Still, quiet waters or raging river rapids...

Our littlest man has just turned 5 weeks, and as I think back over this past month and a bit, its crazy how much our lives are changing. In next to no time, we have gone from being a cosy little 3 member family unit, to a fun (and exhausting!) family of 4. Luis has graduated from his four year medical residency and gone from 4 years of stable work, in a time of unstable economical crisis, to the unknowingness of unemployment.

With so many twists and turns and at times, we have no idea which way these crazy rapids and going to to take us. But God remains God, He remains good.

The next stop on our journey towards Canillá, Guatemala, is POTES, a little town buried between mountains.  Luis was told not to worry, that there would be plenty of supply work available over summer, but as he kept his phone close to him, alert not to miss any calls regarding job offers, nothing. Silence. For 5 weeks. So He surrendered this time to God. Knowing deep down, that this pause from work was important not only for him, but for this new famliy of 4. But it hasn't been easy all the time. There are sweet, endearing moments of sleepy cuddles with a newborn baby, and a big brother learning to love his little brother. Then there are moments that you just want to fast forward through - a colicky baby at 4a.m. or a 22 month old struggling to express himself at this time of huge change.

What keeps me going during so many changes is the reassurance I have, yet cannot explain, that God remains the same throughout all this.

That very morning that Luis gave in and handed over his hurries and worries to God, he got a phonecall saying that there was work available and he could go and choose his job! So we will be spending 2 months this summer in Potes where Luis will be working in the health centre.

 Seen by many as almost a punishment, so far away from the city, we had the opposite reaction. In fact I am convinced that it is part of our "training" in the run-up to Canillá - a far more rural setting, a completely different caseload, and a completely different culture to what we have lived the last four years in Santander.

And one of the things I love most about God, is His eye for detail in our lives. After searching high and low for a place to rent, with no success, out of the nothing a friend of a frined put us in touch with a landlady who had a few apartments available. Although the situation had seemed hopeless, I said to Luis, "If God wants us to move far away from our friends, church family and stability, I'm asking him for a nice place, even with a little garden where Joshy can run around and burn his energy!". (Luis laughed and told me I had a lot of faith).

I'll let the photo's do the rest of the talking :)

  Joshy already burning energy in the garden! ;)

   The front side of our home for 2 months this summer.

 View of Potes 

Luis in front of his new work place, the health centre in Potes.

And so we take courage in the fact that God remains the same, whether life leads us down raging rapids or by still, quiet waters; a constant in times of change.

Canillá, Guatemala.

I'm writing this with one hand, because my sweet new son, Isaac, is occupying my other arm...

Welcome to our blog!  We are a Christian family who believe that God is love and that He is really interested in those who are most in need.

For that same reason, some time ago now, we asked ourselves the following question: 'Why don't we use medicine to reach the most disadvantaged people?'. Those without opportunities, who live without hope. People who haven't got enough food to eat, who can't afford to buy paracetamol, never mind the antibiotics to save the life of their child suffering from pneumonia. People who are discriminated for being indigenous... Why can't we simply help our neighbours?

Yes, that's how our dream started out - our passionate hope that everyone should be seen equally, of the same value.  After all, we are all made by - and are children of - the same God.

So you see, that's how our road to Guate began.  The road towards a region in the highlands, more precisely in the department of Quiche, in a little town called Canillá.  Its in that very place where we will be living from January 2015 and working with an awesome group of people, in a hospital where we'll be able to help many people, whilst at the same time transmitting God's love, through Jesus.

Hugs, Luis.

Photo: Presenting Canillá, our future home as of Jan' 2015!