Gracias Government...

..y Dios!

So...based on the title, you might suspect that we FINALLY heard back about Choco's (that's my fiancee's nickname) U.S. visa.

This is the story.
On Tuesday, February 15th, I got a message from our landlord, Christian, saying he received a letter for me a few days ago.
It was raining that day and the letter was in a PUDDLE of water when he got home. He put it in the....MICROWAVE...to try to dry it out and thought it was "ready" for me to get!!
I immediately assume it's from the United States Department of Homeland Security (because that's who we sent our request forms to) and instantly become anxious!
I've waited for about 5 months for this letter and the day had finally come where I would figure out if we had been approved or rejected....such emotion!

I went home at my lunch break to find a crumpled, stained envelope waiting to be opened to tell me that....WE'VE BEEN APPROVED!


All of our paperwork was correct and seemed to prove that we indeed are in love and legitimately desire to be married.
YAY! Thank you Lord.

The last steps of the process are that we wait for another letter (PRAY for good weather) that gives Esteban a specific date and time for his interview with the U.S. embassy. At the interview he will asnwer a series of questions regarding the paperwork we submitted. Then, if his story lines up with mine, his visa will be granted at the interview!!

One last shout-out to the U.S. government is that on Wednesday, the next day, our friend Israel had his interview at theembassy for a visa. He photographed our engagment photos and we really wanted him to be able to come to our wedding in the states and to take our pictures. However, if he wasn't granted his visa (which is a common story here in Bolivia) he would be unable to come. However, his interview went WELL and he is officially coming to the wedding! Another YAY!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers...keep praying for Choco's interview.
And thank you Lord for your grace in all things!

WILL I BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS?...chapter 12

There have been many a jokes about me writing a book about ALL of my crazy travel stories.
And many of them have happened around the holiday season.
So, maybe I've started to jot down a few chapters to this probably-never-to-happen book and have already given this section a title:).

So, enjoy a "sneak-peek" at the LATEST chapter...

For a little background info, Friday morning I woke up not feeling my best. Thursday afternoon I had thrown-up for no apparent reason, but that morning I was realizing the cause.
I was sick!
I spent most of the 1/2 day in the fetal position on our couch in the staff lounge.
I went to the doctor that afternoon and even though there wasn't enough time for a complete diagnosis, she thought I had some kind of infection and I needed to be on the white diet.
Now, if you've ever had any kind of bacterial infection, you know how AWFUL the white diet is.
Basically anything flavorless and white (potatoes, rice, chicken without ANY sauce, etc.) is permissable. Anything fresh or enjoyable is out of the question!

So, 4:15 Saturday morning comes around and I am honestly feeling a bit better.
Thank goodness. This should be a good day....or so I thought.

La Paz security goes well and we wait with many other Highlands teachers for our flight.
However, because of weather problems in Miami, the flight arrived in La Paz late, so we left about an hour late.
THEN when we get to Miami and there's rain and a line of planes waiting to land.
We land after 30 min. of waiting.
Even with the 1 and 1/2 delay, I thought we still had plenty of time to make our 6:10 Continental flight. So, at this point in time, we are SOO HAPPY to be back in the US....and feeling confident about the rest of our travels to SLC!!


But, after waiting for 4 different "rounds" of luggage pick-up and a line at the Continental counter...my worst nightmare starts to unfold.
WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT!
And since I knowingly booked our itinerary through 2 different airlines, we didn't know if Contintenal would help rebook us because of a delayed American flight.

The lady at the counter, without any seen sympathy, quickly sends us over to the American counters to see what they can do for us. "They can't do ANYTHING!" I'm thinking...but we start going to American just the same.

Now, if you have spent some quality time in the Miami Airport, you know that the airlines are all spread out and you actually have to leave the building to get to another terminal.

When we get to American terminal D we see various lines FILLED with people.
We have a tough time finding the line for us and when we finally do, we ask a couple of American attendants if their airline will be able to help us with our specific situtation. They both assure me that there are many flights that go out a day, and we should be able to help you in ONE way or another!

While I am waiting to talk to an American attendant, Esteban goes back to Continental to see what they can do for us.
When I finally make it through the line I hear what I expected to hear....there is nothing we can do for you. I also hear, you should look into the train.
TO IDAHO? I don't think there IS train that runs from Florida to Idaho!!!
Sufficed to say, I leave the American counter in tears, advised to stay calm and not to make a rash decision!

Thankfully Esteban comes back as I'm leaving the counter and has better news to share with me! Continental will get us on stand-by for a flight tomorrow...for FREE! All we have to do is call Orbitz and have them reinstate our reservation.
PERFECT.

So I call Orbitz......for the first time.
They tell us there's nothing wrong with our reservation and we head back to Continetnal to see what we can do next.

