They pretty much started to share the news right away and I was one of the first people to know, since I was in the other room while she told Seth. A few minutes later, they came in and told me, and then we told James. He got the cutest smile on his face. :) Then we took James over to grandma & grandpas and he told them "Guess what? Mommy has a new baby in her tummy", and he told uncle Lance, and then we went over to tell "Great Grams" & "Bestifar". Everyone was VERY surprised - including Nae & Seth. :) But we're sooo very excited. We're all hoping for a girl. Nae will find out if it's a boy or a girl before this year ends (late Nov / early Dec?). She (or he) is the miracle we have been praying for...
As you pretty much all know by now, James has had some pretty scary health issues lately. I won't go into all of the details since you probably already know (and they're outlined in Lynae's blog, lynaesthoughts.blogspot.com). But basically he's lost a lot of his strength and mobility and it has changed his life and the lives of his family members. We all had lots and lots of tears while he was in the hospital with these new developments. It's still very sad to see him try to sift through the emotions of dealing with his loss of body function at such a young age. But gosh, he is such an amazing little guy. He still bobs his head and "dances" to music. He still has a big smile on his face when we spend time with him. He says things like "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go [do this or that]". And then we bring him to go do whatever it is that he wants to do... go get a book, go hug his brother, etc. He's so, sooooo, soooo special to me. Please join me in praying for him each time you think of him or his family. He needs healing, hope, and help sorting through his emotions. He's been very emotional, which I can only imagine is caused by constantly realizing over and over again that he can't move his arm, or crawl over to his room, or play on the computer, or do what he used to be able to do a month ago. I pray that God will give him (and his parents) peace during this time, and that the doctors will be able to find a solution for what's going on with him. He's the love of all of our lives, and it deeply saddens us to see him this way. Thank you for your prayers, everyone.
*****
So, Ryan's bday party seems like forever ago now, but we had a GREAT time! He spent weeks drafting up trivia questions for a "Game Show". Basically, each category has a different subject such as "sports", "my friends" (ryan's friends), "video game characters", a bunch of different TV shows, etc. Then each category would have like 5 or 6 questions under it. There are two teams of 3 people. One person from each team goes up and challenges each other in a certain category. Whoever gets the least amount of questions correct in that category is eliminated, until an entire team is eliminated. The questions were fun, creative, and awesome! I was so proud to see Ryan really get into something and have such a fun time being so creative.
Ryan made everyone wear a paper bag on their head that said something funny when they got eliminated. Joey and Nory came, too, and had a great time playing together and trying to get into trouble by pushing the buttons on Uncle Ryan's electronics.
Jessica made the best of it... :)
*****
Mexico was A-MAZ-ING! I loved it sooo, sooo much. I hadn't been in a few years, and I had never been with Yugo Ministries (I went with Amor Ministries in the past). It was a different experience... We stayed in a hotel instead of camping. The house was a similar size and stuff, but a way different type... with drywall and paint and all that. In the past I've done stucco houses and they look kind of un-finished on the inside when we leave. This one looked like a real HOUSE when we left. It was so cool. The family we built for was awesome. It was a grandmother, Aurora, and her grand-daughter Marilyn. They also had close family that lived next door. We made great friendships with all of them despite the language barrier.
I'm amazed each year at how touched I am by the whole experience. I think I tend to go into it thinking "psh, i've done this 10+ times... I've got it down. Let's bust out this house, shed a tear or two, and drive home." It's just not that simple. Each experience, each family, each house, each neighborhood is different. Each year is completely life-changing. I LOVE IT. Somehow each year is also very, very different. Most years I come back on a "high" for God, I guess you could say. It's kind of like you're drowning in Church-like stuff and in God-like experiences and people, and it lasts into the weeks after you return from the trip.
This year was different. I came back sort of depressed. I don't know if depressed is the right word. But I was emotional. Part of it was that the James stuff happened soon after. But also, I made really good friendships with the family. I missed them, and I knew I might not see them for years, or maybe never again. It made me so sad to think that even with their new home, they might be cold, or dehydrated, or hungry. I prayed and prayed that God would comfort them and give them everything they need, and that they would seek Him first. I also felt a little bit depressed after coming back home, because my life felt so purpose-less. In other words, I felt like I was doing "God's work" when I was over there. I was almost envious of the people from the states that live there and work for Yugo Ministries and do God's work every day of their lives. How tiring, but how MEANINGFUL and fun and exciting. I just felt like... what am I even doing here in the states? In my big, stupid house. With my boring, pointless job. With no goals. I still don't have some kind of big "goal" for what my life should look like. BUT, I have realized (and they talked about this at church in Mexico), that basically, you don't have to be a missionary in another country, or a pastor, or a christian musician or the head of a big church ministry to be doing Gods work. Those positions are very fulfilling and I am SO thankful for the people who have been called to those positions. But I think every person can make a difference in their own lives, in their current jobs, in their current "worlds". I think that if you are in prayer that God has your life where he wants it, and that you try to live his scripture in your daily lives, that you WILL be doing "God's work"... even if it's not building a house every week for a new family. Although, it feels pretty good to do that every once in a while, I must admit. I think I just got lost over there in loving others. It felt so good, and maybe I hadn't truly done that in a while. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but those are my feelings on the situation. Please pray for my new family in Mexico whenever you think of them (or me). Thank you!
*****
I guess a few more things happened this summer, too. I took what I've been referring to as my "Crazy Trip". I was feeling kind of overwhelmed here and just felt like I needed to get out of town for just a couple of nights. I visited Ashley & Lucy overnight while Adam was camping with his father-in-law. It was so fun! We just mostly had girly time, made a great dinner and an awesome dessert... watched a chick flick, stayed up late. Went shopping in Reno. I also got to re-meet Ryan's cousin who I've only met one other time before. She's right around my age, and she happens to also live in Susanville where Adam & Ashley live. They've become good friends this past year or so after we "introduced" them via Facebook. She is a very sweet girl, and I wish we all lived closer so we could hang out more.
Anyway, after departing from Susanville, I took my "Crazy Trip" (not because the TRIP was crazy, but because I was crazy)... BY MYSELF to Truckee. I had fun being alone. It was relaxing. I basically went on the trip to relax. I got a facial/massage at one of the ski resort places nearby. I went in the hot-tub one night and even chatted with strangers (eeek!). I explored Truckee and even got to know my way around a little bit (with the help of our GPS!). I took about a 20 minute drive to a beach and had lunch and read my book while I laid in the sun. It was awesome! On the way home I took a detour to Roseville and did a little bit of shopping. It was a good trip. It's sort of weird that I went by myself, but I think I needed it. I'm a true, full-blooded introvert. Haha! So it was right down my alley.
*****
I also got Ryan tickets to a Giants game for his birthday. We just went about two weeks ago. My company was having a party in Mountain View where our other office is, which is in the Bay Area, pretty close to SF. They paid for our mileage and our first night there. Then, we drove to SF the following day and stayed the night there and went to the Giants game the next day. It was so fun! Our seats were awesome, and it was also the annual "Dog Days of Summer" so people got to bring their dogs, and there were like 800 cute doggies there! Before the game started, they paraded them around the field. It was SO cute. We had an awesome time -- and they WON! :)
