Homeward Bound

We leave for the airport in a couple of hours.   We are a mix of emotions, and already tired.  We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel.   Also,  please be praying for my Dad as he adjusts to the quiet of the house.
Thank you! Joy

Set free

I was preparing to write a post with a litany of concerns and worries that I  have about out impending return to Gutemala, and then I read Galatians 5:1.  What a great reminder that I have been set free for the enslavement of worry.  So, instead of a list I simply ask for prayers to remember my freedom and relax.
Blessings...Joy

Merry Christmas

So it was pointed out today that according our blog... we're still heading to Pennsylvania. Uh, we're back.

Our trip south started on Saturday, 30 November. We drove into New York City that evening. The drive down was uneventful, which is to say it was good. Our stay in New York was excellent. It was really nice to reconnect with the folks of the Oversea Chinese Mission. The blessed us immensely. Kenneth continues to finish up the work they requested and hopes to be done in early January.

From New York City we journeyed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and visited with the Logan family. This was a short but outstanding visit as well. Don, Heather, and Joy sang a lovely version of Chris Tomlin's "I heard the bells on Christmas Day."

We left Pennsylvania just ahead of the snow storm. We stayed the night in Elmsford, NY and were able to have a short visit with our dear friend Liz Ramos. It was nice to catch up with her and see how God is moving in her life. The next day we left NY amid a snow storm. It was slow going but we arrived home safely. The original plan was to arrive back in time that the kids could go to Awana... well, it was cancelled.

Since our return we've had various speaking engagements and meetings with supporters. As I type this tonight, it is Sunday night, 22 December. We have Hannah and Julie for a sleep over. We are realizing this is the last sleep over for the girls on this visit. We are amid the "lasts" for a lot of things. The last piano lesson. The last Awana. The last small group. We still have some "lasts" to go - the last church service. The last game night. The last family meal...

As we reflect on the last seven/nine months it remains clear to us God is and always has been in control of the path and events of our family. Numerous people have said, "...we'd like it if you stay - but we understand God is calling you to return to Guatemala." We've considered this a lot over the past months. We remain steadfast that God wants us to return to Guatemala.

We could not possibly thank all the many peoples who have blessed us over this time in the States and Canada. It is not adequate yet I'll offer a "thank you" to everyone.

Happy birthday Jesus! Merry Christmas to all!

-knme

Next visit - PA

We just concluded a wonderful four day visit at Oversea Chinese Mission church in New York city. Wow, what a wonderful experience! We're very thankful to the many members of the church who visited with us and made us feel welcome.

Aside from being able to share about our Guatemalan mission (Sunday morning) Kenneth worked with the IT team there on various projects.

Now we are visiting with the Logan family in Pennsylvania. We'll be visiting with them until Monday.

Destination Guatemala

So I just realized we had not made the big announcement via our blog. We will be returning to Guatemala on December 31st - just in time for New Years fireworks.

This has come with a lot of mixed emotions. But one thing remains clear: this is what God wants for our family. Since buying the tickets we have steadily become more comfortable and excited about the plan.

So - 54 days and counting.

Blessings.

Visiting Nova Scotia - First time since 2010!

Greetings and salutations!

For the first time since the summer of 2010 our family made the journey north to visit Nova Scotia. It was a difficult realization that Sara, our youngest, had never been here - she will turn three next month! Oh, the injustice.

Wolfville Basin, Wolfville, N.S.

Since being here we had the opportunity to enjoy the recent Nova Scotia Election. This was a very educational process for all of us. Also, we have taken the opportunity to fill the children in on some of the important Nova Scotia and Canada school topics they have not had thus far. School - oh yeah - we continue to home school the children - but with a Canada and Nova Scotia theme. One of the other cool experiences the children had was visiting the Fundy shore in Wolfville. There they were able to see the dramatic (and fast) tidal change in action... And poor Abigail was able to experience two yellow jacket bits on her neck [ouch!]

Peggy's Cove, N.S.

Every visit we try to get out to Peggy's Cove. It has been a family favorite since the beginning.