Now this is where my mood officially shifts. I've already had at this point some quick fits of anger, but when we return to Continental and they flippantly tell us they're closed (even though they are helping other customers and some attendants aren't doing anything) and just don't seem willing to help, I become my assertive, you-MUST-help-me-get-home-to-my-family self!!

Now this form of Megan doesn't really go over that well at Contintntal and before you know it, I'm back on the phone with Orbitz again.
For probably an hour and a half.
This time I have a very helpful Jim/Jeff (I was calling him the wrong name for a while....guess I still struggle with Indian accents:)!!).
And even though he ended up singing the same "your-reservation-was-not-voided" song that the first guy sang, he WAS super sweet.
At one point I handed the phone over to Esteban while I was on hold, and when Jim/Jeff got back on he said, "Oh Esteban. Yes. Megan is crying. I can hear that. I understand."
While this was all taking place, I was DEFINITELY crying.

One, because our stand-by flight was seeming to slip away from us.
Two, because I was pretty exhausted.
And three, because the only thing we could do at that point was stay at the airport and "enjoy" dinner together. But, I was stuck on the STUPID white diet eating a subway sandwich of chicken. Literally chicken and NOTHING ELSE! So....NOT ENJOYABLE!
Hence the tears.

That night we slept on the airport floor and enjoyed the "friendly" recording tell us every 15 min. what time it was. I wished the instrumental Christmas could just play the whole time. When we woke up the next morning we found that more people had come to join our "party."

We woke up (often, but officially) at 3:45 to get to the Continental counter close to 4.
My anxiety level started rising as we neared the LONG line already formed.
By the time we got to the counter I decided it would be best if I stand by the huge cart of luggage. Away from the crowds. Away from the attendants that I might be tempted to yell at if anything goes wrong! I kept myself busy by shifting the weight of one luggage to another.
It seemed like I was over there for eternity.
At one point I came over to see how it was going and I heard the lady say something about calling Orbitz again.
OH NO.....angry Megan is coming out again!
However, I decide to go back to the luggage. And, after ANOTHER eternity, I witness a Christmas miracle!!
We have 2 CONFIRMED tickets to SLC.

After that, it's pretty uneventful except for the fact that we MADE a stand-by flight in Houston which got us home about 9 hours EARLIER than our confirmed flight!

GOD IS GOOD....as usual:).

The end.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

CHRISTMAS!

To start off the month, we had our life group girls over for the "annual" putting up of the Christmas tree.

If you remember last year, some of our girls' families do not celebrate Christmas so it was nice to be able to be their "memory" of Christmas again this year!
We of course had to also make the traditional sugar cookies...


and take the timed-group shot...guess who ran into the picture and tried not to look so alone in the front?
Our group has grown a little this year...YAY!
(L-R): Dani, Carolina (who accepted Christ this year!!), Nur, Steph, Jill, Claudia...and me in the front

This is the 2nd year now that we have been having these girls over at our house every/every other Tuesday night, and it's SOO neat to see how each of them have grown during this time. Many of our girls this year are seniors this year.....and 2 OF THEM HAVE APPLIED TO TAYLOR UNIVERSITY!!

If you were here, you would probably hear us wish you (in many different ways)...

Halloween and Thanksgiving...

As most of you know, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!
But before Christmas can happen, there are 2 "lesser holidays" that must first take place.
This year, both were celebrated and are worth mentioning on the blog.
However, don't worry, after this post, there will be PLENTY of posts touching on the holiday that is fastly approaching!

October 31st is the birthday of a dear friend here in La Paz. And since another friend's birthday is about a week before, we had a birthday/halloween party for them.
After hearing the word costume, Esteban and I immediately went to work on our costume (since he would probably admit to liking costumes as much or even more than I do.... if that is possible) and we came up with....

That's right...in honor of Idaho (Famous IDAHO Potatoes) and Bolivia (the home of over 3,000 varieties of potatoes!)

Here are the birthday girls Jjill and Molly...

And here's the ever popular, timed group-shot...

With the ending of October, we were quickly ushered into the "Thanksgiving Season" as I have come to think of it....at least this year I have!
You would think that since I live in Bolivia and Thanksgiving is traditionally an American holiday, meals with turkey and stuffing would be few and far between. However, I think had the most feasts that I have EVER had in 1 year this year.
3.
And at each one I ate my full!!!

We did a thanksgiving feast with the middle schoolers to give them a better understanding of WHY we didn't have school for 1 1/2 (wonderful) days. Then, the Saturday before Thanksgiving we had an extranjero celebration complete with LOTS of great food....

football...
**Note that my Bolivian boy is playing the "all-american" sport and enjoying it:)

and Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown (traditional, even if it had to be viewed on a bity computer screen!)...
THEN we had a staff thanksgiving feast before we all went our separate ways to ejnoy the break.

