12 days...!

Miguel,

you

make

my

smile

so

much

bigger!

Thank you for blessing my life!

For all those of you who support us in prayer, I just wanted to post some of our engagement photos.

A week and a half left until the wedding...!

I am thankful for God's work in our lives. I am thankful for Miguel and for his love and leadership. I am thankful for Cassidy Wulf who has stepped in to care for the boys with Marce. God keeps teaching me to trust my life to Him because He understands and is faithful to care for it.

Please pray for these next weeks that I can keep my focus on Christ and what truly matters. Please pray for our wedding day that God would be present and that He would be glorified. Please pray for me as I release the boys. At this time, that is the most difficult part of the transition for me, so I appreciate all your prayers for the boys, myself, Marce and Cassidy in this transition.

After our wedding, I will continue in my roles as therapist for Speedie and Kitchen Coordinator.

What's Up these Days?

Witnessing beautiful sunsets

Getting to know my fiancé. :)

Chalk painting

Getting wet in the sprinkler

Sharing dirt cupcakes and scooters

Starting on Expo projects

Photo shoots of handsome boys in "new," hand-me-down black pants

Make shift slip-n-slide

Watching the ducks

After getting soaked in the afternoon downpour, and then dried off, this kid put on three sweatshirts against the "cold." :)

Remembering my dad who passed away eight years ago today.

We would appreciate your prayers as Marce is traveling to Europe for 5 weeks and I am holding down the fort. I'm thankful to have my sister Megan visiting for a month to help out. Please pray that I will have patience and wisdom as I meet the needs of my three boys. Please pray for Miguel and I as we learn to know each other and plan for the future. Please pray that I keep Christ as my number one focus, because Jesus gives meaning to all we do and are! Without Him, all is vanity!

Enjoying Each Moment: Illinois Trip May 2018

On my first flight to Dallas from Tucson I sat beside a lady from the Dominican Republic who had lived for years in Tucson, but still wasn't real confident speaking English. When we arrived at our connection, she asked me to help her find her gate and then invited me to lunch. We chose a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a delicious burrito!

I flew from Tucson to Toronto, Canada where I met up with my brother. Along with friends from our church in Kitchener, Ontario, we drove out to Rockville, CT for Memorial Day weekend.

Enjoying the company of sisters in Christ!

On my drive back to Illinois after the weekend, the air conditioner went out in the car, so we had the windows down (thus the hair). I could tell I was nearing my old stomping grounds when I smelled the alfalfa in the fields. 

Family dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Steffen's. Seeing Justin's mug, I asked him, "Justin, did you feed the hungry?" He replied, "Yes! I was hungry and I fed myself!"

I enjoyed going through a bunch of old tapes with my Grandma Ricketts, everything from "The Lord of the Rings," to old sermons, to songs by "Little Marcy" that I used to listen to as a girl.

You know you've been gone awhile when you feel like a tourist in your own town. These old buildings on Main Street in Fairbury are SO cool!

A donut from Dave's bakery! :)

A walk in Fugate woods with my faithful mentor, Bonnie Dotterer, and some other friends. I made a daisy chain for the first time!

A game of kickball with the family.

Time didn't play because he wasn't feeling good, so he stayed in the protection of the tractor scoop.

Flying in to land in Tucson after two weeks of living and enjoying each moment I had! Sky views are always interesting.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for my trip! God is faithful!

God Writes the Best Love Stories!

On May 13, my engagement to Miguel Aviña was announced. He is 21 years old and works at Carnisimo, a meat shop in Magdalena. He is originally from Ixtlan, but has been living at CVE and in Magdalena for the last 7 years. He was baptized in March of 2017. I received his marriage proposal in February of this year and spent three months processing and praying about it. I am very thankful for the way God has worked in both of us, how He has brought us together, and I am excited for the plans God has for our future. Our wedding is planned for September 9th in Magdalena.

For those who are interested in how this came about, I include the following: 

From September 2017 to January 2018, Miguel was thinking and praying about asking me to marry him. 