We have been able to reconnect with the Pastor of the church in Windsor. This was a great visit. We look forward to remaining in contact with them and, hopefully, building upon that relationship.

We have not yet seen everyone we wanted to - but we still have six days left. Tonight we visit and share with a local group called "Just Friends" and tomorrow we share with the congregation at Chester United. This coming week we will visit the capital and some other close family.

Somewhere in N.S.

Oh yeah - and the foliage has been very nice too!

All-in-all this trip has been amazing.

-knm/jr/ac/eb/sje


-- HOT OFF THE PRESSES --

As I was writing this post I received an e-mail from our mechanic in Guatemala. We had decided to rent out our car to another missionary family. After a week of use the car overheated and it blew the head gasket. So, we are now without that car. Our mechanic is sending us a quote to help us decide if it worth fixing. So, with the car dead and the van not quite ready (after the accident in May) we will be returning to Guatemala with no working vehicle... Please join us in praying for wisdom and provision for how we should handle this new challenge.

These are the Nights

It comes in the places we might not expect it - discomfort, homesickness, loneliness.  Just when we think the girls are adjusting it rears its ugly (yet really beautiful) head - MK reality.

Tonight was a big one.  We took the girls to a program at our sending church, where we have been attending while on home assignment.  There were a lot of kids there.  I am sure that some of them were new, they didn't really know what to do.  One of our girls though, felt like she was the only new kid.  She was the only one in her group who had not already been a part of the program, at this church or a different one (and thus the only one who didn't have a book - or get a book.)  She didn't know the Pledge of Allegiance since we don't say it at our international school.  She didn't know what the procedures and expectations were.  She did know where the bathroom was though, and went there to cry when she got totally overwhelmed.

These are the nights when telling her that being an MK is an amazing opportunity just won't cut it.  These are the nights when she just wants to fit in - and knows that she fits in better with other MKs.  I'm sure that on this home assignment (to a country that is no longer really her home) we are going to have many more "these are the nights" moments, please pray for us and our girls as we get through them together.

Canada Bound...

Coming in early October our family will be heading to visit Kenneth's parents and family in Chester, Nova Scotia. Our dates are not yet chiseled in stone but we're presently thinking 5 to 25 October. While there we're hoping to speak at a couple churches and possibly make new team connections in and around the area.

We've not been to Nova Scotia since Christmas 2011. It is long overdue.

Being of Like Mind

Our mindsets change in life - or at least they probably should.  When that happens we tend to build relationships with people that are of a like mind with us.  That doesn't mean that we just throw all other relationships away, it also doesn't mean that we will become best friends with all those people.  Some of those relationships will carry us through a tough time and then wither, others will continue to grow.  I have seen this played out in our lives so much during the last five years of this missionary journey.

Fresh in my mind, of course, are the relationships that we recently made with other families and care givers while Mom was in hospice.  Will those last?  It is too soon to tell, but I can already see that God had a plan in building those relationships even if only for a short time.

Another type of like mindedness was brought to the forefront of my brain tonight.  It is sort of a missionary mind.  Not like some holier than though thing - because believe you me, missionaries are no holier than other people.  The missionary mind of been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and hey I can actually understand you.

I imagine it is much like how people of one culture tend to bond with others of that culture when they are put in a new situation. Sort of like how when there was a larger Indonesian population at our church, they tended to hang out a lot together.  It's not that people of that culture don't want anything to do with the rest of the world, they just have shared experiences that others do not.  It creates a link and a bond faster than it otherwise might.

Here is why I was thinking about that.  We have spent four years overseas and had a hard time keeping in touch with people back here in the States.  We never seemed to be able to connect via Skype as often as we would have liked.  Though we did a decent job staying in touch with grandparents, the rest of the world sort of passed us by and vice versa.

We are, like many others, people who invest in the relationships that are right in front of us on a daily basis.  That's no so bad, unless one of your children really needs a friend...a particular friend... a friend who can only be accessed via the amazing blessing of the internet.  That was our story earlier tonight.  Praise God the needed friend has parents who understand that exact thing.  We sent an email requesting a skype date soon and got the response of "how about right now?"  An evening of tears turned into a night of laughter, because another parent understood exactly what we and our kids were going through - because they had been there and on this thing we were of a like mind.

