Welcome to Yet Another Home....and to Buying our First House!

So, another move was the next assignment, another place to live, another home, another set of friends to love. Oklahoma, here we come! Having again packed all that we owned (including the two kids!) into our VW van, we were again nomads, leaving Mexico with hearts full of gratefulness for God's goodness and faithfulness.

We stopped first in Dallas to discuss Bill's responsibilities with SIL administrators concerning the Devanagri typesetting project. (For those turning in late, Devanagri is the writing system used in Nepal and India.) While there, we also got a short vacation with Bill's parents. Bill's mom was great helping with meals and watching the kids as I wasn't feeling too well. But we all enjoyed eating Braum's ice cream together.

 

The kids made drawings for me to embroider pillows for Grandma and Grandpa Leal. Jonathan was 8 and Jenny just turned 6 when they did these pictures for the pillows below. Since the first Star Wars movie was just out, R2-D2 was pretty popular then; kind of like now, actually. Jenny's pillow included a picture of Muffy, our first real family dog. Later the kids made pictures for aprons for Grandma and Grandpa.

 

 

 

 We were welcomed in Norman by loving friends and church family there. Naive as we were, we had hoped to find a house right away, but soon learned that is a lengthy process. So we settled into a couple of dorm rooms at SIL, happy to be in our new "hometown." I wrote "The kids were thrilled to have their own place again, Jon especially. He went wild with his own bed, desk, drawers and closet. It's just lovely to be unpacked and have a room to call our own for the summer."

So the summer was full. The kids loved the SIL kids' program. We were again teaching linguistics, Bill grammar and me phonetics. But the biggest project was to find a house. After going through a realtor with 5 failed contracts, we finally found a house in the newspaper on our own. We went and saw it and loved it. Then we made our own contract with the Chinese couple who were the owners, applied for an FHA loan and waited. We even purchased a green fridge to match the color of the kitchen for the new home. Then on July 19 we got word that our loan was approved! We thought we were through the hard part--not.

Getting the papers all in order (remember we were doing this on our own) was a real challenge. By early August we still did not have all the papers to close. My anxiety levels were high even while I knew the Lord of the journey would work things out for good. The lesson he taught me was that "I had a thorn in my spirit, anger at God, unbelief in His provision, which goes back to my youth without a dad. For the first time it's coming out. I'm grateful the Lord chose to go deeper than I wanted Him to go." In the meantime, we all kept getting sick, spent time on antibiotics, in and out of seeing doctors and just adjusting to stateside living.

Then we finally thought of a solution for the house. Until the needed paper came, we would rent the house from the current owners. So began the process of planning for a move at the end of the summer. I wrote that "Jenny is almost as excited as I am and even loves to help with the floor plans and arrangements. And she promises to keep her room clean!"

It was a small three bedroom ranch home with a big yard for the kids. By mid-August we had moved in and set to work to clean and fix it up. Both the kids were so happy to be in their own home and have their own bedroom for the first time in their lives. Our hearts were full of gratefulness. Now it was time to get ready for school. Jenny would be in second grade and Jonathan in fourth.

Bill traveled to Dallas for short periods to work on the Devanagri project for the Nepal teams, meanwhile taking on a part-time job at OU (Oklahoma University) to bring in some needed income. Bill found himself challenged and "tried, with house repairs, yard work, and work in a 'new' culture." After ten years away from stateside living (from jungle camp in 1969 to the jungles of the US), it is a culture shock to return.

Below are a couple photos of the kids in the house and them and I in front of our house. Can you believe all the curls Jenny still had?? We were so very grateful to our Father for this house, each other.....and all the houses yet to come!

 

 

 

Many More Kids: Adoption Mexico Style

Don't miss "Does Jesus Love Me?" at the end of this blog posting!

Another very important thing happened during our last year in Mexico. We started seriously thinking about adopting more children. After the hysterectomy, we knew it wasn't possible for me to have another child, but we both wanted more children. In fact, we wanted LOTS of children. We wrote to Bill's parents and said "we're seriously considering adopting another child or 2 and we'd ask you to pray that we will clearly follow the mind and heart of the Lord in this, for us."

