One of Ximena’s dreams after coming back from Ecuador was to have all of the teenagers from the trip over to our home. Since a few of the kids (including Peyton) were heading off to college, Ximena and Peyton started planning the whole evening. It was supposed to be outside in our backyard, but 30 minutes before everyone got there, it started to pour down rain. So we moved everything inside! We were able to start the time by having the people that were already in college to pray for the departing seniors. And then all of the seniors to pray for the juniors that were about to start their last year of high school. It was beautiful! To hear their hearts and the faith that they have was really impacting and beyond words to express the relationship that they have with our Father. Then, we ate a bunch of pizza (Thank you so much to the Millers for blessing us with the pizza!!!) and played their favorite game (Signs), which was interesting to do in our small living room, but we made it work! Lots of laughter, food, and conversation later, they were sent off to continue their adventures in different places across the US.
A few days before this, Richard was able to take Peyton out for lunch and a “going away” meal. Time has gone by way too fast and it was so strange thinking that he would be going off to college. We were able to talk about life at college and trying to find a church and new friends. He had so many good questions and it was a really fun time! Afterward, we were having a few other friends over for dinner and so Peyton was able to be the Master Chef and learn how to make Uncle Randy’s BBQ ribs recipe that is a family secret! He definitely got the hang of it! Please continue to pray for Peyton's parents as he is their oldest and their first child to leave home.
One of our good friends here in Memphis, Wes and Claire, who have also been our saving grace by watching our dog when we are out of town, went even further to bless us beyond our wildest dreams. For the first time in our marriage, they gifted us an entire weekend to go somewhere, all expenses paid, and that they would take care of the kids and our dog. Honestly, when they first shared that with us in their kitchen (the memory is still so vivid!), they shared that they wanted this to go to us and our marriage and nothing more. It was beyond belief to see friends caring so much about our marriage and wanting us to have that time for ourselves. So we headed to Nashville, TN for a weekend to stay at a bed and breakfast. We were able to eat some amazing food (both good ol' country cooking and Puerto Rican food...Ximena will try to find PR food somewhere!), listen to some country music at the Grand Ole’ Opry, and just relax. It really was a beautiful time given to us by some amazing people!
One of my honors this past month was to be able drive one of our missionary kids, Nathaniel, from Memphis down to the coast. He is 15 years old and had been able to fly back to New Orleans with a missions team and spend some time in Memphis over the summer. So then he needed to make his way back down to the airport to fly out! It was actually pretty funny, because right after picking him up in the morning, he dozed off for about an hour. When he woke up, he was like “How long have I been sleeping?” and I responded “A little over an hour.” He asked, “So are we close to getting there?” I responded, “Nope…it’s about a 7 hour drive, so we still have a while to go!” He hadn’t realized how far the drive was, so then he said, “Oh…no wonder you kept calling this a Road Trip! Well…I guess we need some music then!” We were able to spend the next few hours listening to his favorite songs (he has impeccable music tastes, which made it even better!) and even stopped to get him some Italian food, which is what he likes the most and doesn’t get very often. We were able to talk about life and difficulties of being an missionary kid in the middle of the jungle. Guys…MK’s (missionary kids) have so much to deal with on the field. Feelings of loneliness, feelings that no one understands, no Christian friends or mentors, and always being the one who sticks out are just a few things they have to go through daily! Nathaniel still feels called to be where his family is serving, but it doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t miss having close, Christian friends who just get him. Sadly, completely forgot to get a picture, but here is one of my favorites from last year...although he has already grown so much!
The day after driving him down to the coast and coming back, we were able to host Bic and Coleen, a few missionaries ladies from Cambodia. They are close friends and they have stayed in God’s room before. We also had the ability to visit them in Cambodia this past year, so we “get” each other. They had just arrived in country, so we had them during the jetlag period, but it was still a great time, even in the midst of their urgent catnaps in the middle of the day. At the end of their time, Coleen and Richard were able to have some debriefing time to just share thoughts, doubts, and fears. Out of that time, it just brought him back to the ability that we have to go before God, just like David in the Psalms, and lament. To just say, “God…seriously…what is going on?” or “Are you even there?” while at the same time resting in the comfort of all of the miracles that He has done throughout life, showing you that He is there every step of the way. Also forgot to get pictures, but our favorite from last year!
Something that we have been anxiously awaiting for a long time is to finally have floors!!! Due to allergies, we had to rip up the carpet last November and we have just been on concrete floors, which definitely got cold over the Memphis winter. We have been saving up ever since for vinyl floors and we finally had enough to put them in. God blessed us with 7 incredibly talented men to join Richard in installing the floors in the bedrooms. They were able to get everything done in one day!!! It is amazing how much different our home looks now, after living with all of the paint stained concrete from the original builders. So an extreme amount of special thanks to Mark McDaniel (drove 2 hours from Mississippi to help!), Mark Long (the brains of the operation), Wes Pennel (he did all the quarter-round), Wayne Sneed, Brandon Buehler, Brandon Williams, Mykl Wallrath, and Josh Germany. And get ready God's Room, because you're next...that is our winter project!
Over the past few months, we have continued to have kids in our home. They are still showing up, even when the garage door is closed! But it has been fun, even though there are times where it is getting dark and we have to tell them to go home. We have even been able to share some Bible stories with them and just talk about life. They are very open! Sometimes a little too open...scares us a little bit as to what our kids are saying about us! But God has used this house and our backyard/front yard in such incredible ways. And a special thanks to the Fletchers for all of the Nerf Guns!!! We're still finding the foam bullets! Please keep praying for the crazy, kid-filled house that we are wanting to be in the neighborhood.
Towards the end of the month, we were able to take a few of our friends out to our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Well, actually the reason it is a hole-in-the-wall is it is actually someone's house that Ximena met at a store called Dirt Cheap! But Esperanza has become a friend as well as an amazing cook. So we decided to take a few of our friends who are missionaries and take them to "Mexico." We ate gorditas to our hearts content and joked around about the life of a missionary, as one of the families has been in missions for a while and the other family is about to leave for the field in a few weeks. Both Ximena and I walked away from that meeting just filled, as it is great being around such like-minded people who understand things like packing a good 50.5 lbs. suitcase, airfare tricks, and feeling the need to explain yourself over and over again.
And that has been a little bit of what is going on in our lives! We are not sharing prayer requests this month publicly, but we sent them to most of you or you can feel free to ask via e-mail.
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Blessings!
~Richard and Ximena
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