God's "LITTLE" blessings.

We made it.

We finally arrived in the place we have been preparing for.  Over 11 years of preparation.  Of seeing God direct us, one step at a time.  It still hits me sometimes....we are really here.

There have been several "little things" that have happened since being here, which God has used to encourage me.  Little reminders that are whispers of His continued love and continued direction, one step at a time.  I want to record them so that I can look back and remember what He has done.  And I want to share it on here, so that others can be encouraged and praise Him with me.

Before we left the States, J (our now 10-month-old), could hardly eat anything that wasn't super-fine pureed.  If I mashed up bananas, he would gag and then throw up.  If I gave him tiny pieces of bread, he would gag and throw up.  So, I was only able to feed him pureed baby foods.  I packed a few containers in our suitcases, hoping that it would last us until I could find them here in the store or buy a blender to make our own.  Well, God had a different (better) plan!  Almost as soon as we arrived in our new country, J was miraculously able to eat solid foods!  It may seem like a small thing, but it has been such a blessing to be able to give him whatever we are eating (especially as we found out they don't sell pureed baby food here!)


We arrived here on December 31, with 2 small children, 7 suitcases/action packers, 2 strollers and more carry-ons than we could count.  That was it (even though it seemed like a lot when you were dragging it around the airport).  We found a house to rent for the year we are here.  It is a beautiful, new house.  However, it was completely empty.  No furniture, no closets, no cabinets, no shelves, no TP holders, no fridge, no stove, no place to put any of our belongings....you get the point.  We bought the basic necessities for being able to live (i.e. fridge, 2-burner stove top, towels and mattresses).  We moved into our house with those things and quickly found out the challenges of not having other furniture.  And then we found out that a sister organization of ours had a storage room full of furniture that we could borrow!  And the best part?  It was all RIGHT NEXT DOOR!  Only God could have planned that as He directed us to this house.  What a blessing!


Both of my babies have had digestive problems.  When B was small, his "problem" was extreme, many of you know that story.  J was not quite as bad, but he did seem to be bothered by certain foods, particularly dairy.  I went dairy-free for a while, which was difficult for this milk, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, ice-cream-lover!  A couple months before we left, I was able to add back all dairy, except for milk.  Milk seemed to still bother him, giving him more gas and discomfort.  It was hard to not have milk, because I had heard that you could only get powdered milk in the place we were moving.  I was giving up milk for a much longer time than I had anticipated or wanted.  To our pleasant surprise, we arrived in our new city and found out you can buy fresh milk here!!  I tried adding it back into my diet and J has been fine with it!  What an unexpected blessing to now be able to enjoy fresh milk again. [As an added bonus, it gets delivered to our door, 3 days a week, at no extra charge...actually, we pay less than we would if we bought it at the store! And it's cheaper (and fresher) than most places in the US: $2.36 per gallon].