differences in the medical culture here

We had to run around today and finish up from yesterday's exams and hospital stay.
When we left, the doctor gave me a list of medications to buy. But the average pharmacy doesn't carry any of those. There is a specialized pharmacy we had to go to in order to buy the meds. By the time we got out of the hospital yesterday evening, it was too late to go there. It took a long time to find it today.

When we did finally get there, we were only able to get small amounts. I think he has 7 days worth. The doctors don't put an amount on the prescriptions, they just write which ones you need. The boxes of meds are sold in really small quantities. (We actually bought the boxes with the most in them.) I'm not sure what we'll do because we can't drive 5 hours each way every week to buy more. And they definitely won't sell these where we live. We'll have to talk to her about it on Monday. We'll have to work something out on that one.

Then we had to drop off the samples for the biopsy with a doctor at a lab. Very different, huh? The doctor did not see anything to be alarmed about that needed a biopsy, but it was a routine part of the process since he did have something wrong with his colon. We have to go back and pick up the results ourselves on Monday morning.

You keep your own records too. The doctors and hospitals don't keep files on their patients. You bring it back and forth with you when you go see them. It's been like that so far in all of the countries I've been in except for the States.

It was a long day. John was really tired afterwards and rested for a while. Tomorrow we don't have to go anywhere, so he can rest all day long. He needs it.

download from Cindy Rushton

Cindy Rushton gave permission to post this on our blogs when she sent out this week's e-zine.
It has some info for planning your school year, some audios you can download and other info.
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/Recordkeeping.pdf

Cultural moment--- what would you do?

We had an interesting "dinner" last night.
We invited our landlord and his family over last weekend to cook out and then had to postpone it until this weekend because John was sick. It was set for 5 p.m. last night.
Now, that may be a weird time here because they eat lunch at 3 p.m. and then dinner much later. But we asked what time and they said 5:00 was fine. He had to work until almost that time.

John said to keep it simple and "American", so I just grilled burgers and we made light things to go with it. I prepared everything, had the table ready to go and we waited. The kids were sad because the closing service for VBS was last night, but since we had planned this last week and had already postponed once, we did not feel it was right to cancel. So the kids missed their little program.

Well, 5:00 came and went and no guests. Then 6:00. Then 7:00. So finally at 7:30 I figured it was 2-1/2 hours later and they weren't coming. Especially since we knew she was outside with the baby and we had seen him. It was awkward because we had talked to them about it again the day before and they knew about it. We didn't want to embarrass them if they forgot, yet at the same time I had a lot of food ready and everything prepared for a party. We didn't know if we should go out and say something or not. So, I cooked and we ate. We finished eating at 8:00.

Guess what happened at 8:00? She came to the door and said they would be there in an hour and a half! (9:30---- 4-1/2 hours later) John said "ok" and I just kept clearing the table and cleaning up. He had to go get some copies of the electric bill for her, so he was going to see her again in a few minutes.

Here's the dilema----- what do you do? Do you have them over 4-1/2 hours later and cook for them after you already ate and you're getting the kids in bed and packing for a trip the next day? Do you tell them you ate and try for another night? Awkward! I mean, if he was gone that long, you think she'd come by before 3 hours had passed to tell us. Not to say oh, we'll be there 4-1/2 hours late. LOL! It's very cultural here for things to start much later, but it was just weird when you have hungry kids who are already missing something important to them.

John ended up telling her we just ate and she was very apologetic. Her husband's friend showed up in town and took him somewhere and he was not back. She had no idea when he would be there. It was a weird cultural moment.......... John ended up taking them some of the dessert.

Meggie was in the kitchen crying because she said, "I didn't want to wait here all day for nothing and miss my pwogwam!" She was so excited about VBS this week. I felt really badly for her. It was important to her. The kids don't get to do much with church here, so that was very special. She talks about going back to Cubbies all the time.

I didn't feel badly for feeding the kids and eating. We did wait over 2-1/2 hours. What do you do?!?!?! But it was weird. I did feel badly about losing our day though. ha! (Martha speaking here, not Mary....) I had a lot to do because we're heading to Puebla today to see the doctor. John has an appointment tomorrow and hopefully will have some tests made this week and then Ike sees a dermatologist on Wednesday afternoon to check a suspicous looking mole. Better safe than sorry....
I had hoped to pack and get some other things done before our trip.
It ended up being a very late night.

Things definitely don't turn out like you plan most of the time here, that's for sure! Nothing is very reliable. I wonder if we'll ever "get" the culture here? LOL!

Busy planning our year

I have been working on our plans for the coming school year. I'm really excited about the way it's coming together. We ended up ditching our original plan to go with what we were already studying chronologically. We're skipping ahead to Tapestry of Grace year 3 because it covers the 1800s and hits on the presidents and many things that would be very interesting since it's an election year. I'm going to use it loosely though. TOG is wonderful, but we may slow down here and there to cover a few things more in-depth. My goal is to finish 3 of the units this year instead of 4. There's just so much good info and it's Ike's last time to ever cover it, so we want to do it thoroughly. If we get farther, great. I'd rather aim for less and not be rushed through.

