Little miracles: learning to live in God's gracious provision....

When Kevin and I made the decision to become full-time missionaries we knew that we were going to learn how to rely on God's provision in ways we never had before.  The transition to raising support full-time was a bit of a challenge.  We were just coming off a year of serving in Mexico City where we had seen God move and felt his guidance quite clearly.  Now we had a direction, a destination (Spain), but really no idea how we were to arrive there.  It really felt like living in limbo.  We were unsure of where to live, how to provide for ourselves, and how to communicate the vision that we felt God had given us for our future.  We had to plant some kind of roots here as we were at the same time moving towards being on the field.  Little by little we felt ourselves inching forward with our exploratory trip to Spain and our acceptance as long-term missionary candidates.  God graciously gave us a place to live through my aunt and uncle (huge blessing) which relieved the burden of providing for ourselves in a significant way.  We made plans that we thought would make for a smooth path towards Spain, but God has given us many surprises along the way.

One of the best surprises was the birth of our daughter, Eliana, and one of the ways we have seen God's gracious provision most clearly.  We thought it made the most sense to wait till we moved to Spain to start our family, but God gave Eliana to us on his timing rather than ours!  With the advent of living and providing not only for ourselves but for a child as well we knew that some things would have to change, we just weren't sure how to continue going full force todwards our goal of moving to Spain, while also finding a job to support our expanding family.  After a wonderful summer in Mexico City, Kevin was offered a temporary paid position with our mission, LAM, working in mobilization.  We felt overwhelmingly thankful for this opportunity, it fit with our overall goal of moving to Spain perfectly, plus it was something Kevin really enjoyed doing.  During our summer in Mexico we were able to save for Eliana's hospital bill, which we knew would be significant.  After her birth we realized we would need to expand our health insurance to include her as well, but felt a little overwhelmed by the added monthly cost.  We knew we had one month to figure it out as Eliana was covered on my (Leah's) policy for 30 days.  We decided to seek aid through applying for MediCal, a state funded health insurance program.  When we went they informed us that the money we had saved up for Eliana's hospital bill would probably disqualify us for any aid.  We tried to explain our situation and they cautiously advised us that perhaps there might be an opportunity for Eliana to be covered even if we were not.  We walked away feeling discouraged, but slightly hopeful.  On Monday we realized that our 30 days were almost up, and we had no idea how long it would be till we heard from MediCal to find out if Eliana would be covered or not.  We made plans to go ahead and purchase private insurance, even if we weren't sure where the money would come from, especially knowing that soon Eli would be receiving her first round of vaccinations.  Then today, Eliana's one month birthday we got a letter telling us that our claims were denied, but that Eliana would be covered!! 

Eliana's name means "God has answered," and her middle name, Anai, means gracious.  I feel like with our precious daughter God has answered our needs in an incredibly graciously every step of the way.  He first gave us the blessing of her birth, he blessed me with great health during my birth including our time in Mexico, he provided a way for us to financially provide for her, and now, in exactly the right timing he has answered our need for health insurance.  How amazing is that?!  As we continue on our journey towards Spain as a family I am constantly learning how great our God is.

Fun Daddy-Daughter Moment

One of my favorite parts about being a father is watching Eliana take in the world.  The times when she is awake without gas discomfort, alert but without needing to eat; they are an inredible time to just stare around and take in the world.  The best moment is when she's looking at me.  Most of the time she's not looking at me, it seems, but through me, but then for a moment her eyes will lock on mine and we have an incredible moment of Daddy-Daughter connection.

Last night we had one of those moments.  At 3:45 am, while having finished eating, I was laying with Eliana, drifting in and out of sleep.  She on the other hand was alert, content and quietly taking in the world.  I happened to pop my eyes open and she was looking at me!  She is sooo beautiful.  Snuggling in close, nose-to-nose for eskimo kisses, I began to tell her what I hope to tell her every moment I get the chance, three simple words:  "I lo..."

The three simple words never came out of my mouth, for at that moment, our non-spit-up baby, decided to project her first spit-up directlly into her daddy's mouth.  Yummy.

"I'll just take that as an 'I love you' Eliana," I mumbled, mouth still full of baby spit-up.

She's Here!! - Welcome Eliana Anai Book-Satterlee

Eliana Anai Book-Satterlee

 October 12, 2009, 9:18 am
6 lbs 6 oz, 18.5 in

We are incredibly proud to welcome Eliana into our home.  She is soooo adorable.  Mom and baby are doing fine, having come home from the hospital on the 14th.  Our little girl has a full head of hair and long little feet attached to here skinny little legs.  She's got a good set of lungs and likes to show them off whenever she's being changed.

Mama can't help but laugh at the crazy tongue.

Proud Daddy (she didn't like the beard so it had to go shortly after this was taken)

Almost a month!

So I am just realizing that it has almost been a month since our last blog...I am definitely falling a little behind!  Life has continued to surprise us with its fast pace, but we have been enjoying it immensely.  Mid-September friends and family started arriving for my sister Stacy, and her (now) husband Nick's wedding.  Below is a picture of all the "Book" cousins that have kids so far.  Of course mine is still in utero, but we decided she still counts! 

