My Mexicali Testimony
My first trip to Mexicali was the year Mrs. Ochoa died. I never met her. I never saw her. I had only heard her story in everyone's fractured pieces.
I had heard she was an incredible woman. I hard she loved people. I heard was a very humble but strong leader. I heard she was a prayer warrior type. I heard heard she had passion to love hungry children. I heard she had diabetes and had died from it.
I froze since I also have Type 1 Diabetes. 
Mrs. Ochoa had lost legs before eventually passing away and all due to complications with diabetes.
I thought back to when I was diagnosed and my doctor said, "This disease is absolutely manageable. You can live a long life if you take care and manage it well."
The immediate realization was this was something Mrs. Ochoa and everyone else there do not have to the opportunity for. Immediately, I was faced with something I have and continue to take for granted.
WE complain about our medical care. We complain about the pricing of it. We complain about its craziness. We complain about its confusion. We have been given literal life-saving resources and we complain about how much it costs.
A few days ago I was reading in Proverbs 3:27-28, "Do not withold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it. When you have it with you."
When you consider what you have that many do NOT have, we must be mindful and act. It is in our power to do SOMETHING...always. You are in a position to have with you so much more than most of the world has.
That was a lesson I had to learn in Mexicali. I keep going back to gain this perspective and reminder. You learn to live your life differently when you are faced with how much you really do have.
Reading Between the Lines: a power sentence for [almost] every year of my life
Hidden in these sentences are the likes of divorce, adoption, and diabetes. Also there will be found marriage, birth, and milestones alongside brokenness, addictive numbing, and wounds. Good luck discovering those things between the lines as these lines are much thicker than the revealing space between. (I gave up trying to think of things for a few years I just don't really remember much about.)
*This was an idea I received here.
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1980 - Naked into this world I came. 1981 - Some of the best memories are those you don't remember. 1982 - It was never your divorce, but ours. 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - Two families converge 'forever' with adoption??? 1989 - There is now more than corn in Indiana. 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - Time to be a man, boy! 1993 - 1994 - Wade out a little bit deeper. 1995 - Commit to your life's largest choice. 1996 - 1997 - Search for future while you relish tonight. 1998 - Release! 1999 - A bold use of poetry will get you married some day. 2000 - The end is further than we ever think. 2001 - The death of naive safety will never be forgotten. 2002 - Never take for granted a gift of grace. 2003 - A degree does not qualified make you. 2004 - Marriage slays any selfishness to which I thought I held. 2005 - Two converged families fracture with only a letter. 2006 - Shedding the man you used to be is a temporary joy. 2007 - Bodies stop producing insulin and emotions at the same rate. 2008 - Stir in a little Mexican, lots of insulin, and a charge of passion. 2009 - What.is.happening 2010 - My heart exploded with more love than I ever knew I was capable of. 2011 - New life is on the horizon.