New Chapters

Bear with me...I am going to start a new project!

Someone told me once that they'd like to hear about the amazing stories of how the school started and how others came to know the Lord. Along with my family updates, I want to start posting CPA (Colegio Privado Adonai) chapters...way back from the beginning. Well, it was only six years ago. I think I can still remember some stuff from 2003.

Why??? I want to repeat over and over again what the Israelites said about their God..." The Lord is good and his love endures forever!" I want to write and share about the miracles we experienced. Keep tuned!





By the way...this is one of my favorite pictures. It's Pastor Dario's 5 year old son. Check out that smile!!!

A nice thought...

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others." Pericles

I’ve Been Reading This Novel…

…called THE BIBLE. Way back in January I started a program to read the Bible in 1 year. (I am actually just reading the OLD TESTAMENT for now.) I never really challenged myself to do that…sorry to say. I always read here and there, book by book, chapter by chapter, or whatever. Of course, I have ALWAYS been reading my bible. It’s underlined, highlighted and even broken in the binding. It’s a Spanish/English NIV. I actually read both translations sometimes just to see how something is expressed in the other language.
Anyway, I get everyone off to school by 6 am and I have about an hour to drink coffee and devour this amazing, God-inspired novel. I went on the whole “Exodus” with Moses, and captured the Promised Land with Joshua. I discovered the terrible stubbornness and disobedience of God’s people in Judges. I read about their cry for A KING and how this king’s pride ruined his whole kingdom. And now, I am totally captured by King David, Samuel, and Solomon. It’s neat to read about their ups and downs, their errors and sins, their battles, their decisions, but most of all their strong faith in God.
The temple King Solomon built was just amazing. It must have been so beautiful! The whole Temple was sparkling with gold, bronze pillars, cedar walls, carved flowers, and beautiful pools and so much more. Peace on all sides, a beautiful home for THE LORD and a WISE KING…after so many years of slavery, travelling, disobedience and fighting.
I’m ahead of my schedule, now. I just couldn’t stop reading. This NOVEL has every kind of wild story you could ever imagine…stuff rated for the General Public to the X-Rated kind with sex and violence, rapes and massive killings. It seems even worse than what we read about in newspapers or see on TV. There is so much to learn…so much to apply to my own life. I guess that the more I read, the more I realize how much God honors our obedience and love for Him. He is a jealous God…He wants 1st place in our hearts. Ever since the beginning…that never changes.

Brandon

Brandon came home yesterday from a neighbor's house. They were playing soccer and had to be home by 6:00pm - little before dark. He came home saying, "Mom, don't worry about anything, I had an accident, but it's nothing." He lifted up his (long) hair and showed me an egg size bump, red (bluish at the base) and scratched.
He was goalie. He blocked the ball, it fell back onto the ground, his cousin (who is as big as he is) kicked at it again, but kicked Brandon's head instead of the ball. Ouch!!! He was knocked out for a couple of minutes They put ice on it and later he continued playing.
He thought it was a total adventure. I worried like a mother!

New President for Paraguay

We have a new president! He is from a new political party after 61 years of the Colorado Party government in Paraguay.

Here are some English articles that tell about it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ausf6OyWF2j8&refer=home
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/world/americas/20paraguay.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Whew! I'm glad this is over...or is something just starting???

Pray for Peace

I’m not really a political person. I hear rumors and stories about him or her. I mention some things that I’ve “heard” about the candidates, but truthfully, I never really investigate the promises and “new government” issues they all promote. It’s all fixed, anyway...according to me! Tomorrow, April 20th we have the 2008 Presidential Elections in Paraguay.
“Blanca” is from the Colorado Party – “They always win.”
“Lino” has the “military backing him up.”
“Lugo” is a Catholic Bishop who “is a friend to the poor.”
Those are the three major candidates. There’s talk of political unrest for Sunday night or Monday.
Okay…I did some research…If you’re interested in Paraguayan politics…see these:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1142/44/
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1218/44/
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/17/content_7996462_3.htm - pictures of candidates
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aUwmH_cdWYDk&refer=latin_america
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/18/1?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews
Pray for our small, weak, corrupt country. Pray for our authorities. Pray for peace.

