Happy New Year

It has been a long time since I have posted a blog. So much has been going on. We cannot say we have been bored.

We spend most of December in California. We spent most of the month staying at my in-laws house in Tehachapi. Tehachapi is located in the mountains north east of Los Angeles. We attended a few services at Lancaster Baptist Church and a few at Mojave Baptist Chapel. It has been great to see what God is doing.

We were able to visit a few new churches and even had to cancel a meeting because of Highway 58 closing due to snow. That was frustrating for us, but our kids loved it. This was the first time they had seen snow and we got about 4 inches of it. They built snowmen and made snow angels and even had a snowball fight. We were so thankful to everyone at Faith Baptist Church in Ontario who had given our kids coats, boots, hats, gloves, ect. We had a great time in the snow.

Tonight we had our New Years service at church. We were so glad to be in our home church to partake of this special event. Pastor Smith unveiled the new theme for this year as well as gave out Bible reading schedules, Prayer stickers, and church calendars for the next year. We are looking forward to going "Henceforth Unto Him" this year. I am especially looking forward to the Bible reading schedule this year. It will be great to be reading my Bible with everyone else this year. What a great thing to have several people on the same page with their Bible reading as you are.

I am also looking forward to being at our home church for a few weeks.

Audrey got a bunch of letters today from Shadow Mountain Baptist Church in Morgan Hill, CA. It is always a blessing for us to know that there are other people praying for and thinking about us. Just a simple little note means so much to a missionary. Thank you all so very much who write to us and let us know you are praying for us. We greatly appreciate it.

We look forward to serving the Lord in this present year. God has blessed us so much this past year. We can't wait to see what he has in store for us this next year. We pray that we will be able to lead many more souls to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sickness

There has been a lot of sickness at Bethel Baptist Church in West Carrollton, OH. I thought that I was getting it, but praise the Lord after sleeping almost all day I feel good enough to go to church tonight. I wasn't sure if I would feel good after lunch today, but a long nap with Joey worked.

Audrey has been going to school here the past two days and today her teacher got sick. Though it is only a 24 hour bug it comes with lots of vomiting. We are praying that no one here gets it.

We have been having lots of fun here. The assistant pastor, his wife, and the Spanish class took us to a Mexican restaurant for lunch today. The food was great and it was nice to be able to use our spanish again even it was only to order food. :-)

We have really enjoyed seeing the Hayden family again. This suit that Jordan is wearing is from them. It fits perfectly. What a blessing.

Tomorrow we head to Richmond, IN to be at the Smale's church. I don't know if we will have internet there, but we will see. If not then we will not have internet again until Thanksgiving when we are in Denver.

I am hoping to travel back here on Friday or Saturday as there is a sale at Hancock Fabrics. The Simplicity patterns are on sale for 99 cents a pattern. All of my patterns are size 4 to 6 and Audrey doesn't wear that size anymore. I am hoping to get some cute ones to take back to Honduras with me.

Six years old

We now are proud parents of a six year old. Audrey really enjoyed her birthday. We had a nice time at home with just us. She got to pick her favorite meal for breakfast and dinner. We had pancakes for breakfast and spaghetti for dinner. She was very excited to open her presents after dinner. The cake was not a dismal failure that I had feared it would be. I usually decorate the cakes for the kids, but this time as we were in a trailer with limited space, I bought one of those hard candy cake topper kits from Walmart. I turned out really cute. She loved it. I took some pictures of her opening up her gifts, but the ones of the cake didn’t come out. We have a really cheap digital camera that does not show you the picture that you took. It also defaults to no flash every time the camera powers off. It is a huge frustration on our part trying to use this camera. We really are hoping to get a good camera soon. It is so frustrating to think you got a good picture and then find out later it is all black.

Audrey got some nice things. One of the things that we found that we loved was a pair of earmuffs and a stole that have the pink poodle dog design. She loved them. She went to bed last night with them on. I had to remove them in the middle of the night.

Today we are going to visit with Pastor Gordon who was the assistant Pastor at Faith when we were in college.

This weekend we will be at Heritage Baptist Church in Canal Winchester, OH. This is the church that Jason visited when he brought Carlos from Honduras for the Smales. Last night as I was getting the clothes out of the church dryer with Joey, who was in his jammies, I was talking to one of the church ladies. I was telling her of the blessing all of the clothes donated to us when Jason came with Carlos was. I told her that even Joey’s jammies that he was wearing were donated. She looked at them and told me that those used to be her sons. She was the one who donated them to us. I was amazed as I had no clue who the things were from. I was glad I finally got to say thank you.

Seeing Old Friends

Today we were so excited to be able to go to the Hayden's house for dinner. We got to know them pretty well while on deputation. We had a great time with them. After dinner Karilee and I went to the Ladies Missionary Meeting at Bethel Baptist Church in West Carrollton. I was surprised to see some ladies that I had met in Oklahoma while on deputation. One family moved here thanks to the US Military and the other ladies are now teachers at the Christian school here.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to Ladies Bible Study. Audrey gets to attend school and so I won't have to worry about taking care of her schooling while I am at the meeting.

We had a great time at Heritage Baptist Church in Canal Winchester. We were showered with love and many snacks. :-) One of the ladies in the church gave us a bunch of gifts that we are excited to take back to Honduras for the kids there. We are hoping and praying that we will find a way to get everything back. We are looking into several different options on how to achieve that goal. We are just praying that it won't cost a lot of money.

Mommy’s vacation week

This week is going to be a treat for me. We are in Kissimmee, FL at Bible Baptist Church. They have a Christian school of 600 kids and have invited Audrey to attend classes with them. It was so nice to day to get things done in the morning that normally have to wait until the end of the day.

Yesterday we went to Walt Disney World. We were taken to the park by a retired employee. Every time she gets inside, she can bring three people in free of charge. The church has several of those, so two families went together to help us get in. We had a blast! Upon entry in the Magic Kingdom we met Pluto and went to have him sign the kids' autograph books. Jordan went right up, but Joey wanted nothing to do with him. Next we went to Mickey's house to have him sign the kids' books. They waited in line for about 30 minutes, but when they were finally there it was worth it all. They take the kids one family or two at a time to another room where Mickey is and they can have pictures taken with him. Jordan and Joey were so excited. Jordan kept telling Mickey that he had him on his clothes. Joey wouldn't stop hugging him so we could take a picture. When we finally got him to turn around, we took the picture and started to leave. Joey ran back and kissed Mickey on the nose. It was so cute.

Audrey especially liked the Princess room. She got to meet Belle, Snow White and Cinderella at the same time. That was great. Afterward, we went on lots of rides. The kids' favorite ride was Splash Mountain. I was amazed that Jordan was tall enough to get on it. I was very nervous that he would scream the whole time, but he did great. In fact he wanted to get on again, but we didn't want to wait in line for over an hour just to ride it. Our first time on it we had fast boarding tickets. You can get one at a time for quick boarding at a set time of the day.

The kids got a special treat when we were leaving. They got to ride in the front of the monarail car with the driver. When they got off they received a "co-pilot" license for the monarail.

We saw the parade and Jason and I enjoyed seeing the kids' faces more than the parade. They were in awe of the whole thing. We are tired after the full day, but we have a lot of memories of a great day.

Jacksonville

Well, here we are in Jacksonville, FL. It is kind of neat being in the city where I was born. I am amazed that my parents were able to stand this heat for a long time. It is a lot cooler today and humidity is down. The past few days have been very hot though. It makes me very glad that everything we have done has been indoors and the air-conditioners work very well. It is funny talking to missionaries who are based in Florida talk about going to other parts of the country and talk about how cold it is all the time.

We had one problem while we were driving here and that is that the siding of the trailer started to come off. In the front on the drivers side we had serious delamination occur. We have it sealed off with duct tape for now. We can only drive about 50 mph or it baloons up so we have to get it fixed before we leave here. We had one estimate for $1,800 to $3,800 depending on the damage to the wood underneath the siding. We are looking for other estimates as we do not have that kind of money.

This week we are at our Field Conference for Latin America which is being held at West Jacksonville Baptist Church. At the same time they are having their Missions Conference. We are having a great time and the church is taking such good care of us. We have eaten far to much and today they took us Ladies out shopping. I was able to get a beautiful dress and some earrings to match. I also got a nice casual shirt and a necklace to match that. It was such a blessing to have not only the fellowship of other missionaries, but also to get to spend some money that was just for us. I tried to buy some jeans for Jordan (he has outgrown all but one and is close to growing out of those) but the other missionary ladies wouldn't let me. They said it was for me and they were going to make sure I spent it on me. :-)

The preaching this week has been excellent. This morning Pastor Kelley spoke on Belzaleel from the book of Exodus. He was a man that was the master craftsman who built the tabernacle. He showed us that God inroduced him in Exodus chaper 31 (I think) and then showed us how Aaron didn't use him to build the golden calf and how wasn't that odd that Aaron didn't try to use the best craftsman in all of Isreal to make the calf. He said the Belzaleel was saving himself for the work of God. He was the only human to touch the Ark of the Covenant and live. It was a great sermon. We have had one great preacher after another. We only have one more day of this. :-( God has really touched our hearts this week.

