Skype Birthday -

Saturday, March 10th - The Birthday of Aliana!  : )

Heather and I stayed up too late on Friday night watching some movie on line.  I don't even remember what it was.  It doesn't even matter.  What was important was that the kids were in bed and we had a little grown up time to ourselves!  Yeah!

Anyway, that usually is fun at the time, but you pay for the next morning.  Wow!  Lack of sleep!  The kids got up on time and we struggled to keep up with them.  It took me almost too long to realize that I still had to get to some stores before they closed and get some things lined up for Aliana's birthday!  God helped me to hurry and get everything done just in the nick of time.  : )

That afternoon we had lunch, set up for a little birthday party at home & then called grandma via skype.  How amazing is skype!  The connection was running pretty strong so we set up a video conference to show in both directions - grandma could see us and we all could see her.   We ran it through our old laptop and put it on a little table so that we could move it around and, in essence, give her a seat at the event. 

So cool, it was almost like she was right there with us - she watched Ali open her gifts and commented on them and interacted with Ali as she opened them.  It was, of course, especially cool to see her open up her (grandma's) gift and react in real time.  Photos are cool and tell part of the story, notes and cards can share some sentiments, but skype made it just like she was right there in the room with us, even though we are thousands of miles and an entire hemisphere away. 

That afternoon I went to the Adolescent Youth Service and had a great time helping them a bit with a drama they were working on for Heather's sermon and talking to get to know a young man better.  Afterwards, Heather showed up for Worship Team Practice with all the little ones in tow.  I let them play and hang out for a bit and then we raced to hit a store before it closed and then went home with our new booty - new (cheap) bicycles for the kids.  We had been saving up and shopping around for them.  We tied it in to Aliana's birthday but knew Jonny & Nate could not wait until their birthdays rolled around to give them their bikes.  I was going to go back for the Older Youth Service but Heather detoured for pizza with Aliana (a special birthday treat) and did not make it home until really late. 

Poor Jonny was so tired he just made the decision to go to bed all on his own (Never happens) - about 11:15 pm.  He was not feeling good and running a little hot - on the heels of Aliana's sickness, I was not excited about this.  So I prayed hard and took authority (left like I had the green light to do so from God) and put him to sleep.  Not too much longer after that, Aliana and Nate followed suit. 

This gave Heather and I a little relaxed time together again...and we stayed up too late watching something else.  Sigh.  I can be a slow learner.  : )  - The good news  -Jonny did not get sick.  He woke up with no fever and feeling fine.  Thank...You...God!  : )

I have to get to bed.  I am exhausted.  I know I am a couple of days behind in my online journal.  I will try to catch that up tomorrow. 

Good night and blessings all -
Paz, amor, perdon en el Senor -

Real Power Outage

Sorry I did not write in my online journal the other night.  
I was in the middle of a skype call with a missionary colleague fairly late into the evening when our power went out.  It was not just us this time either.  It was pitch black in every direction.  It looked like all of the power was out in the entire barrio and beyond.  Almost kind of surreal.  Like being in the old west and camping out on the prairie with not a light in sight - truly dark.

We spent a good bit of time keeping the kids calmed down, finding flashlights in the inky blackness, and getting candles lite.  Man was I glad we had those.  They make all the difference.  It is amazing how much light a tiny candle wick puts out when it is so dark all around.  I am sure there is a great sermon & life illustration in there! 

I had to use the bathroom at one point and realized that we had no candles in there and you literally could not see the hand in front of your face.  I decided to use my cell phone to light the way but had to be very careful that I did not drop it in the toilet while un-hydrating myself.    (I should have just sat down.  Ha!)  

By the time power finally did come back on, it was much later and the internet was slow to get back up and running, so we called it a night.  : )

The good news - Aliana is finally feeling better.  Albeit, she did NOT want to go back to school today after 3 days of staying at home sick.  It was a rough time with her, getting her up, fed, dressed, and out the door.  She is not a morning person as it is, and it was extra difficult this morning.  We just wanted her to get in a little class time at the end of the week and hopefully come home with homework.  - No such luck. 

When we arrived to drop her off at her class - just 6 days into the new school year (after having missed 1/2 of that time with fever) we discovered that she had a new teacher!  It was a big day of adjustment for her.  : ) 

Jonny is on a short days schedule all this week as they are giving the kindergarteners time to adjust to going to school.  I hate dropping him off, coming home and barely getting any work done just to go back and get him again, so I have been sitting in the lobby of the school - reading, studying, & memorizing Bible verses while I wait for him - all in Castellano of course. 

