LiFE iS JUST A LiTTLE SWEETER RiGHT NOW

very sorry to have not updated in a LONG time! but it's definitely been busy around here. Cheryl is in the states for a month, so I have been playing mommy to 5 children. definitely a full time job!!! lucky for me, I have Tamara here with me for the month and it's actually pretty fun. I love the kids and I love that they call me mama for now! :) but needless to say, I've had very little time to concentrate on the computer, especially for updating the blog. I get up at 5:30 to get the kids up and ready for school, so by the time they go to bed at 7-8, I am about to drop too! :) ...the reason I'm taking the time to write this blog is because I want to make public, the thanks that I owe God for my life. I have debated whether to write this on the blog (in part, because I have a very hard time recalling it, without getting nauseous), but it's part of my experience in Nicaragua and it is just another way God has shown me I have a purpose.........this past weekend we took the kids and everyone who helped (minus Chico) to the beach. We got some rooms at a hotel and enjoyed Friday at the beach and then had most of the day Saturday for the beach too. We had been out and about in the water Saturday morning, we'd walked around a little and came back to the water again to play some....Apparently, the water current/tide/something had changed. The waves were rougher and Chele started to head for shore and motioned for me to do the same. But the more I tried, the further I kept getting from shore. Eugenio motioned for me to come in because I was pretty far out and all I could do was throw my hands up to gesture that I was trying but couldn't get anywhere. (this is where it gets stressful for me)...I keep swimming as forcefully as I can, but I only get further and further out. Before I knew it, the ocean had taken me out past all the HUGE waves crashing on the shore. I was between those and the other occassional waves that crashed on top of me. The people on the shore appeared to be about an inch tall and I could go nowhere but where the waves wanted to take me...At this point, I began to panick. no one could come out to get me because they would end up in the same situation as me, and I couldn't go anywhere...I was in a place I had never imagined myself. I was recounting what I thought would be my last minutes of life. I was screaming, crying, begging God to not let this be the end, not to let this be how my life ends...it seemed like an ETERNITY that I just watched the shore, with a crowd of people on shore just watching me...til I was no more. Thankfully, I made myself calm down, knowing if I panicked it really would be the end. So instead, I prayed, yelled, screamed any and every scripture that came to my head. It was the only thing that kept me sane for the estimated 30ish minutes I was out there, completely helpless...I kept looking, hoping that a boat, a jetski, anything would be coming to my rescue because I didn't know how long I could continue to kick before I ran out of energy (little did I know, that Eugenio and Chele had ran 2 km to find someone with a boat that would go out and look for me)......I couldn't see anyone on shore because of the waves crashing in front of me and they couldn't see me because of the same thing, but all of a sudden I see this person coming towards me in the water, and "something" was pulling me closer to that person. because I was getting closer to the waves crashing, and they were now crashing on me and spinning me like I was in a washing machine. I start screaming for help, and it takes what seems like forever, but the guy gets to me with a boogie board, my angel from God! And then all of sudden, in like 2-3 mins I was back to shore. I couldn't believe that I was actually alive and able to carry my body with feeble legs to a table to collapse...A nice man from one of the hotels gave me a tranquilizer and some juice and some instructions on what to do for the rest of the day. If you don't know the Pacific Ocean, this thing happens quite a bit, but many people truly don't survive.....All I can say is God had mercy on me that day, because I know (along with a few workers around the beach telling us) that I should never have survived what I went through. And if I didn't know before that God still has purpose for my life, I know now! If he did not have something for me, He could've taken me easily. but he didn't. I have life...and it's just a little sweeter right now than it has been in a while. I am so thankful to God and his provision for my life!

PS - don't tell my grandparents!!!!!!! :)