Traveling again

Today we are traveling toward Jacksonville, FL for the field conference with other BIMI missionaries from Latin America. Please pray for safety in travel.

Passport praises

When we returned from Honduras my passport gave me some problems. On the front page of my passport it says it is only good for one year as it is a replacement for a passport that has been lost and/or stolen. When we returned to the states from Costa Rica in 2003, I turned the one year passport in with my birth certificate so they could issue me one for 10 years instead of the passport for one year. When the Passport Department returned it they had only stamped void over the explanation of why my passport was only for one year. At the time this didn't make sense to me, so I called them up and the person I talked to assured me that it was now good for 10 years. That was fine when I went to Honduras, but when I came back to the states in June the airline was not going to let me board. But because I am a US citizen and was returning to my country of origin they let me go.

Today I called the Passport Department and they had me tell them what had void stamped on it and they asked me if there was anything else stamped on that page. When I told them no, they had me look through all the other pages for a passport extension. It seems that when they extended mine, they didn't put the extension on the right page so we didn't notice it when I was at the airport in Honduras. When I had called a few years ago they didn't mention an extension typed on another page to me. So I didn't know about it. Now I know that on page 21 is a passport extension. We thought we were going to have to pay another $65 for a new passport again, but everything is all taken care of. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

More Blessings

Today I had a blessing. Someone dropped off some clothes at BIMI. I was bringing up some things to the main office from our trailer and Mrs. Moody (who does housekeeping here) told me to take a look at what was given and take anything I wanted. It is so wonderful how God orchestrates things. Almost all of the things that were left were my size. I have been looking for a black dress skirt for a while and have not been able to find anything that fits my waist and my other problem areas. Normally I can only find clothes that fit my problem areas or they fit my waist. They had a skirt that is a long straight black skirt that fits my waist and everywhere else! Praise the Lord for his provision. I also found a bunch of sweaters for the winter time. God is so good to give us just what we need.

I have two prayer requests tonight. My brother Dan's boy, Aaron, who is 3 months today is in the hospital with viral meningitis. They expect him to be there for at least 5 or 6 more days. Also the pastor of the church where we went tonight is being attacked through his health and his family's. Please keep the pastor of Welcome Hill Baptist Church in Dalton, GA in your prayers.

In Chattanooga

We have not had a lot of time to be on the internet lately and as I don't have a lot of time today this will be brief.

At this moment we are in Chattanooga at BIMI's home office. We met with our director yesterday and it was great to see Bro. Terry Jones again who is now our director, but was a great help to us in Costa Rica.

While we were in Mississippi and until we arrived in Tennessee we hit a bad rain storm. We had some leaking areas on the trailer, but hadn't had the time to find a camping store to buy more rubber roof caulking. Since we had hardly been in any rain it wasn't a huge problem. The worst leaking occurred on Sunday when the rain was pouring in our kitchen window. I cleaned it all up and then put a bath towel under the leak. The bath towel was soaked by the time it was done raining. Jason has plans to recaulk the windows today. Yesterday Jason caulked the roof and replaced some rusted screws. It has been good to get a few days to get things done on the trailer.

We were surprised when we arrived at BIMI to find out that the Jackson family, fellow missionaries and friends from Honduras, were here. They lived in Chattanooga for three years while attending Bible College and have really helped us find things here. Audrey, Jordan, and Joey have really enjoyed seeing Jenny (their 15 year old daughter and our babysitter) again. Yesterday, instead of school, I let the kids play all day with Jenny. Because of this, today I have a lot to catch up on, but I don't regret it as they kids really miss Jenny and the past two week have been full of driving for them.

Tomorrow or Friday we will be leaving Chattanooga for Jacksonville, FL. We are going to be attending a BIMI Central American Field Conference. Please pray for travel safety. We will be in Florida for the next few weeks.

Pecan Rolls Recipe

Here is a really great recipe for Pecan Rolls given to me by Mrs. Debbie Lane

Ingredients:
Package of frozen yeast rolls
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans
1 pkg of Jello Cook and Serve Butterscotch pudding (not instant)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (melted)

Directions
Place pecans in bottom of bundt pan and place frozen rolls over pecans.
Sprinkle dry pudding mix over rolls
Mix melted butter and brown sugar and pour over everything.
Cover and let rise overnight.
Remove cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Invert immediately onto serving dish. (careful as butter will drip and can burn you)

Weekend at Grandma house

Isn't it strange how no matter if both grandparents are living or not, their house is always Grandma's house.

This weekend was spent with my Grandma and Grandpa at their house in Yuma, AZ. We had a great time with them. Saturday we went to a BBQ at their church which is just down the road. Sunday we took them with us to Heritage Baptist Church. We had a great time with them.

I had wanted to talk to my Grandpa about his salvation. I finally got an opportunity to on Sunday night. He said he has been saved and wanted to know why I thought he wasn't. He couldn't tell me when it happened or the circumstances around it. I then shared with him when I had asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins. I don't want to offend him, but I wanted assurance that he had indeed made that decision.

This weekend I gave my grandma a homework assignment. She is to write down one recipe a week for me. She is such a good cook. I had forgotten about how good she can cook. Just being here and eating with them has brought back memories of being a kid and staying over at her house. The only thing that didn't happen is, she didn't give me any small jobs like dusting and cleaning out under the sink. The only problem is with this is she used to pay very well for those jobs. :-) I used to get $20.00 for cleaning out under the sink when I stayed with her. What fun it is to remember those times.

Labor Day and Sunday

Sunday we had a special treat. We met some missionaries that went to Honduras in the 60's. They were in the town of La Esperanza and had to leave in the early to mid 70's for health related reasons. They are so sweet and it was a great pleasure to be able to talk with them at church and then be able to go out to lunch with them afterward.

Labor day was fun and full for us. We had the opportunity to go shopping (without kids) with the youth Pastor and his wife, David and Charity. We had a great time with them and wished we had more time to stay out with them, but we also had a dinner planned with Daniel and Abigail Jacobo, missionaries to Honduras, who are on deputation. We had fun talking about Honduras and letting them know a little about what it is like there. We gave them some counsel about where to go and what opportunities are available in Honduras at this time.

After dinner we went to Charity and David's house so I could do some sewing and mending that I had to get done. It was late, but Jason and David didn't mind as they spent the time discussing and playing Play Station 2 games. I was able to get some lace sewn onto a skirt for Audrey (she is growing to fast), a blanket, and I started sewing a new skirt for Audrey.

We came home after that and I planned and pulled out papers for Audrey's school week. Needless to say I didn't get to bed until about 1 am. It was worth it thought. I had a great Labor Day.

Yuba City

Once again we are online. Yeah!! This has been a busy week for us.

Audrey has entered her second week of school and the newness is wearing off. She still enjoys it, but keeps asking why she has to do so much work. When I tell her it is because she is in First grade and tells me she wishes she was in Kindergarten again. Today we are in Yuba City. We got to sing in chapel this morning at 8:00 am. Audrey did good, but Joey and Jordan didn't want to sing. Jordan finally did for the final chorus, but Joey never opened his mouth. He came back to the trailer and laid down the rest of the morning.

Joey has had cold symptoms for the past week so today we took him in to an Urgent Care Center. I have a five day rule. If they are sick longer than five days I try to take them in to be seen. I found the information online and since they are on the same street as we are parked, I got the great idea to walk. It was a beautiful morning and it only took us an hour to walk there. The doctor said that he did not have an infection, but to keep an eye on him and bring him back if he doesn't get better in a few days. We walked back and all wanted a nap after that long time out in the sun. Unfortunately, Audrey and I don't get one as we have school to do still.

One great thing about this year is that she has a good deal of seatwork to do. I love seatwork time as it allows me to get a few things done while she is working. Normally I clean the trailer during this time, but today I am typing my blog.

Next week we are off to Rancho Cucamonga, CA and then on to Yuma, AZ. We are starting our drive east. We will be out the western states until just before Christmas. We are looking forward to our time in the east. We just hope the gas prices don't break our bank before we get there. :-) Actually it will be a lot cheaper after we leave California. I remember our short trip to Arizona a few weeks ago. The gas was almost 30 cents cheaper out of Arizona.

Seatwork time is done for today so I am too.

Park Day

Today after doing the laundry we took the kids to the park.

