Still No Computer

I've been visiting a public "Cyber" place. It's hard to find a moment without Edson to do this. So many computers were taken in on Monday that they didn't even start to look at ours, yet.
Keep praying for our family. Gaby's stitches are healing fine. Everyone else is fine...I have a very bad lower-back pain...not good with a little one around.
We are immersed in end of the year school and church activities.
Pictures of our school olympics.

Saturday's Storm

P

Well, we had a strange storm on Saturday night that destroyed a lot in about 15 minutes. Weather reports advised thunderstorms and rain for all weekend. Brandon and Gaby went to church earlier on Saturday for some afternoon activities and I told them that I would follow about 6 pm...if it doesn't rain. Oscar was with a group in Concepcion, about 5 hours from here, and I was going to go with Edson on a city bus. Well, It rained off and on that day, but the sun came out about 5:30 pm. I turn on the computer and worked for 15 minutes and decided to get ready for church and go. About 5:45 there was a snap of lightning out of no where followed by a loud thunder. My computer zapped.
I was sad.
I called Oscar and tried plugging it in and out and couldn't revive it. So, by then, it started sprinkling a little bit and I debated going to church or just staying home with Edson.
I stayed home. I got some things done and went to our bedroom. I sat Edson in his pack'n play with a bunch of books and I also layed down to read and rest.
All of a sudden there was this strange wind and it seemed as if twigs or hail were hitting the window. I heard other shutters banging in other rooms of the house and went to check it out. Right about that time, the electricity went out and Edson was screaming. There was thunder and lightning almost together and non-stop...then, just as soon as it started, it stopped. I was relieved, but still we had no lights. I had to grope around for candles and mosquito spray. I was glad I didn't go to church.
Our house is on a slight hill and I could see for miles that other neighborhoods were without electricity and Vivi called me from church saying that they finished singing when the storm started and now they were without electricity, too.
By morning we also had no water. I walked outside and saw our unripe mangos all over the ground. Trees laying on top of each other, twisted and broken and one uprooted. The yard was a mess!
News reports say that the wind was about 150kmp/hour. 4000 homes affected, millions of dollars damage to the electric companies, trees, signs, and debris all over the city. The cities with the most damage were Villa Elisa and San Antonio...our city.
Thank God for His AWESOME protection. He moved those trees like toothpicks and kept me (and Edson) safe.
Sunday afternoon we went to a neighbor's house to play soccer and visit and Gaby fell cutting his knee open. Pastor Pedro took him in to get 4 stitches. Oscar got home later that evening. It was raining. I quickly started washing up dishes and cleaning toilets with rain water. We ended up showering under the rainspout in the dark!
Our lights came back on Monday at 4 pm and water at 6 pm. I went to 5 different gas stations on Monday looking for ice...with NO LUCK. Ice and bottled water were scarce!
We're cleaning up the mess...but we're SAFE!

Ostrich Eggs

We have this amazing ostrich egg at home. It’s hard. It’s old. We are praying that it won’t break open thinking that the dead stuff inside might be kind of rotten-smelling. The man who gave it to Oscar said that he makes one scrambled egg out of ostrich eggs for a couple of people. He said that his wife has used them in tortilla and cake. Should I try it?
This is my stretched out hand...and a regular sized egg beside it.

Books and Balls

I never knew kids could do this….just sit for hours and read.
You see, my older boys were born soccer players and their first gift was a ball and they have had thousands of balls shuffled between their feet since day 1. They seem to be like magnets to balls. We have balls all over our house and especially in the kitchen were we usually gather as a family. Some days I mumble to myself or scream as I kick them out of my way (the balls-not the boys), trying not to fall over them while carrying a hot pan of cooked noodles that needs to be drained. We have had stuffed balls, plastic balls, leather balls, balloon balls, basket balls, foot balls, soccer balls, tennis balls, base balls, soft balls and golf balls. (Did I forget any?)
What amazed me with Edson was that he didn’t have a magnetic pull to balls. He preferred books. He doesn’t like balls! He likes books!
He can sit for an hours just looking through a stack of books. His favorites are animal books. We take books in the car. We take books to church. We take books to the babysitters. We love books. He reads ten books before going to bed. He falls asleep on his books. He eats breakfast with a book beside him. This is amazing! After two sports heroes, we might be going towards some quieter years with Edson.

