School..Church..Company

We are into our second week of classes, and I think we are doing okay with it. There is more to do, and it's harder with out teachers speaking 95% Spanish. We also feel we have less time for homework. We're not sure if we actually do, or that's just how it feels. The reason for this is because they changed when the tutors work. Instead of having the option for tutors between 1 and 5, it's now only between 1 and 3. So I have tutor at 1, LeRoy goes at 2. Right when the girls nap. Last semester I'd go at 3 and LeRoy at 4, so we could still do most of our studying while the girls napped. Now that study period is gone. It's a new routine we need to get used to. So far I think we're handling it alright, but it somehow means a little less time to ourselves too.

We are quite excited for tomorrow evening. A couple from our church in Steinbach is here for a month volunteering. Tomorrow they are coming over for coffee, and to deliver a couple packages. YAY!!! We were expecting one of them from a friend out there, but we're not sure about the second. So if you're reading, thank you!!! It will be so nice to visit someone from our church, and to catch up with how things are going out there. And for them to hear first hand from us how we're doing.

Along with second semester Conversation class comes the "joys" of writing and performing our own dramas as a small class. In my class there are 3 other ladies and it's a lot of fun with them. Every week we need to write a drama based on the Bible story we study the same week. So tonight we are getting together to, hopefully start and finish, our drama on the Prodigal Son. I think it'll be fun, but I sure hope it doesn't take too long, so I still have time afterwards to study. Life is all about needing more time to study these days.

We have also started going to a new church. We found it over Christmas, and enjoy it much more than our previous church. Both girls are able to, and enjoy, staying in the nursery with other kids, and a few ladies, for the whole service. That means I can actually sit with LeRoy, the whole service, and listen to a Spanish service.

Hope you all have a great week. Only 4 more months till we can see many of you. YAY!!!

Daddy's Girl

When I was a little girl, there was this old country song that was played lots in our house. I loved it because it was about a daddy and his girl, and I definitely have always been a daddy's girl. This became one of my favourite songs and I think almost went into our wedding somewhere. So when Brooklyn was born, it became the song I sang to her in the middle of the night, or whenever she needed calming down. These days when we put her to bed, we are often asked to sing this song, but now it's a duet. She sings along with us. Sometimes I am told to sing it as "Mommy's Girl" instead of "Daddy's Girl", which I am so happy to do. Here are the lyrics. Someday I should maybe change them so they are actually applicable to some things we have done. They are great none the less.

DADDY'S GIRL

I recall the day, that you came into this world
I couldn't believe the doctor, when he said it was a little girl
I said, "oh doc", you must be wrong, you see I want a boy
But then he laid you in my arms, and my heart sank with joy

CHORUS:
Daddy's girl, daddy's girl,
I'm the center, of my daddy's world
I know I'm daddy's number 1,
for he loves me like I was a son
Daddy's girl

I recall the day, I took you on a fishing trip
You said, "Daddy won't that hook, hurt the fishy's lip"
You said, "If they don't get air, those things in the can will die"
So we turned the worms all loose, and chased some butterflies.

CHORUS

I recall the day, I took you to a baseball game
You brought along your baby doll, and all its dolly things
We sat there, playing house while the Dodgers played the Braves
And everyone in the bleachers looked at us as if to say...

CHORUS

I recall the day, that your young man came to call
It feels like only yesterday we swam and played football
But I knew the time would come, when I would set you free
But no matter where you go, you know you'll always be...

CHORUS

You'll always be your daddy's girl.

I love you Dad:):)

Things are going...

Classes have started, as has our studying. Tutors only start next week, so we have a week to get used to this new schedule again, and realize when the best times for studying may be. Brooklyn has decided that she doesn't need as long of an afternoon nap anymore, but because of that she's in bed earlier in the evening. So it kind of all equals out to be much the same amount of study time as last semester. But now more of that study time is at the end of the day when I'm exhausted from everything within the day. I still think I prefer this, a longer quiet evening, even if it's full of studying.

I don't think we feel as overwhelmed by our classes as some others do, maybe we were given a bit more heads up of what to expect from Tara, I'm not sure. LeRoy and I ended up in some of the same classes again, one of which we have the hardest teacher on campus. We are really enjoying him as a teacher already. He's a lot more picky, and actually makes us pay attention to what's going on. Oh, and everything is in Spanish this year. No English allowed. That makes it harder on its own, never mind more homework. I do have to say, so far I am enjoying it. Once tutors start next week, I may say differently. I enjoyed having tutors last semester, but for me it adds another stress. I have to figure out what I want to do or study with her, 4 days a week, for an hour, in Spanish. I like having my afternoons all to myself, to do whatever I feel like doing, or need to get done. Sometimes tutor hour feels like I have to entertain, but not always. Some of the girls are tons of fun, and we can go through our hour by just chatting.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!!! My baby sister turned 18 today, and got to stay home from school cause it was so cold. This morning I was thinking how cold I was, I could hardly get out of bed. Then I saw how cold it was there, and wishing I could be colder. It was only 10 degrees here, but it feels very different than the Manitoba 10 degrees.

My dialog is calling me, so while it's quiet here for a few moments (the others are enjoying the weather), I better study it. Never know how our evening will go. But I sure hope it'll be quiet for studying. Have a great week.

Tomorrow is the Day

Well, tomorrow we head back to school. Except we don't really have to do anything tomorrow, except really start to study. Our semester starts off heavy, heavier than the last semester ended. Or so that's what it looks like so far. I think we are ready to begin once again, before we lose more of our Spanish. Brooklyn is very excited to go back to daycare tomorrow, and finally play with kids. We'll see how excited she is when she's woken up almost an hour earlier than this past month. Emma is, of course, oblivious to all of this.

But, Emma did start moving around on her stomach yesterday, which kind of resembles crawling.....she's at least on her tummy moving forward. And she does this cute thing, shaking her head so hard, while getting her right arm right in the action too. Kind of like those action figures where you hit a button to make their head and arms move. That's what Emma looks like. Very funny. Have not yet been able to get in on video.

I have a feeling we may not be able to blog quite as much with school starting again, but please keep checking back. You never know, we may just use this as our excuse for a break from homework. Or maybe we should start practicing our Spanish on here......or not. Have a great week to you all:)

Scatter Brained

I really have wanted to write something this whole week, but every time I sit down to write, my mind goes blank. So this post may be all over the place. This has been a week with very quick ups and downs, and a couple "plain old grumpy days". Those are bound to happen sometimes, and this was the week for it. LeRoy's family left early Tuesday morning which left us to an empty house once again. It has been lonely, but also good to have our house quieter again. We had a wonderful time with his family, doing the tourist stuff, and hanging out. Thankfully after a long flight, a long drive, a flat tire in -40, all within 24hrs, they made it home safely.

This week has mostly been full of doing a good cleaning before classes begin again. We have also begun homework to try and get ahead a little. I'm hoping to get more done before Monday, but we'll see what all comes up.

