We made it!

I can't believe we actually live in Mexico now! Mexico just wasnt in the cards of places we thought we'd ever move to, but I guess when you decide to let God lead your life you end up in some cool new places. We're really excited to see what the deal is with us being here, so as we set up shop we're spending alot of time in prayer trying to get some clues. :)

We've been here for like 3 full weeks now and learning to do life in Ensenada is really fun so far. First of all, it's thrift store heaven here. For reals. The main street before you get off to come to our neighborhood is packed with them. And really good ones too...all the little mexicana ladies go up to San Diego and wipe out all the garage sales and craigslist and bring it down for me to enjoy! It's awesome. Actually, I think the little mexicana ladies make their husbands do all of that and they do the negotiating to get a decent price for it all. Pretty fun. :) SO since we left all our stuff in Florida, we've been in start up mode regarding furniture which I don't mind at all. :) Except right about now that we have no moola to get the rest of the stuff we need like a dining room table and chairs, a washer and dryer, beds for the girls, silverware and some other stuff. Bummer. Stinks when I see something I like at a segunda and like 5 minutes later it's gone. The mexicans are quite at swiping the good stuff and some of them are livin' large here thanks to So Cal!

It's cool though, we're learning to be content with what we have and making it all work until the Lord provides more. Thank God we hosted last semesters home fellowship at our house b/c we had a bunch of plastic forks, spoons and paper plates left over which is what we've been using almost every single day since we moved here. Sweet. No dishes! {well, no dishwasher either!} Our real silverware got scooped up by some unsuspecting blessee at a Goodwill store in FL. Same with our plates, mugs and kids stuff. I'm wondering what else didn't make it across the country with us since we're not all unpacked yet. We'll see what else we randomly gave to the Goodwill just b/c it was heavy. I know my sewing machine was in that pile. :( But surely the segundas will hook me up with whatever I need, and for cheap too! Yessss. Sorry Target, seems you're taking back burner to my little mexicana friends right now. Besides that the nearest Target is in another country now. {I'm just trying to cope....I really do love Tar-jay}.

Anywho...once we get a little more settled, which hopefully will be by tonight b/c I can't handle the chaos happening in my house right now....I'll post pictures of whats been happening and of the house and of whatever else.

Thanks again to all our friends who hosted us and loved on us while we made the journey across the US of A. It was intense but you all made it fun.

Pics coming soon.

Woah...

So, I just have to say that it's pretty insane how much stuff can happen in a single month. If I don't update right now, I fear the next time I try to do so would be years away and with too much to write. Ugh....so here we go. From the last 'birthday surprise' blog.... well, we are now officially moving to Mexico!!!! Ahhhhhhhh! That was an 'ahhh' of serious excitment. :) So, since we've been home from Theo's birthday trip, we had a jam packed month of June with lots of friends and in-laws visiting with us..and...lots of kids involved. :) Need I say more? So, I'm slightly wiped out, but there's definitly no time to be wiped out right now...

For our latest official 'Family Update' click here... www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/notes/melissa-steinhauer-family-update/10150687035610004

Sorry peeps...copy & paste isn't working here for some reason and I can't possibly re write it all at this point.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Theo's Surprise 30th Bday gift