It is a little embarrassing to be doing so in front of all the people coming and going, but it is good practice for humiliation & I have been able to get a surprising amount of work done in that time.  I can't wait for next week when he goes to full schedule and I can go to the "office,"  the church we are based out of and work uninterrupted for twice as long! 

I could write more, but it is way too late, again, and I need to get some rest.  I having been feeling a bit of the effects of Aliana's illness & I need to keep rested in order to stay ahead of it.  : )

Good night all.  I hope you are safe, warm & dry - and with electricity : )
Paz, bendiciones, y la provision del Senor -

You Have Not Because You Verify Not

Sorry I did not get an online journal post done yesterday.  There are several reasons for it...

* Our little one (Ali - age 5) woke up vomiting in the middle of the night and was running a high fever.  There was the cleaning up (albeit minimal as she got most of it in the toilet - SO happy they can do that better and better as they get older!), the checking her out, medicating her, praying over her, loving on her, and losing sleep as she moved into our bed and whimpered (poor little thing) through much of the rest of the night. 

* There was the fact that due to the lack of sleep and a sick child (and watching to make sure that no one else had anything wrong with their health) we did not go to school so we had all the kids at home, all day long.  Heather was busy attending to Ali & I took care of the boys.  So, it was hard to get online and get anything done. 

* The biggest contributing factor was that part way through the morning, right when I was about to try to sneak online and get something done, the power went out.  ...not uncommon here.  So, we just thought we would wait for a few minutes and it would come back on.  We waited and it did not.  We assumed that it must have been an accident involving a power pole or buried line and it was going to take a little longer than usual.  After a long time, it still had not come back on.  I went outside and checked with some of the neighbors to see if they had heard what was going on.  No one else had lost their power, at least that I could find to talk to.  Again, not too unusual.  I don't know how the electricity works here but, one time, the power went out, but it was only to every other house!  Hmmm?! 

Anyways, it made me wonder.  So, I checked our breaker box out on the street.  (So weird to me because anyone could turn off anyone else's power any time they wanted!  There is a funny looking lock hole for it.  But, I think that only the power company has a key for it and they only lock it when they turn off your power, to prevent you from turning it back on.  : )

Heather checked the circuit box in the house but said it all seemed fine.  After some time, it was still bugging me so I went back to check the one in our house, especially since the box at the street said we had power coming to the house.  Yep, sure enough - there was a breaker thrown.  I have no idea what we did to trip it - we didn't even have any lights on since it was a sunny day, we weren't using the microwave or hair dryer, etc.  But, once I reset it, we were back in business!

Sigh, all that time lost, when we had the solution right at our finger tips, in our own house.  It is just that loosing power is so common here we ASSUMED  that it was what had happened.  We never bothered to look any farther.  - I am sure there is a sermon illustration in there somewhere.  : )

So, all that time lost, combined with a sick little one, stir crazy boys, and being exhausted from lack of sleep = no online post for the day.  Ha.

Today was a good day; a mostly normal day.
Ali is still feeling sick and stayed home from school again.  Jonny went to his 3rd day of Kindergarten and was all excited about the sticker he got for being good.  Nate did his home schooling and is ahead of schedule in math.  (What else is new?  Ha.! - He actually asks to do more math, all throughout the day and night!  That kid loves math.  : )

Well, tomorrow is another big day - Thursday in fact, so Heather will need time alone to pray, prep and practice for leading worship at the Women's Meeting that night.  That means extra family chores for me.  So, I guess I had better finish this up and get some sleep!  (Hopefully, prayerfully - Ali's fever will go away and not spike again, waking her up again, as it has the last couple of nights.)  Uninterrupted sleep is a graaaaaaaand thing.

Good night all.  I hope you are doing well and are blessed
May God grant you His love, his forgiveness, mercy & grace!
Que el amor, perdon, misericordia y gracia de Dios sean con ustedes -

You Can Run...But You Can't Walk?

It was a tough morning to get going.  We were up late with Sunday Night Service last night, trying to get some food into the kids and get them into bed as quickly as possible and get them to sleep and then the same for ourselves.  I think it was about 12:30 am when I fell asleep.  So, when the alarm startled me this morning at 6 am, yeah, it was tough to get up. 

