Praising God in the New Year

What better way to ring in the New Year than to praise God for all He has done in the previous year, and to live in excited expectation for what He is going to do. I just want to take some time to share with you some of the ways we've seen Him move, even in just the last 2 months when we were in the States.

Usually we have some friends that donate sky miles so that we can fly back and forth to the States. They've done this every year since we left for Costa Rica, but this year (technically last year) they apologized and said they wouldn't be able to do that this year. It was slightly stressful thinking that we were going to need to spend money that we hadn't really planned on spending, but God was good, and not only did we find tickets for a good price, but we were able to get first class tickets because somehow they were cheaper than regular tickets. Now with first class tickets come 2 FREE checked bags at 70 pounds apiece! When you're traveling after Christmas and you know you're going to have a lot of presents (especially for the little guy) needless to say we were elated and praising God for His provision!

Then we realized that the airline wouldn't allow Lucy to travel first class from Honduras to the States. When I called the airline they told me that not only would we have to pay to down grade one of our tickets, we would also need to pay the regular fees for the suitcases that went with that ticket. And those suitcases could only be 50 pounds.
I was slightly upset. Fortunately my parents came down with our church's mission team and so we made plans to send Lucy back with them so we could avoid any issues with extra traveling fees etc. And she would only be in the States a week before we got there.

Sometimes you can see God in the little things, if you look. For example, whenever we go back to the States my dad lets us drive his little Honda Civic. It's a great car and we're very thankful! We were planning to drive down to visit my little sister and her husband in Mississippi, but the Civic was making some funny noises and the heat wasn't acting right. Dad took it to a mechanic and he told dad that the car couldn't make the trip to MS. So we had to get a rental. Jeff looked and found a good deal for a car that was a little bigger than a cracker box, but at least it would fit the car seat! But when he went to pick up the rental there was a sweet sweet lady working the counter and after she heard that we were traveling with a little one she decided to upgrade us and picked out a mini van for us to travel in. I've always said I would never drive a mini van, but it was nice! And we were able to pack everything we wanted in it and not feel cramped at all. She even allowed Jeff to add me as a second driver, even though I couldn't be there in person. I think she might've been an angel......

On the way down to visit with my sister, we had a meeting with one of our biggest sponsors. We were concerned that they might be considering removing their support. We prayed and gave the meeting to God and had a peace about it. We ended up meeting with the church's head pastor and leadership team and the meeting went so much better than we had expected. They prayed over us before we parted ways, and we left praising God for continuing to provide for our family.

Then I called my old dentist's office to try to get us our yearly cleaning appointments, but they had gone up in price again. It was going to be a ridiculous amount for just Jeff and I to get a simple cleaning without dental insurance. So I started looking into the possibility of getting our teeth cleaned here in Honduras (even though the germaphobe in me was not happy with the thought of it).
While we were visiting my sister in MS, she "randomly" got a phone call from her dentist's office. She had been on the wait list and they just so happened to have an opening that week, and would she like to come in for a cleaning? During her appointment she spoke with her hygienist about us, that we were missionaries in for a visit and that we really would like to have a cleaning, but we didn't have any dental insurance. After speaking with the dentist, her hygienist asked if we could come in early on her day off and she would come in and do the cleanings and even if we needed x-rays they wouldn't charge us more than $50 a person.
It sounded good to us and we were so appreciative that she was willing to come in on her day off! Jeff, Elliot and I all went to the dentist's office and checked in with the front desk. My sister's hygienist came and took us back to the exam room. Jeff and I both got x-rays done and our teeth cleaned. Elliot even got his teeth cleaned for the first time and did amazing! The dentist and the hygienist were wonderful! They wanted to know all about our ministry in Honduras and told us about mission trips they had been on. They were great with Elliot and imparted a lot of good dental hygiene information. Once we finished and thanked them so much for everything, we walked to the front desk to pay and check out. The sweet dental hygienist walked us to the door and said "don't worry about it."
What a sweet blessing they were to our family! We could not thank them enough! And to the God who orchestrated it all, praise His name!

Remember Lucy? Well, a few weeks before it was time to travel back to Honduras, Jeff called the airline to reserve Lucy's spot and to try to figure everything out. He spent about an hour or so on the phone, but by the time he got done talking with the airline, we were all in first class for the flight from Knoxville to Atlanta. Then Atlanta to Tegucigalpa, Jeff had downgraded his seat (at no charge), but managed to keep his 2 suitcases at 70 pounds each for free! Amazing!

As I think back to write this I continue to be amazed at His goodness and provision. Elliot loves to read books. He's 2, but he will sit still for 20 minutes or more just to read. We visited a library that we had never been to before, and Elliot was excited because there were so many books! I'm sure he was thinking "what could be better than a place full of books?" Then he discovered the library also had a train table with trains he could play with. I'm pretty sure he thought it was the best library in the whole world!

Not only does God take amazing care of us everyday, He took the time to lead us to something that would be so special for our little one too. I can't wait to see what He'll do this year! Let's watch for Him together!