We are here in the states eating normal "American" food, which we love. But our bodies tend to retain some of what we eat. Ok so what I am saying is that, I have gained weight since being home. It is inevitable when I can;t help myself to food we have given up living in Mexico. Take Easter meal for example.We have eaten ham for Christmas but is only on rare occasions. But then there is all the sides that go with it. If we don't make the sides ourselves then we never eat them. So we had green beans with bacon, cheesy potatoes, baked (sweet) beans and fresh backed rolls. I believe there is was a few other things but I can't seem to recall them at this moment. It was all rich food but so good. I enjoyed every bite! But it is meals like this that cause my body gain weight. So what do I do to fight this? Well we have joined a gym near by to work on it. Over the past year, I have tried to start jogging. It has gotten so easy to see how far 3 miles is when you have a gps watch. So the past two weeks I have tried exercising more often like if the weather is nice outside going for a 3 mile run. I have found that when I exercise I do better when I am listening to a sermon. It takes your mind of the struggle. 

So this week I started listening to Matt Chandler. He started a study on the book of Exodus. Yesterday he said something that I thought is so true. He made reference to talking to his daughter who is 13.(This is not a quote but my own words). Who is smarter you or your 6 year old sister? Me of course. How do you know? Because I am older. Do you think it is possible that your dad who is 42 might be able smarter and see somethings that you can't see? Of course. He then uses this same example with us. Do you think it is possible that we may not know or see things that God sees who is all-powerful, all knowing and outside of time itself? The nation of Israel is us. We are the nation of Israel in the sense that he allows us to go through things to bless us. Abraham died with one son. When Joseph invited his brothers to live with him in Egypt, there were 70 people. When the Israelites had been set free in Exodus 12:37 says: And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. (More than a million people) 
This was after they had been enslaved for over 400 years. God had multiplied and was fulfilling his promise to Abraham, that his descendants who be more than the stars in the sky. I was encouraged by this. How often do I see my own circumstances and question why am I going through this experience? Do I trust God even when I don't understand why or what purpose does God have for me to go through this? What does God want to teach me?

Days have seemed to run together here. It is now Tuesday. I don't know what happened to the last few days? From the last post I wanted to give an update about Jessie's grandpa. He passed away on Thursday morning. Each day, Jessie would go to the nursing home where he was being cared for. Each day, everyone knew it was coming. With all of Jessie's aunts and uncles there, Jessie saw that Grandpa breathing had changed. She then informed her dad who had been chatting with the family. Then Jessie let the other family know it was time as they had not been paying attention to what was transpiring. He was breathing and then he just stopped. It was finally over. Since November he had been in a nursing home slowly getting worse. My father-in-law had said he had been losing his dad for a long time with Alzheimer yet even in those months leading to his death, Mike was able to love on his dad like he had never done in his whole life time. He was able to hug and kiss him and tell him how much he loved him. Grandpa would always respond with "I love you too". 

I would not say that it is a blessing to be here during the time of grandpa's death but realizing that we would normally be trying to figure out if any of us should fly home. If any then how many or can we afford to pay for plane tickets for everyone? It would be a challenge that normally we would be facing being on the mission field. This is just one of the aspects of the life we live being so far from home. Yes it only takes us four and half hours to fly to Chicago but the reality is that we live in a different country separated from our families. We don't get to just go out to eat on Sunday afternoons or get visit for a few hours before we have to put the kids to sleep. We have appreciated the time that God has given us during this time. We are fortunate to be home during this time. Both my in-laws are dealing with the lose of a parent. We may not be able to comfort them with what we say but we are here with them during this time which is one of the most important things. It is the Lord who orchestrates our steps. We are thankful we are here.