They had a blast. Jordan spent most of the time running from Daddy with the football or sliding down the slide backwards. Audrey really enjoyed the swings and Joey played kept going back and forth from football to following around another two year old girl.

I had problems getting a picture of Jordan by himself as my camera only works part of the time. Half of the pictures I took did not turn out. At least I got some.

We were given a digital camera by the Tates, but it has no view finder and I didn't get it figured out until last night. We now have one that will do until we get a good one. The Tates gave us this one in protest of no new pictures of the grandkids. :-)

New camp site

We have moved camp sites. The church didn't want us to have to mess with the bad electrical. We are now in a trailer park that has a few travel trailer sites. It is quiet (or it was until Jordan and Joey got here) and nice. We will be here until Sunday afternoon.

Today we went to the wedding of the assistant Pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church. It was a lot of fun. We are all tired now and I still have to go and wash clothes. Ah the joys of being a wife and mother.

Central Valley Baptist Church

Last night we were at Central Valley Baptist Church in Manteca, CA. Jason was the only one to attend when we presented our work the first time. It was great to be able to come this time. Last time I couldn’t be there because of Jordan’s immanent arrival.

The Lord has really blessed this church and it was great to see what God is doing. We are parked at the site of the new church building that is in construction. I am excited to see what God will have done here when we return in a few years.

We did have the biggest blessing while here. London Guimon, a lady in the church, let us come over and do laundry. It was getting late when we got there so she told us to just leave the clothes there and she would wash them for us. She brought them back yesterday afternoon all washed and folded. She even hung up most of the hang up clothes. That was a huge blessing as it saved me a few hours of work.

Please continue to pray for our safety and comfort. Our Air conditioner is working well when we have enough current to run it, but during the day it doesn’t work as we only are plugged into a 15 amp plug and our trailer requires 30 amp to run everything. We keep having to go and reset the breaker. It gets hot, but praise the Lord we have some airconditioner.

Starbucks policy

Today we are in Manteca, CA. It is in the central valley due east of San Francisco. We are here to give an update in Central Valley Baptist Church and present our work in Liberty Baptist Church.

Yesterday when we got here we hooked up and then the assistant pastor took us to a shopping center and filled our tank with gas. He also drew us a map of the most important locations in Manteca. The first things he put on the map was Starbucks. Jason felt right at home. He said that he has an average of 10 Starbucks drinks a week. I would hate to see what he spends.

I bet you like me didn’t know Starbucks has a policy that if they don’t have what you order or if you don’t like your drink, they will give you a coupon for a free drink of your choice. I found this out yesterday when Bro. Jeremy took us to Starbucks and they didn’t have any syrup to make a white chocolate Frapaccino. I got a caramel one instead. It wasn’t as good as my favorite, but it was ok and now I get a new drink of my choice at a later date.

Karen

Yesterday I had the neatest thing happen to me. It led me to realize how small the world is with Christ.

We had arrived at church for soulwinning and there was another missionary family there. They are the Pilalas family going to start churches abroad for the US military. We seemed to get along good and were talking as we looked over the bulletin board. She found a brochure for Ladies Conference in Lancaster, CA where her Pastor's wife was speaking and showed me her picture. I told her that we had visited her church while I was on tour group and I had stayed at someone's home on base. She said that she thought it was her. I told her that it wasn't because the family that I stayed with only had two or three kids and they have six.

She laughed and told me that two years after I had stayed at her house (her husband was out of the country) they adopted three kids. Talk about small world. I told her everything I remembered about staying at her house and she was amazed at some of the small things that I remembered that she had forgotten. I remembered how she took us to the Jelly Belly factory. It was so much fun.

They were even thinking of going to the military base in Honduras to start a work, but decided against it when they heard that military dependents don't get sent to Honduras and personnel are only stationed there for 6 months.

We had a great time of fellowship. It was like meeting a friend from long ago. What a blessing to see her again.

Jordan Update:

He is learning not to hit, spit on, or call girls names (unfortunately the hard way)

Joey Update:

He still is not potty training (I am not ready for the stress while travelling). He is learning to talk really well. Yesterday he said, "I like this song".

Audrey Update:

She is starting 1st grade tomorrow (we are starting early to allow for a few days off for conferences) and is very excited. She has started going up during the invitation with me to pray. Normally she prays for her friends in Honduras, but today she prayed for her to learn a lot in school this year.

Air conditioners

We are now in Sunny San Diego where the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and our air conditioner is getting a well deserved break. It feels wonderful here. I can definately see the attraction of living here as I am told it is like this most of the time. We are staying at Bible Baptist Church in National City, but are attending the Missions Conference at Berean Bible Baptist Church in Chula Vista. Both churches have supported us for over 5 years. It is a blessing to see how both churches have grown.

Next week Audrey starts school. I am planning on starting a few weeks before normal so that if we have to take days off for conferences and travel so it won't affect us as much. My goal is to not be behind when we get ready to go back to Honduras. I am not sure I am ready to start though. I was reading through her lessons today and I am not sure I am cut out to teach it. The first grade curriculum is much harder than kindergarten.

Jason, the kids, and I have started playing tennis when we can, for exercise. It is a lot of fun, but Jason is getting a lot more exercise than I am as my balls are a little wild. Next time, I am going to try to hit them a little lower.

Los Angeles

We are in Los Angeles this week at Los Angeles Baptist Church. It is in downtown. It has been a lot of fun for us to see what God has done here. The church has grown so much and now supports 24 missionaries. We had a surprise when we got there. The pastor had entered our phone number in correctly into his phone. He was just one number off, but could not get a hold of us. We showed up at 9:00 am which means we had to leave Tehachapi at 6:00 am. That was a early morning for the kids. They kept telling me, when I woke them up at 4:30, that it was still night and they couldn't get out of bed when it was still night. We made it there with a few minutes to spare.

When we got there the Pastor appoligized for not being to get a hold of us, but asked me to teach a Ladies Class that afternoon. If any of you know my Spanish, you know that I was doing this with fear and trepidation. It normally takes me a week of studying to have a Ladies Meeting in Honduras, but here I only had a few hours. They told me I could say no if I couldn't prepare in time, but one thing I leaned at West Coast is that you do what the pastor wants. I usually am slow about cleaning out my bible from past lessons. This was God ordained because I had two lessons in my Bible that I had already taught. One was How to be a Good Friend and the other was A Woman That Pleases the Lord. I prayed for a very short time and decided to do the lesson on pleasing the Lord. I had to retype it and make some changed to adapt it to people from the states, but I was able to get that done just in time and was able to share it with the Ladies.

I am so thankful for the Lord's help. I know it was Him as my Spanish is not at its best when I am tired and I was exhausted from getting up early that morning. I can't say how it went, as I was doing the speaking and not the listening, but the Ladies seemed to follow along so I guess I was understandable.

Yesterday after church a man from the church bought us some "ensalada". If you have ever had it you will know how great it is. It is an El Salvadorian drink called "Salad" because it is made up of diced up fruit and fruit juices and then had a little diced up lettuce on the top. If you ever have the chance to buy some, do it. It is wonderful and you will not regret it.

Today we travel back to Tehachapi and leave early Wednesday morning to drive to San Diego for a conference that goes through Sunday. We are looking forward to being in our home again.

Mira Mesa Bible Baptist Church

Tonight we were at Mira Mesa Bible Baptist Church. We first visited them 5 years ago when Audrey was a newborn. We were one of their first missionaries. Since then God has really blessed them. They now support many missionaries and have had to rent a new facility for their church as they outgrew the old one. They are now praying that God would provide the money for them to buy a building. They are located in San Diego, CA so the land is very expensive.

their Vacation Bible School took up their missionary offering for us. They presented us with a $200 check from the kids of VBS to us. They had all the kids come up and present the check to us and took a picture. It was so special.

My-Mart and voices

The kids have done a few funny things in the past few days that I thought I would tell you about. Deputation and furlough kids have the distinct honor of knowing the name to every store and restaurant that they pass. The newest store that Joey has learned the name for is Walmart, but when Joey says it, it sounds like, "My-mart". He loves to go to My-mart with Mommy and I have to admit that I am glad to take him.

Jordan did the other funny thing that I have to tell you about. This past week we were staying with the Stalnaker family in Dinuba, CA. Pastor Stalnaker had the boys working with him in cleaning out a garage. He asked Jordan why he talks so much. Jordan told him, "I have to because I have a lot of voices in my tummy. If I stop talking the frog voice will come out."

The imagination of kids. :-)

leaving Dinuba

I had been meaning to write a blog before now, but the conference in Dinuba kept us so busy that I was not able to get away to update my blog. Today I am at McDonalds while waiting for our laundry to get done at the Laundromat.

Last night we got to go to a different church in the area that supports us and we had a great time.

