Next Steps #2

I just realized that we more or less left you hanging after our post "Next Steps"! We have begun taking those steps - tiny as they may be. We have written an official support letter and posted it on our website, which is www.theballews.org. We are in the process of mailing out hard copies of those to many people as well. Mass emails have been sent. Facebook notifications have been posted. We are in the throngs of raising our financial support! It is exciting, and hard to remain patient as well. We are also making preparations to put our home on the market. You know...doing all of those fun little projects that you've been meaning to get around to but haven't bothered because they don't really effect your daily life. Well, now that other people are going to be considering your home to buy, you put forth tons of effort and money to get it just right. Just the way you'd like it to be while YOU are still living in it! Ha! The irony of it all. We will wait to officially list it until we feel God is guiding us to do so. We are hoping the timing will be perfect between raising the needed funds and the house selling. A matter of prayer, please. We don't want to be "homeless" before being able to leave for Bolivia! Please continue to pray for our spiritual, physical, and emotional preparedness as well. It seems each day is a roller coaster of emotions and feelings, always caught somewhere between "totally excited, thrilled, giddy and motivated" or "really stressed, overwhelmed, afraid, and doubtful". Thanks so much to those that are already supporting us, both financially and prayerfully. We love you and are indebted to you. God's Blessings -

Shay

Out of the mouths of "babes"

I know my boys are not exactly "babes" anymore, but I was reminded of this quote/verse this morning as I listened to them pray. We (try) to have a devotional every morning to start our day - I say "try" because sometimes we are scrambling to get out the door to a field trip or dance class and we don't get to it. Not every time, but sometimes I ask the boys to each say a prayer and then I close. I do not prompt them at all concerning what to pray about. I let them simply pray about whatever comes to their minds or what's in their hearts. I was very humbled and pleased this morning listening to them pray for our journey to become missionaries in Bolivia. I dare say I was even a bit convicted. I was reminded first of all, about how often and how fervent we should be praying for our journey, and also not to place low expectations upon our children. That may sound odd, because most parents tend to place very high expectations upon their kids. As far as spiritual things go, I feel that every time one of my boys does something or says something that seems overly spiritually mature for their age, I am shocked or surprised. This is a pleasant and joyful "problem" to have! They so impressed me with their sincere prayers this morning, that I really wasn't quite sure how to respond! It really helped confirm in me that God has given them a deep understanding of what we are doing and why. Kids are incredible beings, driving you crazy and misbehaving one moment, and the next impressing you with their knowledge or making you proud of their character choices. Guess God feels the same about us. It's just awesome to know that God was there with us, listening, heeding their requests, and he was pleased with them! He knows their hearts and their capacity to learn and grow. He has such mighty plans for each one of them - in Bolivia and beyond!!

Shay

Next Steps

We are in the process of determining what our next step in this long journey will be. We know that we must begin building our support team and raising our financial support, but the task seems daunting. Especially in light of the fact that we must continue living our normal daily lives (Lowell working and me schooling the kids, not to mention all other household duties), plus ready the house for sale. I (we) know without a doubt that Satan is going to be working on our minds and trying to place many a doubt in our hearts during this season. Please pray for our strength and that we would stand fast upon God's original calling and the promises of his Word. 

Romans 11:29 states "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable."

Shay

Ballew Photo Album on Photobucket

Visit http://www.photobucket.com/ballew to see our Bolivia photos.

(click on link above to view all our pics from Bolivia trip)

Wow! What a trip! It's great to be able to post a picture of El Cristo statue since this is the picture I used to start this blog a few months ago. It was great to get to show this to the family in person. Besides what better symbol for our trip than this image of Christ with his arms outstretched for the world - this is the reason we are doing all of this - all in Jesus' name and for his purposes!

We got back Tues. afternoon - plane touched down in Houston exactly on time at 1:12p.m. We got home around 3p.m. We were so blessed to be hosted by Edwin and Carmen Almanza while in Coch. Edwin carved out almost all of his time to be our personal tour guide. He used his car to drive us all over the city and on 3 trips outside the city to see very beautiful places like Lago Angostura where we all had fish for lunch and rode the zip line (even Livi!).

