As We Sit and Wait

As we sit and wait to cross the border, it can become discouraging. We are so close and yet so far from continuing on our journey that God has called us to. At this time, we could allow ourselves to be down but we much choose to sing to the Lord a new song. In my devotions this morning, I read this Psalm and thought I would pass it along for others to read. Perhaps you are down today and need to be lifted up. The best way to accomplish that is to praise the Lord and declare his glory.

PSALM 96

Sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, praise his name;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns."

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

he will judge the people with equity.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

they will sing before the Lord, for he comes,

he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his truth.

Awaiting our Border Crossing

We are now in Brownsville, Texas, right across the border from Mexico. We need to sign some financial paper before we leave the country. They were supposed to be ready before we left Portland. Well, we just received news today that the papers are ready to sign but they can't e-mail the papers, they must send them directly to us. So, we are stuck in Brownsville until the papers come and we have them notarized and send them back. We hope to be crossing the border no later than Friday but we just don't know exactly when it will be. Please pray that the papers get here quickly and that we can be on our way. We know that there is a reason for the delay and we may not see it now but we know that it will all work out for good.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

A Day in San Antonio

Yesterday we spent the day in San Antonio. It was a delightful day seeing the Alamo and walking along the River Walk.

The Alamo

The kids really wished they could climb this tree. It would have been so much fun!

We had lunch in a sandwich shop that had some fun things in it. Jonathan decided he wanted a picture that looked like he was being hit by a bull. Erin liked the sombrero.



We even took a tour boat on the River which was fun and we heard about some of the history of San Antonio.



In the evening we went to Wayne and Judy Clark's house. Wayne made us baby back ribs and oh, they were so good! Wayne and Judy were the pastor's at the church we went to in Vermont when I was a teenager. It was great to see them again. I am amazed at how God has lined us up with so many people across this nation that we could connect with. He is truly amazing.

Cory and Wayne. Cory was just a baby when we left Vermont. I was reminded that I had babysat the kids a few times. Just as I have aged, they are grown up now too. Cory and his wife are expecting their first baby in December.

Judy and Donice. Donice has three boys. It was great to meet them all.

Me and Judy. We didn't plan on wearing the same color pink, it just happened that way.

Wayne and Judy.

Donice brought a puppy she and the kids found. They are hoping to find the owner soon. Erin loved playing with him, his name is Tiger.


Today we are traveling on to Brownsville, Texas. We are not sure if we will cross the border today. Most likely it will be tomorrow or later. Our drive today will be 5-1/2 hours. We will definitely cross the border by the end of the week.

On the Road Again

After a two days of not updating, I will try to update what has gone on in the last two days. On Saturday morning we left Phoenix, AZ and drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico. There was some really interesting rock formations at a rest area in New Mexico.

Jonathan

Erin

I just through this one was really neat.


On Friday night, I realized that I knew someone in Las Cruces. I went to vocational high school and attended an early childhood education class in my junior and senior years. Carol Baker was my teacher and I have continued to be in contact with her all these years through Christmas cards. I called her and we ended up having dinner with them and they graciously opened their home to us. We spent the night and left early this morning. We had a wonderful visit and it was good to catch up with Carol and her husband, Richard.

Richard and Carol Baker with Gail.


Interesting landscape in Texas




Tomorrow we are spending the day in San Antonio. We will be going down to The River Walk and the The Alamo. Then in the evening we are going to Wayne and Judy Clark's house. It is amazing how many people we know across this big nation. Wayne was the pastor of the church that I went to when I was a teenager. My mom and dad reminded me that they live in San Antonio so we contacted them. They are planning a dinner of BBQed ribs. Yummm! We are looking forward to seeing them. God has been so good at bringing us together with other believers all across the country.

We hope to enter Mexico on Tuesday. Once we do will not have phone contact with the US but we hope to still be able to update the blog. There are still hotels with free Wi-Fi in Mexico. I'll update about our day in San Antonio before then though. Please continue to pray for health. Jim has had a cold the last day or so. I think he got it from me but we would like him totally over it before we cross the border. Thanks for all your prayers so far, we are definitely feeling them.

Heading East

Today we began to head east toward Brownsville, Texas. After spending the night at our friends, the Bubna's, we got the car packed up again and left their house at about 8:20AM this morning. We appreciate so much the generosity of Kevin and Katherine. It was wonderful to see them again. They used to live up in Portland near us. They moved to LA in February so it was wonderful to catch up again.

Kevin and Katherine


We were fascinated with all of the cactus around.Jonathan didn't care for it as much because they are pokey. I told him we were not going to touch them so he would be fine.

Cactus


We arrived in Peoria, Arizona around 3:20PM. We had a very nice visit with my Aunt Pearl and Uncle Al. I haven't seen them in years. We went to dinner together and visited for a while until we had to go check in to our hotel.

Uncle Al and Aunt Pearl


Tomorrow we are headed to Las Cruces, New Mexico. When looking at mapquest I realized that we would be passing right through Las Cruces where a teacher that I had in High School lives now. Mrs. Baker and I have kept in touch over all these years so it will be great to see her again.

Please continue to pray for safe and healthy travel.