All of you that keep up with our blog well know about Jackson’s cancer scare last May. Thousands of people prayed for Jackson. And for us. God was so gracious to save our little boy! Anyhow, my dear friend Annie forwarded me an email from her friend that had been praying for Jackson. She was recently on vacation on Captiva Island and met an interesting couple. The woman was a pediatric oncologist surgeon and her husband was a former player for the 49ers. After Annie’s friend shared the amazing story of Jackson (since she knew the surgeon might be interested) the surgeon told her that she in fact was Jackson’s surgeon. Wow!!! She  remembered Jackson because his case had been so rare. She is one of about 100 specialists in the world in rhabdomyosarcoma. If you ever need someone to operate on your child with a tumor call this lady! She is the best.

Because we live abroad the “small world concept” doesn’t always amaze me like it does others….until now. Wow.

We also wanted to share an article my dad wrote after the time at MD Anderson. It was published recently in an online magazine for the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Here is the story.

So like living anywhere there are good days and bad days. There are days when I love that Colombia has no seasons and days when I need a new spring day. Just like what many of you experience wherever you are. There are a couple things about this place that I will never adjust to…

the honesty policy here just does not exist!!! You are told what you want to hear! A promise is a hopeful thought that something might occur.  It is perfectly acceptable to say you are going to do something and never follow through. Thus the phrase “que pena” like “my bad”. I was a bit overambitious over the past month and scheduled for furniture delivery, rug cleaning and 5 interviews with maids. If I had been wise I would have scheduled 1 of these numberous things so that I would not have the constant reminder that things do not work on a time system here.   We attempted to hire 2 different maids,  neither showed up on their start date. There was no confusion with time, they just didn’t feel like calling when they decided they didn’t want to work. Our carpet guy for 3 weeks now has not shown up. He showed up yesterday 2 hours late. When I asked what happened he said “oh Senora, que pena. The traffic was a little bad”.

Kids are constantly sick here. Jackson has had congestion since we got back from the US over 6 weeks ago. If he hasn’t been totally sick he has had a constant runny nose. Yesterday I noticed he kind of had faint black eyes, by this  morning he looked like he had been in a lively fist fight! The doctor said this is perfectly common when infection festers quietly and then gets trapped! We finally have an antibiotic. It is not unusual when someone gets pneumonia here for us to say “you have a Bogota cold”.  The “common cold” is just not so common to us. The altitude and pollution just make things horrible for health!

A praise after venting….Most of you know that Sonia our previous maid decided to stay home with her baby. After our new helper didn’t show up for her first day yesterday Seth had to come home so I could work with my patients. We had already interviewed 5 people and experienced another no show so I was pretty upset with another no-show.  I called another maid to come for an interview last night and she miraculously was able to start this morning.  In her interview she said she was happy to do whatever because first and foremost she was serving the Lord.  So, I believe she is a Christian which is a rare find here. She will be Jackson’s caretaker when I am working which is why it is so critical that she be good! She is on a 1 month trial so we will keep you posted . We are so thankful something worked out after much stress!

Sonia brought Santiago for the day on Friday while she helped do her final day. Jackson and Santiago “helped” . Santiago is wrapped up in true Colombian fashion…they are heading outside but he was dressed like this in our house all day! Poor little guy!

My conclusion after the past week here is that I can’t wait for our move to DC in Sept!! I am trying to stay plugged in but with each honking horn, puff of pollution and no-show appt I am having an increasing excitement for the US! We will miss Colombia but at this point we have had our fill!

We have expressed already how thrilled we are that our friends Bo and Leigh are going to be in Germany when we are in Switzerland!! I can’t wait to be able to see my best friend on a regular basis! Bo and Leigh are serving at Black Forest Academy in Germany. They are both teaching and doing a thousand extra things on the side to invest in the lives of students and other missionaries. Their transition to Germany has been tough, leaving friends and family and jumping in to a whole new world, 2 really, one at the school and one in Germany! That is a lot. I can say that because we too have been there done that with the leave and cleave and enjoy your new life abroad.

Bo and Leigh raised their own funding but never could have anticipated that getting internet installed in their apt would cost them over $1000. They need to have some kind of hardware installed to make it possible. We can all imagine what life would be like without internet. They have spent the last MONTHS trying to get it all sorted out.

They have no idea I am writing this but…If you aren’t currently supporting missionaries and you want to participate in an unusual “missions project”  by donating to their internet fund please let us know and we will send you info.  Seriously consider it. How exciting would that be for them to have the ability to connect with family and friends through skype etc once they are able to access the world wide web!!!  It would be an amazing blessing that we all take for granted!!! Let’s surprise them!

(All of us at Bo and Leigh’s wedding. I take liberty to give the disclaimer that I was 6 months pregnant and bridemaid’s dresses are not designed for people that are 6 months pregnant! Just look at the bride and groom!!)

For years I have heard older people saying things like “I can’t wait for heaven”.  There were times when I honestly could not agree with them. As a Christian I know that Heaven is supposed to be an amazing place filled with unimaginable thing.  But I also looked ahead and knew that I really wanted to someday be married and have children. I wanted heaven but not until I had my chance to experience life!

Now looking back I am more aware than ever of our need for Heaven. Each day that I live I see more pain and more human life that convinces me that there is no way out of this except through the cross and through our “escape” to Heaven.  As a mom, I experience so many amazing joys, but as a mom I am brutally aware of the fact that I cannot protect Jackson from the evils of this world.  I am unable to protect my parents, husband, child, my siblings and my friends from the evils of this world. I can cook a good meal, wash Jackson’s hands after playing, avoid spending time with unkind people and I can put one step in front of another. I cannot (no matter how organized and worried I am) stop a friend from having an eating disorder, a relative from an addiction, a friend from having an abortion, my maid from being lazy. It’s only through the power of Christ in our lives that change can come. We are all here in this world, living and trying to battle against the evil we encounter. I am not trying to be negative, there are joys and triumphs in this world too that we have all experienced and savored. But those aren’t the things that make me long for heaven.  I think part of this new longing is getting older and having more life experiences.  To have experienced health problems, unexpected loss of someone special, diagnosis of cancer in Jackson, 2 moves, living far from family and friends, and everyday threats of being killed in a bombing all in 3 yrs there is no way I can convince myself that this life is sufficient.  There is more for us to look forward to and thank goodness there is more!

I now have a new longing for the day when we will have no pain and sorrow. There will be no death and there will be no chains that bind us to our burdens.  We will be new creations! Heaven sounds like a very attractive place to me now that I have gained a little perspective.

I love this picture. It was taken on a rainy, dark, dirty night in Bogota on our way back from a trip. In the midst of the darkness we saw a rainbow.  There is hope of something so much better!  Beyond the streets of Bogota for sure!