I'll put another post on here later with the specifics, but I have planned out which artists and paintings we'll study, which musicians, which books of the Bible, what extra studies to throw in, etc. Now I just have to finish making my weekly plan out and then how to juggle my day with everyone. I'm also still working on exactly what I want to cover with Meggie and Faith for phonics and how I want to do that. (I'm still trying to blend students together as much as possible, so there may be a way to combine them somewhat for phonics review, etc.)

Meggie's new math book arrived yesterday, so she's excited. The others already have theirs.
We've been watching the Anne of Green Gables movie series this week and Faith loves it!!! (of course) She loves the dresses and everything about it. We'll have a unit on Victorian England this year and I bought her paper dolls to go with it. She's going to be really excited!

Speaking of Faith, she's in here talking now, so I had better go help her get breakfast and get ready for VBS. They're taking everyone to the park today. It rained last night--- I bet it's muddy! yuck!

Personal application notes from my study

In my last entry I mentioned a little assignment I did answering the question how I could put God's salvation and strength to work in service according to 1Timothy 3:11, 1 Timothy 5:10 and Titus 2:3. I wrote out what the verses had to say about women in the last post if you need a refresher.
Here are some of the notes I made as I read through them and tried to apply them to me personally:

1. I need to watch what I say-- even if it is just a conversation between my husband and myself. Is it malicious against anyone?
(my poor husband should win some extra reward for this one! Poor man--- he's the only one I have to really talk deeply with here, so he gets stuck in a lot of conversations I'm sure he'd much rather not have. ha! In Brasil I teased him through language school with "just think, you're the only one I can talk to for the next year until I learn this language!!!" He said he was praying I would learn Portuguese quickly!)

2. Don't be moody

3. Don't make promises to the kids and not keep them. Or to other people. Don't commit unless I can do it.

4. I can and I SHOULD have bringing up chldren as my main priority. (Well, serving God and being a wife and helpmeet to John also, but I mean instead of ministry outside of my home. ) This was a very important characteristic for women throughout the Bible and was listed here as a thing that would qualify a woman as being eligible as a widow. I do not have to feel guilty for putting my family first. It is my calling. Ministry will flow through my home, but only when my home and family are running smoothly and my relationship with God is in the right priority as well.

5. I should use my home as an open door for hospitality. Pray for opportunities.
I really enjoy this. It's a lot of work sometimes, but no trouble. I need to work on keeping it simple and do not need perfection. I should look for impromptu as well as planned opportunities. How can I show the hospitality of Christ to my neighbors?

6. Washing feet of saints---- hmmm, this one was mentioned in 1 Timothey 5:10. I'm not sure what it meant culturally in their time and what it's significance was without really looking into it.
But, here's what I felt I needed to do as a result of reading that phrase. I need to serve other Christians and do things that others don't really want to do. Maybe those jobs that nobody really wants. They're not glamorous (ha) or they're tedious, or dirty or whatever...... I also saw this as taking care of needs. Are there any needs around me I can help with? I should not look for glory and honor as I serve. Just serve others as Jesus would.

7. Make it my passion, my goal, my purpose, to devote myself to good deeds. Even look for opportunities to share random acts of kindness.

8. Live with a reverence for God in EVERY aspect of my life. Have Him in my thoughts with every word, action, and choice I make.

9. Don't slander others. Keep my tongue in check with all reverence.

10. Teach what is good! Look for every opportunity to teach, train and disciple others. Be picky: only choose good things--- the best! Every word and action also teaches, so make sure I always choose the BEST!

11. Be deliberate about everything!

So, as you can see, I kept it pretty general, yet tried to apply it to myself and my role as a wife, mother, woman, neighbor, etc. I wanted a general guide so that I can then look for more specific goals within those guidelines.

Our neighbors are without water today as one of the pipes in the street is broken. I sat outside with them for a while and talked. I offered my home for whatever they need. Maybe I can find a way to minister to them today. Her mother is the lady who died recently and I posted about.

To think about--- apply these verses

As I was working through my study of 1 Timothy the other day, I came across this question. It seemed simple enough, but once I began to answer it, I realized it didn't have a simple answer. I really reflected on it and gave specific answers to apply it to my life.

Here's the question. (give it a try youself!)
How can I put God's salvation and strength to work in service according to
1. 1 Timothy 3:11
2. 1 Timothy 5:10
3. Titus 2:3

(of course, I had studied through a bunch of other verses and info beforeI was asked to answer this, but these passages stand on their own, so you could still answer this easily enough.)

Here's what the verses said about women:
1 Tim 3:11--- woman worth of respect, not malicious talkers, temperate, trustworthy in everything

1 Tim. 5:10--- well known for her good deeds; such as--bringing up children, hospitality, washing feel of saints, helpting those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds

Titus 2:3--- reverent in the way they live, not slanderers, not addicted to too much wine, teach what is good.

So, based on those verses, how can you specifically apply that to your life as a woman?

I'll put some of my responses in the next entry so it's no so long.
I really enjoyed thinking about this one and letting God show me some ways I could personally apply this as I served Him.

VBS

The kids are going to VBS at one of the churches here in town. They've had a good time so far, although it's nothing like VBS in the States.

I had to laugh when they told me about snack time. When we were little it was cookies and koolaid. Now the churches are doing themed snacks to coordinate with the theme for the week. Well, here it's very "mexican". Yesterday they had corn tortillas with beans and chicken and spicy salsa. I think they had a fruit-flavored drink. Today they had tacos and jamaica juice.

