Packing our bags

Well, we have two more sleeps in Canada and then we are off again for Guatemala. Our time at home has been good, although not without its challenges. When we arrived in Kamloops on August 3rd, our daughter, Hope, told us she didn't want to go to Guatemala with us in September. We were certainly not expecting that. As a result, all sorts of challenges came our way, all of which, praise the Lord, have sorted themselves out for now. So, Hope is going to stay in Kamloops and complete her first semester here.
We have been able to see most of our family and friends and sure enjoyed catching up. Marshal has been fire fighting in the Cariboo, so we have only seen him a couple of times. He is really enjoying the adventure of fire fighting and is wanting to do some travelling when the season ends. Perhaps he will find his way down to Guatemala for a visit (here's hoping!). Alex is busy as ever working and getting ready to begin her 4th year of nursing at TRU. She is going to be an amazing nurse! We have a new grand-niece who was born in March, and it has been very special to see her and see how our nephew and neice are raising their children. We are sure proud of them. Our neice Chelsey is getting married and although we are going to miss the wedding (September 11), she let me come to her dress fitting so I could see her in her wedding dress! That was very special. Not as good as being at the wedding, but certainly a great memory for me. My mother-in-law is heading out to Brazil again - this time for 5 months! She is working with a ministry there and loving every minute of it. We will miss her, although, as now we probably won't see her until November 2011. We have an amazing family - God has blessed us richly!
Rocky was able to find enough work to pay off our accumulated bills. In fact, he had so much work, he couldn't get it all done. The Lord definitely provided here. I have been working with Bev on Impact Ministries documents - quite a job. We are trying to streamline things so that we are not contradicting ourselves between documents and also not repeating ourselves. This has proven to be quite labour and time intensive! Dan Howell, the man who does all the tech stuff on the Canada side for Impact Ministries, is in Guatemala right now and he is going to be training me on how to upload documents to our website. Our eventual goal is to have our applications all electronic so that the Canada office can view them, but those of us working in Guatemala can also see them. That would be a huge step forward.
We are travelling down with the Celebration Team on Tuesday. It is Impact Ministries' 10th anniversary and it will be a busy 10 days of celebrating. Although it is sad to say goodbye to our family, we are excited to get back to Guatemala. Our daughter Arryn, who stayed in Guatemala, is going to be baptized when we get back and we are sure proud of her.
So, my next post will be from Gautemala. Until then, God bless you. Thank you for your support and prayers! We know that your prayers make all the difference!
Blessings,
Karren