Good news about Cesar

As of this past Saturday, I was ready to begin an intense fight as an advocate for this little boy.  I have not been able to get him off my mind since I met him on March 6th.  But...Praise the Lord!!!  Yesterday, I received some encouraging news about little Cesar.  Thank you so much for your many prayers for this precious boy.  Please continue to pray for him.

I am simply going to copy the letter DeeDee (my teammate) sent me, since she saw him first hand.

Hey friends,

Just wanted to pass along what I believe is really positive news related to the Cesar updates.  At the end of last week, Ricardo went into town to help sign all the papers to get Cesar released from the hospital and passed on to a new guardian.  I got news today of how that went. 

Apparently, PGN (equivalent to DCS) was not in favor of sending Cesar back to the same home.  So Cesar´s mom suggested one of Cesar´s uncles named Crisanto who lives in the same community.  Crisanto and his wife Carmelina agreed to be Cesar´s guardians for the next year or so (I´m kinda unclear about the time commitment).  Meanwhile, PGN has committed to doing an "intervention" with Cesar's mom to help prepare her to receive Cesar back into her home (not sure exactly what this intervention will look like... but sounds positive).  Also, PGN will continue to monitor Cesar's progress at his new home.  

I thought this news sounded good, but I was still very skeptical.  And I was eager to see Cesar in his new home. So this afternoon Marcelino walked with me to visit Cesar.  As we arrived, we saw Cesar walking hand-in-hand with Crisanto's wife Carmelina.  She also had their little 3-year-old boy with them (a great playmate for Cesar and actually his same size!).  Truthfully, she was probably one of the most friendly women I have ever met in the Valley.  Her husband came out too and was very welcoming.  They seemed to be a very sweet, educated (both spoke some Spanish) family, and they gave me confidence that Cesar would be well taken care of.  They even had a fence around their yard, which will hopefully help discourage Cesar from trying to run away (which he hopefully won't even try to do if he's being cared for properly).  

They invited me back another day when we could sit down and chat longer, and of course, I plan to do so before we head back to the States in a few weeks.  

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I never cease to be amazed at the transformation that has happened in the life of this sweet little boy in exactly two months.  Thanks to God, and to the help of Beth and Katy, Cesar has been given another chance at life!  The second picture is of his new parents... of course they're not smiling, but they seem very happy to have him as part of the family.

I hope you all can rest well tonight and lift up praises to our Father for this good news.  After I left Cesar's new house this afternoon, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.  God is good.

Blessings,

DeeDee 

A little McKinney family update

As you may have assumed, since you did not hear otherwise, the boys arrived safely home on April 18th.  Though they were tired and everyone is missing Nina, we were happy to be home and all together again.  Mark has had every intention of posting a blog about their time in Guatemala; however, he returned home with some very unwelcome stowaways in his intestines.  That, along with beginning his new job on Monday, April 22nd, has left him barely keeping his head above water these last few weeks.

So what has been going on with the rest of us?  Well...we are still in limbo-mode.  We are so thankful for the hospitality of our parents who have housed us and fed us with such grace.  It has provided us space and time to breathe and rest and just BE, before the real unpacking begins.  

During our week at home together, before the boys headed back down south, we went house hunting.  In early March, we were planning to come home and look for something to rent.  That was something we talked about for several reasons:  at the time, the family renting our home was still trying to sell their home; I was feeling very unable to make any decisions; and we felt like renting might be a way to just take a breath for a year or so.  However, in the depths of my gut, that decision left me feeling sick to my stomach.  One thing I have longed for so very much is a place to settle-- a place that is for my family and where we can begin anew and begin to allow the Lord to mold in us what he wants life in Knoxville to look like for the McKinney family.  I knew we could do that anywhere, but I REALLY didn't want to have to move again.  And I knew that if we were renting, I would struggle to really feel settled.  Returning on March 26th, we opened our hands and continued the prayer we have been praying for ourselves all year, "Lord, show us where you want us to live."

The Lord answered that prayer with a gift more abundant than anything I could have imagined!  Some of you know we have been looking at houses in the Lenoir City area for quite some time, especially houses near Mark's parents.  So, when a house appeared on Zillow a few weeks before we flew back (we saw it the day after we arrived), we were intrigued.  It is walking distance from Mark's parent's house and has a gorgeous view of the mountains and a beautiful pasture.  My first two thoughts were:  1.  it's probably way out of our price range OR  2.  if it's in our price range, it's probably a dump and has more work needed than we are willing to put in during this season.  (And Jesus gently shakes his head and says, "Oh, you of little faith.")  First of all...the price was more than perfect.  And second, I walked in and said, "I could move in here tomorrow without doing anything!!"  It is small and if you had told me a year ago that I would practically be cutting the square footage of my home in half, I would have told you that you must have lost your mind.  But then again, I am the one who moved to a place with no electricity with my four crazy kids-- so who can really claim sanity anyway??  And perspectives on what is big enough changes dramatically when my family of 6 has been sharing two rooms and sharing a house with 10 people. It's all about perspective.

And guess what...the dominoes are falling!  This past Tuesday, the family renting our house finally closed on their house.  Praise Jesus!!!  We close with them this coming Friday and will purchase our new home on Wednesday, May 15th.  We are so very excited to have a place to settle, to not have to move again, and to be able to figure out our new normal.  We would very much appreciate your prayers in the midst of more transition and thank you for the many prayers you have offered for our family along this journey.  We look forward to having you come visit us!  

Oh...and a side-note:  since we are moving into a smaller space, the baby grand piano is not going to make the move...so if you know of anyone who may be looking to buy a piano, let us know.