Ha!  But if I thought it was tough for me, it was nothing compared to how hard it was for our little ones!  I had the shades open, the light on, the TV going, making breakfast, calling to them, going in and rousing them...several times.  It took them a good 1/2 hour to truly get up and going.  - It was not pretty.  : )

I got the kids to school and walked them through a few things at the start of their classes, caught up with their teachers, and then headed home to get some studying done.  Jonny's classes are short this week - giving the little ones time to adjust to going to kindergarten for the 1st time, so I went back early to pick him up.  I let him play in the play area, running, and running, and running, until his hair was wet and curly with sweat - while I had a great talk with one of the security guards about his salvation and how he is reaching out the rest of his family.  Excellent time! 

When it was time to go, we headed downtown to go pay the bills for the month.  I like to try and do them all on the same day and just get it out of the way for the month.  Jonny, suddenly, was too tired to walk and wanted to be carried piggy-back style.  Sigh.  Good thing I was not "tired."  : )  He will run and run and run when he has the chance, but he hates to walk!  If we ever walk anywhere he wants to be carried.  But as soon as you put him down, he can take off running.  - Soon he will be to big and heavy to carry.  Soon, he will big enough to carry us.  Ha!  (Payback)

He also hates to go with me to wait in line to pay bills.  I told him that I would reward him if he was good for me.  After we left the 1st place I stopped at a little corner market to buy him a drink and a little candy.  I thought that was the reward.  He, though, saw a toy dinosaur and though that IT was going to be his reward.  I spent the next 2 hours of waiting in line and paying bills, going shopping, etc, artfully dodging going back to buy the dinosaur.  So far, so good.  I am sure he will remember it next time we go out though. 

I spent much of the afternoon working with the kids on their Spanish comprehension.  We did not do enough of it over the summer break and they are no where near where I would like them to be.  It is going to be a major focus of my afternoons.  They have to become more fluent and able to have deeper friendships and not be so reliant on just playing with and hanging out with each other.  It is a lot of work.  I know how much work it is for me personally in my own efforts to learn more of the language every day.  It is even tougher trying to teach them.  It could be a full time job for someone. 

I watched the kids, worked with them on their Spanish and homework, did the cooking and cleaning, etc as Heather had a couple of long and important skype calls to handle and some work to get done in the office.  The kids did great at keeping quiet so that mommy could talk. 

Now it is late, the kids are finally in bed, we are trying to get caught up on line and then, we I am going to get wild and watch a DVD with my lovely wife.  : ) 

Good night all.  Get your rest.  Tomorrow, God has a lot for you to do.  : )
Descansa, Paz, y las fuerzas del Espiritu Santo en tu vida -

Not Feeling Quite Right

Sorry I neglected to do an On Line Journal entry yesterday. 

I have not been feeling quite right.  I am not lying sick in bed, but I just don't have much energy and don't feel well in general.  Yes, yes.  I have been taking vitamins, drinking lots of juice, trying to eat healthy, etc, etc.  I don't know what it is but I am sure my body will overcome it soon.  Biggest thing - I need to get more sleep. 

I have been sticking close to home, helping to take care of the kids and the house, trying to study and get some work done.  It is just hard.  No energy.  No excitement.  Just slogging ahead as best as I can.  It is frustrating.  Just sick enough to not want to do anything, but well enough to still be able to do somethings. 

It is late, again, but I am going to try and go to sleep quick and get caught up on my sleep.  I hope this will help to restore the health. 

Good night and God bless you all -
Paz, SALUD, energía y deseos del Señor -

1st Day of Breaking Into the New Group

Today was a tough day for our little ones...
1st day of school for the new year.  : ) 
Aliana has left the shorter schedule and smaller class size of the kindergarten to go into the scary world of 1st Grade.  Poor little thing.  We never could find out which of the 2 classes she was going to be in, who would be her teacher, do a preemptive meeting, etc.  She walked in blind today and seemed to be in a little bit of shock through the whole morning. 

Jonny went from the security of being at home with mommy all day to the scary big kid world of kindergarten.  Thankfully, we were able to get the same teacher that AJ had last year.  She is very sharp and sweet.  She is incredible kind and gracious with Jonny.  I think she is looking forward to having another little foreign kid in the class this year.  Not a lot of blond hair, light colored skin, good English and bad Spanish in the classes other than our little ones.   : )

Getting them out of bed and going this morning was tough.  Thankfully it all got done, they got some food into them, got dressed and we got out the door on time.  So thankful for that - both because I had forgotten that Jonny walks as slow as a snail, and because we were loaded down like camels in caravan with all of their school supplies.  Thankfully as well, the kids have a mother.  She combed their hair and took pictures of them in their little school uniforms for the scrap book.  (I would never have thought of that.)  : )

The school day started off with a nice, but very long to stand through, outdoor assembly for all of the students - age 3 through 11th grade now (secondary classes are new for the school this year.  - The building is still under construction even).  I don't know how she did it but AJ stood there in line like a champ.  Jonny was a little more fidgety.  lol. 

