Panama Pics for the non-facebookers

 For those of you who aren't on facebook, here are just a few of the pictures that have been posted lately. Since my mother had two cameras with her and Raul had ours, we have a total of 6,000 pictures from the trip. Luckily, my mother will be the one who gets to sort through all of them and edit them. Enjoy!

http://s1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/thegizzos/Panama/

Feelin' the love

Well, the Gizzos have officially been the Gizzos for a year, now. Yesterday was the anniversary of our civil marriage at the courthouse in Waukegan. What a crazy ride we have been on, but I am still very much in love with the man I call my husband. Though Raul did not remember that it was our anniversary yesterday, I assured him that he had one more chance to remember our anniversary before I would be upset. Here's hopin' that  the April date goes better for him...! :) Poor guy, he was thinking we were married on the 23rd of January since the April date was the 23rd.

Though I just returned from my Panamanian vacation, I am now busy planning my next vacation to Mexico in March. Just when I was afraid that funds were running too low to visit Raul another time, a couple from our church offered to buy my plane ticket to Mexico for Spring break. Now that was an offer I couldn't refuse! This time, I will be flying into Mexico City and Raul will meet me there. We will probably stay there one or two nights and then head to Puebla. From what I have read online, the city of Puebla is supposed to be nice and has a lot of cultural tourist attractions. Raul says that if I'm on my best behavior, he will take me to Santa Monica to visit his family and see where he lives since it is only 3 to 4 hours away from where we will be staying in Puebla. He is estimating that one day there will probably be as much as this white girl can handle. I am excited to see where my love has been living these past few months.

We continue to be amazed at the generosity of our friends and family and we feel very blessed to have so many close friends. In addition to my upcoming vacation, I have been spoiled by friends for my upcoming birthday. Their thoughtful gifts have meant so much to me, and I know Raul appreciates my people here taking care of me since this is the first time since I cannot even remember when that he will not be able to celebrate my birthday with me. Even when we were on a "break" in our relationship, he somehow found a way to take me out for my birthdays. I did get the chance to celebrate my birthday with his family today and it was nice to hang out with them again.

Thank you to all of you who continue to pray for us and encourage us with your thoughtful words and acts. Please keep February 10th in your prayers as this is the date that Raul travels to Juarez to submit our waiver. Then it's waiting, waiting, waiting. Much prayer is needed for that part as well!

Happy New Year!

There is so much to share about our Panamanian adventure, I do not even know where to begin. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us and praying that our trip would go well. Praise God that we had no major catastrophes on vacation. Everyone stayed well and we had safety on the crazy roads that we traveled daily. We did have many "minor adventures"  that were anxiety producing in the moment but easily laughed about later in the day. Among those were people being locked out of bathrooms, people being locked in bathrooms, more than one person getting pooped on by birds, a jelly fish sting, and a car sliding off the road.

The view from our backyard

We stayed in a 3 bedroom house with a beautiful view of the ocean. A nice beach was within a 10 minute drive and we took the opportunity to enjoy this luxury on multiple occasions. Our taxi drivers went above and beyond the call of duty and were our own personal tour guides on multiple occasions. In addition to our beach time, we walked through a nature preserve, toured the Panama canal, and saw monkeys hanging out in the trees. I was glad that I had packed dramamine for the plane ride because I used the extra pills for car trips since the roads are so full of twists and turns that most of us felt at least a little car sick at some point.

Our friendly taxi drivers for the week. The guy in the middle declared himself to by my mom's personal security service during our stay. She was in good hands.

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Raul and I had a great time just hanging out together again and it was really hard for me when it was time for him to leave for the airport (he flew out earlier in the day than we did). It seems like each time I say good-bye it gets harder, and I'm looking forward to the day when the last day of vacation does not mean saying good-bye to my husband. But, God is good and it's amazing that I have been able to see Raul on two separate occasions in the four months he has been gone. I'm also hoping to visit him again in March.


We are looking forward to what 2012 has in store for the Gizzos. Though we  had a lot of growing experiences in 2011, I can honestly say that I've never been so thankful to see a new year. Our next big thing is Raul's waiver appointment on February 10, and then it is more waiting. Though this is a scary place to be, Raul and I are both comforted by the fact that as long as we seek God, there is nothing we can do to mess up his plan for us. I'm just hoping that plan includes both of us being in Waukegan by the beginning of 2013! Happy New Year!

Panama here we come!

I had hoped to have time to write a longer blog tonight looking back on 2011 and looking forward to 2012, but packing has taken me much longer than anticipated and I need to get to bed so I can get up bright and early tomorrow to head to the airport. I spoke with Raul about an hour ago and he was at the airport in Mexico City. He decided just to stay overnight in the airport since his flight for Panama leaves early in the morning.

I, along with my sister and her family, will be headed to O'hare tomorrow morning and we will meet my mom and two of my "adoptive sisters" from Iowa Wesleyan at the airport. Though we leave tomorrow morning, we will not arrive in Panama until tomorrow night because we have a lengthy layover in Newark. Thankfully we have no blizzards in the forcast so there shouldn't be a danger of being stranded in the airport at Newark. That would be pure torture for me!

I am so thankful for this trip. It has been a rough year for my family and we have all been looking forward to this vacation and change of scenery. Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers.  Merry Christmas from the Gizzos!

