BAAAAHHHHH!!!

It's Joe writing this time. I'm not as good of a writer as Shannon and this is my first post so bear with me. However, I wanted to share a quick, entertaining story about the inconveniences of life here in the Dominican Republic.

First of all, you need to be filled in on a little background information about me. If you were to ask me what I miss most about the States, my answer, without a doubt, would be efficiency. Seemingly the simplest tasks can take endless amounts of time. If I were to tell you what I typically do in a morning, you would ask me what I did with the other two hours. Just two days ago, I spent three hours in a bank trying to exchange money and open up an account. I left the bank with half my money exchanged, three voided checks, no new account, and a bookkeeping nightmare. I even brought Shannon and her fluent tongue with me as a translator to help avoid any trouble or confusion to no avail.

Secondly, a little background on our "other pets" here at the Guest House. Of course, we have our dog, Ellie, here with us but our "other pets" are the two sheep the clinic uses for some types of blood tests. These are the saddest sheep you have ever seen. I promise. The older one has dread locks for wool. These two sheep are fed special food and daily are allowed to go outside the gate to graze.

Here we go. About two weeks ago, we had the Northwoods Youth Group here for almost two weeks. I was having a great morning (I can always judge how good my morning is by how much I can accomplish in a certain period of time. The more accomplished in the less amount of time, the better). I had dropped the group off for their morning VBS (no issues), made multiple stops at and around the market (short lines, found everything at the grocery store, produce looked good), and purchased paint at the local hardware store (always an experience, usually they don't have the color or quantity I need) with no issues. All I had to do now to finish my morning errands was deliver the paint to the paint crew at CCED school.

I had slowed the truck and was ready to turn down the street to the school, when I looked 30 yards ahead and saw what I thought were my sheep running down the center of the road (more or less the main East - West highway in the southern half of the island). I decided to go check it out, and sure enough they were mine, a quarter mile from the clinic, running the wrong direction(I could tell by the ropes around their necks and of course the sad state of their wool). So, I drove closer to them, parked the truck, got out, and started chasing them by foot (never had to do this at the country club), again, down the main East - West highway in the DR. Luckily, shortly after I began my chase, they hung a sharp left into a field surrounded by a cement wall. Two nine-year-old boys helped me catch them and I began walking the sheep back to my truck a couple hundred yards away. They dragged me through some of the biggest mud puddles you have ever seen. My feet were completely brown/black and I even had mud on my shorts and shirt. Finally, after getting them back to the truck, I asked a man standing near if he could hold one sheep while I picked up the other and threw (I definitely threw it) it into the truck. After I got one in, I threw in the second. I was getting ready to leave when the man asked if I was going to tie them up. I reluctantly agreed (how stupid could an animal be to jump out of a moving truck). Why not?

Of course, now I had to drive to the school to make the delivery I was so close to making before. I was furious at those two stupid sheep for running away from the clinic, running down the highway, making me as dirty as I have been since I was a kid, and most importantly, ruining my efficient morning. How dumb could they be to run away from their great situation at the clinic? As I was driving toward the school, I kept glancing back at the sheep to make sure they were still in the truck. Half way to the school, sure enough, the oldest jumped out. It was now hanging by its neck on the side of the moving truck with its legs under the wheel. I can honestly say at this point I was so mad at it I hoped it had broken its neck, or at the very least, its legs. After stopping the truck and getting out to inspect the damage, unfortunately, the sheep was still alive and in tact. Once again, I threw it back in the truck and finished my delivery. My once perfect morning was completely destroyed.

I finally got back to the Guest House with the two idiots in the back of the truck. Once I put the truck in park, the same sheep jumped out again. I guess one hanging wasn't enough for her that day. I didn't even care. I untied the sheep, slapped them both on the butt, and watched them run back to their home behind the clinic.

The more I thought about my morning, the clearer the similarity between the sheep and me and the difference between God and me became. I was so angry at the sheep for leaving the safety of their home and running to the dangers outside the wall. I actually hoped the sheep would die once it, again, tried to do the exact opposite thing that I knew was best. The third time it disregarded my orders, I didn't even care.

