Ministry Update

A year ago, I posted about our new direction in ministry.  A Turning Point, I called it, and it has certainly turned out to be exactly that!  A year later, we have certainly reached many of our objectives as we've been here in Puebla for nearly six months.

There have been some recent developments, however, more turning points if you will, as we have worked together with our different leaderships (three of them, to be exact!) in defining what our involvement with this ministry will look like.

I think it actually started soon after we arrived, because I remember Miguel sharing with me some of his thoughts about how he was sensing God's leading...and it was a bit different than what we'd thought we'd be doing.  It really shook me up! I mean, we had just spent months casting vision for a certain direction of ministry with all of our friends, family and supporters and now we up and say we're not going to do that?!

But that's not what Miguel was saying, exactly...he wasn't saying that we were changing ministries at all, just that he had a sense that maybe God was going to change the how of our involvement.  After I remembered that I am supposed to be trusting God to lead us through Miguel's ministry decisions, I settled down, apologized for freaking out, and found peace in waiting to see where and how God would lead.

Last October, we had some meetings with our leaders from Pioneers, our missions pastor, and the leadership of El Camino, our church here in Puebla.  The day before we all met together, we spent several hours with just our leadership from Pioneers and Miguel was able to share a little of what he was thinking.  We weren't sure how they would respond, but as it turned out, they were very open to it because what Miguel shared pretty much fits into a ministry role that Pioneers calls "ministry coach".  And they have been praying specifically for more team coaches!

One of Pioneers' core values is that of being Team-Centered.  Pioneers dedicates a lot of time and effort into helping their teams stay healthy and strong...not that PI teams don't ever encounter issues, but we've witnessed some pretty healthy teams in Pioneers so far.  One of the things they have discovered in the Mid-Americas region (and maybe in other regions, I'm not sure) is that teams with coaches tend to be more healthy and able to accomplish more than teams without coaches.  So it was pretty neat to find out that not only did our leaders welcome and honor how God was leading Miguel, they consider us to be an answer to prayer as well!

Once we got through that discussion, then we could formulate a rough plan of action for the next few years.  We're not sure of the time-line or exactly how it will all work, but another one of Pioneer's core values is Innovation and Flexibility, exemplified by a willingness to try new and different things.  Even though our leadership doesn't really have all the answers, they are willing to walk through this together with us, taking it one step at a time together (which represents another core value, that of Participatory Servant-Leadership based on trust).

Our Pioneers' leadership presented this new plan of action at the meetings in the following days and it was received favorably by our sending church's missions pastor and our Puebla church.  It is quite a change from the original plan, since it means that we will not be moving up to the mountains to work directly with Franco and Barby, at least not as soon as we thought.

So what will be doing?  Good question!  Like I have already said, we don't have all of the answers at this time and will continue to take things one step at a time...our first objective will be to conduct a survey of the Totonac people group to gather information about their language, culture, religious beliefs, spiritual needs, etc.  While there have been many ministries that have worked and are working with this people group, it has been a bit difficult to find good sources of information about the Totonac as a whole.  We are hoping to consolidate any information we come up with in one place so that it will be a great resource not just for us, but for any ministry interested in finding more about the Totonac.

The information we gather in the course of conducting the survey will also help us create a holistic strategy for approaching a ministry with the Totonac.  El Camino, our Puebla church, has a heart for reaching out to the entire people group, which is comprised of 5 to 6 different dialects.  The results of the survey will help El Camino in their efforts to determine the best strategy to use in reaching an entire people group for Christ, with the goal being that of establishing mature, self-governing, reproducing Totonac churches.

At some point, we will spend some time living among the Totonac, building relationship and learning as much of their language and culture as we can.  This will give us the much-needed personal experience that we will need if we are to coach a future team.  We're not sure when or where this will take place, but we're keeping our eyes open to where and when God might lead for that step.

So in the meantime, we will be staying longer in the city as we gather the information we need to complete the survey and cast vision in churches for the Totonac ministry.  Our prayer is that God will help us raise a team to go and work with the Totonac; a team that we would then coach through the process of team-building, getting the necessary cross-cultural training/preparation needed, creating a ministry strategy and then carrying out that strategy.

I know, huge task, and it's a bit overwhelming to think about!  But God is working here and we're excited.  We continue to feel such a calling and burden to the Totonac and it's neat to see how God has already worked to provide some of the contacts and resources that we need to move forward.