Today we are driving to Tehachapi to drop off the trailer. We have a one day meeting in San Diego tomorrow and then we will be back in Tehachapi to make some minor repairs to the trailer. We have to replace some caulking and weatherstripping that keeps falling off. We also have to make the repairs to the plastic that was damaged by the exploding wheel of a week ago.

The kids are doing great. They have really enjoyed this past week in Dinuba as the people's house that we have been staying at have lots of kids and a pool.

Thank you all for praying for us. We will try to update again soon.

Online for the moment

I finally was able to get online after many days. I have not written a new blog for today, so I will try to drive to this parking lot again tomorrow to check my emails and let you know what has happened today.

Please read the next four or five blogs to find out what has been happening this past week.

Rain

Please scroll down and read what has been happening the past few days. We do not have internet access so I type and save offline then update when the internet connection is available.

Yesterday we were awakened in the early hours of the morning with strong winds and rain falling. We did not think that when we came to Arizona we would see more rain than at any other state so far. We have since discovered that there are a few leaks in our trailer. One of them is in Jason’s closet. We didn’t discover it until Jason tried changing his shirt yesterday and found it wet on one side. We had to take all of his clothes out of the closet last night in case it rained. I did rain last night, but without the high winds. There was only a slight amount of moisture in the closet this morning.

Jason realized that he will not be able to procrastinate anymore. He knew that there was an area of caulking that needed to be replaced, but it has been so hot he didn’t want to take care of it right then. We were not expecting to have so much rain while in the desert.

Today Jason gets to go soul winning and I get to watch the kids. I wish I could go out too, but at least I can allow someone else to go. This time I have my three kids and the assistant Pastor’s son. He is 19months and just as cute as can be. He has enjoyed playing with the kids, but when his mom dropped him off at the trailer this morning he was not happy to be left. He is doing fine now. He loves all of the new toys. My kids are a little cranky as they didn’t get to bed until late last night. We went to Blockbuster last night and rented them a kid’s movie. Audrey got Samantha an American Girls Movie and the boys got the Disney American Heroes Cartoon collection. They watched the cartoons last night and ate popcorn. They really enjoyed it, but didn’t get to bed until late last night. It was a nice treat for them.

Kitchen Aid

Today I got the biggest blessing. I got a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I have wanted one for just about forever. I tried to get one in Honduras, but they cost way too much money. I had plans to bring one back with me, but hadn’t done anything about it yet. I was talking with Mrs. Webb about what I wanted to bring back to Honduras with me. I told her a whole list of things, but when I mentioned a Kitchen-Aid she looked at her husband and he nodded. I had no idea what they were nodding for. Mrs. Webb then told me that she had just bought a new Kitchen-Aid that was on sale that was bigger than her old one. She had not done anything with her old one yet. It was still in perfect shape, but her new one is bigger as her family has grown by a few members since we saw them last. She asked me if I wanted it. Of course I said, YES! I now have a Kitchen Aid mixer stored in the trailer. In fact I am thinking on getting it out and using it today as it is raining here in Marana, AZ and we could make cookies.

The Drive to Arizona

Yesterday we drove to Arizona from Hesperia, CA. It was a long drive for the kids, but everything went well. We got up early and were making good time when we hear a loud pop. We knew that sound it was one of our old tires that we had not yet replaced and it had blown. It was a little worse this time though as it didn’t just burst, but destroyed some of the metal underside of the trailer around the door. We were going to pull it off, but we discovered a screw that we could tack it up with. It is still a little misshapen, but at least it works. We will have to try and pound it out later. The tire did, however, destroy the plastic piece that goes around the wheels and protects a small amount of wood at the bottom of the trailer. We are going to try to get that fixed, but who know how we are going to do that. Jason is headed out today to try and replace our spare tire for one that does not have a huge hole in it. We were extremely thankful that this happened near the beginning of the day as it was only starting to get hot.

We had plans to be at our destination in Arizona by dinner time and without the blowout it probably would have happened. I only had enough lunch items for one meal which was lunch so for dinner we got to eat out. In this area you cannot cook and eat in the trailer without air conditioning. As we were walking into IHOP to eat dinner (we all ate breakfast for dinner), Joey’s sandal broke. Audrey and Jordan had also used them so I guess it was time to replace them. The restaurant just so happened to be in the JCPenneys parking lot. I had wanted to find a Cracker Barrel, but Audrey’s extensive drinking of water prohibited us from going to any restaurant but the closest. We were in the Phoenix area and couldn’t stop on the side of the road to use the trailer’s bathroom. Anyway, back to the shoe story. JCPenneys had a sale on and we were able to find Joey some sandals that were on sale!!! I just love it when God puts us in the right place at the right time for something as small as getting shoes that were on sale.

Today, I have a full day of trying to find a Laundromat and washing the seemingly endless pile of laundry that I seem to have. I don’t understand it; I just did laundry a few days ago. Oh well, I guess that is the story of the life of a traveling missionary wife and every other mommy on the planet. :-)

Hesperia again

Tonight we were in Hesperia again. We had the opportunity to help out in their Vacation Bible School. Because we did an incredibally thing on Sunday afternoon and left our Bibles in the church here, we had to come back and get them. We had to pass through on our way to Arizona so we were excited when they asked us to help with VBS today. I was in the 4 and 5 yr old class and Jason helped with the teens. The kids had a great time. We made sure that we had our Bibles today. Thankfully, I have a Spanish Bible so I haven't been without all this time.

Audrey is so excited because she got to go on the bus tonight. She went on bus route #1 and will not be home until after 10:00 pm. I hope she doesn't wake up the boys when she comes in.

Tomorrow we travel to Marana, AZ to go to Sun and Shield Baptist Church. We had planned to go through Yuma, AZ and visit my grandmother, but she is in Portland with my Grandpa visiting Grandpa's brother. Hopefully next time we can see them. Now we will try to drive straight through to Marana, but if it is to much for the kids then we will stop a few hours out at a RV camp let them relax and go in the next day.

Schedule

We had a great Sunday with Mountain View Baptist Church in Hesperia and First Baptist Church of Boron. Sunday morning Audrey still had a fever, but it was not high so I let her go to church, but she had to sit with me. She was not thrilled about missing her class, but she did well. After church we got to go to Olive Garden with Pastor Webb. Joey and I split a chicken and pasta dish, but we will never do that again as he ate more than half of it. I did enjoy the salad. I think that Olive Garden makes the best salad anywhere. I also had some peach ice tea with my lunch. It was great.

After lunch we unhooked the trailer and drove to Boron. The church in Boron has supported us almost from the beginning of deputation. They have a new pastor since we have been there. His name is Thomas Kinsfather. We had a great time during the service and afterward fellowshipping with the Kinsfather family in their home. They are a young couple who is doing a great job in Boron. God is blessing the church and there were many new faces there.

After church we drove to Tehachapi to see Jason's parents. We are spending the next few days with them before heading out again on Wednesday afternoon. We are so thankful for the generous love offerings that churches have given us. With what we have received we have not only been able to make our truck payment, but also purchase two new tires for the trailer. We now have two new ones with a spare and two old ones. We are praying that we would be able to replace the one more old one and trade the remaining old tire with the spare so we will be driving on all new ones. We have heard that you need to replace trailer tires once every two years. The man we bought the trailer from had no idea how old the tires were and he had purchased the trailer a year ago. We are so thankful for the safety that God has given us so far. Praise the Lord for his goodness.

Hesperia

Today we travelled to Hesperia from Moreno Valley. Today was blissfully problem free. We made the trip safely and arrived safely in only a few hours. We were able to set up the trailer and then I put the boys down for a nap while Jason helped set up for church. For dinner we got a treat and Pastor Webb took us to Red Lobster for dinner. As we travel in our trailer we bring our food with us so it is always a special treat to go out to eat especially at a place like Red Lobster.
During dinner Audrey developed a fever, but since her appetite was good I think she will be good enough to go to church tomorrow. The kids are all on antibiotics for bronchitis. I took them in to the doctor on Friday and they were all sick. Audrey didn't have a fever at that time. She only had the cough and runny nose, but today the fever came. I am hoping that it will be gone tomorrow as we have two morning services and Sunday School and then we are to drive to Boron for evening service. She will be a lot happier if she is well. If she is running a fever tomorrow morning then I will have her skip the first morning service to rest some more and try to make it for the second service.
Please be in prayer for our digital camera. As most of you know, I love to take pictures. My digital camera has given up the ghost. I had my dad look at it (he can fix anything) and he said it was not fixable. When we left Washington it was taking good pictures, but now everything is grainy with lines through it. I may have to resort to finding a camera with film. I don't know how I ever got along without a digital camera before.