A few months ago, Theo flew with Lee to San Diego, CA to pick up a truck that was given to him. They drove down to Ensenada, Mexico, than drove across the country back home to south Florida. Theo was all excited about how great Mexico was and how much he loved eating the mangos on the beach, which were cut like flowers and had fresh lime and salt on them, how beautiful all these different parts of the trip were and how he wished I was there to share it with him. So, since Theo's 30th bday was coming up, I decided to do a big surprise trip with Lee & Sarah.....back to Mexico and with no kids! So after a month of serious planning and several complex details, the day for us to leave, came. On May 24th, we had just gotten home from Virginia & Orlando at 1in the morning. That day I planned on unpacking, repacking and cleaning like a mad woman since I knew was about to happen that evening. Well, we got word that some special prohetic people were going to be at staff meeting and we should both try to go. So, of course I decided to go for just an hour max. Well, 3 1/2 hours later I get home to a completely upside down house and no time to do anything. I half unpacked...just the dirty clothes from the VA trip and replaced it with clean underwear and stuff, lol, then threw the suitcase in the trunk without him seeing it. Steph was flying up from Haiti to be with Stella & Naya for us, as his gift. Well when I got home from staff meeting, I got a call from Kathy that Stephanie's flt was rerouted to Miami at the same time. The plan was for Steph to fly into FLL at 7pm -ish, and our flight took off at 8:22p, so I planned to take Theo on a special 'date' that night, and we were going to pick Steph up at the airport which was the first part of the surprise, and after some hugs and an explaination of what was happening, she was going to get in the van, drop us off at our terminal then go home to be with the girls {who were there with my sister at the time}. So since Steph was now rerouted, I had to quickly think of a back up plan....so Sarah drove with us to our destination which he thought was a {LEO} double date to a Ft. Lauderdale Strikers game, and Lee was planning on meeting us there. So with Theo blindfolded, we pulled up to the airport. We let him out and filled him in on the real 'date'...aka his birthday surprise trip to Mexico then Sarah did me with big favor of driving down to the Miami airport to get Steph. :) Needless to say, he was in total shock! I think even a tear welled up in hi eye. :) And I couldn't believe that I was able to keep this whole thing a secret for a whole month and I could finally let it all out! :)
So that all was the prep work. Now on to the fun part....we boarded our plane and flew to LAX, stayed the night with Andrew and Emily Bowser at their super cute apartment in Hollywood. The next morning we jumped on a train down to San Clemente...which is a cute little surf town. We got to hang with Dave and Julia Weissmann for a few hours....Theo surfed and rode motorcycles with Dave which that alone made him such a happy camper, while Olivia napped and Julia & I caught up. :) Later, we met up with the Cates' then continued our journey down into Mexico! The next 4 days were spent in Ensenada just hangin with our friends, getting reaquinted with YUGO and getting familiar with the surf ministry that happens every Saturday. Meanwhile, we had been praying for some direction from the Lord for a few months now. Our lease is coming to an end and we needed to know where He wanted us. So while at YUGO {Youth Unlimited Gospel Outreach}, we had a meeting with the Ensenada directors about the Lord possibly leading us in that direction. The meeting went very well and they informed us how the believe the Lord is really beginning to do something special in that place b/c we are 1 of a handful of new families considering relocating to Ensenada for ministry work with YUGO! :) {Of course that makes this all more exciting!}
We also were looking for possible housing since we knew that if the Lord does indeed move us there, we don't have money to visit again for housing. Well, we ended up meeting an american missionary family whose been living in Mexico for 6 years and the house next to theirs is available! We called to make an appointment to see it and and couldn't believe how beautiful this place was, and with so many advantages that most homes in the area don't have. So after much prayer, talking with Harbour leadership and the YUGO meeting, we are pretty sure it's the Lord guiding us to move to Ensenada! AH! We are super excited and are so grateful to the Lord for His kindness to us. Now, we just have to do all the logistical things of moving a family from south Florida to Baja, California! :) Yaaaay!

Prayer Time...

So I'm sitting on my bed listening to Stella and Naya pray while they are in their 'secret place' with Jesus....aka Theo's closet. :)

Stella: 'Dear Jesus I am just so sorry for not obeying you. Please heal our bodies and grandma and grandpa's bodies, in Jesus name, Amen...

And thank you for dying on the cross, and heal all the chocolate people in Haiti. In Jesus' name, Amen. '

Naya chimes in every few seconds with, 'Yes, Lord!'

Hahaha! This is the best.

Oh then Stella asks if she can have a treat for praying such a good prayer, hahaha!

Just to catch up...

