FIRST STEPS

September 28, 2011 Julia took her first steps today….she just needed the right motivation (our little girl LOVES terere).

OMA and OPA ARRIVE

September 22 my family arrived! They met Julia for the first time.

We spent one night in Asuncion and then headed home. Here’s a summary of our trip: 1 overloaded vehicle 2 x 10 chickens 3 rodents 4 weeks’ worth of groceries (that’s a lot of food!) 5 kids in the back seat 6 teen kilo watermelon 7 hours of travel 8 big bags (plus lots of little bags, computer bags and backpacks) 9 stops along the way 10 of us, plus a puppy headed to San Francisco….let the fun begin! Let me explain the animals….since it had recently been a rough week with Joshua and Ginny’s pets dying, they decided to spend their money to replace them. Duma, the guinea pig, and Chipmunk and Squeeky, the hamsters were added to the traveling circus. We’d been thinking that we’d buy another dog and thought that while we were in Asuncion waiting for my family, we’d take a look at the selection. Well, who could just look at puppies? We feel in love with this golden retriever and brought her home. Her name is Comet (a dirtball with a tail). The chickens? Well, they’re just practical. P.S Julia rode forward facing for the first time. She loved it and so did the puppy.

NEW BEGININGS in JATAITY

The Floyds have been our team mates. They moved to San Francisco 10 years ago and began what is now an exciting, growing, and maturing church. Now God has called them to move to another town and begin another church plant. These past few months as they have visited other places, we have been a sounding board as well as praying with them for God’s direction. They finally narrowed the places down to Jaguaete Cora and Jataity and we began even more fervently praying for their decision. Things in Jataity weren;t very encouraging – there was no man of peace, no housing options, people weren’t friendly, and the town, they felt, was spiritually dead. Everything was, however, falling into fell into place for them to move to Jaguaete Cora, which is where they will be headed in a couple months. Jeff and I realized that sometime while praying over these towns, God had given us a burden for Jataity. Now, we are constantly hearing about Jataity. Jeff treats more and more patients from there, we’re realizing just how many of our friends have family living there, Ryan’s soccer team only plays Jataity’s team, and we are getting to know the doctor of that town because I am teaching him English. While Jeff and I were talking one day with him after English class, he mentioned that there was such a medical need in his town and he wasn’t able to handle it all. Isn’t it funny how God works? We never really know how he will stir our hearts. Our job is to be ready when he speaks and to be obedient to his calling. We aren’t planning on a move any time soon, but we have set “working ourselves out of a job” as a goal. As the church leaders continue to mature and rely less and less on us, we should not do for them what they are capable of doing themselves. What we have decided to do is commit one afternoon a week to Jataity where Jeff will give ultrasounds. The whole family will go in hopes people will be interested in beginning bible studies in their homes. Please pray for us as we venture beyond our town.

THIS and THAT of THIS WEEK

September 17, 2011 Julia stopped nursing this week. Makes me kind of sad. She is not walking…perhaps she is waiting to take her first steps for my family who come in this week. She has, however, learned to skateboard. It is the cutest thing. She gets a knee and arm on the board, the other arm and knee stay on the ground to help her push.

We worked really hard to finish our home schooling year this week. Now we can fully enjoy Oma and Opa’s visit next week.

When we got stuck in the mud coming into Asuncion Sunday, I think Jeff was a bit excited about using the winch for the first time. His excitement was soon dashed when he realized the hitch lock was so corroded that the winch could not be used!

I asked Ginny, “So is Tangled (the movie) a girl movie or do boys like it too?” She said, “Boys can like it too, after all, everyone has hair.” Paul (our colleague) just had a hip replacement. We’d explained the whole surgical process and mechanics of a hip (ball and socket) to the kids. One night Ginny prayed, “God, thank you that Paul has new balls.” I was laughing too hard to pray when my turn came. Micah declared today that his boots were too tight and we would be wearing flip-flops now. These boots have been glued on Micah for 1 ½ years (seriously, it was all he wore). I said, Micah, how will people recognize you?” He answered, “I still have my bathing suit.” This is true. He is going on 1 year of LOVING his bathing suit. He’s already worn 1 out, but thankfully we had a duplicate.

SUNDAY ENCUENTRO SUNDAY

Sunday, September 12, 2011 I lOVE our once a month encuentro Sundays. We had several new families attend, the stories the believers shred were fantastic, the comments were right on, the fellowship was sweet and the food hit the spot. I always walk away so encouraged.

FIRST KIDS CLUB!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

We had 35 kids participate in our very first kids’ club today.  Rosi and Pauli did a fabulous job of organizing and leading the group.

David, who Jeff has been teaching the piano, led us in a few songs. 

Next, the kids divided
into 2 groups. One group
watched a DVD on the
Abraham’s life while the
other group colored.
After 30 minutes, they
switched.

Then Rosi and Pauli retold the story, practiced the memory verse with kids, and then gave a gospel message.  We had all agreed in our planning meeting that the most important part of kids’ club was for the kids to hear how they can be saved.  The ladies did a great job.

No Paraguayan gathering would be complete without a game of soccer.  Actually the boys played soccer while Jeff taught the girls baseball.  They had a blast.

As I was looking through these pictures, I realized that I am a bit partial to brown eyed, brown haired little girls (in no short supply here!).

 

After Kids' club Jeff asked Micah what his favorite part of the club was - the movie, coloring, the singing.  He responded, "The girls!"  No doubt that Micah will one day be a heart breaker, he has taken to chasing after the teen girls who adore Micah and chase him right back! 



A SAD DAY

September 2, 2011

I hate hate hate to see my children hurting! Today was a sad day in our house – Joshua’s guinea pig (Chewy) and Ginny’s hamster (Spot) died.  We’re not sure of what.  We had a funeral today just before lunch.  Ginny’s other hamster escaped a couple days ago and hasn’t been seen or heard of since (we fear the worse).  Ginny cried several times and Joshua kept his face hard and kept saying, “Don’t talk about it.  Don’t say his name anymore.”

We stll have 3 of Chewy's babies.  Joshua is having a hard time wanting to sell them now. 

Unfortunately we did find the missing hamster about a week later curled up behind the freezer.  Let’s just say it was gross.