Blogging Time…Yeah!!!

There is a steady rain outside. (Edson is asleep.) I have several things I could do, but I decided to dedicate it to BLOGGING!
There is soooo much going on!
Our school is getting ready for Teacher’s Day, April 30th. That is a “free day” for our teachers at Adonai, so the REAL party will be on Tuesday, April 29th. I have been preparing my little students to sing “This Is the Day” and “Praise the Lord”, two songs I learned at Mid West Camp last year. Some of my friends’ kids are in Kindergarten and their kids went home to tell their moms that “Teacher Karen dances and everything!” The kids sing it VERY well and I am excited to have THEM perform…while THEY’RE up onstage, I will NOT be dancing…THEY WILL BE! (I only do that during practice!) So, that is an exiting event for me and my students. One of the songs we will sing for Teacher’s Day and the other one we will sing for “Family Day” (Mother’s Day) on May 14th. (We have to call this day Family Day because so many “moms” are in Spain or Argentina…kids are growing up with NO “moms” or “dads” here in Paraguay. Sad stories!
We are going out to eat to an “American Buffet” on the 29th with all the teachers at school for their special day…a way to say THANKS for all the good work they do! On May 1st its Labor Day so we will also take the other workers (secretary, administrator, librarian, and cleaning lady) at school out eat, too. There are 36 people total! Our school has grown…God is good!
Other activities…Oscar is still busy with Bible Studies on Tuesday nights and I have a Praise and Worship study on Fridays. The kids like to hang out at church on Fridays for sports. Lately, the group has grown to nearly 100 teens. Oscar’s nephew heads that up. Girls play Handball and Women’s soccer the first two hours, then there is a devotional time, after that the guys play non-stop soccer till 10:00 pm. Oscar still goes to the Prison Ministry two times a month and Dario, another Pastor at church, goes for a prayer ministry. Saturdays are usually busy with Praise and Worship, set-up, youth meetings, and church services. Sundays start off with an 8:30 am service and sometimes all day activities. Wednesday’s are prayer meetings and so that means Mondays and Thursdays are our “family days”. Since our day starts off so early (4:30 for us, 5:15 for the kids)…sometimes we are in bed by 8:30 pm…can you believe that????
Our family is also planning on going to San Pedro next weekend for an Evangelistic Campaign for Friday and Saturday night. The road is ALMOST ALL paved. That’s so exciting for us. When I was married it took us 8 or sometimes 10 hours to travel there because of dirt roads. Now we can get there in 3 ½ hours!
The rain keeps coming. Edson is still asleep…I have time for another activity!

Have You Noticed...?

Have you noticed the changes? We have fast internet service now! WOW!
The problem has been interference on our telephone line. We were not getting more than a 21kbps connection...at the best! Many times it was 12 kbps or 16 kbps. It would take hours to download a small 300kb file or picture. I had to go online and throw most of my emails away. The kids had to do research and we would spend most of the time trying to download the front page. In the end, my internet security updates wouldn't even download because the telephone line would just cut off and leave the update hanging. It was very frustrating.
Now...I can add a picture in seconds!!!
We couldn't keep our old email address because Riedernet doesn't have the technology that we needed this far away from Asuncion. Tigo has a "tower" near our house and the reception is great. Our antenna is facing their "tower". This is the reason for our email address change, etc. Please write to try it out! oscaren@tigo.com.py I am trying to figure out how to change my email on all my profiles.
Yeah...now I will even be blogging more...hahahaha.

It's cold

The cold weather definitely hit Paraguay. We were all in winter coats yesterday and today. I never complain in summer. The heat makes me sweat, but I really enjoy it. Winter is cold! Too cold for me. Teachers and kids are out of schools. Lots of people with colds.
I still have some computer problems...soon to be worked out...with in the week, maybe.

