Pantanal

We have been in Nicaragua for a little over two weeks now.  We are settling in to how life could be if we were to relocate.  Not having a vehicle has been challenging for our big family.  Today we walked to the grocery store and then each took 2-4 bags each and walked back.  Even Kaiyin had a bag.  We're quite a site walking through the streets of Nicaragua. Eli said he has been hungry since we've gotten to Nicaragua, but he doesn't really know what real hunger is. It's amazing how ministry opportunities just pop up out of no where.  On Wednesday of last week, I (Heather) went to a women's Bible study in Pantanal.  It was their kick off night and there were about 15 women who came and shared.  One girl turned to me during the Bible study and asked if I would be interested in adopting more children.  After letting her know I was not, she told me about a young family who's dad had just died two days prior.  She said there were four kids and they were living alone with the oldest being 15 and the youngest being 5.  I got her in touch with the right people who could help this little family.  The next day they visited the family to figure out the whole story, bought them groceries at the market and have plans to help them secure their house with the help of their older sister of 18 who is supposed to come in a week.  We've had the privilege of leading kids worship music on five different occasions at different Bible clubs.  

 On Thursday, the kids and I spent the morning in Pantanal helping hand pump water from the well to fill up the water tank.  In the afternoon, the kids played soccer and tag in the uneven dirt street while dodging garbage and ditches which weave throughout the roads. The kids were invited to see the new born chicks that had just hatched the day before and Oscar (one of our new little friends) proudly invited Eli to his backyard to see all his toys which he poured out of a potato sack and declared "muchos".   As I was standing there, two women, who I'd previously met at a Bible study, brought me a chair to sit in the street and chat with them.  I found out one lady has 8 kids, the youngest being 2 and her niece, who was in her twenties was starting 1st grade next month.  We chatted for about an hour before going to a backyard Bible study.  

The girls and I led worship songs with the kids and they seemed to love the music.  The kids were learning the books of the Bible.  

The past two Saturdays we've spent at the sports ministry and soccer league games.  We've played baseball and soccer from kids ranging from two years old to grown up.  I've given the message both times and the kids seemed especially reflective about the message this past week.  I told them that Jesus calmed the storm and he could calm the storm inside of them as well.  The people in Pantanal have been accustomed to so much violence.  When people get angry, they just punch and hit each other or in true Nicaraguan form, throw rocks at each other.  One of the missionaries here carries around a first aid kit that I've seen her use 5 times since we've been here!  This Saturday I helped butterfly stitch a finger which had been cut while cutting firewood with a machete. 

The kids already have friends.  Today while walking to church, one of the girls came running down the street to hug Abi and Zoe.  There is much work to be done and it's just beginning.  

A new adventure...up to speed in slowing down

In an attempt to slow down and experience God serving in missions as a family we have embarked on a 3 month experiment. We are leaving Reno for 3 months to serve in Central America and see what God does. We are traveling to SoCal to visit Disney and some family and friends then Ensenada Mexico for a couple days to visit a ministry there, then to Nicaragua for a month and finally to rural Guatemala for 2 months.

Ironically this trip to "slow down" started with a crazy schedule of getting our house and stuff in order and squeezing every ounce of time possible in a trip to Southern California and Mexico before travelling to Nicaragua. It is now our 4th full day in Nicaragua and things are slowed down enough for me to get this blog started.

Up to speed...

So Cal

The first couple days in disney were a blast but by the 4th day we were tired and our feet hurt. We took the last day slower and left mid day to see our family in San Diego. We visited Heather's cousin's family which
includes cousins the same age as our kids. It is always a breath of fresh air to visit with them. The slowing down had started.

ENSENADA

We then crossed the border in our van and visited Rancho Agua Viva in Ensenada Mexico. This ministry has a 143ac facility in the mountains and has 4 primary ministries. 1. Using that facilities for Mexican nationals to have retreats and group events. 2. Being a base camp for short term missions teams to come and minister in the community 3. Running a seminary to train pastors from all over Mexico especially indiginous and unreached areas. The seminary is a 3 year certificate program. 4. Supporting these pastors and ministries in the future as they go out from the seminary into all of Mexico.