When I reflect on this example, I can't even believe how great God's love for us is. The sheep did one thing wrong and I hated it. It disobeyed me a second time and I hoped it would die. After the third time, I didn't care what it did anymore. Just like the sheep, we continuously disobey what God KNOWS is best for us again and again and again. Unlike us, God loves us enough to BEG us to come back over and over and over. Nothing we can do, no matter how many times we do it, can separate us from God's love. Wow.

We truly are idiotic sheep.



Me, with my "other pets" in the back of the truck...

Oops!

Oh my. It's been too long since I've written an update. I apologize! Prepare yourself for a lengthly one.

Since March quite a bit has happened. To start off, I think I'll let some pictures do the talking. We had visits from my family, including my mom, dad, sister, brother, as well as my grandpa and grandma Wilson. Joe's parents and aunt Joan and uncle Jeff were here as well. The following are pictures from our parents from their time here. They are in no particular order.

This is the catholic church in the center of our town.

Joe's parents arriving at the airport in Santo Domingo.

The market where Joe buys all the groceries for me

Joe and I in front of the Jamie Smith School in El Rosario

We've had a lot of chickens coming into the guesthouse walls lately. Ellie loves chasing them! She chased this one into a room and Margot grabbed it and threw it back over the fence.

Joe and the chicken-chaser herself by our sign for the clinic

Weirdest house in town. They say it will someday be an art museum... you can see it from the track where we go running.

Joe at one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world, Playa Rincon. We traveled there with his parents, Roger and Judy.

We went horseback riding to the waterfall in El Limon with the Zimmermans

It was beautiful!

Later we met up with Jeff and Joan in Puerto Plata for some fun and relaxation. The kayak was really fun in the big waves.

Another picture of us in the kitchen.

With Cora, a nurse practioner who is very involved with Solid Rock and the people here.

Joe filling the tanks for the generator. We go through about ten gallons of gas a day.

In front of Pastor Wilson's church, Fountain of Life, with my mom, sister and brother.

Herman is a tailor who makes lots of clothes for the groups who come.

My family visited our friend Elvis' house. He's bringing out some arroz dulce that his mom had made us. Elvis was best friends with Josue, our translator who passed away shortly after we arrived to San Juan.

Ellie loves swimming. This is at the dam in Sabaneta.

Joe swimming with Ellie.

***Please excuse the formatting of what is written below. For some reason the website is not allowing me to put spaces between paragraphs :(. ***

As you can see we've done a lot and have had a lot of fun with visitors! We're looking forward to having more family and friends here coming up in the next couple of weeks. We'll get to spend time with Erin and Josh (Joe's sister and her husband), Jimmy (Joe's younger brother), and Katie (my sister) along with two of her friends. I'm sure I don't have to write that we're very excited to be with all of them.

My health is continuing to improve greatly. Praise God! So far I have been doing very well on a gluten-free diet. We're still kind of waiting it out to see what kind of lasting results I will get from it, but so far I've gotten a lot better and have stayed healthy. My arthritic finger has been completely healed. I no longer take the strong medicine that was prescribed for it and have been off it for six months. I also stopped my expensive Colitis medicine a few months ago and have been symptom-free ever since. Lastly, my thyroid levels seem to have finally stabilized. Nothing but good news here! Please pray that I will continue to stay healthy and strong.

Recently, Joe and I were able to travel to the States for a friend's wedding. It was so fun to see lots of friends and a lot of our family. Hopefully I can get some pictures from that trip up soon. We're planning to return again in August for a more extended period of time as we will not have any groups then due to hurricane season.

Work here has been going well as always. We're starting to get a different variety of teams, now, as we're heading into summer. We'll have more youth groups and church groups as opposed to surgical and medical groups. Things aren't too busy yet, but we have a stretch of at least four back-to-back groups coming in during the month of July. Luckily for me, I'll have my sister here for a whole month to help out in the kitchen :). Summer is descending upon us and so is the heat and humidity. We're entering into our first Dominican summer and I think it's going to be a hot one.