Miguel just returned from another trip to some Totonac communities in the state of Veracruz and not only had the opportunity to gather some information about the Totonac there, but was also able to share with the believers from two different Totonac churches.  Really exciting opportunities for him and we hope to return next time as a family.

One of the Totonac pastors (along with wife and daughter)
with one of the blankets that the retired volunteers at
Rio Grande Bible Institute 

sent with us to share with some Totonac families.

Miguel with one of the pastors and his son-in-law.

It is a fertile area, and many of the Totonac families have gardens where they grow corn and other crops.  Miguel and his pastor friend went out to his garden to harvest some yucca.  

Miguel enjoyed spending time with these kids...he

said the little boy is quite the question-maker!  

Yucca (or cassava) is a root, something similar to a potato.  They don't eat yucca here in this part of Puebla, but it is found in other parts of Mexico, such as the northern part of the state, Veracruz and in the more southern states like Oaxaca and Chiapas.  Yucca is commonly eaten in both Colombia and Venezuela, so both Miguel and I enjoy being able to eat some when we can get it!  One of our favorite ways to prepare yucca is to boil it and then fry it like french fries and eat it with ketchup.  Yum!  

The scenery reminded Miguel a lot of Venezuela!

Treats From Grammy and Other News

It is always fun to receive packages and stuff from back home when there is a chance to send things with people traveling, so this week when our missions pastor and two other ladies from our home church came for the meetings we had, it was a great opportunity for us to get some care packages.  Most of what we got was our own stuff, two suitcases and one duffelbag's worth of stuff we'd left behind for someone to bring when there was a chance.  I asked a friend to buy me a few things, a couple pairs of new jeans for me, some scrapbook paper, a microscope for Micah's birthday (shhhh!  don't tell!) and some other little things.  Miguel asked for some special theft-deterrent lug nuts for the van tires and a bicycle pump.  My mom was also able to send a few things, including a small suitcase with my sewing machine (that I really didn't expect to get until next year sometime!), a few things we'd left behind at her house and some candy corn!

So even though none of what we got was particularly a surprise, it was still pretty exciting and felt a bit like Christmas!  (Now I am thinking about the group coming from Arkansas next week and thinking I should ask them to bring some peanut butter...LOL!)  One of the things I was most excited to see was the rest of my shoes...I have been living with just four pairs of shoes since August and that was getting old.

The other thing that really made my day was finding the blade attachment and blending cup for my hand blender!  We thought we'd lost it on the road somewhere since we had the rest of it, but those two pieces were nowhere to be found.  Come to find out, Miguel had packed them in one of these suitcases to come later...and then forgot all about it.  So now all the pieces are back together and I am happy.

And God really showed up in a huge way this week during all of our meetings...it was just an amazing time of fellowship and planning, I continue to be so excited and thankful to be a part of what God is doing here.  It was such a blessing to see a diverse group of people come together in humility and of one heart, seeking only God's will for the future of this ministry.  And we continue to be blessed, encouraged and empowered by a leadership whose desire is to serve us by participating together with us in all of these decisions and not just tell us what to do and how to do it.  I just can't tell you how much of a blessing that is!  Our missions pastor even commented on this, mentioning how impressed he has been this week with the quality of leadership that he sees in Tim and Andres...that is a huge confirmation that we are in the right place!

There was a bit of unwanted excitement this week, however, when Jojo got lost in the park!  Losing a child is never a fun thing, but we're so thankful for God's protection of Jojo...it was quite obvious that He was taking care of our son.  Selene, a friend of ours, and her two daughters were taking care of the kids for us on Thursday.  I had gone to pick them up around 1 p.m. but they weren't at home.  Since I knew that they didn't have a car, I figured that they had walked to a park or somewhere in the neighborhood.  I sat and waited for a while, but then the thought occurred to me to try to find a pay phone and give Selene a call on her cell phone.  I drove down the street and asked a shop owner where I could find a phone, and he told me that there was a pay phone that accepted coins right across from his store.  I talked to Selene and she said they were in the park and I understood that I would go down to the main entrance and pick them up.  So I drove the five blocks or so to the park and began looking for them there.  I spotted them a ways off, but it looked like they were leaving the park through another entrance and I wasn't able to catch up with them.