Moreno Valley

Finally, I am online after more than a week without internet. I never realized how much I used it. This may be long but I thought you would like to know what happened after we left Leadership Conference on Wednesday night. It was a great conference. We left there and Jason and his dad took off for Oregon to pick up the truck and trailer. While they were driving I was shopping. A friend of ours from Lancaster gave me a gift certificate during the conference. Thursday during the day I took the kids and Grandma Tate and we went shopping. Wow, what fun and what work. The kids were good for the first part of the day, but they wore out befofre my gift certificate did. We got a lot of great stuff. What a huge blessing that gift certificate was to us.

Jason found out when he got to Oregon that our fridge was not working. It was working fine when we left Seattle, but sometime during our first night out it has stopped working. The Dahl family, who stored our trailer for us, was able to salvage the freezer stuff.

While Jason was driving back to California with the trailer, I tried to call all of the RV dealers and repair shops where he was to try and get the trailer seen. Needless to say, I was not successful. I tried to call Bro. Donny Wilson at Lighthouse Baptist Church where we were headed for next and he found someone to look at the fridge for us. So we set off on Saturday for Moreno Valley, California for our next meeting.
Everything was going great on Saturday. We took the kids swimming in the morning for an hour before we left. They had a great time. We had planned to get to Moreno Valley at around 4:00 pm. We were making great time when we were crossing the middle of the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base when a tire blew on our trailer. We heard a pop that sounded like a backfire and so we stopped. One of the back tires on the trailer had blown. We tried calling the phone numbers that our insurance gave us for help as we have roadside assistance and no one could help us as it was afternoon on Saturday. I didn’t know what to do so I called Lancaster Baptist Church which is an hour away. They gave me a phone number of someone I could call. They too couldn’t help us, but gave up the phone number of a tire shop in California City that we could try to call. They had a tire and we were able to go and get it. Praise the Lord they had one. We had tried to buy a spare for the trailer while we were in Seattle, but couldn’t find anyone who had any tires that were the right size and weight for our trailer. We were on the way again after only a few hour hiccup.
When we arrived in Moreno Valley we were amazed at how hot it was. We got there at 7:00 pm and it was still in the triple digits. It took a few hours for our air conditioner to work. We had never used it before so needless to say, we were glad it worked.
We had a great day on Sunday. Pastor Preston had some health problems so we did not get to see him on Sunday, but it was great to be able to attend the Spanish service for the morning and present what God has done in our ministry for the evening service.
Monday morning Bro Cal came out to look at our fridge. We found out because of the fact that the bottom of the fridge had melted that we had had a fire. Bro. Cal pulled the fridge out and said that he was amazed that the whole trailer didn’t go up in smoke. Praise the Lord he was watching out for us. We were not able to buy a new fridge as it costs over $1,000. Jason just told Bro. Cal that we would put the old fridge back in until we could afford to buy one. Bro. Cal told Jason that he didn’t want to do that and went and bought us a new fridge. We since found out that God has greatly blessed that family and that they keep a fund for helping people. What a blessing that was for us. We truly didn’t know what we were going to do.

Our friends Donny and Donna Wilson and thier daughter Lily are on staff at Lighthouse and Pastor Preston had Donna take me out shopping. We HAD to spend Thursday shopping. That was a lot of fun as it was great girl time. The guys watched the kids and we had fun. We went to two different malls and got a lot of good deals including suit jackets for the boys from Children's Place for $1.99 each. It was a lot of fun.
This week we have been helping with Vacation Bible School at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Moreno Valley. Jason and I have been helping in the areas of preaching (no, I am not the one doing the preaching) J and dealing center. I have been privileged to lead three young ladies to the Lord and deal with two who had problems with assurance. God is so good to give us these opportunities to serve. Only one of these young people attends church at Lighthouse so it is even more special to me as who knows what kind of preaching they get weekly if they even attend a church.
Tomorrow we are heading for Hesperia, CA to report to Mountainside Baptist Church. We will be there for Sunday morning and drive to Boron, CA to report to First Baptist Church of Boron on Sunday night.

Leadership Conference

Leadership Conference has been wonderful. This is the first year for us and we have received such a blessing. We had a day of rest yesterday with only the evening service. It was great to see our home church again even though we had only left them a week ago. During the service we had to sit in the very back of the auditorium in chairs because it was so full, but we were so thankful that we were able to find seats with our church group.

Today we had the alumni breakfast and then a morning session with two different preachers. I cannot describe how it feels to be able to go to church without having to watch the nursery every service.

Mrs. Chappell hosted a luncheon for the pastors and missionaries wives. We had a Hawaiian theme luncheon. It was gorgeous. The Chappell’s back lawn was decorated with white tents under which were round tables with covered chairs. The chairs had tropical flowers attached to the bows on the back of the seats. The flower arrangement in the center of the table was tropical flowers and leaves with a coconut in the middle of everything. Because of the high winds of the Antelope Valley, they had the flowers and leaves pinned to the table cloth. We received a book filled with the recipes for the food we had eaten and ideas for skits with the same theme. I hope I can adapt it for the group in Ojojona.

Yesterday I had a funny thing happen to me. I was getting my nails done with the wife of our host and I started talking to the stylish in Spanish. The only problem is that she was Korean and not Hispanic. She looked at me strangely and said , “I don’t understand you” I was laughing when I realized what I had done.

We are looking forward to another great service tonight and tomorrow filled with more great sessions.

Blown Head Gaskets and God’s Blessings

Yesterday was quite an adventure for us. Wednesday, we had been having trouble with the radiator constantly running dry. We were contemplating stopping in Salem, OR to have the truck looked at, but the problem seemed to be getting better so we drove on. As we started rather late Wednesday afternoon we didn’t get as far as we had hoped. We finally stopped just south of Eugene, OR thinking the radiator problem was fixed. We got up early and put the kids in the truck in their jammies to start driving again. We had planned to drive south for an hour or so and then get gas and dress the kids. We stopped in Roseburg, OR and while I was dressing the kids, Jason checked the water level. It was empty again, so we called Ford Roadside Service. They directed us to a Ford dealership to have it looked at.

The Ford dealership wasn’t very big so Jason unhooked the trailer in a Wal-Mart parking lot and left us with it. He then went to take the truck in. The kids and I went into Wal-Mart where we enjoyed our time. Jason called us and told us that there was a blown head gasket. We found out that in order to replace the head gasket and inspect the head the cab of the truck must be lifted off the frame. The whole procedure takes more than 30 hours of work. We had to leave the car with the dealer for a week. This was a problem for us as we were on our way to Leadership Conference. We didn’t know what we were going to do. We called our pastor and he gave us the name and phone number of an independent Baptist church in Roseburg. We tried calling and couldn’t get anyone. Our pastor then gave us the number of Pastor McKelroy of Willamette Valley Baptist Church as he was friends with the pastor in Roseburg. While we were calling we were parked in the parking lot of Victory Baptist Church in Roseburg. Some church members saw us and offered to park our 5th wheel at their house. That was a huge blessing for us.

We were able to get a rental car paid for by Willamette Valley Baptist Church and we once again set off for Leadership Conference. The rental car and RV storage were both huge blessings for us. God put us in the right place at the right time. I was resolved to the fact that we were going have to miss Leadership Conference. I am so thankful that God had other plans.

Traveling begins

I sit here in a McDonalds play area in Kelso, WA typing my blog for the first time in a long time. Technology is such a wonderful thing. We have a wireless modem in our computer that our church bought for us and if I am remotely close to a motel I can use their wireless internet connection. There is a Super 8 Motel in the same parking lot so I can check my emails and update my blog.

We finally left Seattle. We had so much to do to get ready. We didn’t get off when we had planned because of trying to fix a generator for the trailer (we gave up and just brought it with us to get fixed when we have time) and finishing up packing. Normally we wouldn’t stop and eat fast food as we have a trailer full of food, but the waste tanks in the trailer are full I cannot wash dishes, hands, and the kids can’t use the bathroom. So as the are tired of being in the car now, we are letting them play on the play area and they can eat when we get to the car.

Joey threw a temper when we stopped at a rest stop earlier. While Audrey was going to the bathroom he discovered the hand dryer for kids. He had to be pulled away from it kicking and screaming. We had to go to the trailer for a time of exhortation.

We are all looking forward to stopping for the night and getting a good nights sleep, but we have to make it at least to the southern end of Oregon tonight or we will never make it to Tehachapi tomorrow.

Please keep the family of Pastor Mark Lawrence in your prayers. He passed away on Wednesday morning after a week in the hospital following a fall from a quad ATV. The memorial service will be held Saturday in Lancaster, CA followed by the funeral in John Day, OR the following Friday. Bro. and Mrs. Lawrence were great encouragements to us while we were on deputation four years ago. He will be sorely missed.