I assumed that he was staying for the whole morning.  I almost dropped him off and left.  Thankfully I realized all the other parents were hanging around and I kept listening and watching (one of those things you learn to constantly do when living in another culture, trying to pick up what others automatically just "know" but you are not clued in to) I found out that the class was veeeeery short today - just a time for the little ones to get to know their teacher and room very briefly. 

Afterwards we headed out to the play area.  Jonny has been chaffing to play in it for almost a year now.  Today he finally got his chance and he milked it!  Right up until it started to rain a little.  I used this as my opportunity to pull the plug on the play and head for home.  It was a good 1st day for him.  Tomorrow he goes for a whole hour to his class & next week the classes are a bit longer, but still short.  The week after they go to full schedule since the kids will be settled in and going easy by then.  - It really puts a bind in my schedule, but its all good.  I will work it out. 

Nate, also had a 1st today - 1st day of Home School.  He loves the idea of staying at home and having his mom as a teacher.  I think that it went well.  Jonny and I returning home way early messed it up toward the end.  Soon he will be into a rhythm as well.
- - - Funny the difference in the uniforms between Kindergarten, Elementary, & those crazy Home Schoolers.  : ) 

I am super tired so I am going to hit the sack "early" tonight (before midnight).  Oh, I did make lunch & dinner and take care of the kids, help with laundry, clean up and sweep the house, do the dishes and practice Spanish with the kids.  Thursdays are my big day to do so as Heather is busy praying, practicing, and then going to and leading worship at the Women's Ministry at our local church.

I am sure I did a few other things in there as well, but I am just ready to go to bed now.  I need to get more sleep or I am going to go downhill health and emotionally wise.  I have learned that the hard way.  I know the pattern.  : )

Good night all. 
May God bless you, keep you, direct you, empower you -
Bendiciones, direccion, y poder de Dios -

The End of Freedom

It is the end of freedom...Today is the last day of summer vacation here in the Southern Hemisphere.  Vacation is over.  Tomorrow school starts.  It is going to be a tough morning.  The kids are used to sleeping in and staying up late.  I don't know why, but I thought we had another week to slowly turn their internal clock back - but we don't.  I don't know how I thought that.  How did I lose a week!?

I got the kids up at 6:45 this morning to start prepping them for the big transition.  It was not easy...or pretty.  Nate was the only one who got up easy - and he doesn't even have to!  He will be home schooling this year and has more flexibility in his schedule.  Ha.

We went through our morning routine - wake up, get up (not necessarily in that order), breakfast, bathroom, getting dressed, get stuff together, say good-byes, and then we actually walked to the school.  I had to turn in some paperwork anyway, but it was a good practice run.

Afterwards we caught a taxi and went downtown to finish buying the last of their school supplies.  It was a few things in one store, a few things in another and then off to yet another.  We walked everywhere (Jonny caught a few piggy-back rides) and finally I rewarded them for a long morning by taking them to their favorite ice cream store.  After ice cream and playing in the play area, we walked part way home and caught a taxi back to our side of the city.

I had lunch with the fam, helped Heather sort; mark; and pack all of the school supplies, took care of the kids a bit, and then headed off to a fantastic meeting.  Afterwards I had to walk back downtown and do the last of the last, last minute shopping.  The lines were incredible & in one store they had lost air conditioning.  Wow!  Not a good combo.  I felt so bad for the people around me, but I was sweating like crazy.  Ha.

Afterwards I walked home, had dinner with the family and helped to put the kids to bed.  Then I started working on line.  With Heather's help I sent a great STL story to the NWMN for their Youth Leaders Summit, complete with pictures and video.  I hope it was what they were looking for.  Since then I have been working on catching up on other business on line and now it is nearly midnight and I really need to hit the sack.

See you tomorrow.  Happy Leap Year everyone!  February 29th made for 1 long day.  : )

God bless -
Paz, gracia, y misericordia de Dios -