Also tonight we were reminded of the blessing of having someone around who has gone through something you are, and will be going through.  When we were preparing to leave for Guatemala we became close to a family who were on furlough.  To us they were some of the only people, if not the only ones, who could understand what we were going through preparing to leave this life behind.  They were people who knew what it was like to visit churches, speak at dessert nights, pray that another person would sink their teeth into your ministry through financial and prayer support.  They had been there.  That was such a blessing to us!

 It is a blessing for us, right now, to be that support to friends of ours who are preparing to leave for the foreign mission field.  Little did we know that after four years we would be on a furlough and they would be preparing to leave.  It is so great to be able to confidently, or maybe semi-confidently, answer questions they have and give advice about things to look out for.  I am so thankful that we are being able to do that for another couple as someone once did for us.

So I encourage you - in whatever you are going through know that you are not alone.  Somewhere out there is someone who has been there, or is there right now.  There is someone else that you can talk to to help sort out your issues.  Don't leave all your other friends behind, and don't get mad at them because they can't understand, go and find the ones who can and add them into your circle.  You may not build a relationship that lasts a lifetime, but then again maybe that is just what God has in store for you.

How do you wait?

In my quiet times this week I have been reading Isaiah, and struggling with it.  I wanted something comforting to me during this time with my Mom.  I wanted that time in the morning to prepare me for my day with words of wisdom, but I was getting "Woe to the land of the whirring wings," and "In the year that the supreme commander came to Ashdod."  I thought, "really Lord...chronologically reading the Bible through this year just is not working for me."  But then today it hit me.

This is an excerpt from my journal this morning.

'Waiting.  We are waiting for Mom to go to heaven.  We are waiting for Christ to return.  The people of Isaiah's time - if they believed his prophecy and frankly whether they knew it or not - were waiting for those prophecies to come true.
I want to be an active "waiter" living each day I have here with a passion for Christ and a joy that spills over onto others.'  That is how my parents are waiting for this time of pain to end for Mom.  We are not a quiet, crying, bemoaning family.  I know that others can see our joy even through this pain.  I know that through her desire to serve others, even as she approaches her eternal home, my Mom is bringing joy to all the people that she sees each day.

We are all waiting for something.  As a believer in the salvation of Jesus Christ, a follower of Him, I should be actively waiting for his return.  There is a line of a song that just popped into my head "'til He returns, or calls me home, here in the love of Christ I stand."  I love that line, and it is okay to just stand sometimes - in fact it is needed - but I don't want to be a passive waiter, I want to be an active one.

 The question is - How do you wait?


Here are some verses that spoke to me this morning - I encourage you to grab a Bible and find some that speak to you.

"O Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things planned long ago." Isaiah 25:1

"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat." Is 25:4a

"The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth."  Is 25:8

And my favorite of the morning:  "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the rock eternal."

How do you wait and in whom do you trust?

-jre

Immigration Update

Safe Arrival

My parents and I left Chester, Nova Scotia at 5:30am Atlantic time and arrived at the border station in St. Stephen New Brunswick at around 12:45pm AT, Thursday.

The drive through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was uneventful but did provide ample time to ponder my situation.

Joy's parents and I drove from Calais, Maine to Dover, New Hampshire - arriving around 6:45pm Eastern time.

Many thanks to all who have been praying for our safe travels and crossing into the States.

The Situation

So what happened you ask? Well quite simply this: The United States government is taking serious the "resident" part of the "Legal Permanent Resident" (LPR) card - otherwise known as the Green Card.

Last summer, when we flew up to New Hampshire, one of the CBP agents mentioned that I should consider filling out a form because my time out of the States might cause trouble with my Green Card - but he did not mention which form it was. Well, upon landing in Houston on this trip I found out.