Wednesday

We have been so busy since being back in the states. We are hoping that this week coming up will be a bit lighter, but it doesn't look like it will be. We have spent the last few days looking for a 5th Wheel trailer for us to use while on furlough. Yesterday Jason and I drove to Everett to see a trailer that looked and sounded pretty good. It is a 33 foot Dutchman with a super slide in the livingroom. It is so nice. It has been used as a temporary house for a couple building their house. I couldn't believe all the cabinets it had in it and how clean it was. They took really good care of it. We are in the process of trying to secure financing to buy this trailer. We had found some that were the same price, but smaller and older. We weren't sure if we wanted anything as nice as this trailer, but because it is being sold by a private person and not a dealer we will be paying less for this one than any of the others we have seen. We are praying that God would allow us to pay for it. I am sure you can see by the picture of the kitchen why we, and by that I mean I, love it. All of the cabinets are custom which means they are made better than normal trailer cabinets. I also love the fridge. We only saw a few that were bigger and they were in trailers that cost over $40,000. I had fun looking at those.

Last night we had a great service. Pastor Smith was in Bend, OR to be with the family of Bro. Mark Lawrence who suffered brain swelling in a quad accident. He is doing better tonight, but is still in a medical induced coma to reduce the brain swelling. Please pray that he will continue to improve. Anyway, we had Pastor Greg Boyle preach last night. He was a great encouragement to me. He preached a great sermon. It was a huge blessing to me.

Jordan had a hard time going into class last night. I had to sit and talk with him for a few minutes before he would go into the classroom. He was so excited to be going to "Sunday School" when we went up the stairs, but by the time we got to the top he wasn't in such a great mood to be there. Both him and Joey had hard times, but by the time church was over they didn't want to leave.

Please continue to pray for Audrey. She still is running a small fever and has a bad cough. I am sure that she will be well enough to go on Sunday, but we are hoping that she can enjoy this weekend too.

Tomorrow is garage sale day. I am looking forward to going. I am looking for some tennis rackets for when we are out of town so we can exercise and have fun at the same time. We have got to do something as our clothes are not fitting so well and we have only been back a week.

Sunday Services

We had great Sunday services today. Our sending church is Faith Baptist Church in Tacoma, WA. We had what seemed like a great attendance for church today. We got to go to the Young Married Class taught by Bro. Lane. It was great. It was strange to see so many young people all grown up. How times flies when you are not around.

Audrey had a hard time today. She was the first to Sunday school and so she left her Bible to save her seat and went to the bathroom. When we got back we found three girls in her row of three seats and her Bible and purse was on the floor. She looked a little distraught, but I told her to pick it up and find another seat. The girls who had moved her Bible were kind and moved, but I could tell Audrey felt bad because no one wanted to sit by her. She is always the most popular one in Honduras and here no one wanted to sit by her. I can't blame the little girls because they don't know her, but I felt really bad that she has to be uprooted because of our work. After church she was really clingy and didn't want to go home with Grandma so I knew that something was wrong. I felt her forehead and she seemed hot. When we got home her temperature was over 102. I am hoping her feelings of dejection came from her not feeling good and not from her being uprooted this past week.

Tomorrow if Audrey is well we will be continuing to look at trailers. We are praying that God would have his perfect will in our search. A very big dealership here in Washington state is owned by a member of one of our supporting churches. We are praying that maybe he can help us out a little more than normal. Please continue to pray with us as we search for what God has for us.

First few days back

There have been many surprises for us since coming back to the states. We love the fact that there is a Starbucks in every store and on every corner. We just wish we had enough money to stop at each one of them. :-) One thing we had forgotten that surprised us was the size of the portions of food. We don't ask for anything super sized anymore. It is just to much food. No wonder so many Americans are overweight. The food portions are incredibly huge.

Today we went shopping in Albertsons and were in awe. There is not a store in Honduras that is as big as that one. We found so many things that were so cool. It is so different shopping in Honduras as many times you cannot find what you want or you have to settle for something a little different.
Today we went to a Spanish Department picnic for our home church. After that we went out RV hunting as we are trying to buy one and we want to get all of our options. We have spent parts of three days doing this and it is a lot of fun. I always try to get them to show me all the 5th wheels they have even if I cannot afford them just because it is fun to look. We found a great one that is near our price range, but we will see what God provides. The kids went with us for the first time today. They loved it. The first thing they tried to do was jump on the beds. Why do kids think that they can get away with that when they are not at home if they are never allowed to do it at home? We had a great time.

We loved driving today as the mountain was out today. For those of you who are not from the Pacific Northwest, that means that there were no clouds so you could see the mountain. I took several pictures to show to my friends in Honduras what a real mountain is. They have no idea what snow is.

Please continue to pray with us that God would give us the right trailer for us. We praise the Lord for the truck that he gave us. It is wonderful. There is so much space. There

is room for three carseats and if we were in Honduras we could fit at least six adults on the back seat alone not to mention the floor and in the pickup bed. We can not even get a picture of all three kids as the backseat is just to large. We are still trying to find out what mileage we get. We have done so much city driving so far that our number will be low, but it will be good to know that it should not go much lower than that.

Here at last

So much has happened since I last wrote. God blessed and we had a great last weekend at church with over 80 people in attendance. We left Tuesday morning to come back to the states and arrived in Seattle at 9:00 pm. We had two great flights and the kids loved it. We almost had a problem getting on the plane as my passport had "expired". The identification page said that it had expired in 2004, but there was an explanation and a void on the back page which the US Passport Service assured me meant that my passport was good for another 10 years. Praise the Lord everything turned out fine when the supervisor from Continental said that since I was going to the country of my birth it would be fine to go with an expired passport. The US customs did not even notice that it was supposedly expired and I was not about to point it out.

I still have a mountain of unpacking to do and my body clock has not yet adjusted. Therefore, tomorrow, I will have to write all about my first day in the states after a three year absence.

Being a Blessing

Isn't it great when you can be a blessing to someone. Yesterday we got such an opportunity. Iris, the wife and mother of the family with whom Jason lived when he came to Honduras in 1993, came over to return a few things. Iris' husband, Pastor Hector Medina, died of stomach cancer about 10 years ago. Iris now is a faithful worker in the church where he pastored for so many years. She is a wonderful person. She is a single mom to three kids and a grandmother to one. She speaks English and tutored me in my spanish when we first came.

A year ago Iris got some bad news. Her daughter, then 17, was pregnant. It was a hard time for the whole family especially Iris because as a single mother you can only be with your kids for so many hours in the day. She still had to work and take care of them. There was a lot of criticism for her, but Praise the Lord, her daughter was very repentant and God has used this bad situation to build them closer to him as a family.

Yesterday they all came over to pick up a walker I was going to give them. While they were here I felt like I should give them some food. I ended up giving them three bags of food. I didn't think very much of it, but she started to cry and told me that I didn't know how much that meant to her. She said that she had no food in the house. I can tell you I got a bigger blessing out of that than she did. God is so good to give us the blessing of being a blessing.

Disappointments, Frustrations, and Blessings

Tuesday was a busy day for us. We had our very last ladies meeting with a dinner in honor of the ladies who have been faithful. We had five invited, but one of the ladies did not know that this was by invitation only and invited many others. We were very thankful that only two extra came. The reason for the invitation only is that the church only has one table so the number is restricted by how many fit around the table.

As we were getting ready for Ladies Meeting we got a call from Reuben. He is a man in our church who was trying to buy our truck. He called and told us that he could not secure financing for it so he would not be able to buy it. We were so disappointed as we have come to the end of our time here and still we have not sold it. We are going to just donate it to the work in Ojojona so that they can pay the yearly taxes on it while using it for picking up people. Reuben told us we could park it at his house and he would drive it to pick up people. That is very kind of him as he knows he will not be allowed to drive it any other time. We are disappointed that we were not able to get the money for it as it would have allowed us to pay off our other truck before coming home on furlough

We were frustrated to learn upon arriving at Ladies Meeting that Esperanza had been kicked out on Sunday. She did find a place to live, but they would only allow her to bring two of her kids. Please pray for her to find a better place for the kids. Tuesday at Ladies Meeting Jason heard screaming coming from Sandra's house (where Esperanza used to live) and then a baby screaming as if in pain. He rushed up there to find out what was wrong and found that the baby was badly burnt on his belly. Jason rushed him to the hospital with the baby's mom and aunt. Christian is 4 months old, but very small for his age and severely malnourished. On the way back to Ojojona with the aunt at 11:00 at night we asked her what was going on. She said that Cristian's mom and dad were arguing and the dad, Javier, went to the kitchen and got boiling coffee. He came back to the room and tried to throw it on his "woman", but missed and got the baby instead. There are times that I wish they had the laws here like they do in the states. No kid deserves to grow up in an environment like that.

