Happy New Year!

The sun is coming out and the rain is heading east as we prepare to enjoy the last day of 2004.  Our friend Hank has headed to visit the ministry in Mexico and spend the New Year with them. It will be a very quiet family time for us at home.

I never make resolutions for New Year's.  Impossible to keep, I just resolve to be the best I can be and love the Lord.  That should cover it.

The rain has been heavy and has done a great deal of damage here in Southern California.  A tornado touched down a few miles south and there is deep snow in the mountains and some in the foothills.  Skiers are thrilled.  We have much to be grateful for.  Although the weather has been bad, we have our lives and the enormity of the tsunami overshadows the problems here. 

As we drove home in the rain on Monday, I thought how very fortunate we are to live in this marvelous country.  The roads are generally good, drainage as well.  Emergency services, though spotty at times, are the best in the world.  We are an affluent society in more ways than financial.  No wonder so many people worldwide come to live here.  I've experienced the other side of the coin myself and am happy to be back home.  I miss the kids in Mexico and the work we did, but I find it hard to complain here.  It doesn't matter whether we agree on politics, religion or a ton of other subjects.  This is definitely the place to live.

Last Sunday we spent the day with our grandchildren (step-grands, but no less loved) and got to meet our little great-grandson for the first time.  It was a thirll to behold Candace and her son!  I remember her when she was still puny and now she's a mom!  What a blessing. I've posted some pictures above. There are a couple of Andrea, of Rob with Hank (in the silly hat!), of Hank's girl Debbie, me and my great-grandson, the other grandkids.  Again, I took a bazillion more than I've posted.  It's a year of "firsts"

This has been a year full of wonder and trials.  In 8 work days over two weeks, a group of volunteers from Minnesota built stages 2 and 3 of the ministry house.  One of those days was spent digging out from the mud, but they walked in and worked anyway.  Other volunteers came and painted, plumbed, drywalled and more.  The kitchen now schoolhouse was built by volunteers and others drove 1200 miles to put on the roof, floors and windows.  We got to be part of that miracle. 

One of our kids got a terrible infection early in the year and nearly died.  We slept little or none at all while we nursed him back to health.  Praise God he got to go home to family in March.  I cried, Rob cried, Luisito smiled. 

With Andrea's adoption final, we worked to get papers to bring her to the U.S.  We had no idea that our health problems would force a move for us all.  It was a trying time for us, but with God's help, we weathered it.  First Rob came to make a place for us, then Andrea just a few days after her visa was approved and finally I came two months after Rob left. 

We have experienced such wonder as we have discovered our daughter discovering life in the best country in the world.  Her eyes are being opened.  Our eyes are seeing through hers and it's more awesome than words can tell. 

Whatever the New Year holds, it can't compare to 2004.  I am grateful for my new life here in the U.S. after 15 years away.  I'm sure it will become commonplace for us soon enough. 

 It's wonderful to read other journals and "meet" persons from all over.  This has been a great experience for me.  I'm grateful for my new friends here.  Because of homeschool, I don't get out that much and don't know many people here yet, but I've made a lot of friends online. Thanks, guys, for making me feel welcome.