Two years and one kid later, I think it's time to dip my pen in the ink again and start to write.
So to summarize the past two years....this should be fun!
November 2009. Kurt and I are wedded! We still reminisce on the "perfect" day of our dreams. It was sunny, beautiful, and everything went just right. We loved to finally get to say "I do" and be married in a beautiful spanish colonial style courtyard, complete with 220 of our most favorite people as guests and a decadent mexican taco meal and cake to follow. The night ended with mariachis and saying goodbye to my family as they flew home to the US.
marrying my media naranja...best. day. of. my. life.
December 2009. We start the grueling process of obtaining Kurt's immigrant (resident) visa...we never knew this would be a year+ process!
April 2010. We learn that I'm pregnant! Surprise! Wow....we weren't expecting that, but we are nonetheless super thrilled at what the future holds!
May 2010. I lose the baby and it's a hard time, but God uses it to bring me back to His Word, making the Psalms more alive and real than ever before. It's a special time for both Kurt and I and we feel like even this was truly God's plan. Kurt is also ordained as a minister!
June-August 2010. We are busy in ministry, helping host a missions team, working in the Las Trojes Baptist church, and teaching ESL classes. We even squeeze in a two week trip to counsel at the church camp Kurt used to work at, and then a quick trip to Tampico beach with some friends. An excellent end of the summer!
Sept 2010. Surprise again! A second pregnancy for Bethany! We wait hestitantly to tell loved ones, and in December announce our big news. We are thrilled beyond belief that we will be parents soon!
January 2011. We are having a BOY! Names are thought of; it's hard to pick a name that sounds good in both Spanish...and English!
somewhere around 6 months pregnant
February 2011. We receive word that Kurt's visa is approved and are put on an interview waiting list. We sell our car, attend an ABWE Mexico retreat, continue in the minsitry, and begin packing with faith that soon we'll be able to travel home for furlough and raising support.
March 2011. We get an interview for April 15...we are SO nervous and excited all at once. Preparation of documents and travel plans takes up a lot of our time.
April 2011. We sail through the interview with flying colors. God blesses our fruits and grants us grace before the embassy and we travel home to Mexico City feliz. The visa comes two weeks later, and just like that we pack up and head home. We have goodbyes, despedidas (farewell parties) and pack up our house into lots of boxes. April 22 we fly home and Kurt asks me what the curious creature staring at hime out back is and why there are so many of them everywhere. Ps. It's a squirrel.
first night in the US, Olive Garden directly after getting to the PIT airport
May 2011. We get ready for the arrival of Baby Boy and adjust to being in the US. We rent a small apartment, buy a car, and get ready for life to really pick up when the baby arrives. We also report to our sending church and Kurt gets to preach in English. It's a wonderful time of seeing God provide. People give us card showers, baby showers, and money gifts that cover our needs in ways we could never have fathomed God would provide.
June 2011. June 17, to be exact, our lives are forever altered as Tyler Kurt Gomez appears on the scene. 7 lbs 9.5 oz. of pure little boy, 20.5 inches long...he looks like daddy, with big brown eyes, tons of hair, and a broad forehead. He screams most nights, we sleep very little, but we are so happy to have been entrusted this amazing little life! Thank you Lord for this gift!
Tyler Kurt: God's awesome gift to us.
July 2011. Tyler is a month old and Kurt is appointed "officially" as an ABWE missionary. We attend ABWE Candidate Seminar, and are on the road for weeks 3 and 4 of Tyler's life. It's pure craziness, but we meet tons of new people, reconnect with old missionary friends, and are overall supremely blessed by the many seminars, teachings, and counsel we receive. We return home just in time to report to a supporting church, First Baptist of Butler, PA...where the big Guy (Pastor Dave Maitland, my old youth pastor) is pastor. Kurt gets to preach, in English, on the radio.
after ABWE appointment with Norm, who was regional administrator over Mexico,
when Mexico was opened as an ABWE field
one night after ABWE classes, we went to Bass Pro Shops,
where Kurt had a little fun with the camera.
August 2011. We visit our teammates Joe and Heidi and Isaiah in upstate NY and love the time with them. Joe is Kurt's fishing pal and Heidi introduces me to Wegman's....it's awesome! We also present our ministry presentation to our sending church and get to visit my aunts and uncles in Indiana.
September 2011. We are blessed, again, to be given tickets to visit Kurt's parents in Mexico, so they can meet precious Tyler while he is still little and snuggly. We spend September 7-22 in Mexico, and see our ABWE team, friends at church plants, and Claire. We had a wonderful time and Tyler gave out lots of smiles and giggles to his grandma Paz and aunts and uncles. We don't want to leave, and I personally am reminded daily of why I ever knew God called me to Mexico in the first place. This place is HUGE and after spending six months in a town of 8,000 I see Mexico City as if it was the first time I saw it. I am so excited that we get to serve there and everywhere I go I just see so many people, so much traffic, so many tightly squeezed in neighborhoods, and I can't help but get excited for starting cell groups and Bible studies in new neighborhoods when we get back. I make a promise to pray for this city and the gospel to be spread there, every day.
Tyler in Mexico, Independence day 2011
finally in the arms of Grandma Paz and meeting tia Elizabeth and cousin Nathan
And that brings us to...October. We're back in Grove City, busy visiting churches, raising support, and loving parenting our now almost four month old baby boy, who now smiles, laughes, giggles, and interacts with us so much! He also likes to sleep through the night 5 times out of 7 and try to sit up all by himself. Life is never dull. I am learning to balance it all, get back into reading Beth Moore studies in the morning, get back into sleeping at night, and get back into actually cooking home-cooked meals and cleaning our apartment...things that had all been neglected in the first three months of Tyler's life.
No comments:
Post a Comment