The other day we were driving down the street, and we suddenly notice the van in front of us. THEY WERE FROM STEINBACH. I was so excited, as I get extremely excited every time I see someone from Manitoba, never mind Steinbach. And last night when we went out for ice cream, LeRoy was wearing his Flames hat of course. The couple standing behind us asked "are you really a Flames fan"? Of course we are. It turns out they live in Calgary, but he is originally from Winnipeg, and had been to Steinbach tons for Derksen Printers. It's amazing what little seeing little connections like that can do. It brings a little from home to us, even if it's just seeing a vehicle from there.

Brooklyn and Emma have grown up so much over the past month of holidays. Emma's changes seemed to be very sudden. The day after LeRoy's family left, she all of a sudden decided she was going to learn to move around. If you haven't seen the video yet, check my post a couple days ago. It shows how she moves around, on her butt. It's cute, and we're excited that she finally learned this development. Yesterday she decided maybe she should try to walk holding onto furniture. So she made her way slowly along our couch. She is still her joyful, sensitive self, and she loves having a big sister to copy. Brooklyn is a trying, strong-willed child, testing us every day. Of course, she's 2. She started with this much later than most 2 year olds, from what I have heard. Screaming tantrums (only sometimes), and talking back (lots of the time) are part of our days. She is also a sensitive girl, very quick to pick up different emotions we may be showing, and quick to try and make everything better. I think she will be very excited to get back to daycare as she has played with other kids (other than Emma) for 4 weeks. It's time.

This morning Brooklyn was talking about Carter, of course, and asking if he was back yet. Again I had to tell her he was still far away, but soon he'd be back. She went on playing, but then came back holding her doll wrapped in its blanket. Then she looked at me and said, "my baby is Logan", with the biggest smile. She is very excited to meet Carter's baby brother Logan.

School starts for us on Monday with a low key registration day, and then full throttle on Tuesday. I'm scared as I have really loved this past month without the stress of school. By the end of last semester it felt like I had found a way not to stress with the homework, and just balance everything. I'm scared now to start over again, in a way, especially knowing this semester is supposed to be twice the work. Please pray with me, that I will learn quickly how to balance everything again, and enjoy it all at the same time.

Today is a cloudy day, still suppose to reach a high of 27, a comfortable day. It feels like it's going to be relaxed, maybe I'll even do some baking. Tonight we are going to some friends' place for supper, which will be a nice change. Hope you all have a great day and weekend.

Finally Moving Around

Make a Smilebox postcard

Evolution?, um NO!

So we have had a chance to see and do a few things that we wouldn't have had time for if we'd gone to Mexico for Christmas. One of these was visiting the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. Quite an amazing place actually. We didn't see any animals, and we saw 2 out of the 400 bird species supposedly found there. But, all sarcasm aside, it was a refreshing relief from the cityscape we've become accustomed to. Our creator God was quite visible as we were especially awed by the Spanish moss hanging off the trees, as you can see in the picture.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I couldn't resist taking this shot of the Darwin fish, and wonder how one could see all this beautiful, intricate creation... and miss seeing God. Well, I guess as I look at the imperfect world I live in, surrounded by God's creations, including people, it is a reminder to me to not miss seeing God
(posted by LeRoy)

Stages

We just got back from an enjoyable supper at Applebee's, and the girls were so good. We are scared to go anywhere other than McD's or Burger King, since it usually isn't very relaxing. But today they both woke up so happy and relaxed from their naps, we decided to give it a try. It was wonderful.

Brooklyn has been a 2 year old lately, and sometimes we just want to scream. Other times we manage to look at each other and laugh (when she's not looking). Some things she says to us we wonder where she would have learned to talk to us in that way. And lately she has started having screaming tantrums when she's put into her time-out corner. Thankfully a funny stage has begin as well, that doesn't call for any kind of punishment, just laughter and shaking of heads. She has decided that she doesn't need anything on her bed to sleep with, except her pillow. She also doesn't need a shirt apparently. She is fully clothed when we put her to bed for naps and at night. But while falling asleep she decides to take her shirt off, and go throw it in her closet. So cute.

I sometimes catch myself saying "this too shall pass", but do I really want it to pass? I've heard parenting only gets harder, so I should want to stay in this stage. I wish it was easier to want to deal with tantrums, to want to hear orders coming from a 2 year old's mouth, and all the fun toddler issues. Oh well, if I have to cry through the struggles of raising a 2 year old, then so be it. It is all totally worth it.

New Pics

I've added lots of new pics of our family, and mostly from when my parents were out. Click on the Pictures link at the top of our page, and then on December '08.

Christmas

So many different feelings going through my head, I am having a very hard time separating them this week. We had so much fun with my parents last week doing many different things. We spent a couple days at the ocean, went into Mexico one day, did a bit of shopping (I think dad bought more than mom even), lots of hanging out and showing them around our home, and a day of Christmas, by opening gifts. But then the time came to say goodbye. It was a lot harder than we were expecting, starting with Brooklyn begging to go with them. That's what started the tears for all of us I think, and for me they didn't stop for awhile after they left. It was so quiet 15 mins after they had gone, we actually had to leave because if felt too lonely and empty. It has been a week of adjusting, once again, to the fact of not seeing my parents for another 5 months, which definitely has added to these lonely days.

We weren't sure what to expect of this quiet week, all to ourselves. It has flown by, only with a few bored moments. It has been a great time of spending time as a family, making memories, and starting a few of our traditions. And trying to focus on the real reason of Christmas, when things are so different than we're used to. A highlight of our Christmas this year was joining our church in Steinbach via Skype. It brought the Christmas feeling a little closer to home for us.

Now we are looking forward to seeing LeRoy's whole family in 3 days. They will all be out for a week, and I'm sure we'll be busy showing them around too, and doing much the same as we did with my parents.

It's not working to post pictures on here at the moment, so I will try and post our December pictures onto our pictures site soon. This weekend sometime. There will be many, as so much happened. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Another Answered Prayer

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my health. We received a call yesterday from our doctor's office letting us know the results of my CT Scan. It is all clear, and as long as I am free from pain, nothing more will be looked into. Thank you Jesus. We are thinking it was a kidney stone that passed, leaving a little swelling to be healed. Thankfully the last couple days I have not felt as tired either. What an answer to prayer.

At the moment it feels like Christmas is near. We're waiting for supper to finish baking, LeRoy's playing with the girls after their baths, and it feels peaceful. Tomorrow Brooklyn and I will be making a birthday cake for Jesus to bring to our Christmas dinner here on campus. I think it may be a new tradition starting, she is so excited for His birthday. One of the funny/cute parts is that she says Jesus will be 2 years old.

We are also very excited to be a part of the Christmas Eve service tomorrow evening, at our church back home in Steinbach. Thanks to Skype we will be joining them, and sharing a bit on how different Christmas is for us this year. No family to spend the day with, no snow, no Christmas parties to attend, etc. It is different, and we're trying to find our own ways to celebrate, as this is our first "different" Christmas season. So if any of you EFCers are reading this......see you tomorrow:)

1 Down, 1 to Go

It's been just over a week since we finished our last exams for the semester, and just yesterday we got our marks back. We can now officially saw we have completed half of our Spanish studies (at least the formal part here at RGBI.) So as I look back, and ahead, what are some memories, and things that I've learned?

