We Are Home!

'For Children' (this sign is outside the compound where we stayed - it keeps people out that otherwise may have bad intentions - Juarez is experiencing very high crime and death rates due to drug trafficking by Mexican Drug Cartels)

This was painted by a man that lives in the colonia that Resplandor De Vida serves (a colonia is, in essence, a neighborhood, but not what you would expect - there are no grocery stores, drug stores, playgrounds or gas stations - there is barely a school and never enough food...)

Our team - It was a varied and talented team - I loved that we all were able to spend time getting to know each other better; building a relationship that will build up our church (community) at home - and I REALLY loved experiencing all of this with the man of my dreams, my best friend, KC.

We are home from Mexico (obviously). I am a mixture of emotions - My feelings go between happiness about being with my babies again and sadness that I wish I could have stayed longer (and maybe brought a few kids back with me). So much happened in a week, and yet so little... I know that seems confusing, but I will relay, to the best of my ability, as much information (with pictures) that I can about all that happened in Mexico. I will add a new piece each day - if I tried to put it all in right now, I think you would all be overwhelmed (I know I am thinking about it)!

I hope you will listen to this song...Till I See You by Hillsong - Here is my first story - 3 days before we were to come home I started humming this song - everywhere I went (I hadn't heard it anywhere that I could remember), but I could only remember a few of the words (but all of the melody). When I went to church this past Sunday, this was the last song we sang - I could do nothing but let the tears stream down my face as the impact of our trip came into perspective in my heart - as God's will for this moment in my life began to grow and bear fruit in my heart. In Mexico, I was in a place where I relied completely on God (I know, we are supposed to do that all the time, but I'm learning it's easy not to do that when you are at home) and allowed Him to use me for His work from the time I woke up to the moment my head hit the pillow at night. And He showed me the beauty of His people, people that are in need, people that are just like you and me.

This song says 'I will live a child in awe of you' - I saw children with so much hope for their future, as bleak as it looked and I saw adults (some in my group) that were just like a child in their worship. God wasn't kidding when He tells us that we all need to have faith like a child. When we do, when we rely completely on Him, life becomes so beautiful, even with all the pain, the turmoil, the uncertainty - the everyday stuff. And every LITTLE thing is important to Him. I know this all seems so easy and a lot of it I've heard before, learned before, but sometimes we all need to see something and hear something over and over before it really sinks in.