We're still just as obsessed with our dog, Ellie. She is living it up and loving her typical mornings of getting pet by 30 different people as they come into the dining room for coffee and breakfast. Her newest hobby is chasing lizards. She is quite addicted and loves to jump as high as she can to try to reach them. If she can't get them, she barks at them and chases them as best as she can. However, her most favorite things to chase are the chickens that come within the walls ever so often. Once she corners one she doesn't really know what to do with it, so we just grab it and throw it back over the wall. Yesterday, Joe and I celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. We were in the butcher shop to buy some meat for dinner and decided to ask them if they had any extra bones for our dog. Ellie ended up with an entire hip bone of a cow that is as big as she is! I cooked it in the oven for a few minutes and she gets to work on it whenever we are downstairs in the kitchen. It's quite the sight to see.

On a more serious note, Joe and I have been thinking and praying a lot lately about being open to God and listening for him to make known his desires for us. It all comes down to us remembering that we were created by God for the purpose of serving him. All of our deepest desires and passions are from him. He made us to each enjoy certain things so we can each honor and glorify him in our own way. For that reason, we can say that God is blessed by us when we enjoy being who he made us to be, using the talents and skills he gave us. If we stay near to him through prayer, reading the Bible, and listening to the advice of the wise, I think that is the best way to be open to hear God. We've been praying that he will make known to us his full plan for us at this point in our lives so we can better serve him. Also, in thinking already about the future, we are asking for him to make clear at the appropriate time how long he wants us to be serving in our current position here in the DR.

One thing that we feel like God was trying to make clear to us is that sometimes you have to break traditional rules to serve him. What I mean is that in the world today, there are certain ways that people are expected to live. Christian or not, there are certain cultural norms that most of us follow. As Christians, it is in no way wrong to follow and live by most of these norms, but I strongly believe that we need to be careful not to fall into a hypnotic way of living and doing things. Yes, Joe and I broke a norm by picking up and moving here, but it's still easy to fall into a certain lifestyle that is comfortable. I think it is a great blessing for those of us who can say that we are living comfortably and I am in no way saying that it is wrong. I just think back to the experiences where I quickly had to draw closer to God, and the majority of those times were not comfortable times.

Joe and I were thinking about our decision-making in general last Saturday night. Usually when we don't have groups, there is a certain church that we attend. However, this past Sunday we decided for no particular reason to go elsewhere. Since it was Mother's Day here in the DR, the pastor did a sermon on women who had faith. One point that really stood out to us was his thoughts on women who broke traditional rules to serve Christ. He said that "maybe you are thinking to do something by faith, but you are too worried about the traditional way of doing things. Don't let life trap you. Break the tradition if God is calling you." Joe and I really felt like that idea was something God was wanting us to think about after hearing that sermon. We've both been praying lately just that God will make his plans for us clear so we can better follow him. While our personal hopes and goals are important, as God himself has given us such desires, we realize that it is so important to let him stay in control and guide our future. He knows best and we know it.

I read this first part of Psalms 119 in the The Message the other day and felt like it described exactly how I wanted to be:

"You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. That's right- you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady; keeping to the course you set; then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me."

Those have been our thoughts lately. I guess I'll wrap things up for today. I promise to write more frequently from now on. Feel free to leave and questions, comments, or ideas regarding anything you'd like me to write about. We hope you are all well.

"May God, who puts all things together, makes all things whole, who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus, the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant, who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead, now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him, make us into what gives him most pleasure, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah. All glory to Jesus forever and always. Oh, yes, yes, yes." Hebrews 13:18-21, The Message.

Saludos a todos.

As always, we hope you are all doing well. We continue to be blessed by so many and are just very content in general. All is well in the Zimmerman household and we have a lot to be thankful for.