On to the next step

As I type, Raul should be on a plane headed back to Mexico City. When I talked to him on the phone following his consular interview, he sounded pretty relieved that this part was over and that he would soon be headed "home" to Santa Monica. He arrived at the consulate at 7:00 a.m. today and finally got called in for his interview around 2:00 p.m. He said the interview itself did not take long. Apparently, everything went okay because they gave him the go ahead to schedule his waiver appointment. Raul didn't elaborate much on the questions he was asked, but he was relieved that they didn't ask him many dates. Numbers and dates are definitely not his friend. :)

We found out that one of our friends from Iowa knows a missionary couple in Juarez. I was able to talk to them on the phone on Sunday and they offered for Raul to stay with them when he has to travel to Juarez for his waiver. That will be very helpful to us so we won't have to pay for a hotel room, especially if he ends up having to stay longer than anticipated like this go around.  We continue to feel very blessed by the people that God has been bringing into our lives through out this journey.

Thank you all for your prayers. I don't even want to imagine where we would be without them!

Still Waiting

As most of you are aware, Raul had his appointment this morning at 11:15 for his Consular interview. After waiting the entire day, they called him to the window at 3:00 p.m. only to tell him that he would have to come back on Monday. As you can imagine, this was very disappointing for Raul. He was looking forward to heading back home to Santa Monica tomorrow morning, and now he has to stay over the weekend in Juarez.

It would be putting it mildly to say that I was upset when I heard the news. Not only must my love spend longer in lonely Juarez but this is going to be very costly as well since his plane ticket for tomorrow is non-transferable and we will have to pay for extra nights in the hotel. Though I intellectually know that God will provide for our needs, I have trouble trusting in that as I see our savings being drained by things beyond our control. Again, thank goodness that God is so faithful even when I am faithless. He must just shake his head at me sometimes when I freak out over money and other things which are beyond my control. I hate to say it, but I see a strong similarity between me and those grumbling Israelites. He performs miracle after miracle and still I complain and doubt.

Other than those glitches, things are going pretty okay for the Gizzos. We're looking forward to our Panama vacation over Christmas. It will be hard for Raul to be away from his family in the States for Christmas, but at least we will be together and he will be able to be with some of my side of the family. We have really been enjoying speaking on the phone this past week since he has a phone in his hotel room and he doesn't have to pay for incoming calls. When he is in Santa Monica, we usually try to limit conversations to 15 to 20 minutes, but this week, I've been able to chat about nothing for up to an hour. Just like the good old days when we were dating!

Though this whole situation has been frustrating, I have been seeing blessing after blessing that we have been receiving through it all. Raul was joking that every newly wed couple should go through a time of separation to help strengthen their relationship. Taking a step back has really helped us see how blessed we are to have each other.  God has also been using this time to teach me some of the areas that I need work on in our relationship.

Even after all of our frustrations, we are reminded that God is still in control. The God who parted the Red Sea and who has power over death itself is still our God and his ways will prevail if we let him do his work. Glory be to God.

Juarez and Beyond

James 1:2-3 "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." 

I must admit that sometimes the passage above is much easier said than done. When I look back on my life, or even the past couple of years, I can definitely see that the greatest times of growth in my life were a result of some of the greatest hardships and deepest hurts that I have ever experienced. While some of those memories are still painful, God has indeed proven himself faithful time and time again and this is the reason why I am able to face each day without having a total meltdown. However, I do have to confess to having some minor meltdowns on occasion...

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of two of our close friends. While I was excited for them to start their new life together, I had to fight back the tears as I remembered our wedding and wished that I had the luxury of living with my husband and inviting people over to our new home. It is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and every day I feel more and more blessed to call Raul my husband. But, I also find it harder and harder to live without him near me. Yet, I hear God's soft voice telling me, "One day at a time, child. One day at a time."

The time is quickly approaching for Raul to have his Consular interview in Juarez. He will fly from Mexico City to Juarez (we found it was the same price to fly as to ride the bus) on Tuesday, November 29. Wednesday, he will have his medical exam and Thursday he will get fingerprinted. On Friday, he will have the actual interview and then he flies "home" on Saturday. Prayers for everything to go smoothly would be much appreciated. 

We are expecting him to have his waiver interview about two months after this first appointment. However, there will still be a long period of waiting after this interview to see if his visa application was approved or denied. Immigration is changing the flow of everything to make it more efficient. Because of this, the wait time for processing has increased. Yes, I know... After his waiver interview, it may now take up to two months to get the letter that says if he's been approved for his visa or if his case has been sent for further review. If it is sent for further review, we may have to wait 8 or 9 more months to see if his visa was approved. Needless to say, after I did the math and figured out that we may have to wait almost a year after his waiver interview to see if he was approved, I did have another minor meltdown (it may have been slightly more than minor). In my head, I know that God is in control and that wait times mean nothing to him because his timing is perfect, but sometimes there's a lag time between head knowledge and believing things in my heart. I think this is definitely one of God's endurance building exercises for me.

Still, even in the midst of all of my worries and doubts, I can see God at work and there are many blessings to count. Raul and I are continually encouraged by support from friends and family. It meant so much to us that people were excited for us to be able to go to Puerto Vallarta. I also see God's hand at work in each of our lives, molding us and shaping us, and our marriage has only grown stronger during this time apart. In addition, God has been blessing us financially. Because of the generosity of friends and family and other unexpected sources of income, we will be able to pay off the rest of our legal fees by the end of the year. The list of things to be thankful for could go on and on. 

Yes, I have been having a lot of freak out moments lately, but God is still faithful and I am so thankful for that. I am looking forward to the day when I can look back on this difficult time and see how God's timing and ways were indeed perfect. Whether we Gizzos end up in Mexico or the U.S. one thing is for sure, God will be with us, and that is my strength for today.