Pneumonia? Hmmm...

I must confess that I stayed up too late last night.  I was waiting for Heather to make it back from the Ladies Service.  Then we got something to eat, and afterwards we decided, "Let's watch something!"  I find that often when I am sick, my internal clock gets all off - I die all day long and then can't sleep at night.  Well,  think I fell asleep about 2 am. 

I did not get up until really late.  Heather was starting to feel much more sick, but graciously got up with the kids and tried to let me sleep in.  When I finally did get up I sent her back to bed and spent the day watching the kids, cleaning up the house, doing laundry and dishes, and taking Nate out for a long walk to give everyone else a break from his hyperactivity.  : ) 

I actually thought I was feeling pretty good, all things considered.  Then when we got back from our walk I ate dinner and just started crashing.  I was so frustrated since I had felt so much better earlier on and was wanting to go to service tonight.  I knew I had to bag that or I would be in real trouble later.  My nose started running and I realized that I was..."gurgling" a bit on some of my breaths.  That is worrisome.  After having gone through weeks of pneumonia in Costa Rica, it just felt way too similar.  At the moment, I could not tell if the sound was in my throat (not so much a problem) or really high up in my lungs (more troublesome).  Time will tell. 

So frustrating!  I have been trying to eat healthy, get rest and not over-do it, take vitamins, and even over the last few days I have been taking antibiotics...so, this was really a surprise!  I am going to step up the "take care of my health and recover plan" even more this weekend (for instance, made my favorite "Get Better Fast" drink tonight: hot tea with lemon juice, honey, and minced up garlic and onions.  After I finish the tea, I eat the garlic and onions.  : )  I will be pounding that all weekend in an effort to turn this thing back quickly.  Thankfully, as I write this, I don't feel or hear any gurgling.

We have a 1/2 full schedule at church tomorrow & then Easter on Sunday.  On Monday we are scheduled to take a Visa Renewal Trip to Chile.  I really want to be feeling better before that trip!  We have to cross roads that take you over the Andes Mountains and past 13,000 ft high in elevation and it is not fun to pop your ears on a trip like that when you are sick like this!

I helped put the kids to bed and then sat down to catch up on line quickly.  Now I am getting ready to sign off for the night and get some sleep.  - Oh, memorized a few more verses of Philippians chapter 2 in Castellano today.  I hope to have all of chapters 1 and 2 memorized before next Wednesday night!  Making progress : )

Good night and God bless -

PS - Pray for Heather.  She actually is more sick than I am right now...and she can't eat garlic and onions to help out (allergies) like I can. 

Paz, salud, y la presencia del Senor -

Pneumonia Errands

Today was a good day.  It was draining as I am still not feeling right.  I am trying to eat healthy - lots of garlic, onions, fruit, tea, etc; and trying to get more sleep, take vitamins, medicine, etc.  I am trying REALLY hard not to over-do it since this illness feels eerily similar to when I got so sick for so long with pneumonia while I was at language school in Costa Rica.  I was cautioned by the doctor then, that, once you get pneumonia, it is much easier to get it again.  This time I am being more cautious, proactive, and taking antibiotics right away.  It seems to be helping, but slowly. 

Today, I had to run several errands as tomorrow is Good Friday, a national holiday here in Argentina, followed by the weekend, followed by a visa renewal trip on Monday.  I had to get the bills paid before they would be late by the time we get back from our trip.  I did as much walking as possible to get some exercise, fresh air, and see how my lungs were feeling.  It went ok, but I was amazed at how tired it made me.  The good news: I did the walking, finished the errands, and still had the strength to keep going all day long without having to lay down and rest for a time.  THAT is good news! 

Heather is at the church tonight helping with the worship, so I got the opportunity to stay home with the kids and spend time with them.  Jonny was exhausted and starting to lose it emotionally by 8, so I got him into bed.  Aliana followed at 8:30 & Nate and I stayed up having a little "older son time with Dad time" playing Mario Cart until 10 pm.  After they were all in bed I started working on catching up on line.  This is the earliest I have posted an on line journal entry in a long time.  : )

Well, Heather just got back home (11:18 pm - early by Argentine A/G service standards : ) and so I am going to wrap this up and spend time with her.  : ) 

Good night all & God bless
Gracia, perdon, y el favor del Senor sean con ustedes -

I'm Back

Sorry, I have been gone so long.  We have been fighting against sickness in the family and honestly, I was just too tired and drained at the end of each day to write.  I suppose also that journaling in general is still not a "passion" of mine, so it easily gets bumped to the end of the list of my priorities and it is one of the first things to not be done when I am out of energy.  (- I told you journaling was not my thing.  : )

Anyways, it is now after midnight and I my poor sick wife would like to go to bed, and I need to get sleep - tomorrow is going to be a busy day. 

