What's the Dealy-O?: Quick Recap

No, we did not fall off the face of the Earth! It sure seems like it though. Wow! It has been almost a year since the last post. Unbelievable! To be fair though, we did not have much internet connection since leaving the Philippines in July of 2013. Before we get too far ahead, here is a quick recap of (just about) everything that has happened since we left Malaybalay:

We had a family retreat and felt God calling us back to the States. A couple of things led to this decision but the reality of our house in Kansas set to close at the end of July was the most pressing. It would've been kind of hard to sign papers from the other side of the world :)
Most of you know that we have had many offers on our home and ALL of them have been cancelled, rejected (by the bank), or "who knows why?". Well, this offer was no different except that it was the most promising of all previous ones. Still, Bank of America decided it wanted to squeeze $10,000 more from the buyer...with only a few days left to close!!! NOOOO!!! Needless to say, there were no papers to sign after all. Well, now what?!
We spent a few days at Big Woods in Louisiana recovering from jet lag and the sadness of leaving our Filipino family so quickly. We were totally surprised by this latest event and didn't have any idea what to do.

August was coming up and we knew that the Midwest Catholic Family Conference in our hometown diocese of Wichita was around the corner. We wanted to see family and friends anyways...so we decided to go and set up a table for FMC! What a success! We had many visitors and we were able to pray with a lot of them for different things. The most memorable was when the Bailey Family stopped and inquired about mission life. We prayed for their discernment and a few weeks later (after they also went to a Come and See in Louisiana) they decided to join FMC! Praise the Lord! Please pray for them as they are now serving in Malaybalay and Blair is pregnant!
I missed one step before leaving Big Woods. We were thinking that if we were going to be back in Kansas and maybe moving back into our vacant home...I might have to get a job. I applied online and within literally just a few seconds I was already offered a job interview at the airport. Went and got the job to start late August. God moves really fast sometimes!
So, after fighting the thought of having to go back into aircraft, I did anyways. After all, God knows what He is doing. My schedule was working nights on a 4day- 10hr shift. Not too bad having a 3-day weekend every week! Still, it was pretty rough getting back into paint-mode after never thinking about it for 3 years... and house painting doesn't count. This is waaay different.
We moved back into our empty home in Rose Hill. Our very empty home... except for the fridge and stove that stayed.

Girls trying out their room

We were preparing to sleep on the floor for a few weeks or months until we would save enough to buy used furniture. Well, that didn't take long. Did you know "God is in the miracle business"? <---as Mr. Frank says. It wasn't even a whole day that passed when our entire 7 bedroom house was fully furnished with hotel bedroom, living room, and kitchen furniture! The Stolz Family had mentioned our need to a friend in the hotel business and they donated it all from the Mariott franchise. The Stewart Family also let us use their 12 passenger van for a few

STORYTIME!...in the brand new chair

months and the Stolz again helped us with a loaner car that I could drive for work. The Rohr Family that helped with groceries, gas, and other necessities. So many to thank for their generosity. Thank God for amazing friends!

Boys loving their room
By early December, we had decided to move out of the house after again Bank of America's games were too much to bear. They wouldn't let us refinance and wouldn't let us enroll in a repayment program. They said our house was still ours but at any time they could foreclose. Yes, we could have stayed there "rent" free this whole time but something didn't seem right. We are now back in Wichita and within minutes from the airport. ***Update*** We do have a buyer and expect to close in mid-May so please continue praying for that to come to a close! Pardon the pun.
January 2014 was a good beginning. The Romero Family whom we served with in Malaybalay came for a visit. They stayed with us for a few days and kept our mission life burning with updates from the field. We all were invited to speak at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita including the Baileys before they were sent out to the Philippines. It was during the question and answer segment that something special happened. A question that was directed specifically to us: Will the Alvarez Family be going out in mission again soon? I answered that we weren't sure yet as God had not told us exactly yet. We were happy to be home for the time being and were very happy to be helping Fr. Jarrod Lies who is now in charge of missions for the Diocese.

Romeros at the Spiritual Life Center

We had been in talks about setting up some short-term trips in the near future. Immediately, the crowd started whispering and smiling when they heard this. Most were surprised that short-term trips were an option, a possibility. It was not long (that very night) before a group was already starting to form for a possible trip to Mexico! Led by Tony Habashy and family, the group was calling and emails were being sent. I think by the end of the week we were already discussing the size of the group and possible dates to travel. Don't know if I've said it before but God moves fast sometimes!

That's about where we are right now. The next post will be about the Mexico short-term trip that we led and just returned from. LOTS to write about that mission so please return and check it out. God is good. All the time!!!