So I got back in the van and drove back up to wait for them at their house.  As I was parking, I noticed Jojo up on the main street waiting to cross and assumed that the whole group was right behind him.  Imagine my surprise when he told me he had come back from the park alone and that he didn't know where Selene and the rest of them were!  I immediately drove back down to the pay phone to call Selene because I figured that she was probably frantic by that time and I was right, she was.  It took them a while to get home, but when they did, Selene was so upset, she just broke down and cried for a long time at the thought of nearly having lost one of my children!  I know that it was a very serious thing to almost have lost Jojo, but I think I was more affected by her emotions...I felt so sorry that she had to go through that experience.  I know exactly what she was going through since we've been there, done that!

I think she was afraid that I would be upset with her, but I reassured her that I was not...I told her of the many other times we've 'lost' Jojo.  The reality is that if any one of our kids is to get lost, it would be Jojo; it has always been that way.  And I recounted to her the ways that God had worked...I had come to pick them up at just the right time, God showed me the pay phone (I don't usually use pay phones!) and if I had not come back from the park when I did, Jojo would not have known how to find their house...as he made his way back from the park, he didn't know where to go, but when he saw me drive by on the way back from the park, he followed me.  And God protected Jojo from getting snatched by someone along the way.

So on top of fervently praising God for watching out for Jojo, we're now teaching all the kids our address and phone number in case that ever happens again!  I also realized we need to reteach Survival Skills 101 (as in when you realize you have gotten separated from your group stay where you are until someone comes back for you or go find a policeman).  Jojo told me that he thought that they had forgotten about him...as if that could ever happen, so he just took matters into his own hands!  I have told him many times since, that we will never forget about him, ever...we might accidentally leave him somewhere, but we will always go back for him...

In other news, on Thursday night Miguel and Micah went up to the mountains in the northern part of the state to go to a camp for Totonac young people.  What a great opportunity for Miguel to serve, to make contacts with others working with this people group, and to have some fun time with Micah!  In the meantime, the rest of us have crashed here at home...it's been a long week with a lot of action, it's just nice to sit around and not have too much to do.  They will be back on Monday, if all goes as planned.

I am quite proud of myself since I've done a lot of driving while Miguel has been gone...I took Tim and Andres out to a mall for supper on Thursday night and then yesterday I was able to take them to the bus station.  I am able to find my way around now in various parts of the city with the help of our handy Guia Roji (literally, the Red Guide, a brand of road and city maps) and that feels good.  Driving here is always an adventure, but so far so good...

So that's the news from this week...I am off to go indulge in some more coffee and a good book...

One Day at a Time

We're quickly approaching our ETD (Estimated Time for Departure)...well, what we're pretty sure is our ETD (it tends to change on a weekly basis, but that is pretty normal for missionary life, gotta be flexible!).  I'm tired, really really tired.  And I'm fighting a cold/upper respiratory thing that doesn't seem to want to let go.  If I let myself dwell on my weaknesses, though, sometimes I think that I'm probably not going to make it...but I am pretty sure that I will.  Because I am learning more how to live one day at a time.  Yes, I have my moments...when I'd rather just curl up in bed and check out for the day, but mostly I'm good. 

When I'm tempted to lift up my eyes and get overwhelmed at the heights we have yet to climb before we can settle down on the other side, I remember to focus on the next step...just what I need to get done today.  I am remembering to keep up my strength just for today...to take care of myself today so that I can begin tomorrow with fresh strength. God gives me enough strength to get through the next thing.  Besides, I want to live in the present, be here through each day and enjoy the blessings and joys that God gives me in each moment.  I don't want to miss a thing! 

Sometimes I look back where we've come and I stand there amazed at everything that we've accomplished in the last few months...it is truly amazing!  We have negotiated through the complexities of an agency transfer and trust me, it's complicated!  We have nearly doubled our support level in the last few months and we're rejoicing over the fact that we only lack $215 of monthly support to get to the level we need to be at to be able to go (yes it is a 'minimum' and yes it would be great to get more, but it won't hold us back from going!).  We've made two trips to Florida in order to complete the orientations required by Pioneers and God more than provided the funds needed to cover the costs for those trips.  In fact, we have enough in our account to cover upcoming expenses such as our travel costs to Mexico and the costs of an upcoming Pioneers conference that we'll be attending in August.  We'll have a lot of initial expenses for setting up in Mexico, too, so it's good to see God providing for that as well. 