I received the marriage proposal on February 8th and began to pray about if I was ready to consider a marriage proposal. I did not know who it was from, but I asked God to write my story whether that meant saying "yes" or "no." After a week, I came to a place of peace to move forward and ask for the name. I visited with Bro. Mike Leman, the elder for the Magdalena church, on February 21st. I was shocked to discover the brother was Miguel because I had never thought about marrying him. I knew however that God had led me up until that point and He wasn’t about to just leave me there, so to my surprise I felt much more peaceful than I would have expected. I prayed that God would show me His will. I had asked Him to write my story and I truly wanted only what God wanted. I opened the Bible to Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the thoughts I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.”

I began to pray that if this marriage was God’s will, He would change my heart and give me love and respect for Miguel. I prayed for Miguel almost every day twice a day for the next three months. Initially, I had big doubts about his motives and his character. I really didn’t know him very well. I could not really understand how God could make a relationship with Miguel be something beautiful or something I would desire, but I prayed for it. God answered my prayers, slowly, but surely he changed my heart.

During the next week, God kept speaking to me that I should keep asking and He would work. I also wrote down lists of everything I appreciated about Miguel, what I knew about him, my fears and assumptions, what I’d heard about him, our interactions in the past few years, my fears for the future, my dreams, and how I could see God having maybe prepared me for marriage to him. This was helpful for me as I tried to sort through truth, assumptions, and falsehood in my own opinion of him. God continued to send songs, sermons, verses, and conversations that strengthened my faith and moved me forward step by step. One song that was very special to me during this time was “Make Something Beautiful” by Laura Story. It was God’s promise to me that He would make this something beautiful if I would open my hands and heart.

About a week and a half later on March 2nd, I visited with Bro. Mike again about how I was feeling, but also about all my doubts. He really encouraged me to base my decision not just on faith and what I had read, but also on wisdom and what the Bible says about marriage in general. We decided to plan a visit with Miguel, so I could ask him some questions. God continued to show his presence. Two songs that really spoke to me during the next two weeks of waiting to visit with Miguel were “The Glorious Unfolding” and “Finish What He started” by Steven Curtis Chapman.

In my first visit with Miguel I asked him about his perspective of God and his relationship with God. I asked him what he desired in a wife and what he believed was the responsibility of a husband and a father. I asked some other questions as well. There were various things he said about commitment and about helping one another that I appreciated. I also appreciated the thought he’d put into the responsibility of a husband and just his general attitude of respect and willingness to learn. Afterwards, I definitely felt a step closer to respecting and loving him, but I still had more questions. 

The beginning of April I asked to visit with Miguel a second time and asked him questions about how God leads him, about overcoming temptations, and about my role at CVE. We also ended up visiting quite a bit about some of his childhood experiences. His two uncles, and grandfather were taken away by drug-dealers when he was fourteen. Something I remembered from his testimony when he was baptized and something I appreciated about him from the very beginning was his experience of forgiving those men. As I sat in our second meeting, I kept thinking, “Yes, I can marry him” which shows how much my heart had changed.

God continued to speak to me through verses, songs, and sermons. One chapter that showed up multiple times during the month of April was 1 Corinthians 1 especially the second half. “The Jews require a sign and the greeks seek after wisdom…” I felt I had done both and both ways God had confirmed His will for me to marry Miguel. This chapter spoke to me that, yes, I needed to seek God’s direction, and yes, I need to consider what is wise, but ultimately I would have to just believe. 

I waited another couple weeks. Bro. Mike had wanted to visit with Miguel again about some things. By the time he got back to me and said “it basically comes down to your faith,” I was feeling ready for Miguel to know my thoughts on the matter. The night after Bro. Mike emailed me back, I once again prayed to God for direction.  I opened my Bible to the concordance and was reading through verses about spiritual adornment. The last verse in the section struck me, Rev. 19:8. So I turned to that chapter, Revelation 19. The marriage of the Lamb. Verse 7-8 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”

I really wanted to make the decision and not drag something on and on for not wanting to let go of control. For the past three weeks, God had been speaking to me to open my heart, to release control. So on May 7th, I emailed Bro. Mike back and told him that my answer was yes. 

I have only touched the surface of all the conversations, answered prayers, devotional readings, sermons, songs, and verses that have spoken to me during the months of February-May. I am amazed at God’s goodness and how He has spoken. I just want to finish by saying that I asked God to write my story and I have realized that this is His Story. It is all a part of the amazing story that God is writing! "Thank You, Jesus, for making me a part of Your story!"

