Pablo & Judi Kauffman

It's almost time! After six months of waiting, we're finally about to leave for Spain! Saying good-by is never easy. I tend to hide behind looking ahead. Judi tends to feel things more at the moment. Whatever the case, in the past 1 1/2 weeks we have had some highlights to remember. On Good Friday we met Judi's brother Gerry, wife Marjo and sons Aaron & Jordan for lunch at a restaurant halfway between their home in Aurora, OH, and ours.

That evening we also had our last Cracker Barrel meal with Bob & Linda Reed (not pictured).

Easter Sunday was a special day, not only because Christ arose, but because Wayne & Heather Williams were baptized.

Judi had helped care for their son, Dakota, for 7 yrs. For her, it will be hard to leave him

...and them,

...as well as Heather's parents, Ron & Debbie, whom we have grown to know and love, being in our small group.

Speaking of our small group, here is our "last supper" with them. Dave & Dorothy Yutzy have been leading the group since last Sept.

Debbie even made a delicious going-away cake for us. There's a reason we call her "Little Debbie!"

Myron & Rhelda Sommers, who are renting our house, invited us, along with Bethany Geib out to dinner at Olive Garden.

On Saturday night we did Pizza Hut with Marti Miller and Ximena Lozada (not pictured).

On our final Sunday at Shiloh, Mar, 30, they had a commissioning prayer for us.

Then the afternoon was spent with family. Here are the newest additions.

Our "family" often includes Derrek and Carla Wanty (their little Noelia was the one on the right above) and Carla's sister, Ximena Lozada, friends from Ecuador.

We had a little communion service, then hung out the rest of the evening.

We also celebrated Kevin's finishing his undergraduate studies. He likes his lemon meriangue pie!

So, we're about to leave "this."

But what is "this," after all? "This" will all be burned up someday. Only the soul will last forever, clothed with a fresh, new, transformed body, fit for eternity. We're asking God that many Spaniards would be able to someday enjoy eternity, as well.

We're both excited about moving on. What will the next phase of our lives be like? Stay tuned...

Posted by Pablo & Judi at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

All good things must come to an end. Harv lasted about 10 days. His demise was hastened by high temperatures (fever?) and rain. The following photos pretty much tell the story. The first two were from yesterday, Mar. 19.

A closeup view:

Sad, isn't it? He remains only a handful (hat-ful?) as of this morning.

One more effort at tidying him up:

With the sun and warmer temperatures, we are prepared to declare today, March 20, the end of Harv. The winner of the churros con chocolate, who guessed the day of Harv's demise, is... (drum roll) Wendy Mayer! She won't even have to travel to Spain to enjoy them with us, being there already. Congratulations, Wendy! The runners-up were Kevin Mayer (19th) and Kristin Bucher (21st).

Some final thoughts: Harv kind of represents us. He is a product of winter, cold and dormant. As long as winter remains, Harv will remain, but as spring starts to appear, he disappears. Making snowmen can be fun, but who doesn't want spring to appear? New life, new growth, planting, harvest... nothing will happen unless there is a change, a death, so to speak, so that life can appear. We kind of had to die to some things in preparing to go to Spain. But our hope is in the One who brings new life: planting, cultivating and harvesing. Please continue to accompany us in that journey!

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First things first. Harv's not doing well, as you can see in the sequence of pics.

Because of the delay in going to Spain, Judi was able to take in the Shiloh women's retreat. The speaker was Barbie Borntrager, who with husband Jonas, are long-time friends and are on our MST.

An added blessing is being able to spend a little extra time with our children and grandchildren.

Are we proud grandparents, or what?!

Posted by Pablo & Judi at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the last blog I offered free churros con chocolate in Spain for the person who had the closest guess as to the date of the demise of the snowman, who we'll call "Harv." So far we've gotten only one response: March 21. In order to view his progress (or regress), here he is from yesterday:

The heat yesterday took its toll and during the night he was beheaded, so I fixed him up a bit. The nose is getting somewhat weathered - looks like gangrene.

I suppose giving him a new head may be tampering with destiny, but since I'm not a Calvinist, what does it matter? We want to give him every chance we can. Actually, when you think about it, there are some good illustrations in this about the brevity of life, appearance to others, eternal destiny, and the like.

If you'd like to submit a projected date of demise, please do so in the "comment" section of this blog, or send it to pablojudi@gmail.com. Maybe we should sweeten the pot a bit. How about sending Harv's hat to the winner as a momento?

Posted by Pablo & Judi at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

That's right, our visas have arrived! Imagine the commotion in the Israelite camp when the cloud lifted, indicating it was time to move on: Excitement - where to now? Reality - packing and getting ready. In our case, we plan on leaving April 2. Did it take the Israelites, even without cell phones and Skype, that long to get ready to leave?? This is a good time (the Lord knew it all along!). Since the last post we were able to take in a "Sharing the Hope" seminar in Grand Rapids, MI. On the way, we stopped near Dayton, OH for a 24 hr. retreat at Innkeeper Ministries, a wonderful place for pastors & spouses to get away and be renewed. The night before the seminar we were able to spend in Clarksville MI with Jim & Mary Sutter pictured here, dog-sitting the winter with Hansi who belongs to Lloyd & Mary.

After the seminar we decided not to go back to OH that night, as a hundred-year record snowfall had been broken for a 24 hr. period (20.4 in.). So we stayed the night in Goshen, IN with Shery Hostetler and her dog, Nitche, both of whom we had known from Ecuador days.

The next day we were able to get back to OH and spend a wonderful afternoon with the family.

This snowman is a product of frustration (before we heard our visas had come). Plus, I don't remember having done this as a child. So, here's a jolly good fellow that should last awhile. The closest guess as to the date of his natural demise gets a free order of churros con chocolate when they visit us in Spain!

So, what will the lifting of the cloud bring in the next three weeks? Stay tuned...

Posted by Pablo & Judi at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We're still waiting for the summons to come from the Spanish Consulate regarding our visas. Until it does, we're going about our business, doing whatever needs to be done. It reminds us of the Israelites of old in the Sinai desert. They would set up camp and go about their daily activities, keeping one eye on the cloud over the tabernacle. When the cloud lifted they would pack up and go. Just like us! So, keeping one eye "on the cloud," we went to Minister's Fellowship in Hicksville, OH, staying with good friends Dan & Lynelle Delagrange.

We weren't the only ones staying there. Elmer & Eileen Lehman, Elam Stauffer, Carl Benderoth and Wilbur Bender were also there.

Eileen did her "grandmother" thing with Elizabeth, the youngest of the six Delagrange children.

Maurice & Sari Miller also came for Minister's Fellowship. It helps that they have two grandchildren in the area - which also happen to be ours!

For those of you who miss winter, here it is! Is that the reason Judi was so sick for a week and a half?!

We were able to see Derrek and Carla Wanty, back from Ecuador. When they left last Oct. we didn't figure to see them again. Kristin and Carla have been good friends; now they hope their little girls, Malia and Noelia, will someday be good friends, as well.

Can you believe this little girl's father is tall and blond?

Although we keep one eye on the cloud, we try to keep the other eye on the grandchildren. Aren't they precious?

We wonder when the cloud will lift. It's somewhat comforting to know we're not the first ones who experienced this!

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