My dad is quite excited about all of the boys he has since all of his daughters are now officially married.  For the first time ever the guys actually outnumber the girls in our family.  Below all of the guys (minus my brother-in-law Brian who was still in Florida at this point) are going out early in the morning to pick up bales of hay.  The weather has finally transitioned to cool, comfortable fall temps, but at this point it was still in the 100s!

Here is a pic of beautiful Stacy, the last of the Book brides, on her wedding day.  Katie, Stacy and I all have September anniversaries which are each three years apart accordingly.  Stacy and Nick's wedding was lovely, we all had a great time.

After all of the excitement time has seemed to come to a screeching halt, well maybe not halt but at least is moving at a very slow pace, as we await the arrival of our dauther and continue to raise support for Spain.  Right now we are only a week away from our due date, October 11.  However, first babies are often late, so there is no telling when this little one is going to make her grand entrance.

One of the greatest blessings for us has been that Kevin has been contracted to work for our mission, LAM, as a recruiter while we are raising support.  This provides us with a small income to help with the added baby expenses.  He has been contracted through the end of March, so April has become our new goal leave date for Spain.  It has also been amazing to watch little by little our financial support grow.  God continues to encourage us almost daily with your generosity, thank you so much!

We still have a good chunk of support to raise, however, so if you are interested in supporting us and haven't done so yet, now would be a great time!  Also, if you know of a church or small group who would be interested in hearing about our mission in Spain we would love to come visit you, so just drop us an e-mail: booksatterlee@gmail.com.  Thanks for everything!

Still Here

Sorry for the long absence, life has actually been surprisingly busy since being back in the States. I wanted to post a link for those who are interested to a short video that our friend/co-worker Andrew made of this summer. It is a fun glimpse into Spearhead Mexico and our summer Spearheaders, who, by the way, were great! If you are interested in seeing the video just paste or click on this link: http://vimeo.com5875731.

I am now 35 weeks along and still on target for delivering a baby girl sometime on or around October 11th. It has been fun to focus on and anticipate the fact that in a very short amount of time Kevin and I will have a daughter!

In other encouraging news...Kevin has a job! One of our biggest prayer requests/concerns was to be able to find a flexible job while we are in the States to support ourselves until our full support for Spain is pledged. Kevin will be working from home, doing something he loves, and on a 4-6 month contract, perfect! God is so faithful.

The pictures below are from our trip back from Colorado when we stopped briefly at the Arches National Park in Utah (on the bottom), and Kevin's Pop-Pop's 90th birthday. We were glad to be back for this occasion (which we celebrated at the end of August). Pop-Pop is an amazing man and we feel blessed to have him. He celebrated 60 years of being in the ministry on his birthday as well.

We're Back!

Last Saturday my baby sister Amy got married.

This is a picture of all four sisters, in a month, Stacy (far right) will also be getting married.

The next day our nephew, Jack, was dedicated.

We were both excited that we could be a part of these events, we flew straight from Mexico City to Colorado. After the wedding and dedication Kevin and I drove back to California with my uncle and cousin with whom we live. We split the trip into two days, which was much more endurable rather than 20 hours straight of driving! We stopped for a quick hike in the Arches National Park, which was a welcome diversion from all of the driving!

Now we are back in Northern California and diving back into life, preparing for the baby, debriefing from Mexico, focusing more intensely on support raising, and job hunting in the mean time. I, Leah, am going to be teaching junior high Spanish two hours a week for the next 10 weeks, which I am really looking forward to. My parents are also moving back to the farm in a week from Florida. It will be fun to have them near. Please continue praying for us as we have a busy couple of months ahead and we continue to readjust to a life in constant change as we continue on the road to Spain.

Baby Shower

Last night our family threw us our first baby shower. It was really fun, they put a lot of time and thought into everything and it was very special and meaningful. I am posting some of my favorite pics from the party – as you can see there was a lot of laughter!

Everything was super decorated, on the top of the cake is a picture of Kevin and I, and there was even jello in the form of a baby's bottle and a sleeping baby!

A close up of some of the decorations they made for us. :)

This was the "How fast can you dress your baby" game. All of the clothes were passed to us relay style by our teams -- you can't start passing the next item of clothing till the last one is correctly placed on the baby. I won since Kevin couldn't quite figure out the snaps!

This is the "How well can the blind-folded partner feed you baby food" game. We won, though I almost threw up. The flavor was not bad, (fruit dessert or something like that) but eating at that speed something which is all mashed up for you can definitey trigger the gag reflex!

Kevin had to practice being pregnant and complete a number of tasks like this. I have to say though, his baby looks a little like a torpedo! The game ended when the watermelon started to leak onto his stomach, yuck!

Our teams dressed us as babies, I think the girls won again, although we couldn't quite get my diaper to fit correctly!

Mirna (my Mexican sister) and I, she is 14 weeks pregnant, I am 30 weeks.

Most of the group all crowded together to take a photo. I love these guys!