Many of you have already read our May prayer letter. But for those who haven’t, here’s the news:
Dear friends and family,
It’s exciting to share that my belly is growing and our doctor check-ups show a healthy and growing baby. A family in our community (the Bakers) has a 4 year-old boy who said the other day after noticing my belly, “Mommy, Becky’s baby is growing.” I thought it was such a sweet way to put it (he could have said I was getting chubby).
We recently announced to our community here that we are planning to have the baby in the States. This was not an easy decision for us. Initially, we felt pretty strongly that it would be more convenient to stay here instead of traveling and not worry about the risks of coming back into the altitude with a new born. However, after I had such a rough go at the beginning with nausea and vomiting, it got me thinking about the challenges of having a new born. Our community has been supportive in our tough times here. They’ve made us meals and given us lots of hugs. But thinking about bringing our first child into the world so far from family began to sound like a really difficult choice.
In our case, it’s not really a question of medical facilities and care. For the most part, it’s as trustworthy as anywhere. As much as I want to acknowledge my new community here and the support they provide for us, I can’t deny the fact that my family (extended family really) has been the constant community in my life when everything else has changed. Both Adam and I have really supportive families and it just seems like a way to give a little back – a gift we can give our parents for all they went through raising us. I also have observed in the last year that our community here is very much burdened by the extensive needs of our ministry. At the end of the day, we don’t have much left over to give to each other, even though we would to. As new parents, I envision a lot of needs that Adam and I will have. Our hope is that having the baby in the States will take away a few stressors from an already stressful time.
My fear in telling our community this decision was that they would have the sense that they were not enough for us – that they would sense a sort of rejection. And maybe they do to an extent and I have to be okay with the fact that sometimes my decisions are not the favorite choice of others. But I did sit down with our cooks, Viki and Feli, and had a great conversation with them about this process of deciding. They affirmed to me that the baby is already Bolivian (another staff said in accented English that our child is “Made in Bolivia”) and that when daughters have good relationships with their moms, Mom is the best person to have around in these times. They found out that I’m the only daughter in my family and said, “Oh your poor mother, you need to go.”
We haven’t decided this because it would bring us the most applause, but I have a sense that this is going to be the best decision for both Adam and I and for our little one.
Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to apartment hunt (our current place is temporary) and make plans for the arrival of the new addition to our family.
Humbly,
Becky (& Adam) Thada