The girls are huge. I can't believe Stella will be turning 4 in just 2 months. I'm trying really hard to cherish every single day I have with the girls since clearly time flies. Naya is talking so much now too...I guess this is the point where they go from saying a handful of words to full on conversations about everything you could think of {that sometimes just doesn't end!} :) Stella and Naya are just such sweet hearts...I mean it...they are coming into their own little personalities and they are showing such sweetness and love...I guess this is the fruit of our prayers for them! Thank God for His faithfulness to hear our prayers! Olivia is almost 6 months old already. I could cry. I purposely took in every part of her life b/c I knew it would pass so quickly, but this is just beyond what I expected. I feel like she should still only be 3 months old. She sits up alone {occassionally falling over}, eats her baby food {the best of the 3 so far}, and has begun crawling.....backwards. :) She'll get her directions straightened out soon enough. But I just am enjoying motherhood like never before. I feel incredibly blessed and am so grateful for my family. We've been really enjoying our home fellowship group that meets here at our house on Sundays for church. Honestly, it was a big group of strangers at first....people of all ages and stages in life...none of whom I knew. Well maybe 1 or 2 tops. But this group that has been meeting here for 9 months now as become so tight knit and bonded together! I truly have such a love for them. It's amazing how people start to feel like family {closer than family in some cases!}, then to read how God will bless us with a spiritual famliy as we seek His kingdom and righteousness. That's just awesome! We are blessed and not alone. So as you know from past posts, Theo is working at the Harbour Church still and has also been pursuing other opportunities that have not led to a single thing. The fire academy: out. City of Ft.Lauderdale lifeguard: out {he's hired but can't get anyone to call him about starting work!}. So besides working the facilities dept at the Harbour, he does work landscaping jobs when it's available to make up for our lack of income. We thought we were on our way out of the support raising thing, especially b/c 2 of our supporters were cutting their support this month {if you only knew what our income was, haha!} but I guess the lord has other plans. Another couple just came to us and said that the Lord told them to support us. SO....we're so grateful....and waiting to see whats next and apparently still fully raising support! I told Theo I like to be an 'open book' on pretty much every front, so I'll spill the beans about what I think is next. :) MEXICO! Yes, Mexico. In the summer of 2008 we travelled to Ensenada, Mexico with some friends who were connected with a ministry there called YUGO {Youth Unlimited Gospel Outreach}. You can learn about it at www.yugo.org While there, God did alot in changing our mentality about missions as we knew it, and we were impacted powerfully by being there. And after that trip we knew we would always have a willingness to be part of that ministry if God ever made an opportunity for us there. And so it SEEMS that there may be an opportunity! :) Nothing at all is set in stone, but we are in contact with the director and planning on another more detailed meeting right after Easter. The friends I mentioned who we went down to YUGO a few years ago are now living there full time, so we'd be super excited to be with them again and just so let the Lord do His thing through us there in Ensenada. :) The other interesting thing about this is that we would have to begin our support raising efforts again! Oh that's just so bittersweet. Bitter, well b/c it's just bitter raising your support sometimes and sweet b/c the Lord is our ultimately our provider and it teaches us to truly trust and rely on Him. :) There are a bunch of details that we don't know yet, which will hopefully get cleared up in our next meeting with the director. Please pray for us as we seek God's will and plan for our family. He has proven to be a very kind and gentle leader.....and incredibly patient. :) Thank you Jesus for your goodness. Theo recently had a powerful encounter with the Lord. If you didn't know, Theo is almost ALWAYS full of joy and laughter. But lately he was just feeling that 'dry and weariness' that we all experience at times. During his Harbour staff meeting, God came like a flood to the group after Theo shared his feelings and there was a mini revival! Praise God, who knows the details of our lives and is faithful to bring peace and joy and love even in a season of drought. :)

Funny words...

So this is just a quick post that I wanted to add which is some funny words that my girls say...

1. pacuter = computer {Stella}

2. spitachio = pistachio {Stella}

3. ha god= hot dog {Naya}

4. sticker pots = potstickers {Stella}...don't know why she gets that one backwards!

I'll add more as they come...just don't want to forget the cuteness that is in my daughters. :)

Life...

So I just wanted to write a little update about where things are in life b/c I feel like things are about to change pretty soon. I don't know what will happen, but the ball is about to start rolling.
As of today we are finding ourselves with several avenues that our life may or may not go down...

Theo may begin working with the City of Ft. Lauderdale as a lifeguard soon! He's actually been 'hired' for 2 months now but there was a little issue on the admin side of processing his application. This is where I could put a little frown face, b/c we've just been waiting so long....and hello?! We need to pay bills around here...and the once in a blue moon pedicure! :) But I won't b/c we trust in God's sovergnty over things and the timing of things in our life. Thank you Jesus. Anyways, we'll see what happens with that.

