Another Wedding! :)

Now I know that title should get some curious readers! No it's not any of my children (darn) but it is a very special couple. Josh Sawyer is coming to Bolivia this Friday to get his bride Lessie and take her back to the USA . They are having a religious service with gown and all before they leave. The official wedding will be celebrated in the States. So Saturday I will be walking Josh down the aisle representing his mother and Daniel will be translating the service for Josh who speaks very little Spanish. (He's learning!)
The whole process of getting a finance visa has been quite an ordeal, especially the paperwork of the passport here. It has been both a trial of faith and a great miracle that the paperwork was finally ready. If you had any idea of the immigration paper trail and lines here you'd KNOW it was a miracle. After Lessie's passport was damaged, she had no recourse but to apply for a new one at a time when lines are long and few are processed. As a last ditch effort she made an early trip to immigration and had a startling encounter with the director who said he'd only attend to ONE person that day and they'd have to wait for him to return from a meeting. To make a long story short, the passport was finished that day so she could head to La Paz for her scheduled hearing.
Josh came with us to Bolivia about 3 years ago on our church Work and Witness Trip. He made several other mission trips and he and Lessie became engaged about a year ago. Josh came to Bolivia in September and he and Lessie were our first offical dinner guests in our new home.
We wish them the best - God's best - for their lives.

by the way.,,,, isn't that a better blog than writing about the current political mess here in Bolivia? Pray for Bolivia. Tuesday there may be a general strike and we are hoping things can sette down, but also that democracy will not be lost here,.

In Delaware

Well, yesterday we drove all day to Delaware with Andy in the stuffed car. The night before we drove in to Saginaw to say farewell to Kelly and family since Valerie was sick and couldn't come for her own birthday party (good ole Michigan flu). That was sad, but the positive on that is now she knows that when we leave, we will always return for great fun times together. I thought we'd never stuff everything into our suitcases since we had new gifts and packages to add. But we huffed and puffed, got nervous and pushed and repackaged. Then it was Daniel and Andy's turn to get it all to fit in the trunk and back seat and still have room for Andy. With a final cleaning and laundry we flung ourselves into bed for a short night's sleep since we had to be off early to get to Ann Arbor for a final brace fitting and then find a spot for that in the already stuffed car. We made it to Delaware at 10:30 last night,. So here I am at 1:30 Still in my PJ's wondering why I'm so tired. I have so many memories stored away to ponder during the months ahead that will keep me going until our next trip,. Family ice skating with the two little ones in tears at first then beaming with success, hockey game, cooking for my family, and most special for me, reading great stories to my granddaughters,. Daniel's gift to me was a digital voice recorder which allows me to read to threm and burn a CD to send,. Special moments alone with each one - doing dishes with Sam, driving and talking in the car with Andy, chatting on the phone with Kelly over future possibilities and dreams. I am so thankful for e-mail so that we can continue to stay in touch. Looking at events in new ways in a goal for me this year - to put a positive spin on events, Novali was the best exampole of that. She had collected a stone for her mom and was hunting for it in the car. When asked, "Did you lose your stone?" She replied, "No, I didn't lose it; I'm just looking for it'" May this new year be a positive one for all of us! Thanks to all of you for making this trip a dream come true!