A special thanks to Brent, Becky and Scott for the time they took showing us around and making us feel very welcome there. They showed us the site, talked about the ministry and vision and even took us around town to church and other ministries they work with. Finally we visited the beach for some fun in the sand. Such a beautiful site, wonderful people and exciting ministry. We continue to pray for them as they work toward reaching Mexico for Christ.

Our return to the US was relatively easy because we crossed over at Tecate. Tijuana typically has a 3-4 hour wait to cross and in Tecate there were 3 cars in front of us. Of course we were pulled aside for secondary inspection and sat for an additional 30 min. It was an interesting homeschooling moment explaining why they were tearing apart our car (the officers were very kind though). The dog came by and was sniffing the car when Kiya asked, "why do they have a dog?" I said, "to check if we are trying to sneak in drugs" She followed with another question, "What are drugs?" Oh the homeschooling moments!

On our way back to LAX we were able to spend the day visiting with our best friends from Guatemala the Osbornes who live just a couple miles from Heather's cousins house. We rented a van and left for LAX 100 miles away. About 8 miles to our desination I got a call from Mandy that I had left Heather's backpack with
the money and vital records at their house in San Diego! They graciously drove and met me half way. I hope this isn't going to be a pattern for our trip.

The flight to Nicaragua was easy and Scott and Jen were at the airport to pick us up even though our flight got in at 10pm. We traveled to Granada and to our house/hotel.  The housing situation has been difficult. There was a giant house that was empty and we struck a deal with the owner to rent the house at a discounted rate. The deal was that when there were other guests we would just use 2 of the bedrooms. What we came to find is that the house is less of a house and more of a hotel...and a hotel that is not for kids! There are a lot of challenges with this hotel but we are being very gracious with the staff and making it work. We are trying to find another housing arrangement but Granada is full and expensive.

The first couple days the ministry here left for us to get our bearings and relax which was difficult given our
housing situation but I was able to attend and help teach a mens bible study. Friday we went to some home bible studies. I helped teach and Heather ministered with the kids. They did crafts and told stories. At the second house we all played soccer with some of the local kids behind the tiny house/shack on a small but steep slope above a stream of sewage and garbage. The soccer flat ball frequently went into the stream. We just had to not think about it and remind ourselves that a shower at the end of the day would take care of it all. Kaiyin and the littler kids were dirt sledding amidst the soccer game. They had a small crate and were using it to slide down the steep slope of dirt. They tied a cable
to it and began pulling each other down the slope trying to get it to overturn. Once they pulled Kaiyin down the slope and right into the pile of garbage but still short of the sewage. Friday evenings they have a social gathering with the locals at Scotts house where we could just get to know each other. The ministry here is firmly based in relationships with the locals.

Today was the sports day. We went out to the ministry property with a slew of people from toddlers to adults and played baseball and soccer. We had a small bible study and prayer to round it off.

It was really a great time. Life here is hard and culturally the people don't really congregate to encourage each other. This is a practice in being the body. The believers love on each other and those who have yet to believe are included as well into the group to experience the Christ change in the community of believers. Everyone has a great time and the group continues to grow. Scott took me on a walk on the 115ac property next door and we talked about a vision for the property. He is hoping to buy the property soon. More on that to come.

Hopefully I have been able to give a summary of what has happened so far. Things are slowing, we are getting plugged into ministry Soon we will get the kids unplugged from their digital devices (it is just hard given our living situation, they can't just go out and play). I will keep pictures uploaded to our picasaweb site ericheatherh.picasaweb.com 

Resources for keeping up with the Haddox's

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haddoxthoughts.blogspot.com

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The Prologue - Why?