I could really go on and on...God has worked mightily through us and for us and we've been very blessed as we've traveled this path. 

Recently someone asked me if there is anything I fear about the future...I had to think about that one!  I think if I had to put words to one of my fears (and yes, it is fears, plural), one of them would involve a sense of inadequacy about this ministry we're joining. Tribal church-planting ministry is difficult and complicated...the more we learn about things like Church Planting Movements and Teamwork and Cross-Cultural Relationships and other missionary stuff like that, the more complex it seems to become!  So when I'm tempted to feel overwhelmed and like I'm not up for this challenge, God reminds me that the 'success' of this ministry doesn't depend on me and my abilities anyway.  That's really good, because I'm pretty sure I would fail at that one...God is just calling me to go and be what He asks me to be.  What that will look like I'm not exactly sure, but I suspect a lot of it will look like being a wife and mother and friend. 

So what's next?  Well, this weekend we're having an Open House Goodbye Party for our kids...a time when their friends can drop in and say goodbye before we leave.  So I'm deep in planning mode for that party.  And then on Sunday night, we'll be speaking at a church in Oklahoma, thanks to a referral from my Mom.  Next week we need to focus on pulling together a lot of documents, etc. to send in to Pioneers to have in our file.  And we'll be working on moving out of our house here at the Village and will probably be taking off for Arizona around the 22nd of July.  We're leaving a few days early for the conference to visit friends along the way.  I'm hoping to spend the last couple of nights before we leave at my Mom's house so we can have a more proper goodbye and celebrate Jkaile's 4th birthday with them before we leave. 

After the conference in Arizona, we'll set our sights on traveling south to Puebla, Lord willing.  I say Lord willing because plans might change for some reason, they have a tendency to do that (and yes, it does drive me nuts sometimes).

I have mixed emotions about leaving...excitement for what's coming up on the horizon and yet all those goodbyes are hard to face.  I guess the best strategy for facing the future is to take it one day at a time...savor each moment at a time...feel the emotions, the sadness and the joy and let God fill in the spaces. 

Turning Point

Looking back over the last few months, I feel a deep sense of gratefulness at how God works to carry me through hard times...God is good.  We've done a lot of grieving in our time of ministry, come to think of it!  When we went to Venezuela way back when, we were entirely committed to living and working there with NTM for the rest of our lives and well, things didn't work out that way.  We took a huge hit when, barely two years later, we were facing the decision of leaving to go work somewhere else.  We arrived in Mexico hopeful that perhaps God was leading us to stay there, although Miguel still sensed a strong desire to return to his home country, understandable certainly, but was it God's calling or just a human desire?  We weren't certain...and then sure enough, two years into our time in Mexico, there we were, packing up another household of stuff and stepping out in blind faith. 

At the time, I was rather terrified of stepping out like that because it meant facing a future that I wasn't at all sure that I was willing to face, but if I hadn't been able to let go of our ministry in Mexico with NTM, God wouldn't have been able to lead us to the ministry that He has had waiting for us.  It is interesting how God writes our stories, brings opportunities to our door and then allows them to step away for a time if we are not ready to open that door.  He is faithful to work and then bring these opportunities back another time when we're more ready to answer the call.

We have known for years that our sending church has been greatly involved in a church planting partnership with a local church in Puebla, Mexico for several years now...Miguel has, in fact, gone on three different short-term mission trips as a translator to this ministry site, but we hadn't had much thought about it other than acknowledging that it existed.  Three years ago, Miguel brought up the idea of going to live and work there, but since it implied leaving NTM and I was not ready to face that choice yet, we declined that opportunity, stayed with NTM and went to Chihuahua instead. 

When we left Mexico last August, we went through a strong grieving process because not only did we grieve leaving Mexico, which we have come to love, we grieved the loss of friends both in and out of the mission community.  We had many good friends within NTM and had connected so strongly to the community of believers in our local church that it was like leaving family, a truly painful process that was difficult to recover from.  But it was a necessary step as God directed our path and moved us towards His plan.

2010 was an interesting year for us because it marks a turning point, a time of real growth and change in Miguel and I, both personally and in our ministry.  In many ways, I think we finally 'grew up', if you will, emotionally as we began dealing with some deep hurts of our past and in our marriage.  And this healing seemed to open the door to some true growth in our ministry and we found ourselves disatisfied with the 'status quo' of the mission world we found ourselves in and yet not really sure we were able to make a decision that would mean some radical change.  God used those experiences to sharpen our vision for ministry, define how we desire to work and to help us know what to look for in our next ministry. 

