WHAT ABOUT YOUR OWN KIDS?

I have had people ask me why I would take my kids to Mexico when it is not as safe and they would not have all of the opportunities that they would have in the United States.

Afterall, many people (my parents included) sacrificed and continue to sacrifice a great deal to get out of Mexico and into the United States so that their kids can have the opportunities they could not have themselves. 

I watched a news report the other day that may help explain where we are coming from.

In the US we have temporary holding places that children stay in while they wait for a foster home. 

In Mexico they have these places too, where kids stay until they find an orphanage that will take them, but kids may stay in these temporary holding places for years. 

As you may assume, they are understaffed and the children usually do not get the love and care they need. 

I watched a news report where the security cameras at one of these holding places filmed a girl get beat up by 2 other girls while the adults on staff stood by and did nothing to stop it. No one stepped in to help. I was yelling in my heart, “Someone do something!” 

I am guessing they were worried about being hurt in the process and that is why they stood by.

I don’t judge them or fault them. I don’t know what they have been through that made them be able to watch something like that without stepping in. 

But I don’t want to get to that point, ever. I can’t look on from the outside at the suffering I see in Mexico and stand back, without stepping in to help… just hoping someone will do something. 

We love these children. And they are so thirsty for love.  When I get home after our trips to Mexico, I feel the discrepancy between what life is like there and the life me and my kids are blessed with. We all feel it. 

Each trip, we become increasingly aware that we can’t feel okay with it.

My kids are blessed to be US citizens no matter where we live. They will continue to have access to many opportunities, but we have decided that if we can’t bring the kids to the opportunities we are blessed with… we need to take the opportunities to them.

I believe my kids will learn lessons that they will not learn any other way about loving and being with others in their struggles and heartache. I believe that is one of the most important parts of an education. Our family has been blessed with an abundance of love and we feel a responsibility and great desire to share it.

WE ARE ALL BABIES

I believe we all have different opportunities, experiences, desires, interests, and gifts. Each of our lives should look different from each others. A choice that makes sense to me may not make sense to someone else who hasn’t felt or seen what I have felt or seen. A choice your make may feel the same to me. 

The truth is that we are ALL babies when it comes to figuring out life, and God is there guiding our baby steps. As long as we are seeking him and being motivated by love for Him and others – we can completely trust Him to care for us, guide us, and work all things (even the really hard ones) for our good. 

OUR JOURNEY CONTINUED...

After I got home from purchasing the land, we began to discuss what we could do with it to serve in Mexico.

Bill got some butcher paper so we could “mind-map” our ideas.

Three of us had worked at a ropes course and all of us had been attending classes at CLAS ropes course because of the school I had started in Provo. We all knew we wanted that transformational learning experience to be something we offered the kids in Mexico.

We talked about wanting to share our love of books with them and of having a great library and a mini golf course where each hole represented a different book so that kids would be curious and want to learn more. 

We wanted kids to feel like they could be successful because they had had successful entrepreneurial experiences already in our school and had learned from their mistakes too. 

We especially wanted them to know that God was always with them in a very real way. That He would guide them into their personal potential as they learned to seek Him and see His hand in their everyday lives. We wanted them to NEVER feel alone. 

Transformational Activity at Find Your Path Academy at CLAS Ropes in Provo

It all felt good and right, but we had no idea how we could start. Bill had a good job he enjoyed and was good at. We didn’t have the finances to build anything. Our lives were in Utah. How could we live these two very different lives? Maybe we could save money and go out there once in a while and build what we could as we had the money?

Realistically we knew that this would take a very long time. I was good with just moving out there and seeing where God led us, but Bill, who feels the weight of responsibility to make sure we are provided for, wasn’t keen on just winging it.

We prayed. I asked for a miracle. I set up a donation page. I tried to sell memberships to my Find Your Path Program. And I felt a constant ache in my heart for the children in Mexico as everything seemed to be taking so long.

IT'S TIME TO GO

One day, I was making my bed when I got a text from Bill. It said he had sent me an email. I stopped what I was doing and opened it up to read it. The title was “It’s time to go.”

He said that over the weekend he had received some clarity about our desires to serve in Mexico and that if we are going to do it that we should just go all-in instead of trying to do it half-way from here. 

He reasoned that he could come back and get another job if things didn’t work out, but we would never know until we really tried it.

If we sold our house, we could use the equity to build a home and start a school and small business (so we could have an income to support our family). 

As you can imagine, tears welled up in my eyes and I knelt next to my bed right then to thank God for this incredible miracle in my husband. And then I texted Bill back to thank him for being the kind of person who has a desire to serve and who will receive and act on inspiration.

SELLING OUR STUFF

Step #1 was to get rid of a lot of things so that we could go to Mexico with only a few suitcases. We were told driving all that way with a moving truck would be pretty dangerous.

I normally love de-junking and giving stuff to the thrift store, but this wasn’t stuff I didn’t want anymore. I had a collection of around 5000 books, lots of outdoor equipment that I wanted to keep using, several meaningful decorations and more. So we decided to try to sell it.

That was a very emotionally draining day! I didn’t think about the fact that most people go to yard sales to get a really good deal on stuff other people don’t want anymore. Conversations like this were common: “How much do you want for this ice cream maker?”

“Well, I bought it pretty recently for $250.” 

“Would you take $10 for it?”

I did have to go inside to cry at one point because I felt so drained! We had signs at our yard sale about the reason we were moving and I had hoped people would be more willing to help. This expectation didn’t quite prepare me for the “ouch” of haggling 😉 I know money is tight for many and I felt silly caring so much about stuff, but letting some if go (especially my books that I loved so much) did put me in a state of mourning about the loss for a bit.

There were, however, some really generous people that paid more than what I asked and one sweet little neighbor girl who gave me $2 as a donation without buying anything. Those people (and quite a bit of prayer) kept me going. 

Some of My Now Nearly-Empty Bookshelves 😥

Obviously, stuff is not important and I’m feeling much better now. The dream that keeps us going is worth much more. I am grateful we have found a work we care so much about. 

To be continued on Part 3…