Apparently in 2009, before we moved, I should have submitted form I-131 (Re-Entry Permit.) This would have been good for two years and would have permitted me to come and go between the US and Guatemala for periods over one year (up to two years.) When I was physically out of the US for more than twelve months they said I could have been considered to have voluntarily abandoned my resident status.

After explaining the situation to the agent in Calais, Maine - who, for the record, was wonderful, helpful, polite, and professional - he said my LPR status was fine and I could pass without problem but I did need to complete the process (and receive the re-entry permit in hand) before returning to Guatemala. Honestly, at one point my parents and I thought he was going to deny me entry to the States.

The paperwork is in the mail heading to the processing station in Texas. At this point there is no way of knowing how long this whole process will take. The instructions for the I-131 suggests starting this process two months before your desired travel time... so this may take a while to complete.

As mentioned above the I-131 is normally good for two years. However, in circumstances where the applicant has been out of the States for significant time prior to filing the application approval may only be granted for one year (if at all.) This is what I'm hoping for - one year. This would allow me to return to Guatemala to be with my family. It would also give Joy, the girls and I time to pray and consider what our next step will be.

If anyone knows of an immigration lawyer who would be willing to advise us please let us know. Unless other options are unveiled to us we see the following as our choices (assuming my I-131 is approved for one year):

1. Guatemala: give up my LPR status and surrender my Green Card. This path would mean that any time we return to the US or pass through it I would have to enter as a tourist. I would be permitted to spend money but not make money. We would likely have to change all our support and bank accounts and remove me so that the IRS could not say I was earning income. It would also mean that while in the States as a tourist I would have to leave and re-enter every 90 days. Should we decide to leave the mission field and return to the States to settle I would have to start the LPR status anew. From what I've been told and read this process would be more difficult the second time.
   
2. Green Card: give up overseas mission and return to the States. This is not the path either of us want to go down. Joy summed it up pretty clearly the other night, "I don't want it to be God's will for us to move back." - but we have said all along that we want to follow God's path for our family and bring glory to Him in the process. The prospect of closing up in Guatemala and coming back to the States is more daunting that when we moved to Guatemala nearly four years ago. I won't list out all the challenges here as I'm sure they are well known.

So, there it is. Pretty much the entire story. We are seeking prayer for God's guidance for what we should do.

I am also asking for prayer for Joy and the girls. Until this is resolved and I can return to Guatemala Joy is doing both single parent and full time teacher jobs. She has decided to suspend all her private piano lessons until I return, which will help.

Abigail, Emma, and Sara are adjusting but it has not been easy. This past week was Holy Week in Guatemala so they were off school. On Monday they will return to school. This might make the schedule a bit more full but it also might give them something to distract them. Please pray that they start sleeping better at night.

Please join us in praying that we can see God's plan through all of this - that He would make everything plain to us and that we would not fight Him - whether Green Card or Guatemala.

In Christ,

-knme

Maribel - Kidney Stone

Please also be in prayer for Maribel as it looks like she has kidney stone(s.) She has been off since Wednesday but hopes to return to work on Monday.

Immigration Debacle

Greetings from Chester, Nova Scotia - Canada.

This is Kenneth writing. I am in Chester with my Mom and Dad for the funeral of my amazing Grandfather, Norman. He passed peacefully at home two Sundays ago on 17 March. He had just turned 88 in late January. It has been a great time visiting with my parents and with my family who is in the area. My time here is short and will be leaving tomorrow. Thank you to all who have been praying for my trip, my parents and family, and Joy and the kids (who remained in Guatemala.)

When I landed in Houston I was notified by the Customs Border Protection (CBP) Agents that I needed to take care of some immigration paperwork before I could return to Guatemala. This process will begin tomorrow when I cross the border back into the US. Please be in prayer for my parents and I and Joy's parents as we travel to meet up near the Canada/US border.

Please continue to pray for Joy and the kids as they remain in Guatemala.

I'd also like to ask that you pray for my parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins as they move forward after my grandfather's passing.

Many thanks, once again, who are praying and supporting us.