• Don't take things for granted... With many of the health struggles that we have experienced, and seeing and hearing of others here at school who have had sudden change of plans, it has taught me not to take life for granted. Be thankful when God gives you health, when things are going well, because God may turn things upside-down in a heartbeat.
• RGBI, Texas, actually kind of feels like home... kind of. After all, it's familiarity and people that makes a home, home. We never expected that this would really feel like home, but the people we have gotten to know, the school, the area..., well, God provides, right?
  
• God is in control...and that's a good thing. We thought we were going to Mexico for Christmas, apparently God had other plans. Why?, I'm not quite sure, but God has proved to be faithful, time and time again.
  
• Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas, RIGHT?... There will be no snow, no family, no gatherings, no gift exchange (we did that when family was here), really no familiarity as we celebrate, except the story of Christ, which is the most important piece. Just a reminder that when everything is stripped away, even the church culture, what am I celebrating? That I would remember to worship Immanuel, "God with us."
  
• The beauty of diversity...Today we attended an English speaking worship service for the first time in 5 months. Scanning the crowds, seeing all the ethnic backgrounds worshiping together the same God: Awesome. We've had different relational experiences among believers than I ever considered before moving here. Different backgrounds, different opinions, values, and nationalities, and sometimes even theologies, but we have been able to worship the same God together. I imagine heaven will be very multicultural and diverse as well.

May you all have a very wonderful Christmas season, Dios le bendiga (God bless)

LeRoy

Change of Plans

So I was going to blog last night but our power went out. We've had a few days of dreariness, constant mist and fog. This is the first time I actually miss the sun.

I had my doctor's appt. yesterday which revealed that my ovaries are fine. That's a huge relief as they were leaning towards that direction. The other part they were looking at was my kidney area which does seem to be a bit swollen. It didn't give a clear enough picture, like they were hoping, so this morning I am having a CT Scan to look at that area a little closer. My doctor says it could be a stone that has already passed and that is why it's swollen, but he's not 100% sure so we're doing this test. We want to be sure so we know there isn't something worse. I am sure we won't hear these results for at least a week, maybe longer with Christmas next week.

With this health excitement, and not knowing what's what, we have decided to stay here for Christmas instead of heading into Mexico for 10 days. Just in case something more happens, we'll at least be here where we now have a doctor, and know how to deal with it a little easier. So we will have a week to ourselves to relax, get together with some other friends staying here on campus, and possibly start some Spanish homework for next semester.

At the moment we are enjoying family time with my parents. They have been here for about a week, and will be leaving on Saturday or Sunday. It's been so much fun having them here and showing them around here where we live.

Thanks again for all your prayers.

What's Up?

Just a quick update. My parents arrived safely yesterday afternoon, and we are having a blast with them. The girls both seemed to remember them, even Emma thanks to web cams. It seemed she remembered their voices, and just had to get used to their faces, which didn't seem to take long. Also, I have an appointment with the doctor next Wednesday morning, so we will only find out our results at that time. Once we know, I'm sure we'll let you all know as well. Thanks for all your prayers.

Feliz Navidad

My ultrasound is over and we now wait for the results. 2 more exams and we have a month break from studying. Tomorrow my parents are arrive. We're all fighting colds. Oh, and it's plus 30 outside today.

I think our heads are a bit full right now, but we are enjoying life. We're very excited for a break off of school, and to be able to spend time with family and each other. We are a little scared we're going to lose our Spanish, but that means we have to practice with each other.

Because our next month is so full of fun and business, you may not hear too much of us on here. I do hope to update once in awhile, especially once we know what's going on with my health. So we pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, full of many blessings and safety. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Thankyou

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. My pain has left for the time being, the last 2 days, but I am still feeling exhausted. Today I feel like a rock, I can hardly lift anything. A very weird feeling to have. But I am so thankful I don't have the pain. Yesterday the pain seemed to let up, and I did not need painkillers either. So I have been resting lots. Unfortunately I don't have much energy for studying though, and our exams begin tomorrow. Even a little time would help, so we'll see how things go.

Another big thank you for all the birthday wishes some of you sent my way. Yes, yesterday was also my birthday, not the funnest way to spend it. But I was able to celebrate earlier in the week, and it even did feel like my birthday without any snow. Last Monday LeRoy took me to Olive Garden for supper, without the girls, to celebrate by ourselves. Then on Thursday I went out with my Conversation class (we've said for every one of our birthday's we'll go out, as an excuse to go out with the girls) to Apple Bee's. Friday I was suppose to go out with Tara for cheesecake, but we decided to postpone, so hopefully in the next few days I feel up to it. Yesterday Brooklyn was so excited that it was my birthday she and LeRoy made me breakfast in bed, but at lunchtime. It was lots of fun, and so special to see her excitement. She reminded me again and again that I was now 2 years old. Very funny.

Something keeping me going is that I get to see my parents on Wednesday. YAY!!!!!!

Another Health Update

I went to the doctor this morning to find out why this pain keeps coming back. He has a couple ideas what it could be, so I am scheduled for an ultrasound Tuesday morning at 9. Unfortunately I have to miss an exam for this, and it's the one exam I can't reschedule, but in the end the exam does not affect too much. As far as we know anyway. So please pray that we'll get the results of the ultrasound quickly (my parents will be here on Wednesday, and we don't really want to deal with this stuff then), that it won't be anything serious, and that I could have another break from this pain.

Doctor

Our campus doctor is in the middle of trying to get me an appointment with another local doctor, for today. Since this is the third episode of this pain, we all want this looked at, especially with Christmas coming soon. Pray that we can maybe hear something today, that will help this situation.

What Do I Do?

It's 4 in the morning, and I can't relax enough to sleep. I'm having this same pain, possibly my kidney. It's not as intense as the previous 2 times, but enough that I notice it's there. I'm thinking I may be told soon to go see a doctor for tests, but I really don't want to. It is such a hassle here in the States trying to figure out all the $ stuff afterward. With LeRoy's hospital visit, we were still getting bills for it 2-3 months after the fact. So if any of you doctor and nurse friends have any advice, I would love to hear what you think this may be, if it is possibly serious enough that I should see a doctor for tests. Or if with a bit of dietary change it would go away. It's really annoying, exhausting, and painful. Okay, now to try and relax once again with heat packs.

Excitement

Emma finally has her first tooth peeking through at 10 months old. We've been anxiously waiting, watching many of her teeth buds stay in her gums, but not actually cutting through. Thankfully she's hardly been cranky, nor missed much sleep. I'm thinking she'll have many come through in the next month, but we'll see. I sure hope she keeps being happy through it all, with all the holiday excitement coming up.

Another extremely exciting thing is that we found out today that my parents will be here one day earlier than planned, making it 8 days until we see them. Once they get here, we'll still have one exam left to try and focus on.

3 days of classes left, 4 exams, and then off for a month. YAY:)

Pictures

I've uploaded pictures of November for you all to enjoy. Just click here, and then you'll find our November '08 folder. Also if you haven't noticed yet, on the right side of our blog, if you scroll down a little you'll find a 2 sections titled Prayer Requests and Answered Prayer. We are hoping to keep this updated enough so that you can look here, between our newsletters, to see current requests, and see how prayers are being answered. Hope you all have a great week.