2 of our neighbors went with them today--- including the little girl whose mother left.
She'll be out of town the rest of the week, so she won't get to go back, but I think she had fun.

It goes until Sunday-- 7 full days.

Would you like to do a Bible Study together?

I had a brainstorm idea this morning. (that can be a scary thought!)
The one thing I miss more than anything else is my Bible study group.
I don't have anything like that here yet and really don't see it on the horizon for a long time....

So, I was thinking, why not start one with some friends back home. It's kind of nice to worship and fellowship in my heart language! I'm not sure exactly how we would do it yet-- there are a few options.

Here's one idea:
we could either buy some Bible study book to go through together or we could pick a book of the Bible or topic and I could write material for you every week. Questions to study, etc. I could get them to you ahead of time if it was material I put together and you would study the material during the week. Then on our "Bible study day", I could call you through a Skype conference call and we could discuss it. We could make it a 1 hour discussion time per week, or something. (We can get up to 24 participants on a skype conference call, although usually you want groups of 12 or less. If we had more than 12, we could just start 2 groups!)

I would facilitate the discussion and we could share what we learned and how God is applying it to our lives, prayer requests, etc. That would be kind of cool because we could all talk together "live" and it would be more personal. Maybe we could set aside one evening a week. Even if it had to be after kids were in bed, or whatever. I would not want this to be an inconvenience in any way, but a way to connect with other women committed to studying with you, encouraging you and helping you grow in your spiritual walk.

There are other online options, but I would have to check into them.

I would ask that you would prepare by studying the lesson ahead of time during the week so that we could truly discuss it and speak from what God is showing us through His scriptures. You would have to set a little time aside throughout the week to study. It wouldn't take a lot of time though.

I'm going to look into some options and see what I can find out.

I have a ton of different materials and could easily write up some kind of study questions. Or we could use a study already out there to see how it goes. There are a lot of nice studies for women we could use.

Maybe we could do a 4-week study committment to start with as a trial basis?

So, let me know what you think. If you would be interested leave a comment or e-mail me. yoamochocolate@yahoo.com (I know the e-mail isn't gramatically correct in spanish, it's just for fun!) Also, if you have a study in mind you've been wanting to do let me know.
I know we can't get everyone's wish and everyone's preferred time, but if there is an interest, we can just pick a time and study to start with and see how it goes and then tweak it from there.

This has a lot of potential to be a really neat group!
We're all so busy, but we could probably find time to set aside one hour a week to share with a few other women and discuss how God is working in our lives. It could be a very nice accountability/discipleship/mentor group.

Ok, so let me know and I'll start looking into our options today........................

Faith and Nessy

Nessy has really grown! The nerve damage in her foot has healed and she can walk on it correctly now without dragging her paw. She is the sweetest little puppy! She gets held and carried around by our kids and the neighbor children all the time. She loves to be outside and watch people. Alfie's a momma's boy and doesn't like to leave my side. Nessy loves Mia, our cat. She chases her and chews on her like crazy, but she also likes to just hang out by her like in the last picture.

Language Translation video

I can't seem to get this video uploaded on here, but I thought you might get a good laugh over it.
It's about "language translators".
Trust me on this one--- when your whole life is all about learning and sharing in other languages, you can relate to this video. There are days when I've felt like this. LOL! Why can't it be as easy as she makes it?????


Here's the link until I can get it uploaded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpH5EHEFfIU&feature=related

Have you ever been really tired?

Maybe I should ask if you have ever NOT been tired and then ask for your secret............
I had a rough night. John came home and he got to share in all the fun: Levi was still running a fever and the threw up twice during the night-- in bed. (yuck!) We had the privilege of getting up twice to change it, clean everything up, etc. Then our dogs went crazy and the other dogs on the street did also. There was some animal in our neighbor's yard and he was trying to get it out of there. It was after their rabbits. (probably our cat.......) It took a while but we finally saw him chase a dog out of there. So, we were up about every other hour all night long.

I love having several children, but I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I slept through the night. It has been years!!!

We're off to a late start again today. John is still asleep. (yep, it's really late!!!!) or, should I say, "finally asleep"???

The kids were so excited to have daddy home. (me too!) We love our daddy.
It's such a complete feeling when everyone is home under the same roof.
He brought goodies from "the city". woohoo!
Now, I must tell you a funny one----- I put it on my other blog----
"You know you're a missionary when your husband brings home goodies and the kids are most excited about liquid soap!"

I'm telling you, move to the mission field.
Your kids will be grateful and appreciative of anything. It won't take much to impress them or make them happy..........

We obviously haven't had liquid soap in a while. I didn't realize they were so accustomed to it! LOL! I was laughing as Ike did the "happy dance" and told everyone we had liquid soap. He's pretty funny!

John had a nice week, but he's glad to be back. It was a lot of driving and a long week for him in some ways. He said he enjoyed it though and he made a lot of contacts at the convention.

We have our vehicle back. We'll try to get out to the villages. It's not 4 x 4, but it does have a more powerful engine than the van, so maybe we'll make it.