As most of you already know, my family is busy, too busy in fact. We have been wanting to be more involved in ministry as a family but unable to achieve it. We have wanted to be in full time ministry for many years. I graduated from Dallas Seminary in 2000 and we thought that was the time. We started a church plant in 2001 but with the advice from friends abandoned it before we launched because we were having our twin girls Abi and Zoe. In 2004 we entered full time ministry again when we were missionaries in Guatemala for 3 years but when we returned to the states in late 2007 we were sucked back into engineering.

We have always been involved in ministry but it is one thing to volunteer a handful of hours during the week and being able to devote your entire work week to the effort. As the kids have gotten older and I have progressed in my career, my job has required more and the kids activities have required more, leaving very little for involvement in church. I made a promise to myself that I would leave engineering before I was 41. I turn 41 in July 2014.

Making inroads in ministry requires relationships. Unfortunately, due to re-entering the economy in 2008 as the "new guy" and the the fragile economy which has followed, we have had to move around  to California, Reno, NV, Ft Collins, CO, Toronto, ON and back to Reno. Through this we have tried to hold close relations with our "home" church. Ministry there recently came to an end. Our vision for ministry, to promote growth and change was not desired. They wanted us to help maintain what was instead of stretch for the future. I guess I should just say my hope for the future and the elders were different. After consideration and rejection for two separate positions I knew I needed to move on from my 22 yr relationship with them. Perfect timing right? Just as we are looking to move into full time ministry to sever our only strong relationship with a church?

In the last couple months before leaving we have found a new community of believers who have invited us in and made us feel welcome. Welcome at church, in their homes, in schooling our children. So much so that I hesitate to leave but know we have to.

Why leave? Our family has had a strong connection to missions, the poor and the marginalized since our time in Guatemala. Life in Guatemala was slow and relationships strong and spirituality evident every day. We need this time to re-center our family on God and his kingdom. We hope to slow down, enjoy each other and I can take intentional time to truly disciple my kids in a way our schedule did not allow for in Reno. I have always dreamed of doing ministry together as a family and ministering alongside my children. They are now of an age where they are missionaries themselves and not just "tag-along kids". I want to expose them to ministry in a way that will go with them long after they have grown. We are considering a permanent move to missions as well. If permanent foreign missions then we will be looking for a permanent  ministry position when we return to the States. 

What or where will it be? I am intentionally leaving this unclear. I have tried all my life to plan and direct God. In this experiment we will try the opposite. We will just follow God and experience what he has for us. Yes we will be thinking about what it would be like to live in each of the places we are visiting but ultimately we are just there to help, encourage and be Christ together.    

Many people, friends old and new, wanted to keep up with what we are doing so I figured I would fire up the old family blog to keep people updated. Feel free to subscribe to hear the latest. Please feel free to interact with what we write or write us an email. This is a huge encouragement to us that we are not walking alone.

We will be keeping two blogs going just as we did in Guatemala. teamhaddox.blogspot.com will be the fun and factual updates. haddoxthoughts.blogspot.com will be more introspective about our spiritual journey and less about the places themselves.

Concise Merry Christmas..:)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Photo "Year in review"

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving sledding

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Two more...

As most of you know, we adopted two children from Ethiopia. Kiya, a two year old girl and Kaiyin, a 5 month old boy. There was much drama in getting them from Ethiopia but Gad has provided even through the impossible. Kiya was diagnosed with tuberculosis and we were told that she would not be allowed to travel and immigrate to the US for almost 9 months after travelling to get her and Kayin. There was nothing we could do and even praying seemed futile, it was already determined. But amazingly enough, God changed the law a couple days before we traveled to Ethiopia and we were able to bring both of them home. They are fitting into our family just as if they had been here all along. Heather and I are adjusting to having a baby and a toddler around again. We are finding a routine and starting to get our groove.

This is an amazing story of provision but it has also been the hardest few months of our lives, but that will be written about in the haddoxthoughts.blogspot.com blog.