And then something pretty amazing happened and God showed us very clearly that our time with NTM had come to its end.  It was a painful process, weaning always has its moments of distress as we break some of the strings of dependency that might have formed with such a partnership.  A friend describes the relationship between a mission agency and its members as a 'marriage' and he noted that when that relationship breaks down, it can be compared to a 'divorce'.  Such a 'divorce' between an agency and a member can produce some pretty strong emotions and feelings of loss and grief and abandonment, true, but sometimes is necessary as the member seeks to follow God's plan for their lives.  We learned that our identity needs to be solidly placed in Christ and not in a membership in a mission agency or church or in anything other than Christ, really.  And we have certainly learned that God is sufficient for us at all times and in every circumstance.  All in all, I think we're handling things pretty well, even though we have had some ugly moments in the middle of it...we are very thankful for having had this place of rest and retreat and are thankful that God knows what we need even when we don't have a clue. 

As we contemplated our resignation from NTM, however, we weren't really sure where God was leading even though Miguel still had a strong desire to return either to Venezuela or the Amazon region.  So we explored some of those ideas and continued to pray and ask for wisdom.  And then our home church brought back the Puebla ministry to our attention again and I remembered something...I remembered that back in July when Miguel had last gone to Puebla, he came back energized and excited and interested and I had wondered at that point whether God was leading in that direction.  I remembered having privately surrendered to God in that moment...having said to God "I'll go!" if he asked us to go.  And isn't that where God wants us anyway?  Willing and surrendered? 

Miguel wasn't visibly responding as quickly as I was, though, so I stayed quiet, watching and waiting and praying and resting in God's will.  Besides, I wasn't at all sure that God was leading us to Puebla, it could have just been me and I didn't want to influence Miguel's decision, I wanted God to confirm this in a big way for both of us.  And I'm learning that my husband doesn't make decisions as quickly as I do, he likes to take time to think these important things through rather thoroughly before committing, but soon enough, there we were, entirely in agreement and with a peace about pursuing this ministry.  I was a little surprised because I knew that Miguel is still so attracted to hot and humid tropical places with rivers and fish and outboard motors, and yet he, too, is willing and surrendered to God's will. 

So here we are, preparing to return to Mexico sometime in the next few months, so excited we can hardly stand it!  In fact, if it weren't for some boring details such as joining another mission agency (NTM doesn't work in this area) and raising more prayer and financial support, we'd be leaving, like, tomorrow!  We feel so blessed at how God has been so faithful to work in us and through us and we can't wait to serve Him back.  We find in interesting how God has brought us full circle back to Mexico, a country we both love.  Our new place of ministry is not very tropical, being in the mountains of Puebla with a cool, temperate climate and really no navigable rivers to speak of...but it IS green and humid! 

So here's the scoop...there is a church in the city of Puebla called El Camino Bible Church that wants to plant churches.  They are ambitious, they desire to have a church planting ministry in every state of Mexico!  Anyway, a few years ago, they were able to send a missionary couple from their church up to the mountains of the state of Puebla (about four hours northeast of the city of Puebla) to live and work in a small, remote community with the intention of starting a church planting movement among the Totonac people group. 

Our sending church has come alongside El Camino to help and facilitate in any way that El Camino feels they need help and it's been neat to see our sending church take a helping role and not a leading role in this partnership.  Our sending church sends teams down to Puebla three times a year to help with community outreaches, medical outreaches, children's ministries and construction projects.

Totonac man in traditional dress

The Totonacs are an ancient people group who co-existed alongside the Mayans and the Aztecs.  They have their own language that is not related to other language groups in the area.  They were actually enemies of the Aztecs and joined Hernan Cortés in the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs back in the 1500s.  The Totonacs were incorporated into the Spanish regime, but since they traditionally lived in remote mountainous regions, they have maintained a lot of their traditional customs and culture.  There are roughly 200,000 or more Totonac people in this region with several dialects.  Along with many other indigenous groups in the Americas, they have adopted folk-Catholic religious beliefs while retaining animistic beliefs alongside.  There are very few evangelical churches or believers among the Totonac.