Most of our time in Cochabamba was spent seeing as much of the city and surrounding areas as possible. As well as having several meals with key church leaders and elders. I also met with a group called Red Musicos Artistas who is a group of musicians and worship leaders for local churches in the city who come together to write new songs and encourage each other. This was one of my best contacts that I am really excited about. Rodrigo Arteaga is the one with this vision and he and I had fun dreaming together of how I might be able to help with his vision. Here is there web site so you can see what they have been up to - I realize it's in spanish but you can still lear alot from pictures. http://redmusicos.com/

The entire trip was great from the guest house (hotel) we stayed in (which was a New Tribes Missionary Guest House facility). We are so so glad it worked out for us to stay there because we got to know another missionary family named the Hess Family very well who just returned from furlough - they had 4 kids who were all the same ages as our kids and they played a lot together the whole time. They were very helpful in encouraging us as well as giving us good tips about living in Cochabamba.

We want to tell all of you who have been supporting us through prayer and financial gifts that we would not have been able to have nearly as great of a trip without all of YOU that we were even able to go on this trip to begin with. THANK YOU!

You can see all of our recent photos at the link above this posting.

We Made It

¡Hola de Cochabamba!

Just wanted to let everyone know after a 24 hr. commute, 3 flights later - we finally made it to Cochabamba! It's just as beautiful as I remember it! The kids are doing great - they are enjoying the guest house - which is more like a guest hotel with multiple rooms. There is another family with 4 kids here and their 3 youngest kids are playing great with our kids. They have a 2 girls and 2 boys.

Well I just wanted to give a quick update for anyone who hasn't already seen our Facebook updates and photos. So - I am posting a few photos for you.

God Bless,
Lowell

Parting thoughts from Shay

My goal is to relax and enjoy the day tomorrow. Therefore..I am writing my parting thoughts this evening so that I am not constantly thinking about writing another post tomorrow. I had a very stressful day today, trying to cross off everything on the "to do" list and pack. I became quite irritable and snapped at the kids (and Lowell) a couple of times. Getting a family of 6 ready to travel to another country is no small task. I feel like I have done a fairly good job of slowly getting things ready over the last few weeks, so that I wouldn't get stressed! Well, I suppose even the best planners and "do-it-ahead-of-timers" have that last minute struggle of making sure absolutely everything is done and ready. Especially when you are also planning a birthday party for the night before you leave. Am I crazy? What was I thinking? Oh...right, it was our ONLY option. We'll be celebrating O's birthday tomorrow night at the pool with a ton of wonderful friends for a couple of hours. I am hoping that we can all relax and enjoy. As I was beginning the bedtime routine for O tonight, which included a bubble bath, I realized that what I needed was a hot bubble bath myself! I handed over the wet, slippery little gal to Lowell and took some time out for myself to breathe, relax, have a drink, and get re-charged a bit. It was the best thing I could of done. When we were saying goodnight to the boys later, we had a pow-wow in which we "regrouped" and reminded ourselves of exactly why it was that we were doing this, told them about what to expect as we travel, and unfortunately had to say some apologies (on my end). Lowell also led us in a great prayer which was so encouraging and refreshing. I think WE ARE READY!!! I will end by humbly asking all who take the time to read this to pray. Pray tonight as you go to sleep, that we would be fully prepared. Pray tomorrow that we can relax and enjoy the day and one another, and make FINAL preparations. Pray Sunday for safe travel, on-time flights, good weather, and that the kids would travel like champs. I ask that you would say a prayer for us each time you think of us throughout the next two weeks. Pray for health and safety, clarity and vision, divine appointments, language ability, Lowell as he shares with CIC, happy, flexible, and content kids, positive attitudes, and for FUN long-lasting memories to be made. We are hoping to come home with a clear vision and purpose, a timetable for moving there and being there, and with hearts full of confirmation and compassion for the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia. We love all of you dearly, and we will be anxious to share with you all about our time there! See you in two weeks!

Shay