Good night all. 
God bless & give you health & strength to do what you don't always "want" to do. 

Paz, poder, salud -

Out of Rhythm -

Rhythm -
It is such an interesting thing.  If we ever want to go anywhere, get anything done, we really need it.  If we have it while we walk or run, it goes much faster with less effort.  Think about how when you have a hurt body part (foot, leg, knee, etc) and you can't travel in rhythm, but rather with a limp - it is hard work, and slow! 

In a motor, it won't function without rhythm.  If your car's timing belt is out of synch or you have a sticky piston, or a fouled plug - just one - it throws the entire mechanics of the rest of the engine off and you'll be lucky to go at all for very long, let alone with speed. 

Well, as an individual who wrestles with ADD - rhythm is key for me.  I need routine and the better I stick to it each day the better I function and the more I can get done with less effort.  It is an amazing thing! 
Unfortunately, the last couple of days, I have been very out of rhythm. 

I have been under the weather and unable to get up early and go to prayer and memorize scripture.  Any kind of mental or physical exertion is tremendously draining.  Also, My wonderful wife is preaching this weekend and is needing my assistance with some object lessons she is preparing for the message.  It has me running errands and trying to find things all around town when I would normally be doing my routine.  It has added to the affects that have thrown me out of rhythm. 

So, I have felt terrible for the last 2 days.  Not so much from the illness, but from being out of synch with where I want to be.  I can't wait to get back into rhythm.  I had better do it soon. 
- When one falls out of rhythm, the faster they can get back into it, the less momentum they loose and the faster they get back to full capacity and therefore the more ground they are able to cover in the same amount of time.  - I don't want to loose ground.  : )

Good night all.
God bless you and give you a great day & enable you to get into a Godly Rhythm...and stay in it -
Paz, bendiciones, y el amor de Dios - 

Bringing It

I had a crazy-hard time getting up this morning.  I turned off my alarm and fell right back to sleep.  If it had not been for Jonny coming in to get into bed with us, I probably would have kept right on sleeping.  : ) 

With Heather's (she is amazing : ) help, I got the kids ready for school and out the door.  After dropping them off, I went to the church and had a Great Staff Meeting with God.  Truly, the best part of my day.  : ) 

I then went right into continuing my quest to memorize the entire book of Philippians, in Castellano of course.  It is going good!  I finished memorizing up to verse 21 of chapter 1 today.  I am on target to finish memorizing the entire book in a one month period of time.  I was so stoked! 

It gets me thinking, why don't more people do this?
It really is pretty easy.  It SEEMS daunting, but just do a little every day & stick with it...you'll be amazed at what you can do.
It is powerful.  It is a fantastic way to understand Scripture.  You put too much time into reciting it, going over it, thinking about it, meditating on it.  You just pick up way more than with a cursory glance or even lots of surface reading.  Maybe that is part of why God makes a big deal about "meditating" day and night on it. 

Loving it and pressing forward -

Have a great night you all
God bless  

Paz y favor del Senor -

Touch Base Tuesday

As a missionary, living out of the USA for long periods of time, it is very important to keep in touch with the people back home.  We have tried hard to keep in touch: we have multiple Face Book accounts, a website, this on line journal, & multiple e-mail accounts.  We do skype calls quite often.  We send out over 500 e-mails when we post an Update Letter.  And yet, we still have individuals and churches who voice a desire to hear from us more often, or even that they never hear from us.  Therefore...

I have designated Tuesdays as "Touch Base Tuesdays!"  It is not my idea really.  I was praying a few days ago and in that time I felt God speak to me and give me the idea.  If the Boss wants me to do it, it must be important. 
Besides, He is the Boss.  : )  - I need to do it.  To do otherwise, would be dumb.  Lol.

So, today I set aside the largest part of the day to Touch Base with as many people and churches as possible.  I spend a couple of hours going through my 2 e-mail accounts, catching up on all the mail, cleaning them out, getting back to people, etc.  I then did the same with Face Book.  I even had time to make a few important calls on skype. 

All in all, it was a great success.  I still have a long ways to go.  It was merely the tip of the iceberg, but it was a good beginning.  I already can't wait for next Tuesday.  I do have a lot of work to do to get ready for it though. 

I spent most of the remainder of the day playing with the kids, doing some studying, hanging with my lovely wife, and then went to the Argentine version of Parent/ Teacher Conferences.  It was cool.  I did not understand everything but I got most of it.  I had a good talk with Jonny's teacher 1st and then Aliana's afterward.  They appear to be very happy with how they are doing in class.  Yea!

