The Beauty Of Yellow...

I have never been more excited to see the color yellow than I was when I saw this picture of Mexico.  

This is a very good sign for Mexico in their fight against COVID-19.  Mexico uses a color system (red, orange, yellow, green) to determine what “phase” we are in. Chihuahua state is the big yellow one.  For the past 15 months we have spent most of the time in either red or orange (the highest phases).  I think we hit yellow once last September but that only lasted 2 weeks before going back to red.  Every two weeks, Mexico announces what “color phase” we will be in for the next two weeks.  Talk about exhausting, things changing every two weeks.

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I assumed that 2021 would be a much better year than 2020.  I assumed Mexico would follow suit with the United States as they have opened up more and more, restrictions are lifted, no masks for the vaccinated, and things return back to normal life.  I assumed the border would be open again, school would have resumed in person and mission teams would be able to come down and serve with us.  Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far this year.  It has definitely been tiring and discouraging at times, literally feeling like this is never going to end.  Who knows what will happen after this week or what phase we will be in, but for the moment, we are enjoying the color yellow and having a bit more freedom.

Carolina and Natalia continue to thrive living with us.  They are both doing great with their online schooling.  Caro has officially finished her junior year of high school.  She did an outstanding job with excellent grades.  Natalia is finishing up her final year in elementary school (6th grade).  She is now fluent in English and speaks more English in our home than Spanish. Ayantu is in her final weeks of 5th grade and both Jackie and I can’t believe our baby girl will be in 6th grade this August. We are hoping and praying that school will be able to resume in-person classes this coming school year.

Our house addition is going well.  We are adding 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry room.  Meny and Juanito have done an incredible job on the project. We hired Juanito to help and its been a blessing having him work with us. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to him today. He has a great opportunity to go work up in Idaho. He was able to get his visa and paperwork to be able to work. What an exciting opportunity for him, but we are sad to see him leave. 

Thank you again for all your prayers after our car accident in April.  It was definitely one of the scariest things I’ve been through.  So thankful that Caro and I were safe and escaped with only minor scrapes and bruises.  Last week we finally received our settlement from our insurance.  It was huge blessing to get over half of what we initially paid for the vehicle.  I don’t know whats normal in a situation like this but for down here in Bachiniva, we are thankful for the amount.  Now its time to find a new vehicle.

Jackie and I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a little more freedom.  We often think of you and are so thankful for your faithful prayers, encouragement, financial support and kind words via text messages, emails, phone calls, etc.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Jason, Jackie, Ayantu, Natalia and Carolina