I have more to put on here later, but I need to get a workout in before it's afternoon. HA! I let that go this week since I was sick. I felt better finally yesterday. I spent most of the day helping kids, cleaning up and working on homeschool scheduling though. That e-book I got--Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education in 5 Easy Steps has made my planning so much better this year!!! I'm not 100% "Charlotte Mason" or anything else for that matter, but I do like a lot of her ideas. This book is for anyone though, no matter what your style or curriculum. It just walks you through looking at your 12- year plan, then your year, then each term of the year, then each week and day. You plan out everythign for every child and make a schedule to follow and before you know it, you're done and it was painless!

Ok, 'til later..........

Sick children

I knew as soon as John left that our week would get crazy. Right on schedule, (as it always does when he's gone), our internet went out and has not been reliable all week and the kids got sick. Actually, I got sick the night before he left.

Faith has had a cold for about a week now. She has been coughing and choking on sinus drainage. She had a low-grade fever over the weekend. Then Saturday night I was sick all night with a bad stomach bug or something. I was afraid it was a repeat of last time. Fortunately, by Sunday I was not as sick to my stomach and felt a little better. By Monday, I was very achy and did not do much. That was also Levi's birthday so I didn't get to rest as I would have liked to. Meggie got sick as well. She ran a fever for a few days. She is doing better today.

I thought we might be on the down side of all of this, but this morning Levi woke up vomitting. Poor little guy has been so sick today! He has a fever and can not keep anything down--- even water. He's miserable.

I hope it passes soon because it is no fun being sick!

John is coming back tomorrow instead of Friday. I am really glad for that! I don't mind when he's gone-- we find things to pass the time, but it's just a nicer feeling knowing we're all together. We really miss him. The kids count down the minutes until Daddy is back. They were very happy to hear that he is coming back home a day earlier than originally planned.

I was really tired today, so I ended up taking a 2-1/2 hour nap at lunch time. We just kind of passed a lazy day here at the house. Levi slept all day. This evening we read several chapters of Little House on the Prarie. We're trying to read through those books during our summer break. Faith is really enjoying them.

I hope Levi feels better tomorrow-- John is bringing us Dominoes Pizza for dinner! Yum! We haven't had that in a long time. I know he wouldn't want to miss it. Pizza here is just not the same.............

Happy Birthday Levi

Levi turned 10 years old today!
What a neat boy he is! He spends most of his thinking up new inventions and then designing and drawing them in his notebooks. He has a very creative imagination and has thought up some cool things!
Levi's cheesecake

You won't see these 2 hugging very often! He said only because it's his birthday......... Here's the little robot he and I built today from a kit.
This is the other side of the robot. The lighting isn't very good in this picture.

Today he wanted burgers and fries for lunch, so we had a nice, simple day at home. We made a cheesecake for dessert.

One of his presents was a little robot kit. He and I put it together this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. We even wired it correctly and it works! It can run on a battery or it can be solar powered.

His robotics class got cancelled for this week. He was sad about that, but it seems to be the norm for Mexico in our experience so far. They're supposed to start next week, but then it will only run 2 weeks. We may not go now. He is going to do the electronics class with Samuel. I am ordering their snap-kits today, so hopefully we'll get them in a few weeks. That will be a lot of fun for them-- and a great, structured one hour of science a day for them!

On-Line Electronics courses

I just got this link from my friend Debra (Notebookingpages.com).

You can sign your children up to take 8-week electronic courses on-line.
I really think we're going to do this for Samuel. He will LOVE it!!!
I just have to get the materials sent down, if possible.

here's the link
http://quickstudylabs.com/

I was thinking about this today and how good God is!!!
I've been praying about what to do for my children for school this year.
I have spent hours and days thinking through this and trying to find the "best" God has for my chlidren. So, when I saw this today, I knew it was an answer to prayer.

All of my children are different. Ike is a big history and reading/writing junkie. :-)
Sammy, age 11, on the other hand isn't in to that. Give him a box of parts and tell him to make something out of it, or give him something broken and ask him to fix it and he's super happy.
Levi tends to fall in between the 2. He sits around and draws things he invents and designs all day long. He gets interested in the mechanical things also.

So, now I feel my science curriculum is "complete" for Sam. I knew God was telling me that I needed to go along these lines with him this year. He needs this! I feel good about the curriculum I have found and gathered for him now. (the true test will be how it actually works as we implement it..........) It's so cool the way it kind of all fell into my lap when I felt sure I needed to go in this direction!

The boys will be taking a robotics class here for the next 3 weeks. It will be taught by the engineering professors here at a college nearby. It will be in Spanish, so that will be an added plus for them!

Sam (6th grade) will be doing:
summer robotics for 3 weeks, Edison Project courses in electronics, Christian Kids Explore Physics, and then he can "lightly" do the marine biology we'll cover with the 3 younger ones this year. That should fill his need for mechanical stuff.
(Ike will do high school biology and help them with physics.)

Ike says, "It's not smart to let Samuel study this stuff--- ALL of our electrical appliances will now be in danger! " LOL
Sadly, that's probably very true. Pray for us! haha

Levi's party

Levi says he had a good time at his party today with his friends.

The Wii at the store was a big hit.

After the video game store, we came back to the house for cake and ice cream and a movie.

They just left a few minutes ago. (6 hours after the party started)

They seemed to have a lot of fun playing together.

Meggie's little "best fwend" (as she calls her) came, so she was occupied and happy.

Our other 4 were all busy playing games and hanging out.