In Christ,

-knme

Russian Roulette Leap Frog

What an apt description for traffic on CA2 here in Guatemala.  The highway is 2 lanes most of the way, with a solid yellow line that means, well, not much.  If there is even a remote chance that you might be able to get around the large truck in front of you slowing you down, you take it.  It really looks like leap frog, or maybe frogger.  The roulette part, well, you can only imagine.  Half the time we watched as cars got just to the front of the big truck and then had to zoom into the lane as an 18 wheeler came barreling around the bend in the other lane.  We, of course :-), were much more cautious (though I'm not sure that's saying much...)

We had a long ride home, being stuck behind numerous trucks.  The trucks made me think of our friends back home.  I thought "Gee, there goes a truck carrying bananas (literally tons of them) that our friends are going to pay too much money for."  I also thought of all our North American friends and family when we finally reached the safe road - safe for us, but would still be considered psycho by northern standards.

All in all it wasn't a bad drive.  The last hour we had to do after dark (thanks to the bananas and sugar cane) but we arrived safely.  Anyone who has driven our roads after dark understands the miraculousness of that.  The highway has no street lights.  Lights on cars are also relatively optional.  In that one hour we passed 16 cars that had either no tail lights or no head lights.  Then there are the random drunk people staggering around in the road, thankfully this trip we didn't see any of those (of course that doesn't mean they weren't there.)

We arrived home to a meal made for us by Maribel, our house helper.  She is the best, she even made a cake for Ken's birthday.  I wish I could clone her and give a copy to everyone I know.

On a sad note...we learned while we were gone that Ken's grandfather passed away.  Please pray for the Eisner family during this time of grieving.  Kenneth will be leaving Thursday to return to Canada for a week to be with his family.  Pray for safety for him, and also for the girls and I as we stay behind here.

Hug the Kids a Little Tighter

We have been blessed as a family with the gift of a weekend away, just the 5 of us.  We actually can't remember a time when that has ever happened, and we know it hasn't happened since me moved to Guatemala.  In the midst of our demanding ministry we have started to lose sight of our family and having fun together.  Prayerfully this weekend will be a time when we can really reconnect together and recharge ourselves.
As we prepare for this weekend we are extra blessed and happy to have this time, because we know that it can all too quickly be taken away from us.  We ask you to please join us in prayer for the Dave and Melinda Evans family.  Two of their children were in Abigail's Kindergarten class, but they have since move to the Dominican Republic.  Melinda, the mother of seven children (four of whom are adopted and with special needs) passed on earlier this week.  It was completely unexpected to us, but certainly not to the great I AM.  But please, be praying for comfort for this family and for people to come around them and help take care of those children.
Please, hug your kids (or grandkids) a little tighter tonight, remember to cherish the time you have with them, pray for those who aren't with you, and pray for the Evans family.

Just to clarify...

Rumor has it there may be photos circulating on Facebook of Kenneth teaching P.E. - just to clarify that the elementary classes started a unit on hockey late last week and Kenneth offered to help out.

So far four classes and no permanent injuries.

Car Update

Hi everyone, just wanted to update everyone on the car. We had it back the next evening. It was the CV joint on the front passenger side. Repair cost was manageable: $100.

We survived the week and are now looking forward to the big game tonight... Hoping the local station plays the US commercials (since the Patriots are not in the game.)

Quick Praise & Prayer

So... we love our cars. Today Kenneth took Sara home, as usual, after lunch. On the way back to school the car died. It died at the top of a small hill about 1/4 mile from school. Kenneth coasted down the hill as far as he could then he and a couple of maintenance workers from school pushed the car the rest of the way.

We're not planning a funeral - no, no we don't think it is that dead. Later in the afternoon José (school worker) and Cesar (our mechanic) were checking it out (in Spanish.) They said the problem is with the "flecha". Now, for those of you who know what a flecha is you were probably confused like me. "Flecha" is the Spanish word for arrow.

Then their conversation continued. I caught bits and pieces which included these exciting statements (translated for your convenience), "... it could fall off...", "... that's oil...", "... take the tire off...", "... agreed, that would be bad."