We did have an important arrival recently. Our little girl, Ellie, finally came to live with us after waiting many cold months in Michigan. She has definitely made us feel complete here and it's great to have our whole family here now. As you most likely have noted, I guess we're dog people. But not in a weird way. Okay, maybe, but I don't care. It truly is great having her here and she has already gotten quite spoiled. She is a friend to all and a comfort to those who left their puppies at home. A lot of people have said how great it is to have a dog here and that she makes it feel more like home. I knew she would be a good watchdog, but she is also a guarddog! It's pretty hilarious, actually. I don't know how to explain it, exactly, but dogs here are different from dogs in the States. For example, dogs here, even the pets, usually are allowed to roam free and are a little more on the rough and wild side. They don't really get trained much, eat trash on the street, and tend to get hit by cars a lot, thus becoming "tripod dogs" (as I like to call them). So Ellie, when someone unknown or not as familiar approaches any door that she has chosen to be guarding that particular day, begins barking as ferociously as she knows how. As it is a closed door through which she is barking, the average American would mostly likely still go to the door to knock or ring the bell. However, here, grown men will not come within ten feet of the door! It's pretty entertaining to witness. So as you might imagine, I feel very safe and protected by my scrawny, 19 pound "mini-lab".

Nothing else too new around here. A few weeks ago my family came to visit for the first time and it was really fun to spend time with them and show them around.


This is picture is of all of us at a restaurant near Barahona. As you can see even my Dad's parents were able to come down.

These upcoming weeks we're going to be spending a lot more time with friends and family. My friend Amy, from college, will be here this Saturday. Shortly after we'll get to spend time with Joe's cousin Brandon and his wife, our friend Julie, Joe's parents, and Joe's aunt and uncle.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my health. I'm still doing really well and feeling like myself. Praise God.

I guess that's all for now. Thank you all for your encouragement and support as always!

Another Miracle

Yes, I know, it's unbelieveable that I'm writing yet another entry so soon. However, we have a story that we'd like to share with you about how God has shown us, once again, that he is taking care of us.

As many of you know, in December I had some testing done in the States and was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I went to my general doctor on Monday, the 8th of December, and explained to him my symptoms. I also told him I only had a week in Indianapolis to figure out what was wrong (I guess that week could have been extended, but we wanted to be able to spend time with both sets of parents). My doctor immediately asked his assistant to call his (the assistant) friend who was a gastroenterologist downtown to see if I could get in with him. Just like that, I had an appointment the next morning.

Tuesday, the 9th of December, I saw the gastro. doctor and informed him of my limited timeframe. He checked with scheduling and they were able to get me in as the first patient each day for my next three days of testing.

Fast-forward to the present, and I'm now starting to receive bills from these appointments. BIG bills. We are still waiting to see how much our insurance is going to cover, but we know it's not going to be much. The total cost of my bills will be around $15,000 before insurance does anything. However, even if they follow through on our coverage, we're still looking at around $10,000 or more to pay out of pocket.

Do not be alarmed. Joe and I sure were when we first heard this news. Ten thousand dollars?! I know. After building up our savings account over the past couple of years, would we really have to take from it so quickly for this? Our heads were spinning. What do we do? "Pray," I kept saying. I'm not sure how long we were sitting in our little apartment in a confused daze.

After some time, we finally thought of our support money. How much extra do we have? Since the beginning of our fund-raising, we have been overwhelmed by the amount of money we received from everyone supporting our work. We have more than our necessary $2500 month committed, and have been sent countless one-time donations. When all the extra money was first coming in we almost felt bad. What are we going to do with all of this? It was definitely exceeding our monthly goal we thought we might struggle to meet. I remember we had mentioned something to each other about how maybe God has a plan . . .

OH. MY. WORD. This is it! It finally struck us. After finding out the total amount from our Solid Rock account, we were in such joyful stupor. This is what it was intended for! We have enough! God, you knew all along. It was never our money to have because God had been preparing for this very day since last summer. How good is he?! Those of you who have been giving your money and those of you giving your prayers- please realize the huge part you personally played in this miracle. He is using all of us to show his power. Don't miss out on seeing what he has done through YOU.

After some tears of happiness, a silly question came up between us. What do we do in the future if anything else should happen to us, medically speaking? How very, very silly of us. After seeing how God worked months in advance to prepare for our current situation involving thousands of dollars- how could we possibly worry?! Ha. May this be a lesson to all of us. God is in control. We can hear that so many times, but do we really, truly believe it?