One of the neighbors keeps asking Ike why we haven't done the pinata yet. We didn't get one, that's why! LOL We thought about it, but we ended up officially planning his party yesterday and didn't have time to run down and get one. Maybe another time. I guess we're definitely not Mexican yet! It's not a party without a pinata.

The neighbor kids have never had cupcakes before. Of course, the other day we had hot dogs and most had never eaten them before either. One day we had "C" eat with us and she did not know what green beans were. We're definitely the oddballs here. Ha! I guess if I count it up, we had the neighbor children here about 3 or 4 days for meals this week..............

As you can see by the pics, we went super simple with the cake and decor!!!!!

Wild Day

We had a house full of children most of the day. I guess it's good practice for tomorrow's party. LOL!

Meggie was squealing and laughing all day long with her little friend from across the street. She used to always talk to her in English--- loudly so she'd understand. Ha! But today she was talking non-stop in Spanish. It was really cute. They had a great time, from what I could tell.

We planned to spend from about 8 p.m. on as a family and read a little before going to bed. Well, at 8 p.m. Faith invited her best friend over. That means that everyone who was still here and leaving realized "the party's not over", so we ended up ordering dinner for all of them and continuing on another hour and a half. We're glad the kids have friends though. In Brasil, they did not have this opportunity where we lived.

It's hard to get them to leave once they're here. I had the kids going upstairs for baths and everything and then Faith snuck out and got "C". I knew it would be a long night then. She came back with her little brother. So, John and I ordered taco type things from across the street and we had 10 kids sitting around our table. It was a lot of fun. We had a big table made when we moved here. We can easily seat 10 and can sqeeze 12 if we need to. I love it!!! Tonight we squeezed 12. It was 10 kids ranging from 3 years old to 14.

John and I have talked about adoption a lot. Yesterday I saw a family of 5 needing a home (in the States, so I can't really do that from here........) Anyway, I was teasing him about how we already have 5, why not 5 more? He didn't think it was so humorous. (but how could anyone think of splitting a family group???? ) So, tonight I said, I guess this is practice for when we have 5 more children. He laughed.

Tomorrow Levi will have a birthday party. We planned to have a big outdoor party, but it's non-stop rain. I thought of doing something here and then John talked to an owner of a video game store. So, we're renting the place out for 2 hours to take all of the kids down to play video games and eat nachos and stuff like that. (it's only about $20-- can't beat that!) The guy has 11 consoles and he has Wii, Playstation 2, Game Cube and X-Box 360 systems. He has some good games, so all of the kids are really excited about it. Afterwards, I think they're all coming here for cupcakes and ice cream and maybe a movie on our big screen. (not a big screen TV, literally a BIG SCREEN--- one we can use for outdoor ministry movies and stuff) It's fun to put it in the yard like a drive-in and watch movies outside. I have a feeling the 11:30 a.m. party will last until tomorrow night.................. I'm sure it will be fun!

I made cupcakes and a very simple cake today. I just wanted easy this year. One of the neighbor girls helped me ice them. She was pretty excited about that. She was very impressed that I could make a cake at my own house instead of buying it. I thought that was funny because it was just a 13 x 9 pan. I didn't do a cool decorated cake this year. When we made the icing and picked out colors to tint it, I thought their eyes would pop out. I bet they're all running around their houses tonight---- somehow most of the icing is gone. You know how much sugar that is!!! haha (they all thought it was yummy)

I'm tired. I guess I better convince mine that they are tired also and pray the icing wears off. LOL!

Timothy, Lois, Eunice, Paul

So, back to my new study I'm working through----
Pursuing Godliness the study of 1 Timothy by Elizabeth George.

I really liked 2 things she had in the study for the first lesson. One was about my "little Timothys". Am I a mother or grandmother with a "little Timothy"? Then I was supposed to list names of people in my circle of influence--- family, school, church, home, community, neighborhood, etc. to whom God has sent me.

We all have people around us.

I thought a lot about the family I mentioned on our street. Some are searching, some are hurting. They all need Jesus. Faith is "best friends" with the little girl who's mother left them. She came in with a little booklet about salvation the other day and asked if she could give it to "C". It wasn't the best option, so I told her we would discuss it and find a different option. Faith has a burden to see her friends know Christ. Last night I asked her if "C" ever mentions her mom. Faith said, "oh, she's dead". That's not true, but it's what "C" said. It made me so sad. I wonder if she's been told that, or if she's just using that as an escape mechanism to deal with the situation or.......

That lead me to the other thing I really liked about yesterday's study.
She asked if I (the reader) had a "Paul" in my life. Has there been someone to train me, disciple me, share Godly insight, etc. There are so many options here. It could be a friend, older woman, teacher, minister, youth leader, parent..........

I thought about that one and there was space to write names. The next "assignment" was to write them and let them know what an influence their ministry had. It was a very nice way to end this lesson. The emphasis here was that Paul encouraged Timothy in his walk/ministry as a young leader/minister. He said, "it's going to be hard, but I know you can do it. You have a Godly heritage and strong faith to lean on. You have God's grace, mercy and peace" ----(that was totally paraphrased by me, but it's the main idea)

So, back to "C". After that 2nd thinking question I thought about the need she has in her life. Wow, there are so many, actually. She doesn't even have a mom around. And her dad...... well, it's not a good situation. What an opportunity I have and my little Faith (daughter, not "my little faith" haha) have to reach out to her and show her Christ. We can model what a home life can be like and encourage her to stay strong and turn to Jesus.