The Days of Spring

Town Days

For those of you who have visited Café Sed before or heard of it, the café changed locations the beginning of March to a spacious, brick building with a courtyard and a lot of history. Salaty, a restaurant that serves delicious salads and natural juices, is located in the same building. Several weeks ago, we had finished Saturday cleaning and decided to go into town for lunch. The window seats in the Café Sed/Salaty dining room were the best as they kept the boys entertained.

I snuck into the café one morning and had a waffle and a latte while enjoying my book. I am in the book club at Café Sed and just finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In the previous Café Sed location, a new restaurant has opened in connection with Carnisimo: Carnisimo Burgers! They serve hamburgers, bomba sandwiches, pork sandwiches, and fries. Marce and I went for the first time a couple weeks ago. My review: The hamburgers are delicious and the perfect size. If you’re like me and eating a whole hamburger makes you feel lousy, one is great. If you need more to fill you up, you can always order two! The decorations were amazing as well.

Especially for those who have visited Café Sed in the past, a few pictures to welcome you to Carnisimo burgers...

Looking out the front door.

The patio

Part of the dining area.

Wedding Day

Marce and I all dressed up for Seth and Jodi’s wedding on April 22nd.

With the beaming bride and groom. May God bless them in their marriage!

Field Day

The last Friday of April there was no school because of teacher meetings, so Marce and I planned a “día del campo,” translated “day of the field” or maybe more accurate “a picnic.”

First, a random picture of the boys and their water engineering project.

We borrowed a gator and discovered a paradise of trees out in the cow pasture. Then followed a splendid picnic and a fun afternoon.

Our rope swing.

I climbed a tree because it was “my house.” (We each had our own “house.”) Then I looked over my shoulder and found this perfect little bird’s nest. What a reminder of God’s miracles!

CVE fun day (Día de Diversion)

The kids waiting for instructions to begin the day. 

Each year in April or May we have our Día de Diversion. It includes relay races, a basketball contest, a baseball throwing contest, a long-distance race, a sprint, an obstacle course, a bike riding contest, and usually a ripstick, frisbee/misc. contest. Zoom and Buddy both did well and had a great time!

Adam showing the 7-9 year-olds the route for their long distance race.

Melody explaining the obstacle course to the 6 and under group.

Waiting to go through the obstacle course.

Clinic Day

Waiting for our first appointment at clinic. This month we had x-rays and met with Speedie’s doctor from Shriner’s who performed the surgery on his hips two years ago. He said everything looks great and has healed nicely. 

Playing with LEGO blocks while waiting.

Enjoying all this attention to the fullest as we tried out a new walker. We ended up opting for the original one with some adjustments.

Finishing off the soda from Panda Express.

We arrived home around 9 P.M. I was thankful for the company of Yane and our third-grade teacher, Maestra Viridiana, and her daughter Victoria who has some disabilities. This was Victoria’s first time at the St. Andrew’s clinic.

Adorable Victoria refused to call me by my name and insisted that I was “la muchacha.” Or “the girl.” Maestra Viridiana told me that after she woke up at home, she immediately asked, “where’s the girl, mom?” 😍

Spring days 

I was informed this afternoon by my grandma from central Illinois that the temperature around here was supposed to be about 100 degrees. I didn’t know what temperature it was, only that it was very warm. At supper, it was confirmed. 100 degrees today...

Thankful for the guys who take moments to mentor my boys. It’s the little things that count!

And the girls too! 

Every morning, that sun rises over this desert and every night it sets, some nights with a grander display than others...And even if that sun would stop shining, my God is the same yesterday,  today, and forever!

Please pray that Marce and I will have the wisdom, patience, and strength to provide for each of the unique needs that He wants us to meet in the lives of Speedie, Zoom, and Buddy. Pray He would fill in the gaps.

Thank You Jesus for times of joy and laughter and just being silly together. Thank You for the people around me who take You and Your Word seriously, who take me seriously, and are willing to face the seriousness of life with me. 

Lord willing, I plan to be in Central Illinois from May 28th-June 8th. Looking forward to seeing many of you in the near future!