This year I stayed in Bolivia to enjoy Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz with Esteban....AND HIS FAMILY!
Esteban's mother is from a family of 9 children (a couple have died since then) and they all live in Santa Cruz, except for his mom Tere (yes...his mom's name sounds just like my mom's name....!).

While there I enjoyed getting to know the many tios y primos (aunts/uncles and cousins) even if they couldn't really say the same about me....
People from Santa Cruz are known for their accents and habit of leaving off the "s" sound completely.
Ucha!
Megan was lucky to understand what was being said...adding to the conversation was not in the cards for this trip!
Here are a few pictures from our time.....I LOVE SANTA CRUZ!!

A taste from the great West...mas o menos....

The hats Tia Ana Maria let us borrow for our day at the water park Aqualand that we "happened" to have forgot at the house....bummer!


Our reaction after finding out that Aqualand only had 1 "ride" open and that 2nd best was the rundown Playland with the faded dinosaurs next door....we still had fun despite the less than ideal conditions of this park.

Here we are celebrating Choco's 26th birthday (a few days early) eating one of his favorites....sushi!

And here's a family pic of us with Tere....

...posing by a tree native to the area that grows the fruit guapuru on the bark instead of hanging from the branches. Really cool!

So that is my "Thanksgiving Season" in a nutshell!!
Stay tuned for some more pictures and updates of theChristmas Season!!

Answered Prayers..

Thank you to all who were praying for Zion Scott.
Today Lisa posted this on her facebook wall:

Our Lord answered our prayers for healing this morning by taking our precious son to be with Him. He passed away in Scotty's arms. We love you and miss you, Zion Scott.

It wasn't the answer any of us were hoping for, but it was God's answer nonetheless. And now Zion is being held by His Maker.

Please continue to pray for Lisa and Scotty.
They are trusting in God, and I am amazed at the visible strength of the Lord seen in and through each of them. But, at the same time, it's still a difficult loss and something that will probably be mourned for a while.

Little Zion with Lisa during his 19 days here...

Another Call for Prayer...

I know this seems to be a theme in my blog this year, but I would like to ask each of you to pray for the Miser family!
As you may have seen on facebook, they had their little son, Zion, about 9 weeks early.
As far as I know, he is stable, but he is TINY and they need our prayers!


Thanks...

Spring Fun..

...and even the not-so-fun.

That's right.
This is going to be a "massive" recap of my life in the southern hemisphere season of SPRING!

First, my fiance and I completed the first stage of PAPERWORK for his visa to come to the states...to marry me! Who knew that being engaged to a foreigner and bringing them to the states was such a big deal? The Proposal might come to mind....yep, like that.... except that those interviews are apart of the 3rd stage:)!

Here are the stacks of proof that Esteban and I met each other in person and are legitimately in love! Now that's something else to prove!

After sending the fatty packet to The Department of Homeland Security...yeah, you read it right...I was ready for a little vacation! Thankfully, we had a day off of school soon after so some girlfriends and I headed to Cochabamba for a weekend of sun, pool and food!

Cochabamba is about a 5 hour drive southeast of La Paz. It is seated at a much lower elevation so, consequently, the city is known for its nice "spring" weather all year round. Cocha is also known for its used clothing "canchas" that some Bolivians refer to as Saks 5th Ave!

The weekend was so nice and all aspects were enjoyed...including my FIRST domestic flight (that was SUPER cheap!!) that allowed us to arrive in La Paz in a half hour instead of the 7ish hour bus ride that we took last time!!

My poolside chair with all I needed to enjoy my afternoon:)...thank you to ALL of my sweet friends and mom who sent me some wedding mags to help in the planning of the big day!

Here are the sweet friends I traveled with: Alana, Stephanie, me and Molly!

After the trip, Esteban and I had a "cartoon" costume party to attend. Guess who we came as..

A few weeks later, in honor of the approaching season, Highlands had the annual Spring Festival where we were able to earn money for the school. Even though the weather was NOT very springy, I still enjoyed all of the festivities and my new "job" of paitning faces. Here's one of the "victims" of my ATTEMPT at facepainting... sweet Natty Miser, a precious 2 year-old that helps me when I'm missing my own niece and nephew, along with her mom (Lisa) and dad (Scotty) who have both become special to Esteban and me...

Here is the entire middle school dressed up in anticpation for the Spring Festival! Don't we look awesome?!

To end this catch-up post, I would like to share few pictures from one of our 5 community service trips up to the Word Made Flesh facility that works with prostitutes that are now earning a living by making these awesome purses. It is a neat minstry and I was happy to be able to take some of our middle schoolers and high schoolers to be able to serve these people.