So, hidden in all this are the blessings: it was Kenneth driving, not Joy. There were no children in the car. It was very close to CAG, no the middle of a busy highway.

Prayer request: we have survived with one car before so we know it can be done. With our odd-ball schedules it makes life easier with two. Please pray that we can get the car repaired for small money.

PS: those of you who are still wondering where we have an "arrow" in our car can rest easy - much later on our friend, Melonie, gave us the explanation of what a "flecha" is, as it relates to cars. A flecha is the CV joint.... who knew?

MailChimp - What is that?

Those of you who have signed up to get our news letter through e-mail should soon be seing something... it is going to look something like a mail chimp.

Excuse me, a what? A mail chimp. If it works out well then the credit all goes to Dover Baptist Church... if it doesn't work out well please let me know, not them.

There are two primary reasons we haven't been sending out newsletters: (1) time and (2) cost

Time. Well, it takes a lot of it to craft the perfect letter, format it well and send it off to CTen for distribution. By the way here is my plug for CTen - they're amazing folks. They do all the printing, folding, stuffing - EVERYTHING. But before they get it we need to make sure it is a quality product. That was hard when we were trying to fit everything into one single side page (one double side if necessary.) That was because of...

Cost. This is not an unreasonable cost at all but it is a cost which we have not always been able to put a way each month. This is why our letters have become more and more, uh... sparse. When we started CTen wanted us to do monthly letters. However, we thought quarterly newsletters would be sufficient. After seeing the cost of the first few newsletters we scaled back to two letters. Now we are considering other options.

Segue nicely into Mail Chimp. I first saw Mail Chimp when Dover Baptist sent out their news letter using it. I was, frankly, amazed. Of course I first thought, "wow, that is costing them a pretty penny." Actually, no. I don't believe it is costing them much (if anything.)

So, we're back to time. This is time we really need to invest in you - our supporters. Without you we would not be here.

What will this mean for all of you? Well, simple. If you filled out the form on our blog to receive our news letters by e-mail then you do not need to do anything. If you have not yet had chance to fill out the form you can still do so by visiting this link. We have some e-dresses of other supporters which we will use to subscribe them to our e-letter. If those folks do not wish to be on the list they can chose to unsubscribe.

If you still desire to receive a paper copy of our newsletter please send us an e-mail and we can make that happen.

In Christ,

-knm/jre

Two Weeks in...

It is hard to believe we are just two weeks back into the semester.

Kenneth continues in his class and with the computer stuff and Joy continues to work on planning out her classes. I think I can safely say (Kenneth speaking for Joy... good idea?) that we feel a bit more planned at this point of the semester.

Abigail and Emma continue to adjust to our new schedule. They began the advanced gymnastics class (four hours a week instead of two) the same week. It has been hard. We will re-evaluate at the end of the month.

More to come.
-knme

Ready, Set, Go!

Second semester is right around the corner... like tomorrow. Wowzers. Like every semester before it I do not believe we're "fully" ready but tomorrow will come no matter what so we'll be as ready as we can be.

Both Abigail and Emma will begin the advanced gymnastics class on Thursday. This will be a trial for us as they move from the twice a week one hour class to the twice a week two hour class. We'll see how it goes and adjust from there.

We wanted to thank everyone who continues to support us - both financially and prayerfully. None of this would be possible without you.

-knme

Gracias por todo - bien viaje!

Jon, Cheri, Emily and Ian left today to return to New Hampshire. I'm expecting they're going to have a wee bit of climate shock as they're leaving sunny and 75F and returning to about eight inches of snow and about 32F.

They're plan took off at 2:10pm CST - about one hour late. We watched it fly out from our house. They should still have time in Houston to deplane, clear customs and immigration and make their connecting flight. Please pray with us that things go smoothly in Houston.

Their visit was amazing. We all had a blast. We went to the Central Market, Antigua, Finca Filadelfia, Mixco, Tikal and a brief tour of CAG. We're very thankful to them for the visit. It was a huge blessing to us.

-knme