Furlough

I’m officially back from my blogging break (I hope!).  There is much too much to catch up on since I last posted (busyness being the main reason that I failed to post).  Anyways, for those who may not have heard, I am currently halfway through my month and a half furlough.  I was feeling a bit discouraged and overwhelmed with all the ministry work at the foundation and just needed a good break where I could clear my mind and go be surrounded by my very loving and caring family to recharge and encourage me. 

Homeschool Wedding Shower
 

So far my trip has been amazing.  I’ve been to two wedding showers for my sister, Melody, spent lots of good quality time with my family and my life-long homeschool friends Taylor, Andrew, and Lauren, celebrated the engagement of Sara and Mike, gone camping in Yosemite and hiked half-dome, celebrated my dad’s birthday with him for the first time in 2 or 3 years, and spent a week in Kentucky with my grandparents and my mom’s family. 

 I’ve been so busy with so many fun distractions I haven’t even had time to get “homesick.”  Don’t get me wrong, I do love my Mexican family and think about them often, but I am so glad and feel so blessed to still have a couple more weeks to enjoy and revel in this sweet time with my beloveds.

Prayer requests:

1)      For clarity as to what God wants me to improve in my part in the ministry and how He plans for me to do that. 

2)      That I would be more in tune with Him and His Will and desires for my life.

3)      That I would be willing, able, and ready for whatever He has for me.

Mis preciosas!

This is my most favorite family of precious little girls.

I met them at Pastor Hector's church, La Gloria.....they needed a ride home....

This is what I brought them home to....ten people were living in here...two beds in one tiny room.

Plus this extra little enclosed, outside area with another plywood bed.

We prayed and put in a petition for a house from our groups.

REJOICE!  The Lord heard our prayers.

A group from Canada came to bless my babies.

This is where mis preciosas sleep now :]

In warm, triple bunkbeds with mattresses.

This group even went above and beyond and made them storage shelves for food, a counter to cook on, and a dining room table with a wrap-around bench.

I'm so grateful to you all!  What a blessing this group was to this family and to me!  We will never forget you.

CELEBRATE!!

Los abuelitos (the grandparents)

Wow, I didn't even realize how long it'd been since I'd posted.  Let me update you a bit.

Judy's been going to visit the old folks at Juan Vasquez's Senior Home every Wednesday morning, brings them a delicious treat, and helps with foot washing, circulation massaging, and shaving sometimes.  I've been with her a few times, but I was only there once when we washed feet.  This sweet man was one of the ones of whose feet I washed.  This was really a touching experience for me, because just the morning before I had heard that my grandma in Kentucky wasn't doing well and it made me really sad and even though I couldn't be there for her, I could take care of these abuelitos (grandparents) and trust that God was taking care of mine.

....I'll save the other updates for another day.  Check again soon!

A Very Sad Goodbye

Just over two weeks ago, we said a very difficult "See you later" to Karen Wind's little baby boy, Miguel, as he peacefully passed in the middle of the night into Jesus' arms in Heaven.  I've never seen such a little casket.  He was only 9 months old.  It is comforting to know that he's with Jesus in a new, perfect skin, but that still didn't easy the sting of our separation from him for the rest of our earthly days.  Please keep Karen and Alex (her other son) in your prayers.  Miguel, you will be missed for the time being, but praise the Lord, we will see you again someday!

What Is This??

 

A friend gave me this fruit(?) that someone gave to her.  I thought it was a watermelon, but when I cut it open it looked like this! 

I thought maybe it was an unripe watermelon, but when I smelled it and it smelled like cucumber!  I still don’t know what this is, but it definitely tasted like cucumber too, with a little bit of a jicama-y texture.  Any ideas of what this is?  It also had these huge, pumpkin-type seeds inside that had a very interesting taste to them as well.  I am baffled.

Tuesday Nights at La Gloria

We visit the church La Gloria two times a week, Sunday afternoons and Tuesday nights, for their church services.Both times I am in charge of the kids.Sundays I teach just the younger kids (the guys from the Bible Institute are teaching the older kids), and Tuesday nights I teach everyone.It’s been kind of difficult to keep the attention of these kids of all ages (20 or so kids from about 3 to 13 years old).It’s been tough to say the least, but more recently I’ve been trying to come up with some sort of craft or game that we can do together, but that can be adapted to any age.We’ve made collages from magazines about the different characteristics of God (strong, kind, loving, etc.),...

 ...we’ve done a fish puppet craft out of a paper bag when they learned about when Peter found the money in the fish’s mouth to give to the tax collectors, and we’ve had a tower building contest when they learned about the tower of Babel.

I’ve also decided to start having Bible story movie nights on the nights when I’m just too exhausted to teach or when I’ve had no time to prepare anything. The night we did that it went really well, I was so surprised how the 40 min cartoon was able to keep the attention of almost all the children for almost the entire film.

  

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

I’ve been trying to go running in the mornings.  Here are some of the beauties that get me out of bed every morning :]

Aren't they cute??  So even though I kind of have to hold my breath and run really fast during this part, it's fun to say Buenos Dias to these little amigos :]