GOOD MORNING DAY 2

We are back on the road. We made it to Waco, TX and found a nice Days Inn to sleep at right off the highway. We don't have a long drive ahead of us, just about 5 hours. The girls slept great last night and don't seem to mind climbing back into the car this morning. We have had little sleep, but a cup of coffee with a double shot of espresso has me ready for the day. The weather has finally indicated that we are in Texas and I sigh in relief, because we left our coats behind in Illinois. The temperature is 50F and rising! We are listening to a CD by Selah that was a gift from our dearest friends Brice and Kellie Musgrave for this trip. The song "Before the Throne of God above" has a line that says, "My name is graven on His hands; my name is written on His heart." It's true; it says in the Bible that our name is written on the palm of His hand. I try to imagine the Creator of heaven and earth who knows everything about me, showing me the palm of His hand and saying, "Jessie, I love you so much, do you see how I have etched your name in my hand." Could you imagine looking down and seeing your name? How can we not fully trust a God who not only has our name written on the palm of His hand, but has even had nails driven through them for our sake? How great is His love.

What a long day…..

We decided to make this first day of driving a killer. We hoped by pushing hard the first day that we could make the rest of our travel days lighter and easier on the girls. Maybe if we cover enough ground the first day we could actually stop the next day to see a local attraction or two. That is just what we have accomplished. We set out around 6:30am and it's now 9pm. As I'm typing we have crossed over into Texas. We had planned to travel 730 miles and stay in Denison, TX for the night but we have passed it by and are heading forward. All three of the girls are asleep and Aletta is loudly snoring as always. We are seizing the opportunity to drive more while they are comfortably unaware that they are still in car seats.

On the road again Friday morning , Day 1

Let the journey continue! After a most wonderful two weeks in Illinois with my family we are now back on the road heading south. The Lord blessed Andy with some heavy snow fall as we headed out this morning, before the sun was up. He will miss the snow. We are now driving down a long strip of open highway with nothing around us. I cannot help but think about the long hours of driving ahead of us and the unknown awaiting us. The last two weeks were so wonderful to spend with my parents as they had so many great stories of their own time in Mexico. My parents packed up and moved to Mexico to become missionaries in 1984. I was only four years old at the time. They had never been out of the country and had no idea what was ahead of them. Those 9 years in Mexico made me who I am and poured into me the very passion that fuels this journey in my heart.

On our wedding day my father, at our request, preached the gospel message. During the message he spoke of the attitude many parents have towards serving the Lord. An attitude of, "You may have me, but don't touch my children." Of course, no parent really wants to see their kids move far way and find them in an environment that is not as safe. However, we know that God gave His only Son for us and sent Him to us to save us. The Lord calls us to hold everything in our life with palms open in offering to Him. Thank you to both of our parents for not just accepting what the Lord has asked from your children, but actually encouraging us to go. I stood out by our car hugging my mom goodbye while large snowflakes fell on us. As I hugged her a hymn rang through my head. "I surrender all to Jesus. All to Him I freely give". It was a beautiful moment that was cut short by my older sister yelling out the door, "Jessie, Live long and prosper" while holding up the Star Trek hand symbol. Ha,ha, too funny! I will never understand Star Trek.

A brief update

We are trying to up date our blog more often now that we are on the road and living out of our suit cases for now. We are now sitting at Jessie's parent's house, for a few days of preparing, as we have moved on from our home in Minnesota. We spent a good part of the day figuring out which way would be best to go all the way down to Guadalajara, Mexico. It will be a good four day stretch as it will be about 2000 miles from where we are now. This is a prayer request for us - The peace of the Lord, as well as the Lord's protection as we travel. Our girls especially will need extra grace for 4 days in the car, which is pretty tough.

We are planning to video log our trip down. Expect more soon.

Last night in Minnesota!

Beginning and the end

The beginning of the end of our life as we have known it for the last two years. I (Andy) am done working for the Directv as of Wednesday. I looking forward to spending more time with my family over the next few weeks. We moved out of our townhome and are now staying with my parents for the remainder of our time in Minniesnowta. (12" of snow before Christmas). It has hard to think about what we should bring or not bring with us. With a car top carrier and a small trailer the space is limited. We packed up the house and the stuff that we will be taking. We think it isn't much stuff, but adding a little here and a little there has turned out to be more than the space we have available. So, once we are done with our townhome, we will be focusing our attention on down sizing the stuff we have.