I cannot thank enough all of you who support us in our work here. Your prayers and financial gifts are so obviously being used for great and amazing things. I hope you can feel very blessed to be a part of God's work in that way. Those who are giving monthly, thank you for the stability with which you provide us. We count on you and thank God for you each month as our living expenses are literally a gift from God through you. Those who are giving and have given various one-time gifts, thank you for providing us with enough for the unexpected. We praise God for his mysterious ways of using you to show his greatness. Those who are in prayer for us, thank you for the many blessing of strength, courage, and wisdom. God is here with us and with you, and we hope you can feel his presence and clearly see his work as a result of your prayers.

Please thank the Lord today for what he has done. He loves to hear it and most definitely deserves it. We were created to glorify God. It is the greatest thing we can ever do.

Joe: "We don't have to worry because we have insurance."
Shannon: "Yeah right, it stinks!"
Joe: "I mean we have God insurance. It's the best kind."

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones (or COLON! haha) will vibrate with life." Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message, parenthesis added by me :)

We love you all!!!

Rainbow Chip Sprinkles

I write to you this morning with a smile on my face and a feeling of contentment in my heart. I have a cup of Dominican coffee to the left of my laptop and I slept at least nine hours last night :). You could say today is a good day.

This past week we had a team of almost 40 staying with us doing all kinds of work in the area. There were two different groups going out in the campos (countryside) to set up medical clinics, a construction team working in El Rosario, and a surgical group in our clinic next door. There was a lot to organize and coordinate, but luckily they were an experienced group and everything went pretty smoothly.

Unfortunately I was sick for most of the week. I'm still getting used to having Colitis and am in the process of learning what I can and cannot eat. Eventually I'll have it figured out, and luckily the flare ups hardly ever come once I have my diet figured out. I'm so very thankful for everything the Lord has provided me with to keep me healthy. I have a Vonage phone to call my doctors in the States whenever need be, the laboratory is right down the stairs from my apartment, and there are constantly American doctors here each week. I'm definitely being taken care of and feel very comfortable here.

This past weekend Joe and I went with the group to Santo Domingo on their way out. We had an awesome time relaxing at the resort and enjoyed Valentine's Day on the beach :). However, on the way home we had a bit of trouble. As we were driving back to San Juan Saturday afternoon, we heard a clicking noise coming from under the hood of the truck. There seems to always be something going on with one of the trucks lately and we didn't think too much of it. I remember saying, "We just have to make it home, then we can get it checked out if it's still making that noise." Well, as we continued driving, the sound seemed to slowly get louder and louder. Then, just as we were about to enter the town of Bani, there was suddenly a loud banging noise and I could tell that something had broken off and was flying around under the hood! I pulled over immediately and we opened up the hood. Of course neither of us know anything about cars, but I guess it's just what you do when your car breaks! Haha. Anyways, just as soon as we got out of the car, a man crossed the road with his cell phone to his ear and told us he was calling his friend who was a mechanic. Talk about quick service! We were relieved but still in disbelief as we tried to talk through our options of what we were going to do. How much money do we have? Will we have to stay overnight? Can we trust these guys? About 20 minutes later, the mechanic comes and tells us what happened (bear with me, I don't know car terms). Aparently, our mechanic that we had seen two days ago was a little forgetful. He had replaced some belts and by doing so, took off the fan for the radiator. When he put the fan back on, he only remembered to secure it with ONE screw instead of four! So it was only a matter of time before that one screw came loose, causing the fan to fly off and smash into the radiator. So, the mechanic made a few more trips back and forth getting the parts and his tools. I felt a little more confident when I overheard him say to his friend, "they are foreigners, they have to be careful because they don't know about the danger." I told him I knew to be careful and was thankful for his concern. The entire time he was off getting parts he had his friend wait with us. I was thankful for that as it got dark. Joe and I just sat in the truck with the doors locked talking about memories of our dog, Ellie, to keep ourselves occupied. I also prayed that God would put an angel to sit on top of the truck to protect us! Maybe he just used the mechanic's friend because he never left us and made me feel safe as he seemed to be friends with every scary-looking person who walked by. Anyways, we got out of that situation spending only about $100 American ($3500 pesos). Pretty good deal! Now today we have to go have a talk with our mechanic in town . . . ! So that was our Valentine's Day! What a memory.

