, let’s get to the good stuff!  As of last week, we are at 59% of our budgeted support to move to the Dominican!  That’s basically a 10% jump in three weeks. Pretty awesome, right?  I’ve said it before, but this “support raising” chapter of our lives has been quite the roller coaster emotionally.  Right now, Scott and I are so excited to be moving in a forward direction.  In fact, we have tentatively set a date (month) for The Big Move!  As God continues to provide, we’re aiming to be on Dominican soil in May.  A lot of preparation has already gone into this decision, and we still have much to accomplish to reach this goal.  But it feels encouraging to be making more defined plans.  Besides finishing up raising support, we’ll be starting on plans/paperwork for our living arrangements, Spanish study, residency, and so much more.

For those of you mathematically inclined, here are some really cool and really important numbers for our family:
5 – The number of weeks before our second baby makes his debut
4 – The number of months before The Big Move
40 –  The number of $50/month supporters we still need to reach 100% support (That would break down to 10 new supporters each month from now until May.)

Thank you – to the new members of our support team, and to those who have been faithfully praying and giving since the start.  You all are helping make God’s call on our lives a reality.  I am still learning the lesson of trusting God completely in every aspect of life.  We’re looking forward to sharing more good news with you in the coming months!

Ang