Sixteen days and counting until the Gizzos are reunited again for a short time. I will fly into Mexico City on July 4th and will not have to leave my love until July 17th. My trip this time will be much like the last trip. We plan to stay a few days in Mexico City and then head to Puebla. If all goes according to plan, we will be headed to Santa Monica for a few days as well.
I hope to get the final evidences of "extreme hardship" sent in to immigration before I leave. After this step, all we can do is wait. We're hoping to hear the news (hopefully good) by the end of the year, but the letter said it could be up to 12 months which would make it more like next Spring. Thankfully, I will be pretty busy in the Fall and am hoping that this will make the time pass for me a bit more quickly.
I finally got all of the details worked out and I will be completing my practicum for school with an organization called Teen Mother Choices. In addition, I get to lead a class/small group at our church called Vantage Point 3. Both Raul and I participated in it a couple years ago and we still talk about the many lessons that we learned about God and about ourselves during that course. One project that is assigned is to write a personal narrative. So much has happened in the past year that I am not sure how I will limit mine to the 10 pages that is allotted for the assignment!
Raul has also been keeping busy lately. His role as volunteer police officer has supplied him with quite a few interesting stories. He has "towed" donkeys because they were illegally "parked" on the road. He has spent a night outside of the jail because it was his duty to stay there after he put someone in there for the night. And, he has broken up more than his fair share of fights at weddings. I am so thankful that Raul can see the humor in so many things. I am pretty sure that I would have a much worse attitude if I were the one down there waiting.
Thank you again to all of you who faithfully pray for us and ask us how we're doing. You will never know how much your prayers mean to us. Please pray for me and my family as we are really feeling the loss of my father right now since Father's Day was just here. Mom has been posting many wonderful (and not so wonderful) pictures of back in the day, and I am so thankful for the wonderful memories that we have of him. Pray also that my trip goes smoothly and that God will give me wisdom on the documentation that needs to be sent in. As always, you can continue to pray for peace for us both during this time of waiting.