Thanks, Friends and Missions

Tommorrow begins what will be an interesting weekend, 4days without class, and hardly anyone on campus. Part of that is because most of the Bible Students are leaving for Mexico on various missions trips. This past weekend they spent raising some funds by having a carwash. The guy in the white shirt is Alex, who has been my tutor for much of this past semester. He's from Spain, and has an enormous heart for God. Since the students were washing vehicles right next to our house Brooklyn enjoyed watching them. Please pray with us that they might have safety as they are going into areas of unrest, and that the Lord would move amongst them as they evangelize.

Feels Like Christmas

This past weekend it truly felt like Christmas here...at home. It started off with a "cold" day on Friday. It really did feel like it was going to snow. We stayed inside cozy and warm, and even put the heat on once or twice. A very nice change. After the girls were in bed, LeRoy and I watched Nativity Story. It was such a good reminder of what Christmas really is about. Being reminded that Jesus came as a baby really hit me once again this year, just thinking of all that needed to happen to bring Him into this world. And that it's not just a story, but it all really did happen. What an amazing story.

Staying warm inside with a tent and snack.

Saturday we did some Christmas shopping, set up our tiny tree and some lights, and enjoyed a big turkey dinner with Dallas and Tara. It almost felt like a Christmas gathering feeling stuffed and playing games. We were actually very surprised, and thankful, what a bit of Christmas decorations can do to our spirits. It right away felt more homey, and that Christmas is really coming even without snow (I've heard that snow is very common at Christmas time in Chihuahua area, where we'll be at Christmas this year, so I'm hoping it's true).

Trying to get a nice picture, but didn't work so well.

Hanging up some lights.

This week is a short one, due to American Thanksgiving. It's very fun having 2 Thanksgivings this year. Wednesday is our last day of classes this week, one of those classes was cancelled, and we won't have our tutor hours because they are all going on mission trips. So as of Wednesday at 11:00, we are off till Monday. We have a dinner with everyone on campus on Thursday, and I hope to finish some Christmas presents, and do some Christmas baking to share around campus. We are very excited for a longer break before exams hit us. Hopefully we'll fit studying in amongst the relaxing and fun.

This was taken this morning when dropping off the girls at daycare. This is Emma's walker she uses there, since she's the only kid not walking, it's all hers. She loves it, and is quite fast too. We're thinking of asking to borrow it over Christmas break to use at home. It's too bad these are illegal in Canada, cause they look like tons of fun.

It Feels Like Snow Should Come

You know how it feels the first day it snows? That's how we feel today. It's cloudy, rainy, and only 10 degrees outside. With a very cold, crisp wind. It really does feel like it should snow. I even see some people outside in winter jackets, gloves, and toques. Yes, LeRoy is wearing his toque as well, inside the house. After lunch we even got to put the heat on for a while. I'm very excited about this. Some classmates were laughing at me this morning when I walked into class. "Your smile gets bigger as it gets colder". It seems to be true this year. I absolutely love these cold days, it feels more like home.

This weekend we plan on setting up our tiny tree, and make it feel a little like Christmas. I hope to even get a bit of Christmas shopping done. With this cold weather, it looks like it'll be a cozy weekend inside the house.

Have a great weekend.

Countdown Begins

In about 3 1/2 weeks my parents will be here for about a week. Afterward we head into Mexico for about 10 days over Christmas. When we get back LeRoy's family will be waiting here for us to spend about a week with. Then we'll have a almost a week by ourselves before studies begin again. We will have a crazy busy month off from school, and we can hardly wait. Some days it's extremely hard concentrating on school knowing we can see family so soon. So I am counting down the weeks.

This weekend has felt very much like home. It may have something to do with the cooler weather (we woke up to 9 degrees this morning), and Christmas coming. At one point yesterday afternoon we even felt like we should have been getting ready to go to mom and dad's for supper and hockey on CBC. Needless to say it's been very relaxing. I even attempted to give Emma her first haircut so her eyes won't be bothered anymore, and Brooklyn's bangs. I definitely need to practice.

Brooklyn's Blessings

First off I have to say that I received my first snow in the mail yesterday. A wonderful friend sent me a pop up snow globe.

Brooklyn (and Emma) got her own box of blessings today from an amazing family from church back home. She was so excited that her name was on the paper saying there was a package. A new christmas book, kids christmas cd, stickers, a bit of candy, and a WebKinz (and a little more). She was also thrilled with the snowman christmas card we got (the second snow in the mail).

I was kind of thinking it was cool she got this box of christmas blessings, at the same time that I'm seeing, more and more the little blessing she is. She is constantly making us fall more in love with her with the things she comes up with, and learning all on her own. Lately she is always saying (without the promting from LeRoy) "thank you for the food mommy". So precious. But today when supper was made, I called her in from playing outside. I heard the door open and close, and then felt her 2 arms wrapped tight around my legs. "Thank you for making supper mommy". Oh, how sweet that is to hear.

Showers of Blessings....and so much more

Many of the gifts we received


Going out for Supper at Olive Garden


Wow, what a weekend we have had. It has been one filled with a whirlwind of activity, and only now are we beginning to digest it all. It is hard to describe all the emotions of what has happened but for some reason I feel like I can relate a little bit to the story in NT where Mary takes the expensive bottle of perfume and pours it over Jesus.

We had a group of 19 people come from Fulshear, TX just outside of Houston. They are from the Symington Church, and for the last number of years they have come to take care of the staff children when they go on their staff retreat. As well they come every year to bless the families, both language and bible school students, with their generosity.

When we met the group on Thursday, a few of them, J. and K. came to our house and asked us what we needed. We were asked if we needed things in our apartment fixed, and to think of it like Christmas. We have been really blessed by God through them as they lavashed their love on us. I feel a bit like Judas, who said of the perfume, "should that not have been sold and the money given to the poor?" We heard this weekend of Bible Institute couples, whose biggest need was groceries, because they barely had enough to eat. For us it was more so a welcome reprieve from buying some of the things we needed, as well as things above and beyond that. We received a booster seat for BJ, a new sheet set, new towels, as well as an abundant supply of formula, wipes and diapers for Emma. To top it off they took us to Olive Garden Friday night and fixed a few things in our house that needed repairing.

On Saturday night we had an appreciation supper with all the couples on campus as well as the church group, and here it was shared that they receive many more blessings and learn so much from being able to bless us. Although we weren't in desperate need for some of the things we got given to us, I feel joy surrounding being given a gift so freely and generously. And like the story of the jar of perfume, it is Jesus that receives the ultimate joy from these gifts of generosity.

Signs of Progress: Moving forward

In the last few days we have found ourselves encouraged in our language learning. On Wednesday I (LeRoy) was telling Brooklyn to clean up her toys, and although I spoke to her in English, it came out all funny sounding. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I caught myself thinking....."that came out kinda interesting". Faith overheard what I said and repeated.... "Hmmm, interesting intonation.