Theo's 'boss' for the city called him last week to talk to him about this guy who wants to meet with him who is into manufacturing SUP {Stand Up Paddle} boards, and apparently is interested in doing something with lifeguards, SUP, and Haiti. It sounds like an interesting combo, and it's definitly up Theo's ally. Theo and the guy are meeting this Tuesday to talk about it. We don't actually have any idea at all what it could be about but it's kinda exciting! Keep ya posted.

On July 23, the next Fire Academy class begins. I've been going back and forth with Theo about whether he should go for it again or not. It's hard to know. It was clearly the Lord's will for Theo to be in the class last August, but his heart has changed a little bit regarding his desire for it so it's just unclear what to do now. I can't tell if Theo is afraid to do it again {b/c it was so stinkin' hard} or if he's just too worn out to do it {b/c it was so stinkin' hard} or if truly the desire is just gone...{b/c is was so stinkin' hard....just kiddin}. Really though, what's hard for me, is to think back on how great he was and to look in the corner and see all of his bunker gear, firefighting books, etc just sitting there and think we just need to give it all back and nothing comes of it. That just messes with me. Who knows...it's a matter of time either way. That's all the way in July and we don't even know what tomorrow holds for us.

Speaking of not knowing what tomorrow holds for us...a few days ago a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. I'm talking out of control horrible flooding. I've never seen flood waters completely consume a place as fast as it did in those areas in Japan. The same morning, someone posted on facebook that 'they just lost their favorite cute water bottle.' If there is anything that would remind me to seek God with all my heart, mind, and strength.....and to NOT store up my treasures here on earth, but in heaven....it was that. We all know its fine to have a cute water bottle, but the timing of her loss of it just made me think...who cares?! I mean, lets just have our priorities in check. Everything on this earth is going to be burned up. Everything. How is your heart before the Creator? In 5 minutes from now some crazy natural disaster, or an accident could happen and we could be face to face....think about that....FACE to FACE with God. If that doesn't make to tremble then something is wrong. Even if we DO have our priorities in check, we should tremble at the thought of being face to face with God.

I'm reading a book by Fancis Chan called 'Crazy Love.' I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a book. {Probably b/c I don't read books that often, haha!...Don't judge me, I've got 3 babies in my house! } Anyways, this book is challenging me to the core. Here's the specific incerpt that I'm talking about...actually, it's an icerpt from an incerpt...you'll see.

"In his book God Is the Gospel, John Piper essentially asks whether we are in love with God:

The critical question for our generation - and for every generation- is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

So whats challenging me is this....do I "love" Jesus for who He is, or am I pursuing Him because of what He offers? {Safety, peace, health, nice-ness} Now, I'm definitly not saying that we should ignore His benefits or write them off....but to make sure that I'm loving this Jesus because of how wonderful and faithful and loving He is. That kind of love that can't be held back, like when you fall in love with your spouse. It just happens and you can't help it. It would be so weird and completely wrong for me to marry someone just because he can offer me financial security, or a good name, or any other superficial thing. Again, I'm not saying that we need to completely forget those things {things have their time and place} but to cultivate a relationship with someone that you spend quality time with...you get to know them...you love their voice...everything you discover about them, you just love. That is what I want with Him. I want to slow down all the prayers for my protection, my wisdom, my needs, my this, my that.....and I want to direct my attention to just loving on Him for a change. I want to tell him {and remind myself!} how great, and merciful, and kind He is to me and my family. I want Him to KNOW that I love Him, not because I've thought it in my mind a few times, or b/c of a few PDA's, or even b/c I've accepted His gift of salvation. But b/c I've come to Him on a daily basis to tell Him, 'I truly LOVE YOU, God.' My husband likes me to tell him I love him every day, and vise versa...I know he loves me but it's good for my heart to hear it often and it strengthens our relationship. How much more the very ONE who created us and is completely in love with us?

Ok, there was my mini sermon. I just can't help it sometimes. I get excited about things and like to share with whoever would listen {or read in this case}.

That's about it on the Steinhauer News page... I hope to write more often about all kinds of things, but you know I just get to this when I can...i.e. nap times! :)

Love to you all.