I think we're going to have her over to do some fun "girly" things as often as we can. She is the sweetest little girl. She has a little brother who is only about 3.

So, while it's not exactly some other woman to mentor, I really feel God would have me to model for Faith how to reach out to "C" in her need. I would really appreciate prayer as we get closer to the family and as we have opportunities to share. It would be so good to get a Bible study going with them.

Do you have a Paul?
Do you have a Timothy?
Do you need a Paul in your life right now?
Is God speaking to you and showing you a Timothy for you?

Let me know if God is leading you in any certain direction so I can pray for you in that area.

Do you want to know the "funny thing"?? this first lesson only covered the first 2 verses of chapter 1. I love her studies. She makes you think and apply it--- even if you don't think there's anything there to apply. :-)
This study has 25 lessons.
It would be a nice study to do with some friends. Get together once a week (over chocolate of course) and discuss what you studied that week. :-)

You can buy the studies on her website (linked under my faves) or you can get them on half.com or amazon.com. On the back it says "15 mintues a day toward becoming a woman after God's own heart. Making Godliness real in your life. " They're short lessons, yet you can make them longer and deeper if you so desire. It's just nice to have a systematic way to routinely study the Bible.

Here's a link for the description on her site:
http://www.elizabethgeorge.com/george/book.asp?item_id=38

New Bible Study

I started working through a new Bible Study yesterday. It is Pursuing Godliness and it's an Elizabeth George study of the book of 1 Timothy.

It's a great study. Small and simple, yet she takes you verse by verse, word for word through the book of the Bible. My favorite studies were always Bible Study Fellowship (which I did for 4 years in the States and 1 sememster in Brasil) and Community Bible Study (which I did for 3 years in the States and then in Brasil). They are very deep and you go verse by verse through the portion of the Bible you are studying that year and cross reference it with the rest of the Bible. By the time it's over, you've sort of written your own commentary. They are fabulous studies and I would highly recommend them---- even if you're new to Bible study. The thing I miss most from the States is that---- my weekly Bible study group (especially my CBS group in Olive Branch, Mississippi. sigh............) That was what got me through the early years with all of my children and our seminary years and...... It was the highlight of my week.

We had an hour of discussion in small group (very well moderated) and then an hour of lecture over what we studied and the teacher applied it to us as women. WONDERFUL!!! We then took notes home with commentary over what we studied, discussed and heard and also new questions to study for the next week. Everyone came prepared to discuss. If you weren't prepared, you didn't participate orally--- you just listened. We learned soooo much during those studies!!!!!

Ok, so I was supposed to be talking about this study! oops! She talks to you like she's mentoring you (she is) as you read through her studies and she goes verse by verse. She doesn't just pick some topic out of the air and give her opinion about it. (my pet peeve---- where you sit around and it's like, "let's read a passage. now, what do YOU think, Bob......" aghhhhh! I always want to say, "who cares what you think.......what does GOD think???? and back it up with various verses)

I'm thinking I should just start a new entry to say what I want to about what I read yesterday. This is getting way off track. LOL!

I would definitely recommend either of those 2 classes to you if you are looking for a wonderful Bible Study. I won't give my preference on here but you can ask in e-mail. LOL! They're basically identical with a slight slight slight difference. I can help you find a class near you if you need help, also. They will deepen your spiritual walk and transform you from the inside out! :-)

Rainy Season = Bad Roads

Here are some pics from today's roads. I posted some on my other blog and told a little about it.

http://andhowcantheyhear.blogspot.com/2008/07/cancelled-trip-to-village.html

It's super muddy and very hard to get around.

It's making it hard for us to get to where we need to go (the villages) for our job.

It's so dirty here all the time and everything in our house is constantly covered with dust.

Well, at least we don't have the dust this week. Is this any better????

Not a very pretty place, is it?

It took an hour to drive what normally takes 5 minutes. It was a combination of bad roads, construction and a HUGE drug bust going on. It's always pretty interesting here...........

Tea Party

We received our first issue of The Girlhood Home Companion on Monday! Yeah!!!! We just had to make the chocolate chip scones after we saw the recipe in there. YUM!!!! I let the girls make them and they had a lot of fun. You know the boys couldn't resist the smell of chocolate chips baking, so they wanted to join in. We made 2 pots of tea and all sat down to drink it and eat our scones. We read a little of the history of tea in England as we enjoyed the yummy treats. We did not set the table with our pretty table linens or dishes. It was just kind of impromptu and super informal.

The magazine is full of neat articles to read with your daughter. We read about the language of flowers--- color, the position they're in, what hand you give them with, etc. Faith really liked that information. I have a link down on the right-hand colum for the magazine here on my blog. It's put out by Remembrance Press (also linked in the homeschool section on the right side). I would also like to get her The Gift of Family Writing book soon.

Here are a few pics of our afternoon fun. As you can see, Meggie is the opposite of "prissy". I have no idea why she was wearing a spiderman outfit!!! She and Faith are like night and day in some ways......................

Another Amazing Cindy Rushton Homeschool Seminar

Cindy Rushton has another amazing online homeschool seminar planned for this weekend, July 11-12. You won't want to miss this one if you are making your plans for the next school year. The seminar is titled: Let's Get Organized for the New School Year.

