Welcome Home...We have grass!

As we crossed the US/Mexican border heading back into Mexico, the passengers in our van let out shouts of "Yipee! Yea! Woo Hoo! We're almost home!" Mexico is our children's home. Timothy, our oldest, was only 7 when we moved here. Elijah was still 5. The rest of them were 4 and under. And now 4, soon to be 5, of them have been born here. So while Timothy and Elijah have some memories of living in the states, the rest of them do not. Of course, the love to visit Grandma and Grandpa and all their cousins/Aunts/Uncles, but it is not "home" to them.
I still get homesick for the states. While we've been here about 5 years now and I do feel very much at home here, I still at times long for "home". I can imagine it will always be that way for me, and I smiled as while crossing that border to head back down south put a twinge of sadness in my heart, it put so much joy in the 11 little passengers sitting behind me. And I remembered how Jesus Christ left his home to give His life...salvation for all who trust Him as their Savior...because He loves us so much. How humbled and blessed we are that He has allowed us to come here to serve Him, sharing the wonderful news of His salvation with so many who have never heard.
So as we pulled into our property about 1 am Sunday night (or Monday morning :) ), I thought, "Welcome Home". :)
Our plan was to be home Saturday night so we could hold services as normal on Sunday, but plans changed and again, we saw the Lord's wonderful care. About 2 hours south of the border, we were driving through the last really big city for what would be many miles when we began to hear a grinding sound in the car. I asked Daniel, "What is that?" as at the same time he said, "Oh no, do you hear that?" It was the brakes grinding. Just a few blocks later, we saw a brake shop and pulled in and spent the afternoon there while they made the necessary repairs. I was thankful for the seats inside the shop as well as the bathroom :), and the children were so very patient for the long wait. We were so glad to find the problem when we did as finding it in the middle of the long desert stretch would have been a different story.
The night we got home, we pulled in late with no problems and went straight to bed. Daniel unloaded a few things, our pillows and blankets, the diaper bag ect... and said we'd unload everything else in the morning. When we got up, Daniel went outside to unlock the trailer so the boys could bring eveything inside when he noticed that one of the tires was flat off the rim. And not only was it flat, but it looked completely destroyed on the inside wall...the steel was showing and torn to shreds. We never knew how bad that tire was; we were so surprised to see it like that in the morning as we pulled in fine. The Lord was so good to protect us and keep us from having to deal with that in the middle of the night in the middle of the desolate desert.
Monday and Tuesday, the children and I spent the day cleaning up, unpacking, organizing ect... while Daniel went back to preaching, going to the village, working with Brother Macario, and working on car/household/church repairs. Wednesday and Thursday the girls and I tackled 40 loads of laundry! All the blankets, sheets, and pillowcases we took on the trip were quite a sight and those combined with our trip laundry and regular laundry provided us with lots of time together to wash, dry, fold, iron, and put everything away.
Today I'm catching up on paperwork while the children are writing some letters, making a chain to countdown the days until Christmas and helping Daniel at the church. We should be back to our "normal" schedule again starting tomorrow! :)
Oh, while we were gone, our backyard patch of dirt that we seeded a while back really took off! We stood outside to watch Daddy CUT THE GRASS! It smelled wonderful...just like when I was a little girl! We are soooo thankful for the beautiful green and I love the fact that when the children help me hang clothes, drop them, or play in the hanging sheets and sometimes knock them off, that they no longer are covered with dirt or mud, but still nice and clean as they fall onto grass! :)
I know this is a bit long, but I wanted to mention how Benjamin blessed me yesterday. I had gotten up later than normal as my morning sickness has been pretty bad in the morning, and when I got up, Ben was dressed, chores done, had read his Bible, and wanted to know if he could make french toast and eggs for breakfast. I gladly accepted his offer and so while I had my quiet time and got the little ones changed/dressed ect..., he completely took care of breakfast. Table was set, juice made, two loaves of bread cooked up, and a pan of scrambled eggs hot and ready to eat. He's such a servant and a good example to me and the other children!

Ben working away on breakfast

I love his smile here...we were so proud of him and he was so happy! :)

Nehemiah working away with Daddy

A lady up north gave us some used baby items her boys had outgrown. Eliseo loves his new toys! :)

Even a flat soccer ball can be used for something...like a planter :)

Grass!!

Thank you Lord!