And so it begins...

Rather than rewrite (and use precious brain power that with three little ones underfoot is sometimes hard to come by :) I wanted to share with you a portion of our most recent family newsletter...

January 2006… Gary, Nathan and I boarded a plane bound for Cochabamba, Bolivia. There was excitement about the realization of the dream we had envisioned now for years, sadness in leaving our families and friends stateside and yet a new life waiting for us here in our new home. If you had shown me a snapshot, a glimpse of what the next 4 years would hold for us, I’m not sure I would have believed you :).

(Send-off Sunday at Austin Avenue Church of Christ)

(Nathan and I at the Miami airport, January 2006)

We’ve grown as a family… in more ways than one, as individuals and as a couple. We’ve passed milestones as a family… birthdays, anniversaries, and the birth of two sons. We’ve reached milestones in ministry… establishing a downtown office for the team, finding and setting up a church location, witnessing the adding of new brothers and sisters in Christ, watching the body here grow in maturity as well as size, and beginning to hand over the church and its ministries to our Bolivian brothers and sisters. We’ve gained a second language, culture, and home.

This past year we evaluated our time here, the goals we had met, and our future plans. It was with much prayer and petition for wisdom that we made decisions about the coming years and what they would hold for our family. After months of prayer and planning, we as a family decided that this year, 2010, will be our last year living and working in Cochabamba. Gary and I both feel very blessed by our time and experience here. Our time as missionaries has enriched our family and our faith in ways that we never could have anticipated. We are so thankful for the opportunity we’ve had to partner with our heavenly Father in the work of planting a church here in Cochabamba. It has stretched our faith, pushed us out of our comfort zones, and shown us daily what an important job we as Christians have in this world to share his gospel and salvation. We will miss our church family here in Bolivia, teammates, friends we’ve made here in Cochabamba, and the life that we lead here.

We are also thankful for the opportunity that we will have to live close to family and friends again, sharing important milestones with them face to face as opposed to over emails and webcams. We ask for your prayers for our family as we make this transition back to stateside living. Please pray for our last year of ministry here, our travel back and forth to the states in preparation for our return, decisions we make about career paths in the states, and decisions we make about our family lifestyle. We pray for wisdom and constant guidance from our heavenly Father as we savor these last months here. He was so faithful in bringing us here to Cochabamba, and we pray that his faithfulness will shine just as brightly as we plan the months ahead. Thank you for your support of us as a family, of the ministry we’ve been a part of here in Cochabamba, and through those, the support you’ve given to your fellow brothers and sisters here in Bolivia. God bless you!

Having that said... this blog is going to be my processing place for the next year. I'm already starting to grieve the life that we're leaving behind here. I know that so many changes lie ahead for us, and not being a huge fan of change, I'm going to need a place to work things out :). Just wanted to give you a heads up... it's going to be a fun time of memories of what we've lived, with much anticipation of what's to come, but it might get a little emotionally sticky... I'm just sayin' :)

Precious words :)

Walking with Nathan today, this is the conversation you would have overheard:

Nathan: Mommy, who made the water? (we talk alot these days about who made things and who provides for us)

Mommy: I don't know Nathan, who made the water?

Nathan: God did!

Mommy: You're so right Nathan!

Nathan: I talked to God at the park at school. (a.k.a. the playground)

Mommy: Really?

Nathan: Yep. Because God's always with me. (which we've been working hard on understanding so that he's not scared at night... because God is always with him! So glad to know it sank in!)

Mommy: Did God talk to you?

Nathan: Uh-huh!

Mommy: What did he say to you?

Nathan: He said, "You're great!"

Mommy: God's right Nathan... You are great! :)

My goodness how I love this little boy!

Sweet baby...

Drumroll please....

Joshua slept 8 straight hours last night! (and the crowd goes wild!)

Now if I could just get his big brothers to do the same :)

Introductions...