Her seminars are packed full of great ideas and wisdom from experience!

Here is the link to find out all about it. http://www.cindyrushton.com/LGO2008.html

There are 2 great ways to join in:

1. you can listen live for free

or

2. you can buy a membership ticket to have full access to all of the free gifts, free bonus audios, doorprizes and gifts all weekend, PLUS membership to the membership site with lots more goodies and MP3 downloads of all of the audios.

The link above has all of the info and lists the topics for the seminar.

I have really enjoyed her seminars this spring. They've been like little "mini-retreats" for me. I've been blessed by the speakers as I "re-charge" for next year and make plans for our schooling!

Turtle Mystery Update

We found the turtle. She was still alive fortunately--it was an awfully big fall.
We also found the culprit.
We couldn't figure out how in the world the turtles were getting out. They're in a deep container and high off of the ground.

It turns out that Mia has been a little busy this weekend!
Mia is our calico cat.
Levi walked into his room a little while ago and caught her in the act. She was getting one of the turtles out again.
She climbs up to where they are and dips her paw into their container and fishes them out of the water. When she gets them, she flips them out.

I guess we solved that mystery.
Now we just have to figure out what to do about Mia............................................

Daybook entries

I was reading a few blogs about journaling and came across this info. The first is for a blog entry in a simple journal format. The last link shows a cute way to decorate a written journal/daybook.

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

guidelines for daybook entries http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/2008/04/join-simple-womans-daybook.html

I love what she did with her journal covers. (the picture is at the bottom of the entry)http://gracefulgirlhood.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-daybook-monday-may-19-2008.html

Special evening for mothers and daughters

Graceful Girlhood http://gracefulgirlhood.blogspot.com/ is a great site for ideas of ways to spend quality time with your daughter.
The First Friday evening of each month is set aside as Mothers and Daughters at Home.
The theme for this Friday, July 11, is Raggedy Ann. Here is a link with some fun ideas and other links for a Raggedy Ann night.
http://gracefulgirlhood.blogspot.com/2008/06/mothers-and-daughters-at-home-theme-for.html

I wish I could find the things needed to make the cute little ornaments she has a link to.
I think we might have a Raggedy Ann night here for me and the girls on Friday. We have a Raggedy Ann book and a doll. I'm sure we could come up with some fun ideas. Maybe I'll find a picture online and get the materials ready for the girls to make some cards or stationary with a Raggedy Ann theme.

hmmmmm................. how many times can I say "Raggedy Ann" in one post???? haha

Missing Turtle

We have 2 little water turtles. (not MY idea!!!) Saturday night they were missing. We thought maybe the cat got them bc she's fascinated with their water and watching them. Well, the boys tore their room apart and found them. I have no idea how they climbed out and jumped about 4 feet to the floor.

We figured it was over then. Wrong! Yesterday the little female turtle disappeared. We still haven't found her. This morning we saw that the male was out too. He was next to his container so he's fine for now.

The kids are sad that she's out with no food and water. She's so tiny. She has to be somewhere in our house! (just what I need......salmonella yuck!)
I'm sad that she's lost, yet I'm not attached to them. LOL

I have my own little circus here, don't I?

Circus

We went to the circus last night. It was here in our town.
We saw them set up at the park when we went there Friday for our Nature Scavenger Hunt.
I wasn't so sure about it when we saw goats, llamas, and horses, but we were pleasantly surprised.

The kids really had a good time. They had a tightrope act, clowns, animals, trapeze and rope acts, and the thing where the guy walks inside of a big "hamster wheel" type of thing and it spins through the air with a smaller one on the other side to balance it out. Of course, since it's not crazy enough, he then gets on the outside and walks on it blindfolded with fire in his hands while it's spinning around. He almost touches the top of the circus tent. (I can't remember the name. I'll look it up and put it on here later.) I saw a guy fall on that at a circus when I was little. It made me sick to my stomach to see that in there when we entered the tent last night.

It was a lot of fun and I'm sure the kids will have great memories of going to the circus. I'll put pics on here later. They had a little intermission before the last half hour and Faith and Meggie got to go into the ring and ride the ponies. They really liked that!

Meggie's cake

This is the cake Meggie wanted to make for Independence Day.

We used an angel food cake mix and then made homemade whipped cream for the icing.

It was really good! We topped it with fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries.

I'll have to try to make an angel food cake from scratch sometime since we can't get the mixes here and I don't have any more. It's mainly just egg whites, so it shouldn't be "too" hard.

Lego exhibit and interesting bus ride...........

We went downtown to the "town square" this afternoon.
They had a huge Legos/Robotics hands-on exhibit set up. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of childen there playing and trying them out. I don't think any of them had ever seen Legos before. Our kids had a lot of fun building motorized cars and programming them on the computer to race against other cars, doing Lego puzzle type of things and all kinds of other building projects.

The guys running it told us that there will be a summer class for 4 weeks starting on Levi's birthday (the 14th). It will be 4 hours a day of Robotics. It is being taught by the engineering university near here. Of course Sam is begging to go. Levi wants to also. Ike could get 1/2 of a high school credit because it would be 80 hours worth of instruction. We might look into it.
I'll have to put the sewing class on hold if they do this, but I think it would be really fun and good for them!