As the weeks progressed, we worked closely with Alvaro, our Mexican lawyer, for the adoption process in Mexico. We even went to the hospital in Cuernavaca to see and consider the children who were available. I wrote to Bill's parents, "We'd like a baby, up to 3-4 months old and preferably a boy. We hope we'll have a new grandchild for you when we see you in May! The kids are excited too." Alvaro worked with us, but it looked like it would be a long process to get all the paper work done.

Months later I wrote to Bill's parents, "We're still waiting for your grandchild. We've signed all the papers and are now awaiting the child of His choice for us." Then we went down and met with the people in charge, "but the only young one available was an 8 month old boy, and we had no peace about him (even though he was very cute). So we are at a stop and will not proceed further unless the Lord intervenes and works something else."

As the process dragged on, and we had paid the money up front to the lawyer, we waited for the papers to be processed and the baby "to be born." This went on for months and looked like it could take even years. Up until weeks before we left for the States we were hoping and waiting for approval on papers for a new baby, expecting to bring a new baby with us to the States.

As we continued to seek the Lord, He gave me a strange word, that "I would have many more children, but they wouldn't be my own." In ways I couldn't then imagine, this later happened (I ended up teaching, mothering, mentoring and loving so many children). And so we released to the Lord the adoption process and began to think about the future.

During this time, "I wondered if the Lord would have me put the time and energy into Bill and Jon and Jenny that would go into a baby. I feel quite at rest to accept whatever comes from Him through Bill." How could I not want to spend more time with these two amazing kids! Here are a few selected pics of warm memories in my heart.

I also found these old slides with the kids and my mom and then with Bill's parents. They were much loved kids--still are.

DOES JESUS LOVE ME???

I just found the follow recorded conversation at the end of my Nepal journal: a recording of the heart one precious child. Jonathan was in bed when I overheard these questions and answers between him (just turned 4) and Daddy on May 28, 1974. I started writing it down as they spoke when I realized how important this was! Such great questions. Wish we had another chance to answer them.

J: Does Jesus love me?
D: Yes, Jesus loves you very much.
J: And God?
D: Yes, God too.
J: And heaven?
D: Well, heaven a place, not a person. Like Santa Barbara. God lives in heaven.
J: Santa Barbara where Grandma lives?
D: Yes
J: Does Jesus take care of Ian too? (J's friend)
D: Yes, He does.
J: How can he walk?
D: Well, you can't see God.
J: I know that! How does Jesus come into our heart?
D: We ask Him to come in.
J: Does He open our heart up?
D: Sort of.
J: Like a door?
D: Well...
J: Does He open our hearts and walk in?
D: Sort of.
J: When He goes in does He close the door and lock it....with a key?
D: Yes, Jon, you're right. Go to sleep now.
J: What does He do with the key? Does He throw the key away?

When God Leads, He Provides: Saying Goodbye with Joy

Our second year of service in Mexico began with me "still saying goodbye and adjusting to my mom being gone--so my emotions were somewhat fragile. I wondered who Jesus lost in His family. We know He lost His father as a youth and I know he loved Lazarus. "Jesus wept" when Lazarus died. So if Jesus wept, I guessed it was OK for me to weep too. I thanked Him my mother's life and that, as I wrote, "This was a complete severance now. I am only bone of my husband's bone and flesh of his flesh and that we are one before all heaven and earth."

We didn't know what the future held, just that we were to return to Mexico with Bill working on the Devnagri typesetting of Scripture portions for teams returning to Nepal, and me again teaching in the Mexico Branch school. This time I got to teach Spanish to kids in K through 6, including Jon and Jenny. I loved it.

Bill's assignment meant he needed lots of time on the computer and this meant he had to work late, often to 3 or 4 a.m. or get up early, as in 4 or 5 a.m. For the techie historians, Bill said he was "using a Digital Equipment PDP-8, the leading minicomputer of its day." We also had our own personal computer--years before it was common. Bill had to build it himself. Here's a drawing one of the Mexico branch members drew of Bill with his home-brew set-up, a SOL 10!