We now have two weeks without any groups here. People always ask us what we do during this time. I don't really know. The time really does go by quickly, though! It seems like it can take a week just to get caught up from previous groups and prepare for the next one coming in. Then there is always business stuff to deal with regarding insurance and bills and stuff from back home. I like to use this time to get stocked up on food I can freeze like breads, cookies, cereal, tortillas, etc. Joe has repairs to do on the rooms and finances to organize. We also are hoping to be able to spend more time with our friends we are meeting. I love having a good Dominican meal and getting to see peoples' houses.

We always seem to have something really fun to look forward to. This year is really exciting as we have friends and family coming just about every month to visit! The first to arrive will be my parents, sister and brother, and my dad's parents. They arrive in just two weeks! I'm getting really excited and can't wait to show them around. Hopefully my little pup, Ellie, will come, too. Pray for warm weather above 40 degrees so she can fly!!!

This past month we celebrated Joe's 27th birthday. What an old man! Haha. As always, I made him a Rainbow Chip cake with Rainbow Chip frosting. It's been tradition for as long as we've been together. He loves it. I think it's little kid cake. But I love it, too. To celebrate we traveled to the Barahona area looking for fun beaches and enjoying the beautiful drive. There are picture from that day on my previous blog entry.

As always, we hope you are all doing well. Please feel free to email us and let us know how you are doing. You can send it to me, Shannon, at shannonzim@gmail.com.

P.S. We LOVE getting pictures.

"God, the one and only- I'll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, an impregnable castle: I'm set for life . . . My help and glory are in God- granite-strength and safe-harbor-God- so trust in him, people; lay your lives on the line for him. God is a safe place to be . . . And a windfall, if it comes- don't make too much of it. God said this once and for all; how many times have I heard it repeated? 'Strength comes straight from God'." Psalm 62:1-2, 7-8, 10-11 The Message.

Happy Birthday to Joe!

Loving Life

Hello all! It's been a while. We're at the end of a busy but fun month. It sure feels good to be in the swing of things and feel confident in the work we are doing. We are liking what we do here and are enjoying meeting the teams who come down.

Things are going ok for me health-wise. I know I wrote about that a little bit in a previous entry. Still not 100% but doing fine and much better.

We're still waiting on our dog . . . Ellie :(. She's been staying with my parents and we're working on getting her down here. All of you dog lovers please keep her in your prayers! We miss her a lot and are trying to get her here as carry-on. If not, we have to wait for the weather to be 45 degrees or warmer in Detroit.

I guess I don't have too much to write right now. All is well here! Here are a few more recent photos:

With Margot & Rosa in the kitchen

Outside in the garden

Joe with Dr. Scot Stewart from Gainsville, Georgia

I watched a thyroid surgery and got to hold the thyroid afterward!

beautiful beach in the Barahona area

San Rafael- a river flowing into the ocean

San Rafael again. Joe & I went exploring to celebrate his birthday :)

God is in Charge

I'm afraid I have to begin this post with some sad news. First off, as many of you already know, we were grieved with the news of the passing of Raul Rodriguez this past weekend. For those of you who don't know, Raul was greatly involved in the work of Solid Rock Missions and has been visiting and serving here for many, many years, dating back to when Joe's grandpa Gordon was coming down here. Raul was adored by so many people and will be greatly missed by all those he touched here in San Juan and in many surrounding areas. Joe and I unfortunately did not know Raul extremely well, but had the pleasure of hosting him here at the Guesthouse a few weeks ago during his last trip to the Dominican Republic.

More recently, we experienced another tragedy as we learned of the death of Josue (aka Joshua), one of our Guesthouse translators. As a result, the past two days have been difficult for many reasons. I don't think I could properly put into words anything that would rightly and justly describe what kind of person Josue was. He was loved by many and had an incredible amount of American friends from the groups who came (and many who still come) to serve here. His death definitely shocked everyone, and I'm afraid God's intentions may not be known until heaven. Please pray for his family and his siblings as they just lost their mother last year. Also pray for his best friend, Elvis.

Margot and I were trying to process everything on the day we learned of Josue's death as we worked in the kitchen. She made a good point by saying how it's so important that we are all ready for death any day at any time. We need to live remembering that God could be planning to take us home at any moment. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

My friend Julie and I with Josue the first year we met him in January 2007