Now I am back home and working on this on line journal.  Got to keep it up.  Takes time to build a solid habit.  : ) 

Well, tomorrow is a busy day in NW Argentina.  I need to get more rest tonight. 

God bless you all & May speak to your heart and lead you forward in His plans -
Que Dios te habla y guia por su Espiritu Santo 

Back At It

I apologize.  I knew going into this from past experiences with trying to journal, that I am not a "journal-er."  Ha.  I hated it in the past.  I am not consistent with it.  It is hard with a flexing schedule to be consistent with it.  As an ADD survivor, consistency is a must for me.  So, not being able to have a consistent schedule is killing me when it comes to journaling on line.  BUT, I know it is something that I am supposed to do (God told me so...really : ) so I am going to keep at it and slowly but surely get better at it.

Today was a tough start.  It actually started at midnight (as I suppose all days do) but this day I was still at church.  We had a great guest speaking, a good friend from the Chaco Salteno and I felt that I needed to hang out afterwards and capitalize on this rare time we had to talk, catch up, and dream of future ministry.  It was awesome but I did not make it home until really late.  The last time I saw the clock it was 2 AM.  So, when I had to get up at 6:45 AM - after a few interruptions of sleep from our precious little ones - I was REALLY tired.

I managed, with Heather's help, to get the kids up and ready and off to school.  Jonny stayed home with a fever.  We didn't want him to give something to the other kids.  Aliana and I had a great time on the way to school & after dropping her off at her class I walked the mile plus to the church.

I had a GREAT Staff Meeting... with God!  He is an amazing boss.  I mean that literally.  As a follower of Jesus, He is my Lord, my Master, and so in essence, the Boss of my Life.  We talked about things that are going on in our life and in the community and beyond.  I appealed to Him for his wisdom and assistance.  He shared with me what I should be working on.  It was an awesome time.  Staff Meeting took just over an hour.  I was super tired so it got off to a slow start.  : )

Afterwards I spent about an hour, reading the book of Ephesians in Castellano, start to finish.  I marked several verses that jumped out at me, and thought of others I will most likely mark up next time I read it through.  Then I spend quite a bit of time continuing my quest of memorizing the entire book...in Castellano.  It is hard enough to do memory work like that in your original language.  It is really daunting to do it in a 2nd language.  But, I am making headway.  My goal is 4 verses per day which will enable me to memorize the entire book in 1 month.  The challenge is in not only memorizing the 4 verses each day, but to keep what you have previously learned; learned.  Ha.  I know I can do it.  In the past, I memorized the 1st 5 chapters of the Gospel of Mathew.  It is quite the challenge, but I know it is both something I need to do and something that will be incredibly beneficial both to me, and to those within my sphere of influence.  I am just a few days into it, so I have a loooong way to go.  BUT, I AM going to do it.  : )  It is already paying good dividends.

I then studying a book on Personal Evangelism, in Castellano, again.  It is going slow, but good.  I am loving it and can't wait to get more fluent with it and be putting it into practice.  Then I washed up, packed up and headed for the school to get the kids.  I tried going to the ATM but it was out of service.  The pharmacy was open and they had an antibiotic for AJ - she has a cough that is persisting and slowly worsening over a period of a few weeks.  And, poor little thing, she is a mucus factory right now.  It  makes me think back to my days in language school in Costa Rica when I got pneumonia and had to hospitalized for a week and get my lung washed and sucked out all because I did not deal with it earlier on.  We started her on the antibiotic today.  We will keep praying and monitoring her progress. I am quite sure she is going to be ok.  : )

I got AJ from school, came home and made lunch for everyone, and enjoyed it with Heather while the kids watched a video.  Then I played a little bit of video games with the kids, took a long but good skype call from our Area Directors, and then prepped a Spanish lesson for the kids.  After the Spanish lesson we had dinner, played a little more, went outside to ride bikes on our little street, and helped the neighbor lady with her yardwork.  She was very relieved as she did not have some of the things she needed and it was a great blessing to her.  It was also an answer to prayers for us.  She has seemed cold and distant lately and I was praying for God to help strengthen our relationship with her.  Yeah God! 

We came in, did baths, helped the kids study, and put them to bed.  I worked on line a bit, watched some TV with my precious wife, and now an trying to get back into the habit of doing an on line journal entry every night.  Yeah.  : )

It is now the next day, after midnight again, and I need to wrap this up and get to bed.  Tomorrow will seem to come way to fast.  Ha. 

Good night and God bless you all -
"Que Dios, nuestro Padre, y el Senor, Jesucristo, les concedan gracia y paz - "
(May God, our Heavenly Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give to you all His grace and peace. - Ephesians 1:2)