Random Pictures

A trip to Burger King. We love it because it has a great Air Conditioned play area!


Tired after a long day of swimming and sunshine.

Who needs a motor or oars when you have kid power. They loved it!

This is part of the fence that the boys at the center made for the school.

Another Celebration at the Beach!

The future Marriage Class Teachers!

So we got to go to the private beach of some friends again last Sunday. It was a celebration to the culmination of a marriage series beging tught by our friends. Every year a group from Wisconsin comes in the summer time and teaches a marriage seminar to the locals. Recently our friends went through this material again with a small group of locals who would like to go on as leaders and teach this seminar in their communities. So this Sunday they celebrated graduating their class. We were not in the class but were blessed to be invited to the celebration anyways. It was great to get to meet some more locals who are wanting to be leaders in their communities and to make a positive difference in marriages. We had fun talking, eating and of course swimming in the lake. Isaac and Josiah got to play with more kids, they had a lot of fun. Craig and I tried to listen to a lot of conversations and practice our conversational Spanish some more. All in all it was a great day.
I also have had an answer to prayer. I have met a mother of 3 whose kids are similar age to mine. She is wanting to learn English and I am wanting to learn Spanish so we are trying to help each other. It should be good for our kids as well. She brings her oldest daughter (5 yrs old) to music class right by our house 4days a week. So while she is in her hour long class we sit and talk and our younger kids can play together. We are trying to get our families together soon as well. This is a wonderful blessing for me because I have been pretty isolated with the kids every day. I am looking forward to having a good friend and learning more Spanish.

Parent teacher conference

Last Sunday Craig got a unique opportunity. He went to what we in the states would call a parent teacher conference for one of the boys at the center. This boy doesn't and has never known his parents. At some point after he was born some exteneded family member said they would take him, when later there marraige fell apart and both this mother and father split. The heart renching part is that both parents then left and he was left in a home with a couple younger siblings where they have lived alone together. And the siblings (which are not really siblings by blood) let him know that he is an outsider. They are sent money to pay for food and the bills but there is no parent living in the house. As I learned this my eyes welled up with tears to know the lives that many kids have here. The kids all have different stories, for so many it is hard and they are forced to grow up quick.
Well, at the schools a parent or adult of some sort is required to come to the school and get the report cards and talk with the teachers. Our friends that run the center have filled in as parents for these types of occasions before. The boy asked them if they would again with what appeared a sadness in his heart because he doesn't have any of his own parents. Thankfully our friends where able to bring a smile to his face as they asked which dad he wanted to come, them, Craig or another gentleman who helps at the center. She told him he is not short on dads that are willing to go to his school and he could choose which one he wanted to go. So Craig and our friend Bio went together with him. What a blessing it was to be able to love and support this boy in such tangible yet simple way. What a blessing it was to us to be reminded of the many blessings we have, especially in the area of family. We have a wonderful loving family that would do anything for us and for that we are eternally thankful. Thank you to all our family. You mean the world to us. And thank you to all our friends that we love like family because we wouldn't be who we are with out you either.

Isaac's Accident

So this is the story of how Issac ended up getting 3 stitches in his head yesterday. I (Jennifer) was on my daily morning walk with the kids. They are redoing the outer road around the island and Isaac likes to watch the men work. So after spending some time throwing rocks in the water we were off to see the workers. As they are redoing the road they have made new drainage holes for the rain water and they haven't put grating over them yet. We all new this and have seen these holes every 200 ft along the side of the road. We probably walk past 100 of them every day. Isaac is very aware of them usually because he likes to look down in them. I didn't think anything of him being so close to it because like I said he frequently looks down them and is very cautious. Apparently he didn't see this one and stepped right into it. They are really deep. When he is standing up the hole was still probably 3-4 inches taller than him. He went all the way to the bottom and I think he hit the side of his head at ground level on the way down. It was quite frightening for all of us and produced a lot of screaming from Isaac for the 3 blocks we had to walk to get home. I called Craig to come home because I wanted moral support and also new with to kids I wasn't going to be able to handle the gash in his head alone. First thing when we got home I gave Isaac tylenol and I am glad I did that because I think it eased the pain when we were trying to clean things up. We shaved his head around the wound and cleaned it up pretty good. Craig put the butterfly bandage on his head that you can see in the picture. We thought it looked ok but maybe we should take him to the doctor to check it out just in case. Well that was a good idea because after much screaming from Isaac we left with 3 stitches in his head. I thought I was going to be the one to hold and comfort Isaac through this because Craig does not like blood but I lost it and had to leave and Craig was graced with the strength to sit there holding Issac down and watching him get the stitches. All in all we are good and God protected us from anything worse happening. It is a story we will talk about for a long time I am sure.

The Center

Here are a few more pictures of the boys working at the Center. They are working on a order of desks for the local university. Yesterday Craig also got to help one of the boys with his school homework. It was actually to learn English and Spanish so it was helpful for Craig as well. Craig helped him practice his English and the boy helped Craig practice his Spanish.

Brothers

Just thought I would post this cute picture of the boys drinking their milk before bed!

Easter

This year Easter was a bit different for our family but maybe one of the the most personal and amazing. We got together with several other missionaries at our friends house and had our own service and shared lunch together. There were 11 people from all over the world. We represented US, Albania, Brazil and Guatemala. Three different languages were spoken (Spanish, English, and Portugese). We were able to worship our creator and Savior in a way I have never seen. If I am honest, I struggeled at first to be present. I had 2 kids who were distracting me. They were running around making noise and I was trying to keep them quiet and contained so they wouldn't distract me and everyone else. I was ready to just give up and go home and feed the kids PB&J. Thankfully I took a step back and relaxed. I gave up on trying to have the perfect kids that sit still and quietly. They were being fairly well behaved and relatively quiet and that was going to have to do. I sat back and truly listened to the words that were being spoken and it hit my heart like a rock that I was so distracted I wasn't even seeing that this was a joyous day to be celebrated. All that Christ did, he did for me. All that I am is because of Him. All that I have is a gift from Him. All that I long for is Him. I pray that each day that I would be filled with great joy knowing this and that Christ would be glorified through my life. Prophecy was fulfilled on this wonderful day down to the smallest of details, and for that I am eternally thankful!

Random Pictures

Here are a bunch of random pictures from this last week.


Isaac asleep on Craig's shoulders after a hard day of playing and no nap. He was so out he was snoring.

Josiah trying to put his shoes on.

Josiah's new high chair that criag made. Praise God for containment during meal time!

Craig trying to get the gas hose through the wall to the tank outside. He is on our neighbors roof.

New kitchen cabinets and the stove is finally installed. Yeah, a working kitchen!

Water taxi to San Miguel where we went on a hike to a treehouse lookout.