Finally??

 This is a post I have meaning to write for over a year. The reason I waited is I was hoping to have a conclusion wrapped in a little bow. It is not that way... but I digress.

The family immediately post accident (End of September 2023)

In August of 2022, following our return to Belize God gave us so much grace. We were able to "pick up where we started" so to speak with our applications for residency. The original process was started in 2021 and almost completed before we left the country. There was a LOT of grace. Our friends were in a similar space and their application was dropped.  

Zephaniah working on his timeline for school

The unfortunate/fortunate part of this is that the process was made easier in 2021. The cost however doubled. When we had started the process, Abigail was a child and now she was 18. The cost for her residency had doubled!  Yes adults were double the cost of kids. We weighed the cost with the fact that to live in country costed us 100$ a month.  As we prayed about it we decided to move ahead with all of the residency applications, including Abigail.

Zephaniah and Zion ice skating in Merida Mexico on our last visit (Jan 2024)

We paid and put the applications through. We were told that it would be 6 weeks or so until we received our cards and things became official.  We waited and waited and waited.

Standing at the river for Zion and Zephaniah's baptism

Finally over Christmas, (almost 4 months later) we attempted to cross the border. Even though we were assured by the immigration office that our receipt of payment would allow us to cross, the officer at the border wouldn't allow it. That being said, he did make a call to an immigration officer. I spoke with her briefly.  Interestingly within a week we had cards in hand.  WOW what an answer to prayer.  There was one minor "caveat" they misspelled Zephaniah's name. I know people are surprised at that ;) They wouldn't allow us to keep the "misspelled" card until they got a new one. We had to await a new one.

Our family "pre accident" on top of a Maya ruin September 2023

It has now been over a year with multiple stops at the immigration office to check in on progress. There is still none.  We don't have Zephaniah's card. We are fortunate that with parents and other kids do have them. We are now allowed to cross the border without a problem.  We hope and pray that one day Zephaniah will have a card (before we have to renew them 4 years from now!) 

As a semi update, Nathanael was just at the American Embassay (Selah and Zephaniah got new passports) They gave him a name of a person to contact about the card. We hope this person is able to print it for us. 

Saying goodbye to Nicole

 This is a difficult post to type. Honestly when "ministry outcomes" or medical outcomes don't happen the way I would hope, it is very difficult.  We have known Nicole for a while. She lives in Sand Hill outside of Belize City. She sporadically came to Jesus Deaf Church.  Us moving to Spanish Lookout was a huge benefit to her. On the way from Spanish Lookout to Orange Walk (which Nathanael travels every week) we were able to pick her up. She became a regular church attendee.  

She and her boyfriend enjoyed attendance. They both came in October and then January to the Kidz Konnect trips.  Unfortunately, Nicole wasn't privy to much of her medical background. It took two trips and meeting with her family for me to get some of an idea of what was going on with her.  As I was gaining a small understanding, navigating what tests we should have her complete, Nicole entered the hospital. We knew she was sick. I didn't realize that she would never leave the hospital alive.

The benefit of Nicole's funeral was that we were able to work with the KG church (conservative Mennonites).  This is only the second time this has been possible.  Nicole's family asked that Nathanael conduct the service.  The people at CDI (Cayo Deaf Institue) provided intpereting along with Marta Lowen.  Several people in the service were able to direct people to the saving grace of Jesus. I hope and pray that their words reached the people who needed to hear them. 

Marta's brother and sister in law just "happened" to be in Belize (they had moved to Canada). It was so sweet to meet them. We are thankful they were able to attend the wedding. He had known Nicole well.