A beautiful moment…

On Sunday, I was standing up in front at church with a microphone in my hand. I was singing for Sunday’s services. Gabriel was at my right with an electric guitar following the instructions of David who was leading worship that morning. Oscar was towards the back of the worship group…he was going to do the introduction, announcements, etc. Brandon was working the sound system (for the time being, it is also up front). Our whole family, except Edson, was serving in the morning services…up front.
The whole time we sang I was praising the Lord with my own personal thoughts about my family. I was thankful that we were all together in the worship services. I was praising God for the miracles he has done in us and in our kids. I am happy that I can pass on the good news of our Salvation to our kids and they can learn about our Great God. I was pleased that they are “serving the Lord” at such a young age. I was just praising God for that beautiful moment…

A little bit about my kids…

Brandon was at a “college fair” the other day at school and came home totally enthused about going to college. He brought home booklets, advertisements, and even a DVD. Seeing the prices for one-year tuition ($24,000), I said, “Brandon, this is very, very expensive and we have to start praying about it.” He said, “Why, is that a lot?” Fortunately we see a lot of maturity in his attitude toward school. He had a rough time keeping focused in 7th and 8th grades, but this year he has been doing a lot better. He has been practicing the bass guitar every afternoon after homework. His high school teachers are really making him feel good. He LOVES to make Edson laugh.
Gabriel has been sick off and on. The first time, about a month ago it was from the Yellow Fever vaccination and the past couple of days he has been down with some sort of virus again. He’s had a fever, headaches and his whole body hurts. Thursday we took him to the doctor’s and if he still has a fever all weekend, we will do some blood tests. In Argentina he was playing soccer and kicked his friend’s ankle. His toe got swollen and red. We didn’t take him to the doctor, but I think that it was either broken or very bruised. (It looked like what Mom’s little toe looks like every time she breaks it…hahaha!) But, I figured that it would heal on its own, and it has been. Gaby is also going through a growth spurt (again) and is HUGE. He will probably end up being even bigger than Brandon. He has been playing the guitar with the “big guys” at church.
Edson is, as always, a little cutie. His beautiful personality wins him lots of friends and admirers. He still says, “hola” to everyone, even when he is supposed to say “chau” or “bye”. He is starting to wink with both eyes. He looks at things he should not touch and says “no no no no no” while holding up his first finger. He has learned how to put his hands together to pray, but sometimes food seems more important than a prayer and he begins to wail, non-stop, drowning out the whole prayer. “Ma” means water, milk or anything liquid. Sometimes he asks for it very politely. He says, “maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah… maaah…Last night Oscar was holding Edson, and I went up to hug them both to give them a hug and Edson pushed me away! He didn’t want to “share” his dad with me.
Okay…that’s enough. It’s been wonderful chatting about my favorite things…

I'm Here!!!!

Sorry I haven’t written for a while. I have been discouraged about some things and didn’t make the time or effort to write. I have been looking for other things to do. You see, when one aspect of the computer goes bad, the whole thing all of a sudden “doesn’t work”. I don’t like it. I don’t look at it. I don’t touch it. I have been distracted by other jobs, sicknesses and deadlines and just couldn’t keep up with my “blogging friends”.
Sorry, I will try to do better!
I HAVE been keeping up with The Word! Of course, this is the only thing that comforts me when all else goes wrong. I have been doing my daily readings (The Bible in One Year.) I have been making up short lesson outlines for my Praise and Worship group. I am amazed at the Israelites and how quick they were to be distracted and disobey. Could it be that I am the same way? The Lord’s covenant to Israel (or us) is so precious, so strong and powerful…so, why can’t we live in obedience? They were instructed to get rid of ALL the nations in the Promised Land. Everything was to go…but…they didn’t obey. They let the people stay and only one generation later…they were all serving other gods. They mixed with the other nations. They mixed with “the world”. They lost their focus. They disobeyed!
Why is it so easy to mix with the world’s ways? It’s so easy to accept fashion, music, ideas, activities, internet, shopping, games, movies, work, school and friends. It’s so hard to get back on track, get focused, and obey.
“And now _______________ (add your own name), what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good...Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him…He is your praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Deuteronomy 10: 12,13,20,21