We are now in the middle of our Moving Sale. It seems that in the middle of winter, having a foot of snow, that the amount of people that come through our doors is minimal. Praise the Lord though, people have still been coming. It is amazing when they might have come only to buy one thing and walk away buying much more.

Jessie has been so gracious during this whole time. She has been such a blessing to me and my kids. She is a great mom even in the midst of so much change.

Sunday will be our last Sunday at Church Upon the Rock. We are sad to be leaving our home church. It has been such a blessing for us to be apart of a church that supports us in our decision to follow God's direction for our lives. They will be praying for us on Sunday. We need all that we can get during this time of transition.

Be Blessed!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE CLARK FAMILY!

DON'T FORGET

WE HAVE UPDATED OUT FAMILY PICTURE BLOG! YOU WILL FIND THE LINK TO YOUR LEFT ON THE SIDE BAR.

John & Elizabeth Rodgers our soon to be teammates

These are a few pictures that Andy took while in Aultan in April
Autlan from a hill


Click on the pic. to see it larger

A NEW CAR!

The Lord has provided us with a new car for traveling down to Mexico. Our van, on your right, was very small and unable to really haul much. This Ford Expedition just fell into our hands and we paid an amazing low price for it. Our van also sold for more then we thought it would. ALL PRAISE DUE HIM!!

Time is just flying as we are now about 12 weeks away from packing up our house and moving to Mexico. It is always amazing when you stand so far away from something in a time frame sense and then all of a sudden out of no where it is tomorrow. It was less than a year ago when we said yes to the Rodgers in that we would come. Now it is approaching a year and we are still preparing and planning to go. Over the last week God has been challenging Jessie and I about living and walking by faith it is a challenge especially when we at times feel so in adequate for what he is calling us to do. It will be weird to transition again in to school. Language school that is. This is going to be a vital part of our ministry down there in Mexico is that we will be able to communicate the love of Jesus. I have always wanted to learn Spanish fluently. Learning the language will be tough but it is what the Lord would want us to do.
Other news Lillian decided to start walking over the past two weeks. It seems like yesterday that she was only able to just lay there on the floor and not move at all.

Your prayers are needed

Our family has been very sick over the last six weeks. We have had colds, stomach flu, and now are dealing with strep throat. A few weeks ago our entire family got tested for strep throat and all tested positive. We were feeling better for about a week when it started coming back. All of us with the exception of Andy, are sick again with strep throat. Our Dr. is trying to figure out what should be done to keep us from getting it again. We ask for your prayers for our health right now. We are leaving for Mexico in 12 weeks and still have so much to do.

SUPPORT UPDATE!

Praise the Lord God Almighty!! We have raised 10% of our budget for Mexico. I know that still seems really small but it's much better then the 2% we had reported not even a month ago! All those who have helped us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Be blessed!

OUR BRIDGE!!!!

Our prayers are going out to all those affected by the falling of 35w bridge. I still feel so shocked by it. You just never think something like that is going to happen. In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow and to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. We do not know if tomorrow is ours for the taking. Today let us live for Jesus, better yet, today let us live like Jesus.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG

This blog is for family and friends. At this time it is not open to the public. If you know someone who would like access to this blog please give us their e-mail address so we can include them. My hope is that this blog will keep us connected. Come January when we move to Mexico it will be use to update you on our life and ministry. We hope you enjoy it! Be blessed!

Our little Lillian just learned how to clap the other day. I came into the girl's room to find Anna and Lillian sitting across from each other having a little lesson on clapping 101. Lillian was completely focused and Anna was very serious in her teaching of the need and technique of clapping. Now whenever we come into the room she will laugh and clap her hands. Sometimes Anna will pat her head and say, "that'll do".

Mom and Dad just celebrated their 32nd anniversary. I have never seen a couple as in-love. Now look at what has come of those 32 wonderful years of marriage, seven grandkids. To my knowledge no grandkids are in the making at this present time. Shocking!!!