For those of you that don't know what intonation is, well, it is what we have been trying to learn for the last 3months, the tone, volume, etc of speech. Basically trying to sound Spanish.

For Faith, her encouragement came Thursday. Since I was home with Emma, she went to chapel by herself. Before going she had said to me that she wasn't looking forward to going because she never understood anything anyway. Well, Faith came home all excited because she had finally been able to understand a lot of the message. Praise the Lord for progress. After all the Bible does not say "I can do all things without Him who gives me strength."

Excitement

Brooklyn and I are about to leave for daycare and class. LeRoy will be staying home today with Emma as she is sick on day three with a fever. LeRoy and I are also fighting colds so I'm hoping Brooklyn doesn't get anything with the rest of us being sick.

Today there is a church group coming to serve us student families living on campus. Last week we had to fill out a questionairre with some of our favorite things, what we miss from home, if there's anything we need in our house, etc. We have no idea what to expect other than they are here this afternoon till Saturday for us. Someone is assigned to our family and does stuff for us apparently. So we'll see, but we're pretty excited to meet these people. Then on Saturday we're putting together a supper for them all to show our appreciation. So it's nice to know something a little different is happening to start off our weekend.

Need to Laugh?

I have posted this video before, about 2 months ago, but I just had to again. I have found this video of Emma to cheer me up on days that aren't going so good. So I want to share it again with you, if you need a little cheering up today.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Canadian Dollar

As you all know our dollar has dropped drastically in the last few weeks. For some this may be a good thing, but in our case it's a bad thing, since we live here in the States. This really hit me today, seeing it in a different light, just how much money can affect people. Please pray for everyone that is affected with our dollar dropping so much (the Peso is also in rough shape), and for the economy of North America.

New Pics

I have put more pics in our web albums, just click on the slideshow to the right.

So Many Feelings

I want to come home. That's almost all I'm feeling right now. I'm sick of having these days when I just can't focus on Spanish. I'm somehow getting my homework done, most of the time, but I can't seem to focus on it much at all. Today has been a horrible day for that especially. I have a dialog to remember for tomorrow morning, but I can't seem to practice the whole thing in one sitting. My mind just....poof....it's gone. At the moment I could even say "I quit". But I know, deep down somewhere in me, I can't and really don't want to. Most of the time I really do love learning another language, especially Spanish. I just wish I could jump ahead and know it all already.

Back to the wanting to come home part.....I want to come home. Yes this does sorta feel like home, but there's hardly anyone familiar here. I want to hang out with all our friends, and not have to think about what I am saying, how they are going to take it. I want to be with family and just sit back and watch the football game (or whatever else is on). I want to be in our home church, where I know what is being said, and singing familiar songs, and where we see all the familiar faces. This is getting once again harder knowing Christmas is on its way. We are very thankful to have most of our families coming to visit, but it's still not quite the same. We won't be able to be with all our family like most others can, and we can't be with friends when everyone else will be. We won't be able to have snow for the first time, which is actually extremely hard for me. Yes it's only snow, and most people hate it, but it's my favorite part of any season all year round. So yes, this is getting hard. Or maybe it's just this evening for me. It does seem to come and go sometimes.

On an exciting note, Brooklyn has started playing a little more with other kids throughout the day after daycare. She tells us stories about her different friends, using their names, and sometimes will even pray for them. So cute and exciting seeing her build friendships and being accepted by others.

What Friends Are For

So here's another funny story, but of Emma this time, and a picture to go with it. This afternoon the girls were playing and Carter was over to play too. Brooklyn and Carter were finishing up chocolate chip cookies made by Tara. Brooklyn came outside with me for a bit to visit with another friend. I then remember Carter and Emma still in the house so quickly went in to check if all is well. This what I saw....


Her hands were covered in it too, but had to clean a bit up before taking a picture. Carter had apparently dropped some cookie right in front of Emma, and she went for it of course. And loved it. We have no idea how much she ate, but it was good. It was just too cute and innocent. Although she did have a look on her face that said "haha couldn't keep it from me forever". It was her first taste of sweets. Oh well, we were able to hold off longer than with Brooklyn.

You have to see this

Go to this link and watch the top video called "Charlie bit my finger - again". It's hilarious.

Video for Aunt Lisa

Here is a video of Brooklyn talking to her only auntie on the phone. I was told I needed to put this on hear, so at least one certain person could see it. Enjoy. Oh, and she hasn't figured out yet that you can't see through the phone yet, so she tries to show aunt Lisa things through the phone.

Make a Smilebox postcard

WE DID IT

Brooklyn is now officially potty trained. She has been dry at nights for 2 weeks so we made ourselves take the next step and let her sleep at night without diapers. That was 2 nights ago, and today I am saying that she is fully potty trained. It feels weird to me that she's not even quite 2 1/2 and she is completely done with diapers. Very exciting.

Now for something I'm a little skeptical about, but LeRoy thinks it's really happening, is that Emma is starting to copy words we say. I know, she's not quite 9 months, can this really be happening? But for about a week now she has said "mamama" and "dadada" in context relating to us. A few times before her nap today she seemed to have copied "nanana" for night night, and "bababa" for bye bye. So not clear words of course, but for first words (as it seems they are) they make sense. Brooklyn was not this early in talking, so I'm a little shocked. But maybe it is all coincidence, I don't know if we'll ever know for sure.

Keeping Busy

As you can tell we haven't written anything new in the last week, mostly because we have not had the time to sit and write. I also have not been sure what to write about. We had a relaxing weekend, spending time with friends we know really well, Dallas and Tara. We checked out a new fast food restaurant (Sonics) that has a huge playground outside. The kids had a blast. And then we went to their place a different day for an amazing meal of Milanesa, a Latin meat dish that we love.

This week the Bible Institute has a Bible conference taking place which means no classes for them. Tonight LeRoy decided to take in the evening session and use that as his studying. He finds it extremely helpful listening and seeing how much he can understand. I do too, but I don't catch as much as he does. So here I am, listening to BOZ (one of Brooklyn's favorite movies) in the background, and trying to find energy to actually get a meal ready for the slow cooker. I know it'll make it a lot easier tomorrow, but I really would rather study tonight.

Also since all the Bible students are busy with their conference, it means that we have chapel by ourselves, and IT'S IN ENLGISH. I was very excited, but a bit disappointed when we didn't sing choruses. We sing LOTS of hymns. I love hymns, but I somehow connect more with choruses. Oh well, at least we get to sing in English once in awhile.

Okay, off to work. Have a great week:)

Silly Brooklyn

So the last couple days we're trying to get Brooklyn to continue using 2 hands for drinking from her cup. It goes something like this...

us - "Brooklyn how many hands did God give you?"
B - "2"
us - "Then use them both"

But today at lunch it went something like this...

us - "Brooklyn how many hands did God give you?"
B - "For milk only 1"

Proudly Canadian

On Monday we had dia de Raza here and it was an event where everyone had the opportunity to represent their country. There are 19 different countries represented here. It is amazing that so many different ethnicities can gather together, to celebrate as we did yesterday, but so often to be able to worship the same God as well.