Sunday, Jimena (Esperanza's oldest), came to Sunday school with scars on her arms. When Jason asked her how she got them she told him that her daddy hit her with a stick. I think that is why she went with Esperanza when she left. I wish I was going to be here a few months longer and then I would have them come and live with me.

After all the frustrations and disappointments of the day, God had a great time in store for us at Ladies Meeting. We had seven ladies attend and had a really special time with them. I gave a devotional entitled, "How to help your new pastor". I really pointed out to them that without them the church would not exist and they need to show the same support to the new Pastor's family as they have showed to us. God is so good to us. Our ladies, while there may not be many of them, are so supportive to me and such an encouragement. Teresa gave me a purse and Areli (who is 12 and the young lady I led to the Lord) knitted me a doll's stocking cap and bottle for me to put on the display table. I told her that I was going to put her picture up right next to it. We praise God for the work he is doing in Ojojona and just pray that it will continue long after we are gone.

Now that I finally updated you on Ladies meeting, I can write about what we have been doing the past few days. We have been painting and packing, and painting and packing,... We have to turn in our computer modem tomorrow which will cancel our internet service. I will try to update this on the last few days before we leave, but as we will not be at home I am not sure if I will get to it.

From Friday till Tuesday, we will be staying with the Jacksons. Our water tank is being retiled and we have to have a totally empty water tank for at least three days so we cannot live here without showers and water to wash dishes. If you don't hear from me sooner I will have lots to tell you about when we get home on Tuesday so keep checking back to see if I finally got enough energy to update on what has been going on.

Busy Monday

Today was a busy day for us. We had to go and do all of the shopping for the Ladies Dinner tomorrow. That took a while, but after that we came home and painted. Audrey's room is officially done. It has been painted (two coats), the bedding washed, and the clothes packed. It is all ready to go.

We had a little trouble with the paint though. We bought what we thought was the right color paint, but it is a touch more gold in color. The one that was on the wall is an orange with a pinkish base. The one we put on is called Antique gold. It is an orange with a tan base. I personally think that they both are ugly colors, but that is what the landlord wanted so that is what we painted. We were also able to paint the hallway and one wall of the living room. Things seem to be falling together quite nicely. We are just praying that everything will be done soon, preferably by Friday as that is when we are leaving this house so that repairs to the water tank can be made before we turn in the keys.

Sunday Services

We had a great, but very busy day yesterday. We were asked to come to Iglesia Bautista Peniel here in Teguc for the morning service. They had a special service for us. They had some people come and give testimonies and they gave us a special glass plaque thanking us for the work we have done in Ojojona. It was great to see everyone again. We try not to go to church there to often as they are an autonomus church and we don't want people to come to us for advise instead of the pastor. It was very special that they recognized the work we have done and wanted to thank us.

After church we got to eat at McDonalds as we didn't have time to go home and make lunch before the service in Ojojona. The kids loved that and I have to admit, so did I. The McDonalds here is different than at home. It actually tastes good. I did not like McDonalds in the states, but I love them here. Anyway, we picked up Ernesto and his wife after we ate lunch and drove to Ojojona. We were amazed when it did not rain at all on the drive up there or while we were at church.

I got to teach Sunday school this week as Reina (pictured here with her family, Josue, Daniela, and Alisandra) broke her foot on Friday night and has had to keep it elevated. The kids miss her, but we had a great turnout with 15 kids. I am sure that the Sunday school will continue strong in our absence. I was also able to watch nursery and we had 13 kids for that. God is blessing with many faithful people.

We got Audrey's room packed up after church on Sunday night. It wasn't a lot of work, but after the full day that we had, it was all I could manage to get done. Now everything that she wears and has washed will go straight into her suitcase. I still need to go through her suitcase again as I was not paying close attention when I was packing and I probably packed some old t-shirts that don't fit her anymore.

Finds in Valle

What a great day we had in Valle de Angeles. It didn't start out so good with a broken bus. Alan called Jason early yesterday morning to ask him to bring him the keys to the bus. It seems he had left early that morning to bring the mechanic to the bus and had forgotten the keys. The trip to San Buenaventura (where the bus was) is a 45 minute drive. Jason drove him the keys and supposedly they had the problem fixed. Well, when they go the keys and took it for a test drive the other brake line burst. They had only brought one extra brake line with them so they had to go to another town 15 minutes away and look in their junk yard for one off of a junked vehicle. They found one and got it replaced, but had it put on wrong. Finally they called it quits and rented a van. We took the 15 passenger van and two trucks and fit everyone. We had a great time. These are some things that we were able to get for our display. The dresses are authentic Honduran dresses for Barbies.

The group is from a Baptist Church in Oxford, Alabama. I forgot the name of the church as it was only told to me once at the beginning of the week. They had 18 teens and adults. They were such a blessing. We only got to be with them for a few days, but it was as if God sent them to us just to encourage us. Audrey developed a special friendship with Paige. Paige's son is about to be married and she told me that this time was just making her long that much more for grandchildren.

Jordan started running a fever when we were in Valle de Angeles so he stayed with Daddy in the van and slept while Mommy, Audrey, Joey, and the group shopped. Daddy did not seem to mind either.

After shopping we went to El Patio a very good restaurant here. El Patio is an outdoor restaurant that is covered by a metal roof and has pillars for walls. It is very typical. The lights that they do have are very dim to make it seem like it was before there was electricity. It was so much fun. Everyone loved it. We also found out that you can buy paintings there. Elaine and Jeff Smith, the youth pastor and his wife, bought a gorgeous painting for around $50. After they sold to them the young men trying to sell them when and got more. They brought back one gorgeous one of an old pueblo seen through a door. They started the price for that at $80, but when no one had it they ended up selling it to one of ladies of the group named Kim for $30. I was in love with that painting, but Jason had just borrowed all of my money to exchange for dollars with Bro. Jeff Smith. I am so glad that Kim was able to get the painting for such a good price. I now know what I want and where I will get it when we come back here. Bro Alan Jackson hired a mariachi band to sing a few songs for the group and it was so much fun. Everyone was clapping with them and then they saw that Joey was dancing by stomping his feet in time and clapping his hands. Everyone just about lost it then. It was so cute. We all had a really great time and were tired, but sad to see it end.

Today most of the group left. Three were left behind as one of the young teenage girls passport and ticket were stolen just before she boarded. We all went to Pizza Hut for lunch while we were waiting for the plane as Pizza Hut is just across the street from the airport. It was while she was there that it was stolen. Thankfully her mom came with her to Honduras as she would not be allowed to fly international by herself.

Tonight we went out with them and the Jacksons for Chinese food. While we were there Jason lost my retainer. I had put it in his pocket as I forgot to take it out before we left the house and I did not have any pockets in my clothes. I am just sick over it. I will have to see if I can reach of my orthodontist tomorrow by her cell phone. It will cost me almost $100 to have a new retainer made if she can do it as she is leaving on vacation next week. If not, I will have to try to find a orthodontist in the states to make me a new one. That should be fun to try and find. I am still holding out hope that the Jackson's might find it at their house.

Our day

We had a fun day today. We started out by going to hunt for boxes. God blessed our search and we found some great boxes at Pricemart. We have gone to Pricemart many times in the past few months, but never found many boxes. It seems that today we found the motherload. They will not let you take the boxes unless you buy something, so I bought eggs. I am going to make the kids a big pot of hard boiled eggs. We, meaning everyone but Jason who is slightly odd in his tastes, love hard boiled eggs and do not get a lot of them because they are costly. It will make a nice treat for the kids and me too. :-) Anyway, we packed our backseat with all the boxes it could hold. We decided to finish the packing before we started painting, so today we packed the master bathroom, what was left of the master bedroom, the office (huge task), and the boys room. We only have to pack up the kids toys and books and the kids dishes from the kitchen. We cannot do these things for a while though.

We had plans to go with the Jackson's and their group to Pizza Hut after church for dinner, but the bus had other plans. They were still in San Buenaventura when the brakes went out on the bus. They were able to rent another bus to get the people home with, but that got stuck in the mud and they had to get it out. Pizza Hut closed at 10:00 pm and they got home at 11:15. Thankfully we were able to make some Tuna Casserole for the hungry travelers. It wasn't pizza, but everyone was glad to be home. It is just after midnight and we are just getting home. It was a fun night and we are looking forward to getting a good nights sleep and then helping them go shopping at Valle de Angeles (Valley of the Angels) tomorrow. We are on the lookout for things for our display table and if it is available in Honduras, you will find it there.

Busy bees

We have been busy, busy, busy for the past few days. I was able to get my list for the school done just before Jason was to leave for the school to sign our part of the contract. We were able to turn it in and everything went fine. Monday night we were supposed to have dinner with the Jacksons and all their guests. I made Spaghetti sauce, Broccoli, Salad, and a cake and Becky was supposed to make the noodles and garlic bread. When we got there we found out that many of the group had the throwing up sickness that Jordan had on Friday. They asked us not to stay because they did not want us and especially the kids to get sick. It was a huge disappointment. Jason took me to dinner at Popeys instead as the group was eating the dinner I had worked on all day and I didn't have anything else ready to cook at home.

