World Cup Champions

We are very excited and proud of the Spanish soccer team.  It was very exciting to see our future homeland win the world cup, the first time they'd ever done so.  They are a patient team, passing (almost incessantly) around their obstacles, setting up some good shots.  When they miss a shot, they continue their game, trying not to be phased.  The Netherlands phased them a few times, and for short periods Spain's game was off, but eventually they went back to the fundamentals and continued forward.

It was a blast to see the Spanish royalty standing and celebrating.

(Before proceeding, we are very sorry to have seen the US team come home early.  They played hard, and they will - for Kevin at least - be the World Cup choice.  In four years, let's move to the quarters boys!)

As I write this I see our Lord and King standing and celebrating. 

Patience in getting to Spain, in getting into the ministry there can be quite draining.  The process has been two years since we came home from our year in Mexico.  Small obstacles have slowed us, sometimes ourselves being the very obstacles we have had to overcome.  We've learned how to work together more, work with our organization better and work with those in our lives who care for us and want to see our cleats in Spanish soil.  This is very encouraging and little by little, we move on towards the goal, confident.

Spain had to go into overtime to beat the Netherlands.  We ourselves are approaching overtime minutes, but we have not let it get to us, but rather are allowing what we've learned before assist us in what we do now.  Unlike the World Cup Final game, overtime is for as long as God decides.  No shoot-out and no loss.  We win as we are patient.  The Lord is more than our monarchy cheering us on from the stands.  He is our coach, directing us.  He is our captain who muddies his cleats alongside of us.

We are pressing ever-forward and are looking at about being 60% of the way there.  That is a big increase for us in the past months and the horizon looks bright.  Where the sun dropped in South Africa for our Spanish team, the sun is rising all the more on us, and the future looks brighter in regards to our departure.  We don't know yet how far off the light at the end of the tunnel is, but we're running and it is in sight.

The Spanish team returned home to a fanfare and incredibly warm welcome.  We know we are being sent off in the same fashion.  40% to go, and it is getting closer to 100% every day.  Then, we as a family, will arrive on Spanish soil, just a few months after the Spanish soccer team brought home with them the golden World Cup.

Summer Food

My nephew Jack enjoying some delicious strawberries!

For those of you who received our latest newsletter, you might have noticed that one of my updates was about the delicious summer garden that we are privileged to partake of living here at the farm.  Although my dad is a farmer, his green thumb does not seem to have been handed down to me.  I have not had nearly as much luck in my attempts to grow things (though I admit those attempts are few) as I would have liked.  However, one of the many things that we are blessed by living here on the farm is fresh produce provided by two amazing gardners, my aunt and my father.  I am in charge of cooking meals on the week days, and during the summer my menu is mainly decided by whatever we have the most of in the garden.  One of my most difficult tasks, however, is deciding what to make.  I look at all the good ingredients and have a hard time deciding how they should all go together.  So...if anyone has ideas about yummy summer meals that include things like eggplant, summer squash, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, cucumber, corn or lettuce pass them my way! 

And on the eating track...Eliana is really not very interested in food, she's all about the nursing.  Thus far the only two things she really enjoys are bananas and yogurt.  I have been trying to introduce her to different foods, but she almost always rejects them by her overactive gag reflex -- should some of that food actually make its way into her mouth (I make and test the foods before I give them to her, they taste good to me) -- or by simply turning her head away.  I really don't want mealtime to be a battle.  If anyone has any ideas about enticing a 9 month old to eat I am also open to those ideas!

Swimming!

The summer heat has finally set in, and after spending the last two summers in Mexico City where the average temperature tends to be in the 70s with rain almost every afternoon, the Book-Satterlees are in adjustment!  One element of the heat that Eliana is, however, thoroughly enjoying, is pool time.  Though she wasn't a huge fan of the beach, she really likes the swimming pool.  Kevin, as a former swim teacher, is excited that his daughter likes to swim.  Recently Grandma Joy (also a former swim teacher) has been coming to take her for after dinner dips. :)

Ministry, World Cup and Faith

Leah, Eliana and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with Leah's sister Stacy and our brother-in-law, Nick, at their YoungLife camp ministry in Eastern Oregon.  It was a delightful time to just hang out with family and get to experience their ministry, but on top of that, I grew all the more excited to jump into ministry.

And this morning, as I write, I wait for one of my most awaited World Cup games to begin.  Spain verses Switzerland.  I was not a huge soccer fan before going to Mexico, however enculturation and ministry necessitated a growing interest in futbol or soccer.  Now I'm hooked, which is good, because it is just as important in Spain, if not more, than it is in Mexico.  I now root strongly for 3 teams, the US, Mexico and Spain.  (If the US plays either Mexico or Spain, I'll continue rooting for the US).

Such a small thing as a World Cup game brings me all the more closer emotionally to the country in which God has called us.  Little by little, nostalgia grows for a country and people I barely know.  With every kick, potential goal, and (hopefully not) loss, I grow a bit closer to the culture.  It will be a reference point for which I can begin conversations and build relationships with.