We had a parade of flags as well as presentations from many of the different countries, and then we all had lunch together with many foods being brought from the different countries. As Canadians we brought pumpkin and chocolate pie.

For myself it was a unique experience to carry the national flag, and I became more aware of how proud I am to be Canadian, and the rich heritage that comes with it. When you are all of a sudden the minority (5 Canadian Missionaries to 21 Americans) it is neat to be able to stand up for your country.

Why I'm thankful, and for what

With this past weekend being Thanksgiving, I've had the chance to reflect a bit about the things that we are thankful for.

1. For health and strength to go through the days and weeks without pain; especially after the things that we have gone through in weeks past.
2. For having all of our needs met; very evident in the thanksgiving meal we were able to have with fellow Canadians this weekend at the RGBI president's house.
3. For the community of believers that we are priveledged to rub shoulders with and learn from; language students, bible students, and professors.
4. For the opportunity to study here at such a wonderful school.
5. For the power of God, and the power that comes when His people pray; we have seen so many prayers answered in our time here, both in our own lives and in so many of the lives of our fellow students.

Family Date

This past Friday we decided to start our Thanksgiving weekend as a family at the beach. So right after lunch we left to spend an amazing day. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining, and Brooklyn was so excited she even cried to go to daycare in the morning. We feel like we even had a date as the girls slept while driving there and on the way back (it's a 1 1/2 hour drive). For supper we tried a new restaurant we found. An Italian and seafood place that was absolutely delicious. So now we know where to go with family at Christmas time. There was only one downside of the day when I got stung by a wasp on the tongue. I never thought it would hurt that bad. So here's a couple pics from that day. I think LeRoy will be blogging on the rest of the weekend soon. It was a full weekend.



Faith

Fall or Still Summer?

These days I have been looking for signs around us, to figure out if it is still summer, or if indeed it is fall. I'm thinking back home the leaves have all fallen, everything is close to looking dead, grass does not need to be cut anymore, and the fields are all black and brown. And I am sure you are all waiting for the first snow. Just kidding, but I would be if I were there.

I think fall has come here too, but I have noticed in different ways. The flowers are only now in full bloom, the grass does not need to be cut as often, and there are so many more birds here. I guess that means they are starting to migrate south. It is interesting to me to see how different "fall" is here. Apparently many people in the southern states do not really even know what different seasons are. There is summer, and then there is a cooler summer. These days I am understanding where they are coming from. It still gets to plus 30 in the afternoons, but cools off nicely at night. We can almost wear long sleeves in the mornings to class too. That's kinda exciting.

We did another photo shoot this evening so here is another one of our girls for you to enjoy. Brooklyn spends most of her day at home trying to make Emma laugh. This was one of those moments.

Where Did She Learn That?

Sometimes we wonder where Brooklyn has learned some things she does. Most of the time we can figure it out, that she's watching us closer than we thought, or from daycare. But last night she did something that we have no idea where she got the idea from, and I don't think we'll figure this one out. We just laugh because it was hilarious. Okay, I'll let you all in. It might take a bit to explain so have patience.

Some evenings it can be difficult to put Brooklyn in bed, and have her stay there. Last night was one of those nights. After I had been up to her countless times and trying different ways of getting her to listen, she started moving around in her room, but not coming out of her room. She doesn't realize that we can hear her walking around. Every time we would get near her door the footsteps stopped because she would quickly get back in her bed. Finally LeRoy just listened by her door to see what she would do next. Complete silence. So he opens her door and she's "sleeping". With a straight face, and eyes closed, she lay there for several minutes while LeRoy just stood by her door. Finally he went and sat on her bed with a huge grin on his face, holding back his laughter. Then she opened her eyes, gave him the biggest grin, and went back to pretending to sleep.

Where does she get that from? We can understand that a 4 year old would maybe do something like this, but were shocked to see our 2 year old do this. It was so funny, and we're still laughing about it.

Missing Home

Last night I wanted to come home so badly. Mainly for 2 particular things. I missed a family wedding for the first time. My cousin got married and I so wished I could have been there. I love weddings, especially when it's for family. I was doing okay until we got a phone call from good friends of ours that they had their first baby. A little boy. We were so excited when we heard the message, that I quickly phoned them back, got their answering machine and started crying as I was leaving my message. That's when homesickness started. There are so many things we will have to miss. We will miss weddings, and seeing our friends' kids grow up with our own. I know we'll miss more, but this weekend those are the things we miss.

Congratulations Alan and Christal on your new adventure in marriage. And congratulations Roland and Jen on your little boy. Oh how I wish we could have been with you all to celebrate.

A Survey

So my friend Tara made up this survey, and I decided to post it as well. I need my mind to wind down after so much studying this evening and a test, and I really enjoy doing surveys. One of my quirks I guess. This one is on pregnancies, so feel free to read on, or not.

1. Were you married at the time? thankfully yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? 1st - extremely excited, jumping up and down 2nd - excited as well, but a more expected

3. How old were you? 1st - I was 22 when I found out...2nd - I was 24 when I found out

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? i somehow just had the feeling i was, and then those easy quick tests you can buy proved it

5. Who did you tell first? LeRoy, then our midwife, and then family and friends a few weeks later

6. Did you want to find out the sex? we wanted a surprise when they were born

7. Due date: 1st - May 24/06...2nd - January 28/08

8. Did you deliver early or late? 1st - 6 days late on May 30...2nd - 2 days late on Jan. 30

9. Did you have morning sickness? only a little in my 2nd pregnancy

10. What did you crave? 1st - grilled cheese sandwiches, and anything greasy, especially McD's...2nd - not really anything

11. Who irritated you the most? definitely the ones I am closest to, mainly LeRoy

12. What was your first child's sex? female

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 1st - 38 pounds ...2nd - 29 pounds

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? no, only extreme exhaustion in both, and lots of heartburn in the second.

15. Where did you give birth? 1st - in Ste. Anne, MB at the hospital...2nd - Steinbach in the hospital

16. How many hours were you in labor? 1st - 4 1/2 hours....2nd - 3 1/2 hours

17. Who drove you to the hospital? LeRoy sped us to the hospital

18. Who watched? LeRoy, of course, my midwife and one other nurse

19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? nope, didn't even have time to have the option

20. How much did your child weigh? 1st - 9.2 lbs...2nd - 8.4 lbs

21. What did you name him/her? 1st - Brooklyn Jade...2nd - Emma Janae

22. How old is your first born today? 28 months

New Pics

I've posted pictures from the month of September. Click here to view.

8 Months Old

So, who do you think is who? I'm thinking it will be easy to tell, but thought it could be fun to hear your guesses. One is of Brooklyn at 8 months, and one is of Emma. She's 8 months old today. I'm in shock as it has flown by even fast than Brooklyn growing up. I just can't believe my baby is 8 months old already. Since my last update blog on her she has not done anything new....oh wait. Except for one thing. Now she has added to her vocabulary. It used to be dadadadadadada. Now she also does mamamamamamama. So when she talks it's one of the two. No, it does not mean a thing, but it sure is fun to hear.