Yesterday we went to the church to pick up some leftover paint we had to paint our house before we leave. We found a lot of water inside the church when we got there. Jason thought it had come over the doorjam, but upon further investigation we realized that someone had turned on the water and not turned it off. Water only comes twice a week in Ojojona, but one of those days was Monday. Praise the Lord the only thing that was ruined was two boxes and some tracts. We were able to save over half of the tracts. PTL!

As we were getting back in the truck to leave, Esperanza came out. She looked done in. She said that she couldn't make it much longer living in a house full of fornication and adultery. It has taken a toll on her emotionally and financially. Renting a house or apartment would be too expensive. Her only option that we can see is for her to voluntarily place her children in an orphanage. She would then be free to find a job as a live in housecleaner to support herself. She asked us to help her find a good orphanage and arrange the governmental aspects for her. This is one of the hardest things a mother has to do is turn away her children. But we are praising the Lord that if this is what she does, there is a good Baptist orphanage where we can have them sent.

After we got back from that we went to Larach (the hardware store) and bought paint and other things we needed to get the house ready for us to leave. I can't believe how quickly time is passing. It still doesn't seem real to us that we are to be leaving two weeks from yesterday. We are still waiting on the papers from our truck to sign and send back. They were received by our courier last week, but they seem to be taking thier own sweet time getting it to us. We will have to try and look again to day to see if they came in.

Today we are going to hunt for some boxes to finish packing Jason's office, pack, and start painting the house. Fun, fun, fun.

Baptism Sunday

Yesterday we had a great blessing to be able to have a joint baptismal service with the people from Iglesia Bautista Betel in San Buenaventura. The Alan Jackson family are the missionaries who started and are pastoring that church. They brought their church and a group of 18 teens and workers from a church in Alabama who are visiting them. We brought three truckloads of people from Ojojona. Our normal baptism site was overflowing because of our recent rains. We looked for a new site and found one in a park in nearby Santa Ana. They let us come in free and baptize in the river, but when the kids played on the toys they charged us 15 Lempira (75 cents). Thankfully none of our kids tried to play as we haven't been to the bank yet this month and did not have any cash on hand.

We were able to see Esperanza baptised and with her a couple named Rueben and Xiomara. Junior, the little boy of Rueben and Xiomara, cried so hard when his mom got baptized. He was just yelling "mommy, mommy, mommy" and tears were running down his face. He was sitting with all his aunts and uncles, but he still was very concerned about his mom. It was very cute to see.

Esperanza was very nervous about getting baptized because she didn't have a skirt to wear. I knew she always wore pants, but I didn't know she didn't own a skirt. I wish I could give her one of mine, but there is no way she would fit it. She is a lot smaller than me.

Today is going to be very full. We have to go to the bank and then the store. Tonight I get to make dinner for the group that is staying with Alan and Becky. There will be 29 of us and I am going to make a big pot of Spaghetti. I am trying to use up all of the food in my freezer before we leave in 15 days. Today I must also finish the inventory of our house for the school. It makes me think of the song "So Little Time, And So Much To Do".

Poodee

Ok, you may be thinking I have lost my mind, but I just had to tell everyone about Joey's newest word. He has been saying, "Poodee" for a few weeks now. A short time ago we finally realized what he was saying. He was saying, "Excuse me". I guess he has heard me tell Audrey and Jordan enough times that we should say excuse me when asking someone to move or when you need to interrupt somene, and now he is doing it. Joey is doing really good on his talking. I know that only parents of other two year olds would be able to understand him, but we are excited. He has learned many words in English and Spanish. I think it is especially cute when he uses "polite words" such as please, thank you, excuse me, ect. Joey also has learned two songs in Spanish. He can sing "He is Able" and "Ti-ti-ta" which is a Sunday school song in Spanish. He only knows the spanish version of "He is Able". It is so cute to hear him singing.

As you can see from the picture he has also developed a strong photographer bug. I found this picture and several more just like it when I was downloading some pictures. If he sees a camera he will immediately pose and say "cheese" until you take his picture. If you are not getting the camera out to take a picture of him he will continue to say, "cheese" louder each time until you either break down and take his picture or end up spanking him for not obeying when you tell him to hush.

pipe cleaner glasses

Have you ever had an abundance of pipe cleaners? Well, that is the dilemma that I am faced with. I had to buy a huge packet to use with a craft for Ladies Meeting. Yesterday I made the kids glasses and rings with pipe cleaners. They loved them. Joey did not get a pair. Only Audrey, Jordan, and Julianna who is Audrey's friend got ones.

Julianna and Audrey put them on when Julianna's mom came to pick her up. She told Audrey that it was so her mom wouldn't recognize her.

Please pray for Audrey and me as we are sick. We are going to the doctor tomorrow to see if there is anything we can take to help us get better before we leave.

Today the Jacksons group came in and we got to help them. I stood in line at the bank with them to help them change money (you can only do it with an account) for over an hour. I was so tired after that. I am just glad that the bank teller let me exchange so many transactions. I had to exchange money for 10 people. They had to do each person separately so that the money did not get mixed up.

Just as I got home tonight I got a call from Becky. She needed to borrow my crockpot and coffee pot. I wasn't to excited about going out again, but now I am home and my bed has never looked more inviting. It has been a long day for us. We are so glad to have the opportunity to help other missionaries and groups from the states, but we are sure tired. :-) We can't wait until we have groups of our own come to Honduras.

House rental

We finally have word on the status of the International School renting our house fully furnished. The answer is yes!!! We were told that they did not want it for the price we were paying, but because they had not let us know and we were between a rock and a hard place, they are going to honor what they first told us. They told Jason that we are paying way to much for this house. They do not seem to understand that we are from the states. When you are from the states people automatically charge you more than they do others. Most Hondurans are so suprized when they go somewhere with us and find out what we have to pay for things.

Anyway, I have so much to do now. I had originally planned to go through the house and write a detailed list of what we were leaving. I had planned to do this before we left, but now I have to have it done on Monday. That just pushes everything on the front burner.

The Jacksons have a group coming in today. We spent this morning helping them get ready for 19 people. They have borrowed every bed they could find. We sold them the kids bunk beds and let them borrow the queen bed Audrey slept on. Our kids are excited that they get to sleep on the cots. We will see if they are still excited when we get the beds back. Jordan does not want to sell his "up bed" as he calls it. We told him that we were going to get some better ones made when we get back, but he is still not sure if he likes that idea. For the next nine days the Jacksons house is a hodgepodge of the Tate and Jackson houses. They have borrowed half of my plates, bowls, cups, sheets, ect. It is great for me because I will just have them pack them up for me and it is less work for me.

Bikes and the car

My kids are big bike fans. Last night they were so happy to finally have room to ride their bikes. They were disappointed to no longer have the use of their pool, but that pain was quickly eased when they realized that they had more than two feet to ride their bikes in. Even Joey likes to be on a bike. He does not know how to peddle so he goes no where. When he does grasp the concept of peddling towards the front instead of the back there will be no stopping him. The kids are really going to miss their bikes when they go to the states.

Jordan was on hand to help out Max, our mechanic, fix the truck today. Max has not yet found the problem so the truck is still unusable, but Jordan still had fun. Max ended up taking the truck to his house so he could work on it more. We are hoping and praying that the cost of fixing will be cheap.

Nasty Bugs

Have you ever seen a uglier bug? Well, yesterday evening when I was trying to get some housework done I found this ugly creature. We took the pool down a couple of days ago because the rain has started and it has cooled down. Last night I was finally fed up with all of dirt and junk on the porch. I had gotten all of the toys picked up and cleaned that area and decided to finally pick up the tarp from the pool. I was almost finished folding the tarp in half when I came face to face with this thing. It may not look big from the picture, but this thing is almost six inches long plus the length of the antenna. It is not a cockroach or a spider, but it is gross. I ran to get a ziploc bag and then trapped him and threw him in the garbage. I told Jason about it when he got home and he dug the ziplock out of the trash. He thought is was very cool and wanted to keep it, but I put my foot down. I have never been so scared by a bug in my life. I don't think that I have ever seen a bug that big.

Another subject on the bug topic is that we have baby cockroaches and crickets flooding our house. Last week when we had the water tank cleaned, the man who cleaned it said that we were growing cockroaches in the top of the tank because of the coolness and water. We bleached the tank and that got rid of them, but since that day I have seen these babies all over the house and porch. They are tiny and only about half an inch long. I have no problem with them as long as they grow somewhere else!!!