Now the problem is getting there.  The Lord has seen it fit for us to be able to watch the entire outcome of the World Cup before we get to Spain, which means we will not be able to celebrate with Spain or grieve with them, depending on their outcome in the tournament.  So we wait, patiently (and not so patiently) in action.  We are preparing our hearts, growing more excited and also releasing more of our family's life to Him who guides us. 

This proves to be difficult, as our own ambition and excitement sometimes elbows faith out of the way, but this growth in patience and trust will also be such an asset when we minister in Spain and especially as we mentor and guide future missionaries in the Spearhead-Spain program.

So where are we at?  Our plan is to push on fundraising until the end of July, and evaluate where we are at that point.  If we are at 80% we are close to going and can begin the visa application process and make some firm dates for leaving.  Currently we are projecting to be at about 54% and growing with about 35% coming into LAM at this time.  This very day our boss is meeting with a Spanish ministry who could be our potential sponsor.  We hope the partnership can be formed.  If it is, we should know soon which city we'll be headed to and can begin to dream further.

As the Spanish soccer players stand, hands folded behind their backs, singing the national anthem of Spain, I embark in preparation (fun preparation!!) to connect all the more with the people that we will be ministering with.  And for this next hour and a half, ministry, the World Cup and faith all get wrapped into the life of preparation.

"Daddy, do I live anywhere?"

So of course Eliana cannot actually ask this question yet, however, sometimes, as we strap her in her car seat or sit her on our laps in the plane, her eyes ask this very question.  "Daddy, do I live anywhere?"  "Daddy, is my life always going to be this mobile?"  Poor kiddo.

We've had a voracious travel schedule the past few weeks and a busy month beginning in the end of April that will carry on mid-way through June.  And Eliana has championed her car-seat throne, the laps of both mommy and daddy on the plane and braved the new beds.  We've been in the Bay Area at least 4 times, she's been to D.C. to meet a future "P-girl baby friend" and she got to meet her Mexico family in Cancun and D.F.  Tio Saul came out for a visit to San Francisco and the farm, and soon we head to Lodi for her Grand-Pop's funeral (he lived to almost 91).  She'll meet Aunt Melanie, Uncle Mark and will adore her cousin Lexi.  Currently her Aunt Katie and Cousin Jack are here visiting and we'll all be heading up to Oregon (7 hour drive or more) to see Aunt Stacy and Uncle Nick at family camp.

In this time, if she could count, Eliana will have slept, at the minimum, in 12 beds (usually she transfers from the bed she's in by herself to the one we are sleeping in).

Eliana has had spring weather that changed to winter rain instead of summer heat.  Then she found incredible humidity at the coast of the Yucatan, and great heat to boot.  In Mexico City, she endured an uncharacteristically warm time there, where we all tried to sleep without sweating, to return to the Bay Area and Chico where it is cold and rainy.

"Daddy, do I live anywhere?"  What a question to try to answer, and in ways the poor little one can understand.  She is in our arms through the change, and she rides each change out incredibly.  We've been blessed with a flexible daughter.  Eliana begins her life, before we even reach the field, as a missionary, but what, at least we hope, sustains her through the many changes is the incredible amount of love she receives in each place and the comfort of her mommy and daddy's arms.

"God, do I live anywhere?" I have to ask.  We have a place we call home in Chico, but we know that it is only very temporary.  Lately we've spent more time away from Chico than we have at it.  We are very comforted by the loving reception of our friends and family and by the secure arms of our God who guides us and holds us through the changes.

Two Big Milestones for Kevin

This past week I (Kevin) have had two big milestones.  I completed my Master's Degree, pending a good grade on my paper and the $4 library overdue fee I garnered.  And I will be recommended for the next stage in the ordination process to happen in the first weekend of June.  These two things have been very encouraging and I wanted to thank everybody who has been there supporting me through it.  A number of people have been involved in my 6-year education venture and others have been involved in my ordination process.  Thanks for the support!

The "Swing" of Following the Call

Leah and I just watched a Bones episode where my favorite character - Hodgins - takes another character - Angela - out on a date to the park for a swing ride.  How fun.  Swings are fun.  They get less exhilerating as I get older, but there is still some silly fun to be had.  Up and down and up.  Momentum is built by a push and others by sheer work of pumping your legs.

The time of support-raising is like a lengthy swing ride.  We have our ups and our downs.  At times we feel like we are soaring, not even having to move our legs and other times it seems that the hinges of our knees don't create enough momentum to pump.  Sometimes it feels like we have an incredible cosmic push and other times like a cosmic weight teathered by a cosmic force of gravity.

Some days it feels like both!

No matter how much you are swinging, however, the view remains.  Sometimes its a view from 10 feet up in the air, which you catch for a momentary gleam and others it is the view from below.

The swing is the beat of life with its starts, stops and ups and downs.  Life is full of ups and downs and weights and freedom.  We have the opportunity sit in the swing and see the view from whatever angle.  We are called, and whether swinging at the top or sitting low at the bottom, we see the Kingdom we've been called to and we gain experiencing in trusting God in the incredible ride, and trusting God even more in patience as we sit and wait at the bottom of the swing.

So God has taken us on a date to the swing.  And like in Bones, a swing for a date is just a very fine date indeed.