Weird how we even got similar poses of the girls without trying. Easy way to see who's who I guess. Or not. So do they look like sisters to you?

3 Min Glimpse Into our Kids' Lives

New Haircut

I just finished making Applebee's famous Chimicheesecake. A cheesecake sort of dessert, wrapped in a tortilla, fried and then baked. I'm not totally sure if it did turn out, the filling was quite runny when I wrapped it up. But it sure smells amazing.

This morning I took Brooklyn for a haircut along with our friends Tara and Carter. We found this hair salon just for kids called Snip-Its. It's so much fun. They got suckers while they got their hair cut, and Brooklyn even got to blow bubbles and watch a movie. After their haircuts they get this plastic card that they insert into a machine, which then makes factory noises, and pops out surprises. She got a clip and wafer cookies. She was so excited. They even put a new clip in her hair to style it. If you're interested to see this cool looking salon check out the site here. Here are two pics of our princess trying to show you her new haircut.

Learning New Things

So it seems like in the last two weeks, Brooklyn and Emma have grown up so much. So here are some new things they have learned.

Brooklyn:
1. Instead of saying no, she now says "uh uh no" kind of like a question. We've figured out she got it from her mother.
2. Now can say 4 verses by memory.
3. Knows her name starts with the letter B.
4. Plays with more imagination especially with her Little People dollhouse.
5. Potty trained through her naps. Only the nights to go.
6. Has gone from calling herself "you" to "me" or "I".
7. Talks in full sentences.
8. Decides what she's going to wear or not wear. Not so much fun all the time.
9. Runs everywhere around campus when we're with her. Not shy with her surrounding anymore.

Emma:
1. Entertained with finger food and even can pick a pea up after awhile. Doesn't know yet how to get it to her mouth.
2. Likes to play on her stomach a little more.
3. Ate meats for the first time. Liked them all except beef.
4. Talks lots. da da da da
5. Gives those she knows huge smiles. Even her daycare worker.
6. Drank water from mommy's cup. Loved it.

Well I can't think of anything more now, but if there's more I'll just add them. Kids grow up far too fast.

A Funny to Start the Weekend

This was in our school's weekly newsletter. We laughed and thought you would enjoy it too.

How to call the police when you’re old and don’t move fast anymore

George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garage shed which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked, “Is someone in your house?” and he said, “No.” Then they said that all patrols were busy and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available.

George said “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. “Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I just shot them.” Then he hung up. Within five minutes six police cars, a SWAT team, a helicopter, two fire trucks, a paramedic and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips’ residence and caught the burglars red-handed. One of the policemen said to George: “I though you said that you’d shot them!” George said, “I thought you said that there was nobody available!”

Feeling So Much Better

I feel so much better thanks to prayers, God, and drugs. It feels good to be able to concentrate on studies a bit more, and the rest of life. One of these days I'll write on something a little more interesting than just our health updates, but for now that's all I have time for. Homework is calling, especially my take home test. Hope you are all having an amazing week.

Faith

Quick Update

So I went back to the doctor today and he says it looks more like a bad infection at this point, rather than a kidney stone. Just hearing this has seemed to make me feel a little better. I haven't had to lay down nearly as much as yesterday which is encouraging. I am taking an antibiotic so hopefully in a week it will be totally cleared up. And hopefully I can focus on Spanish soon. Thanks for your prayers.

Mommy, Kidney All Gone?

I just have to laugh at Brooklyn. All day today she has been asking, "mommy no more sick?" I just put her to bed and asked what she wanted to pray for. And she said, "mommy's kidney all gone?" She is just too cute sometimes with how she words her thoughts. No, my pain is not all gone, but much better than it was. While I am on tylenol and with a heat pack I feel okay. Not totally sure if I will attempt class tomorrow like this, but we'll see how this night goes. Thank you to all who are praying for me. I'm surprised that I don't feel more discouraged than I am after lying around for 4 days, and not being able to concentrate on much else other than relaxing. I definitely feel God giving me the strength to make it through this. But I sure hope it doesn't last too much longer. My family is needing me as well as my studies (LeRoy and I are both a little behind with our health issues the last while). Anyways, hope you are all doing great and enjoyed a blessed weekend.

Pain, Pain, go away

Faith has been feeling rotten the last few days, and yesterday the doctor told her they were kidney stones. It's weird, we've both never been really sick before, and now all of a sudden... Would you pray with us that Faith's pain will pass (no pun intended) and that our good God will give Faith strength and endurance to go through this.
With these different things that are going on, we are finding ourselves falling behind in our studies. The program moves at such a fast pace that it seems if you fall behind it is impossible to catch up... But still we press on.
Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

Mexico, here we come

So we took the opportunity to go to Progreso this weekend, since the hurricane veered off our path. Thank you for all your prayers in that matter. We got our first taste of Mexico, although it is very much a touristy town. But it was fun for us, because we have both never been to Mexico, and there was a lot of hustle and bustle. It was plus 40 when we went, and we didn't take our stroller because of the crowds, but everyone had fun. We even managed to get some lunch, even though we didn't have a menu, and we have no idea what the food was called that we ate. Some other things we did this weekend were spending some much needed time as a family playing games, etc. As you can see, Brooklyn is really getting into playing UNO.

Just a note about the ship that was caught in the hurricane Ike, that we had mentioned this week. All the people are OK, and I believe it is appropriate to give God the credit for that, because a lot of prayers were being said on their behalf.

Looking back on this week and all that has happened, I just want to say "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good".

LeRoy

Our Weekend Has Changed

At the beginning of this week we were expecting that we would be hiding in our houses today listening to the roaring wind and pounding rain. It's amazing how things can change. It hasn't rained even one drop here. And we are not expecting it to rain much at all. It's looking like we are on the dry side, meaning moisture is taken from us to feed the storm. We do want everyone to continue praying for the hurricane situation though, as 1000's of people are affected by it. We heard today that there is/was a cargo ship stranded within the storm, and it was far too dangerous for anyone to go and rescue them. We pray that the 22 people aboard are able to ride the storm out and survive. God can do anything so we are praying that he'll protect them.

Because of this change in weather expectations, we now are able to do stuff. Since we expected to be stuck in our houses with no power, we are planning things very last minute. Tonight we decided to go for ice cream. We're planning on going into Mexico tomorrow morning to check it out. They recommend if you've never been to Mexico to go to a certain town (forget what it's called) about 1/2 hour away. It's more for tourists but gives a good taste. So we want to go check it out. So we will drive there, park on this side, walk across and pay the 25 cents it costs to cross. Once we've experienced that town, we'll go to the closer town called Reynosa (more like real Mexico). If that makes any sense. Oh, and of course once we get back we'll dive into our books to study while the girls nap. Weird to think we can go to Mexico for a few hours. Never thought I'd say that.

We do think we'll get some rain over this weekend yet, but not nearly enough to bring damage or flooding. Only 30% chance tomorrow opposed to yesterday's forecast of 80%. So we'll see how the rest of our weekend pans out.

Thank you for your continued prayers for LeRoy. I just asked him how he was feeling and he says "I think it's almost gone". YAY:) We have no idea what it was, but are praising God that he is feeling so much better.

