To Mexico And Beyond!

First of all we would love to give a

"GRANDÉ, SHOUT OUT!"

to all of our family, friends and local churches back home for such wonderful loving support during our whirlwind of a visit. We felt so loved and were so tremendously blessed by the turn out for our "Missionary Update Dinner" that we held at REALiFE, and the "Worship Night" we took part in at Praise Fellowship. We would not be able to do what we are doing for the Lord without our hometown body of Christ extending their arm! So, Muchos Gracías mi Amigos!

Wow! It has been a wild week and a half since we left Western New York. We have a few photos to share of our time so far while being here at Rancho Abierto in Mexico. We'd like to share all that we've been up to here but first we'll share our bumpy, but rewarding story of how we got here.

We started out the trip quite wonderfully with a caravan of our family that joined us for our drive up to Buffalo on the 8th, the night before we headed out on our flight the next day. We had a delicious dinner at Olive Garden (Kira's favorite American chain restaurant), gave our hugs and kisses and goodbyes to the grandparents and then we settled into our hotel beds. But not before setting our alarms for 4 A.M. to get our 5 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, 4 backpacks, a couple of stuffies, pillows, and 2 blankets to the airport. We woke up, and got (what seems like) our whole lives packed into the airport shuttle, and then we were finally off for the next part of our adventure in Mexico.

Jordan got all of our bags checked in at the desk and then the four of us got through TSA without any hiccups. We made our way to our departure gate and got settled in. We even had a little bit of time still on our hands to grab a couple of lattés, which is always a relief. About 10 minutes before boarding, the pilot came out and announced to everyone waiting that one of the exit signs on the plane was facing the wrong direction and our flight would be indefinitely delayed. He came back a little while later and said they would have to fly the correct part that they needed from Newark, N.J. in order to fix it. Ha! Even though that was extremely odd, we weren't too stressed. Jordan got in line to talk to the airline person behind the desk about switching flights while the girls took a quick nap on our backpacks. He was able to line us up a flight that was leaving only an hour later than our original flight and the gate was right next to ours. It wasn't perfect but it was a solution!

When it came time for the four of us to board, we settled in with our backpacks tucked under the seats, the iPads snug in the girl's seat pouches, and the stuffies were in their upright position with their seatbelts fastened. BUT, right when we should have been taxing toward the runway the pilot's voice came on over the intercom and made an announcement... they had unfortunately fueled the plane to the max (since gas was cheaper in Buffalo... haha...) and with the weight of the fuel plus the extra people on board from our ORIGINAL delayed flight, it made the plane officially overweight so they were going to have to ask 11 people to exit the plane. Whhhhaaattt?! It was almost comical at this point for us, but our hearts hurt a bit as a number of people on the plane were beginning to panic due to many of them having extremely important things they had to get to. The next announcement we heard was this, "So we do in fact need 11 volunteers to leave aircraft and in return, each volunteer will receive $1,000 travel credit." Jordan and I looked at each other for about a half of a second and we both knew that this was an excellent opportunity for us! So we raised our hands, packed up the girls and all of our things again, and exited the plane to the tune of $4,000 in travel credit.

BUT then what?! Haha!

We stood at the gate entrance as a woman (who we came to know as "Miss Shirley") began to help us 11 passengers get our travel vouchers, rebook our flights, and make any other arrangements. Miss Shirley helped our family by not just getting us our travel vouchers, but she also booked us a really nice hotel for that evening AND gave us meal vouchers for the next day of traveling, ANNNDDD booked us a new flight for the next morning all on the airline's tab. #BLESSED

Though we were pretty exhausted, we were feeling that God's hand was in all of this! We then headed down stairs to collect our luggage from the baggage claim only to discover that one of the wheels on my suitcase was broken clean off. Jordan began to inquire about who we were to talk to about my suitcase and before we knew it, they rolled out a beautiful, brand new suitcase to replace the broken one. WE WERE BLOWN AWAY.

We ended the morning with $4,000 in travel credit, a brand new suitcase (funny fact: my suitcase was the oldest suitcase we had), $160 in meal vouchers, and a whole day to nap and rest with our family at a super nice hotel. God had completely poured out His favor, blessing, and provision on us. He knew exactly what we all needed was a day of rest after our whirlwind of a visit back home and before jumping into the next season of serving.

GOD's good like that!

We got to the hotel and had a wonderful day together playing, eating pizza, taking a walk, and then taking a much needed nap. We woke again the next day and everything went according to plan this time. The four of us arrived in San Diego as planned at 1 P.M. on the 10th, grabbed some lunch with our food vouchers, and then packed our stuff up in the Rancho Abierto van. We were almost there! Sue and Shaina drove us from San Diego to the border where we had to go through the visa application and customs process, and then we headed on down to Ensenada area where the ranch is located. They made sure to spoil us with our first official proper Mexican TACOS on the way. ;)

We had quite the adventure getting here!! That first evening, as we pulled into the base with the twinkly lights and the tiny home cabins, we knew we were exactly where God called us to be. And to be honest, it felt a little bit like we were coming home.

Since then we have been busy with staff meetings, getting systems in place, and working to finish the last of the new homes that are being built for the student families coming in this week. Jordan has been helping with drywalling, sanding, and laying the flooring while the girls and I have been painting and cleaning. We're coming close to arrival day for our students, so we would love prayers for getting things finished, cleaned, and ready in time for each family to arrive and settle into their new, tiny, cabin home for the next 2 1/2 months.

Each meeting that we have with as staff, Jordan and I are becoming more and more excited for this next season. We get a front row seat to what God's doing and what He's about to do here in all of us and we cannot wait for it all to unfold.

Some of our responsibilities around base will include: helping with the farming and the animals, construction, worship, leading a Bible study, coaching (what we like to call "one on ones" in YWAM), and planning our outreach for our team of families (all the wonderful details of where we will be taking our team will be announced soon).

This week we've also seen and celebrated with the girls a new baby goat, a king snake that was caught by one of the staff dads, baby bunnies, the baah-ing of the sheep, going to check out the beach on the weekend, lots of super delicious tacos, a true Mexican market place, and we've been enjoying many campfires in the evenings as we get to know the other staff families. We've absolutely loved our first week and a half and here are a few photos for proof. ;)