When Gary and I made the decision to move back downtown I had no idea what a sense of community it would bring to our lives'. You see most everything I buy, or errands I run, are within about a three to four block radius from our house. I'm on foot alot and so I meet and greet the same people almost daily. The corner store owner, the egg lady across the street, the girls that work at the bread store, the pharmacist on the corner, the fruit lady at her stand, the salon owner just a couple doors down, and the guard for the store downstairs. As we progressed in our pregnancy it was so fun to watch them get excited with us, ask what we were having, when we were due, and how the big brothers were doing with the changes :) After Joshua's birth you should have seen the people stopping us in the street to see our newest son. It was amazing how they all wanted to meet this new bundle of joy :) Friends came to the hospital to meet Joshua. Church members were in our home for days to meet Joshua. When I go places without him people ask me to bring him back later so that they can meet him :) I was thinking to myself as he and I ran errands the other day if there is anyone I have missed in his introductions... and my mind went directly to the story in Matthew...

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. -Matthew 19:13.

I walked the streets here in Cochabamba longing for a face to face meeting with Jesus. Here in my arms lay my precious third son, and the one pair of arms I long to place him in more than anything were the arms of my Savior. I know metaphorically we've already committed him to the Lord and to raising him in a Christian home, but that day I wondered what it would be like as a mother to physically lay my child in the arms of my precious Jesus. What a fulfilling experience that must have been for the mothers of these children in Matthew... to watch the Messiah lay hands on their most prized possessions, to love on them, and to pray for them. I cannot even begin to imagine what a blessing that was! Until the day that we meet in heaven, I will lay my children at the feet of our Lord everyday in prayer... but there will always be the human part of me, the part that needs those physical connections, that will long to introduce my children to Jesus in this world, face to face.

So with no further ado, let me introduce you friends and family to the third Bull boy :) Joshua Eric Bull. Joshua (two months old now... I know, I know, I'm so behind!) was born November 12 in the wee hours of the morning :) He's growing like a weed, and getting used to the noises and constant activity that his big brothers have brought to his life :) Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers as we brought this new little one into the world. Praise God for his provision and faithfulness in giving us the gift of Joshua!

Three years... where does the time go?

Well, needless to say there's much catching up for me to do here at the Bull family blog... but I couldn't let the overwhelming nature of all the blog posts unwritten deter me from sharing with you all on this great day! This morning with over 100 of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ we celebrated 3 years a church (complete with birthday cake, toasts, and awards:). It was a day that was lead by Bolivians... from worship leading, to preaching, to announcements, to greeting, to award giving and so much more. We are being blessed tremendously as we watch our Bolivian brothers and sisters rise to the occasion of leadership in our Lord's church! It is truly overwhelming to think of the changes he has made in these past three years, growing his body not only in numbers but in maturity. Oh how we praise Him and give Him all the thanks for letting us be a part of this precious time here in Bolivia! Enjoy the pics...

Bruno Vargas (our youth group leader) leading worship. Bruno was in the accident this summer and was confined to their apartment with a leg and arm in cast for weeks. His faith and relationship with the Lord, along with his leadership, has grown by leaps and bounds this past year and we praise God for where he is in his walk!

Bruno and Butch praying over Pedro Chavez as he prepares to lead our worship through his preaching.

Sunday morning worship service... look at that packed house!

Tables and tables of our fellow Bolivian Christians celebrating together the faithfulness of God in his church here :)

Thanks to funds donated by Richland Hills Church of Christ we were able to start a scholarchip fund in memory of the three precious teenage girls we lost in the bus accident this year... these three college students (Renata, Bruno, and Rebeca) will receive the first year's scholarships and we are so excited to be able to help them out in this way!
And have I mentioned how much I love living in a culture that LOVES babies? I never lack for a pair of arms asking to hold my children... if I wasn't nursing Joshua, I might never actually get to hold this little man :) This is my dear friend Pocha holding Joshua while I play photographer :)
And before all the festivities started we decided it was time for a new family picture... Joshua included :) we actually got one that was worth keeping :)

And look at this chunky monkey :)