We are having a great start to our weekend, and I hope you are all too.

Faith

Another Update

Thank you again for all your prayers. Today LeRoy can still tell there is something not quite right in his stomach area, but he is so much better than he was. We pray that things can continue to improve, and soon he will feel completely healed.

Praise the Lord

LeRoy is home and all his tests came back negative for appendicitis. We are feeling so upheld by God through all your prayers. We have received so many emails from you who are praying for us. Thank you so much. Even an offer to babysit all the way from Steinbach. God has taken my worries of today, and I can breathe again.

Another change this afternoon is the direction of the hurricane. We are not in its path at the moment, meaning we may even be on the dry side of it, and not get any rain. If I am reading it right anyways.

I am thinking that LeRoy's change in health has been our miracle for today. God is so good. Thank you again for all your prayers.

LeRoy

Those of you on our prayer list recieved an email on this already. But in case some of you did not recieve the letter here is what I am asking prayer for. LeRoy is at the hospital with an inflamed appendix. He had extreme pain yesterday, but had a great night. The retired doctor on campus here wanted to see him this morning anyways. He sent him to the hospital right away but offered to go with him to help with paperwork and such. That way I could stay in class, and be here for our girls. Now I am trying to decide exactly what to do. We have had many offers of help which is awesome. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors looking after him.

Faith

Our Crazy Life

Since we have not posted much in the past week or so, I figured I would post on some things we have been up to. Last week was a short week with our wonderful long weekend due to Labor Day. I love short weeks. It helped classes go by much quicker. Unfortunately one day I spent an afternoon in bed, sleeping off an aching body. The weekend came, and like every weekend, we try and do something fun as a family, especially for Brooklyn's sake. This weekend we found a local park 2 minutes away (depending on these frustrating lights), that has 3 play structures in various sizes. She loved it, and keeps asking to go back. So one of these days we will need to do that. On Saturday we left our girls for a couple hours and went out for supper by ourselves. It was desperately needed after going about 4 months without a date. It was so good to be able to focus on each other and talk about how we are really doing with all these transitions, without kids calling for us at the same time. Sunday is our no-homework day of the week. We decided this before we came and are holding ourselves to it. We need that day for relaxation and family and friends.

This week has come, and is going by as we prepare for another threatening hurricane. Right now Hurricane Ike is heading straight for us, so this afternoon I went grocery shopping for non-perishable foods and drinks, just in case it does hit us and we're without power for a few days. We also filled our van with gas, before prices sore, and in case we have a emergency evacuation. We sure never thought we would ever be in a hurricane, but here we are learning what they are all about and trying to stay relaxed (LeRoy is not worried at all, but I am a little different) with it heading our way. They say hurricanes can easily change direction, speed up, or slow down. If you are at all interested in keeping up with this hurricane to see where it lines up with where we are check this link. Just click on Ike on the map and it will give you a bit more info. We are the most southern tip of Texas.

Today LeRoy spoke to another student that goes to our church, and who understands all Spanish, regarding what is happening with our pastor and church (LeRoy mentioned this in the previous post). I am not sure of any details, but it is sounding like we may be needing to find another church. So please pray for this as it will be yet another transition for our family. Most likely we will be just assigned to another church rather than us actually have to find one.

I have a very quiet evening today. The girls are in bed for the night, and so is LeRoy as he is sick today. Keep him in your prayers as he is having lots of stomach pain, not sure what it is. There is something going around here, but he has not been sick like this in many years. I do not think I have ever seen him like this. Some wonderful neighbors/classmates of ours even drove to the local grocery store for us to buy him Ginger Ale.

Since it is a quiet evening here I better stop procrastinating and get to my homework. Hasta Luego.

Faith

Thoughts about Church, God, Life and Mennonites

I have a feeling this post might be a bit of rambling, and possibly a little hard to follow, but if you stick around to the end it might make sense. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway. I've got all these different thoughts running around in my mind and I'm trying to snatch and gather them into something coherent. They seem to all be related.

CHURCH
Lets start with church. We have had a tough time these last weeks trying to find ourselves at home with our Spanish congregation. They are nice people, but you know, it's not familiar. We don't know if we should look for an English service on a different time to supplement, or nourish our spiritual tanks. This leads to asking ourselves good questions. What is church really for?, and thinking and realizing that it is fairly selfish to think that church is about me, and what do I get out of the service? Isn't our purpose to worship God, in community, and bring Him glory?
We are to praise God through everything, and that was partially was this morning's message was about. We were able to sit together for the message today because the kids were in the nursery with one of the ladies today. PRAISE GOD for that. Psalm 8:2 states that "from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise" and it is incredible to see Brooklyn begin to do that. This week she learned Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Also she has begun to pray "Thank you Jesus for this food, amen." To know that she praises God in such innocent ways. How awesome.
Back to our church again. We were both thinking about EFC this weekend, and how it is going through the changes of 2 services. May God refine His people through the stretches and challenges that this implies. Our church here is also about to change. We think. As best we can make out (we asked a 2nd semester student who knows a lot more spanish and was also there) but our pastor is resigning. After his message today he announced that he would be stepping down, there is a membership meeting Friday, and next Sunday might be his last week of preaching. So if you can remember our church (Iglesia Bautista del Cordero) in your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.

WALKING WITH GOD
Thursday in chapel we were blessed to have a few talented fellow students sing in English (the first things English we have heard in a month). It brought tears to my eyes. It was "I can only imagine". I think the theology might be a bit off, because I am beginning to see more clearly that it is possible to not only "imagine" what it will be like to walk in God's presence, we can experience it now. But in heaven it will be so much clearer. Here's a link for the lyrics if you want.i-can-only-imagine-lyrics. Anyway, our small groups time, our spiritual life class, and mostly Jesus through the Bible has been meshing these different thoughts in my mind. Jesus is real, and He wants all of me, and He wants to take this messed up, broken piece of trash and be glorified through it. The "Lord I am a vessel" round song from EFC popped into my head as I'm writing this, as kind of my sentiment.

LIFE
All of this to say that God is at work here in our lives, and we are doing more than just learn a new language. Life is very stretching at times, and we don't know what lies ahead, but we look back and see that God is faithful. To be honest, the transition is difficult at times, but the beauty of it is that we find it drawing us to God. Praise the Lord! I think I've said enough for now, I'll save my thoughts on menno's for a later date. If I forget, remind me.

CUL8R from LeRoy

Surfs up, Dude!

We went to the beach and Faith, Brooklyn and Emma got to see the ocean for the first time. Very exciting. The weather was great, and it was a lot of fun. As Faith put it "it was absolutely beautiful!" As you can see from the pictures I had so much fun playing in the surf with Brooklyn. It took her about 2 hrs to want to go in the water, but after that she absolutely loved it. It was nice to get away and go have fun, away for a while from our normal daily routine. We probably won't be able to get out to South Padre Island, which is an hour and a half away, very often because of studies, so we really treasure this opportunity.

By the way, you can see some more beach pictures that we posted today on our web albums.

Also an aside, thanks for all the encouraging notes and emails that we have received from many of you. They have been very meaningful.