Totonac women in traditional dress



Franco and Barbara, missionaries to the Totonac, have had a successful ministry and now have several believers who are even beginning to teach their own people.  They do work in Spanish with bilingual men, who teach their own people using a New Testament that was translated by Wycliffe years ago.  There is a church building in the town where Franco and Barbara live, but they are seeing that churches could be planted in other towns and that the believers need more discipling.  Franco and Barbara are also getting up in years and are thinking about retiring in a couple of years and they are naturally concerned about continuing the work. 

And that's where we come in...this is exactly what we've been trained for, cross-cultural tribal church planting!  And Miguel's gifts lie in teaching and discipling, as well as in community development.  We are also good language learners and I suspect that we'll be moving beyond working in Spanish to learning and working in the Totonac language eventually.  Miguel has already seen and experienced the work first hand and is well-liked and respected there, not just by Franco and Barbara, but also by the tribal people and El Camino.  Our sending church and we, too, think it's a good 'fit' for us and we're pretty excited about getting there and getting to work! 

L-R: Miguel, Hiram (pastor of El Camino),

Franco (missionary to Totonac in Puebla)

and Jordan (Missions admin. assistant

from our sending church here in AR)

There is so much more I could write about this ministry and the Totonac, but this is getting long, so I'll save it for upcoming posts.  I will write some of our objectives for the next few months, though, things we need to do and accomplish...

1. Join a mission agency...we have it narrowed down to two and are applying to both, waiting for God's direction there...
2. Raise needed prayer and financial support...we already have a pretty good base of support in both areas, but are just working to expand it...
3. Obtain a vehicle, preferably some sort of SUV that can handle mountain roads, but isn't so new or nice as to call a lot of attention to it.
4. We're praying about possibly fitting in a visit to Venezuela this year, but not sure that's going to happen...
5. Spend time in Puebla getting to know El Camino and allowing them to get to know their new missionaries.
6. Find a place to live in the mountains...we will most likely be living in a small town close to Franco and Barbara.

Small town in the mountains

There are still some unknowns and a lot of questions to answer, but we'll get there and God will provide.  The important thing is that we're on the move and have a goal that we're working towards...in a sense it is a dream come true, an answer to something we've prayed about for a very long time! 

So thanks for being excited with us!  And plan on coming to visit us soon!

Things are coming together...

My feelings about being 3 weeks away from heading back to the mission field...Wow! Anxiety! Excitement! Apprehension! Anticipation! AAAACCCCKKKK!

yeah

Can you tell I have mixed emotions?! On the one hand, I'm very excited about a new ministry, a new place to live, seeing all of our friends in Mexico again, getting back into full-time missions...on the other, I crave a more simple, stress-free life, I will miss all of my friends here (and I know my kids will miss their friends, too!), I know that there will be plenty of challenges, busyness being one of them...am I ready for all of this?! I am so glad that my sister Chrissy called from Ecuador yesterday (that was a God thing, for sure!) because she was able to impart great wisdom to me (they've been through 2 major ministry shifts recently!). She said that changing to a different field of service can bring up a lot of different emotions, a lot of them negative. She reminded me, however, that feelings are subjective and not necessarily the truth of the situation, so it's good to consciously focus on the positive, the good things and the truth. And this will help the kids transition better as well.

And this will be a huge transition for our family, mostly the fact that Micah and Gracia will be in school and not be homeschooled...we are not used to getting up early and going somewhere every day! I'm sure, though, that once we get into the swing of things, there will be much to appreciate...such as mornings with only 2 kids, being able to give more attention to Jojo and Jkaile, not having the extra work of homeschooling, structure for our family...lots of positives! :)

I sorted through all the kids' clothes today, weeding out the extras, packing their school and winter clothes. I feel like I have accomplished something! I have such a long list of things to do that it's overwhelming and it feels really good to get that done. Maybe that will motivate me to keep chipping away at the list little by little...I really hate that feeling of having so many things to do hovering over my head!

But in general, things are really starting to come together...not only do we have a house waiting for us when we get to Mexico, but they have nearly furnished it for us as well! Thank you, Lord! Our monthly support, while not exactly at the level we'd like to see, is coming along (I'm SO proud of Miguel for working so hard on that!) and we have the money we need for traveling and initial set-up expenses. The kids are enrolled in school and we have the school supply list in hand. It's neat to see how things are working out...they always do so I don't know why I bother to stress....