They also told us they're putting a Lego's store in down here. I don't know who will be able to afford them, but it will be cool to have something like that here at least for a little while. (I'm still waiting for the supermarket to be finished. It's kind of like a Wal-Mart. We'll have clean meat and ice cream! I'm not a big ice cream eater, but John really likes it.)

Our drive home was "interesting". We took the bus down and back because it's practically impossible to find a parking spot anywhere.

Anyway.......... the driver wasn't really switching gears when he needed to and then he'd speed up all of a sudden. It was a weird ride home. When we got to our street and got off we all just looked at each other. A guy gave him a can of beer and he was drinking it there in his driver's seat. No wonder he was driving strangely! I wonder how many he's had and how many more he will until his shift is over? John said he was glad we got off when we did. LOL!

You never know what you'll see here! That's for sure!!!

Nature Walk Worksheet

Here is the form we used for our nature scavenger hunt at the park.
http://www.savefile.com/files/1628512

It's from the Hearts and Trees blog site I have on the right hand column of my blog.
http://heartsandtrees.blogspot.com/

The kids enjoyed looking for the various things and marking them off as they found them. I was surprised we found almost everything on our list yesterday. We did not see a bee and one other thing. (I've already forgotten what it was) I thought it was pretty good to see everything else here in this mountainous desert climate.

Faith's Cards

Faith made some simple cards the other day to learn how to do it. Then on Thursday night she and Meggie had 2 little friends spend the night. We ended up getting a bunch of scrapbooking stuff out and letting them have fun making more cards for 2 hours. I didn't know you could get that many stickers on one card until Meggie made hers!!! LOL!

These are the cards Faith made before her little sleepover.

We had a good day

Holidays can be kind of a downer when we're in another country. Especially holidays which aren't celebrated there. But today was a really good day.

We took the kids to the park this afternoon for a nature scavenger hunt. I'll put the form we used on here tomorrow. I can't remember the site I used and it's saved on my computer upstairs so.........

We took the dogs. Bad idea---- it was muddy! Poor Alfie looked like he was wearing brown socks.

When we got there we saw a circus tent set up. It's there until Sunday. They had some animals that looked like they could use a good bath and brushing. I felt sorry for a few of them. The kids want to go tomorrow. We may go.

So, our nature forms were pretty interesting. They added a few of the things they saw to it. You probably don't get this combination on just any nature walk:
roosters, lizards, llamas, monkey, horses, and goats

Some are everyday sights here and others were a little unique.
Oh, and I can't forget their puppy. It had it's face and neck hair all grown out long and dyed pink like a lion and then the rest of it's hair was cut short. It was adorable!!!
The monkey was a big hit with my kids!

When we got home, our friends came over. We ate and "watched fireworks". John bought a few tiny "fireworks" last night. He was told they were smoke bombs. Ummm, they weren't! It was funny. We ended up sitting inside the house looking out the window because sparks were flying everywhere. We have such a tiny space outside it was dangerous. Levi got hit by one and it stung/burned his arm a little. (he thought it was cool though) It was so funny! We were laughing at John trying to light them and run out of the way. It was mainly just sparks shooting out everywhere. A few had some color. A few flew into the air or out across the yard. They were pretty unpredictable, so you had no idea where to go to be safe and not catch on fire. Inside seemed to be the best bet. LOL!

The kids thought it was great and had a lot of fun watching. At least it was something to seem kind of halfway "traditional" for them.

When you're far away, even the simplest things seem like a great alternative!!!

Later, Isaac and I watched the fireworks display in St. Louis on the computer. It was a live show of the display they do down on the riverfront by the Arch every year. That was nice. It reminded me of "home". I taught him the "unofficial" words to the John Phillips Sousa march----"Be kind to your web-footed friend". He thought that was pretty funny.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!!!

It will be a different kind of day for us here, of course, but we'll have friends over later for burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad and some other stuff that sounds nice and American.

No fireworks, but we'll try to remember last year's displays we saw. :-)

This link is for a site that has some patriotic music (ok, a little polka-ish sounding and a little heavy on the organ on a few--haha, but patriotic, never-the-less). It also has the lyrics written out for some of our most beloved songs about the USA. We're working on learning some of the patriotic songs this year because when you live overseas, your kids never really hear or learn them unless you teach them!
http://www.patrioticon.org/patriotic-soundfiles.htm

Zebra Lapbook freebie

Here's another great freebie for home school.
It's a unit study/lapbook about zebras from Hands of A Child.

We're looking forward to doing this one!

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/Quarterly-Freebie-C151.aspx

Guatemala Hotel slideshow

We stayed at a very nice Hotel in Antigua. It always takes a large hotel to have enough space for so many people (a couple hundred) and meeting rooms, VBS area, etc. So, as a result, it's pretty nice. Not that I'm complaining............... LOL! It was a beautiful setting. There were so many trees and grass and covered walkways. Even when it rained, we could be outside. The weather was perfect. It was cool in the mornings and evenings, but stayed in the low 80s in the daytime. It was a very peaceful place and refreshing after being here in the desert. It's so brown and ugly here, so we really appreciated all of the green! I did not take pics outside of the hotel because we didn't want to walk around with our camera. The streets are all cobblestone and there are no stoplights (I didn't see stop signs either). It is a charming little tourist town. As you see in the first picture, there are volcanoes around. I would definitely recommend Antigua as a nice vacation spot if you ever wanted to travel to Guatemala.