When we returned to Mexico City we continued the nomad game. We began in a one bedroom place, and continued to move around the SIL base apartments. But one month was about as long as we stayed in one spot. One time we were given a two bedroom apartment to stay in, a real luxury. Yet I wrote that "I am having fun decorating it to be us. That's a blessing because I was rather down about moving all over again, and feeling like a gypsy." It was a good place to settle and also a time of increasing physical problems.

This whole year the kids and I kept getting sick with stomach problems, migraines, and some symptoms similar to when I had malaria, again ending up in the hospital several times. Lab tests always came back full of amoeba and I spent a lot of time on Flagyl this year. Bill, Jenny and I came down with typhoid so spent much time on antibiotics. And Jonathan fell from a tree and broke his arm quite badly. Can you imagine--the doctors recommended we stay out of foreign countries for awhile! We read the book Don't Waste Your Sorrows during this time, a helpful perspective on suffering and how it is to be cherished and not wasted.

Then God spoke to Bill that when He leads, He provides, and that health is a provision we didn't have. So we decided to move back to the States after the school year. Since we found such peace in Norman with Dow and the growing church there, we decided to move there, a place we already loved. Dow and Lois called us by phone regularly and visited several times too--to be with our brother Sebastian, and with us. Sebastian often stayed with us when he came into the city, here with Bill in one of  the many apartments we stayed in.

Jonathan was now in third grade and Jenny in first. For Jenny's sixth birthday we had a party with piñata, as you can see. Jonathan's 9th birthday also included a piñata that Bill is holding up ready! We love our Mexico traditions!

The kids excelled in school in all areas, except handwriting....like me. Here are some letters they wrote this year to Grandma and Grandpa Leal. I'm so glad they saved all our letters!



We spent Christmas in Norman--actually almost a month there. Bill drove the van up from Mexico City so the kids and I could fly and avoid the long drive. In Dallas, we had to transport (read "drag") our 4 suitcases from one area to another for inspection and entry into the country. One kind man, I thought, offered to carry one for us to the next kiosk. With two young kids in tow, I gladly accepted his help. We never saw that suitcase, or its contents again. And the airlines was not helpful. This is another whole story for later.

While there we stayed with Jay and Frankie Senter and their two kids for over two weeks. We also spent a week with Glen and Eliose Wolfinbarger. Amazing how willing these people were to open their hearts and homes. It was a wonderful time, even though both our kids came down with chicken pox and felt lousy. But the rest of the time they were really happy and this made us grateful and hopeful to see how they would do in the US. Jay and Frankie graciously gave us their bedroom while there. I couldn't imagine a more gracious host and hostess. Here you can see the Senters and their kids with Glen behind them at one of the group meetings.

During this year it became clear that Father wanted us in the States. But what would we do in the US? There would be no translation work in Oklahoma for us. BUT what was needed was for Bill to work on getting the Devnagri project functioning. Then they could assume responsibility for the project work there. This would take time and Bill could work at home with trips to the Dallas SIL Headquarters. Plus it would give me time to just be wife and mother, something I hadn't had in years. With this in mind, the decision to move back to the US being was final.

While we were in Norman in January, Bill spent time working out details of completing the assignment possibililities in the US. He was also offered a part time job at the University of Oklahoma's Information Systems Programs. That was a kind confirmation that Father was going ahead of our decision to relocate to the US.

It was also at this time that we had an unexpected surprise blessing that arrived...."$5,000 from my mom's inheritance, more than we could have hoped for, and enough for a down payment on a house in the States. Since we had spent many months in Mexico moving from apartment to apartment due to a housing shortage, a house of our own for the first time sounded like a time of healing would be at hand."

So we packed up everything we owned into our VW van and headed for the States. We said goodbye to many new and long lasting friends and went out with joy...clapping our hearts as all the trees of the field clapped their hands (Isaiah 5:12).