Mom! Stop taking pictures, I'm reading!

Re: Steps at Las Tres Fronteras...

At the Tres Fronteras there was no warning of the number of steps...but check out these pictures and the distance you have to go down. I just IMAGINED that there were 500 steps because it LOOKED like it. Look at those tiny, tiny people way below! I stayed back with 5 students who also didn't want to make the hike.

Last pictures of the field trip

I tried to blog yesterday, but something was going wrong with my computer so, I went to bed instead. I will show you some of the last pictures of our trip. The Monday Falls, in Ciudad del Este, are like these falls in someone's backyard. It was the first time I was there. It is beautiful! Next time you visit maybe we can go there!

We went shopping in Ciudad del Este, a HUGE market place that borders with Brazil and Argentina, and then headed on to the Iguazu falls.

The Iguazu Falls. The falls are actually in Brazil and Argentina. There is a point (where we also visited) where the three countries actually meet divided by rivers called Las Tres Fronteras. There are cool souveniers with the three countries flags on them. There were about 500 steps to go down on the Paraguayan side to get to the bottom. Most of the kids went down, but I just looked at the beauty from above...thinking...if I DO go down then I will have to climb back UP those 500 steps. We just walked for days and I wasn't ready for more torture!

The whole group at the falls.

High School Field Trip 3

A visit to the "biggest" hydroelectric plant in the world.

Breakfast in Santa Rita...on our way to Ciudad del Este.

This is the Paraná River that separates Posadas, Argentina with Encarnación, Paraguay.

High School Field Trip 2

We stretched out our legs for a while at the Yacyreta Zoo. The ostriches almost ate our sandwiches for lunch. They were getting kind of aggressive and scary. Good thing we hungrily ate the sandwiches up.

We lived on this bus for three days and three nights. We stayed at a camp on Thursday night. The first time in days that we could actually stretch out. The bathroom in the back got to be an issue for a while...you know how teens love to talk about that kind of stuff...and "wheeyoo" some days it was BAD.

High School Field Trip 1

The Yacyreta Dam
General Informations A part of our text is inspired by Wikipedia Infomations on Yacyreta :
Yacyretá-Apipé (or just Yacyretá, often Yaciretá) is a hydroelectric dam located on the Paraná River between Argentina and Paraguay, 83 kilometers downstream of Posadas City, next to Paraguayan city of Ayolas, and Argentine city of Ituzaingó, Corrientes Province. It was named after the Yacyretá Island (Guaraní: jasy "moon", reta "country"), now 80% covered by the waters of the reservoir, and the Apipé islands, now completely covered.
The dam is 808 metres long and has 20 turbines with a power of 4 050 MW that can produce 19 080 GWh per annum, with maximum water flow of 55 000 Cubic metres per second.
There is a canal lock to let ships through the dam overcoming the 25 metre water difference, as well as a system to allow fish to go upstream during their reproductive season.

http://www.rivernet.org/southamerica/parana_basin/yacyreta.htm (this is just an introduction from this article above)

http://www.oni.escuelas.edu.ar/2002/corrientes/energia/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacyret%C3%A1_Dam

Happy Birthday, Martha

This is a little blog about my sister, Martha, for HER day. She is an encourager. She usually wants others to be happy and goes out of her way to do things and tell them things that make them feel good and that makes HER feel good as well. So I want to encourage her as I tell you more about her. Anyone can tell that she loves her family. She dedicates time...all her time...to them. One by one she deals with each kid's case as it comes up. She cooks and bakes what her husband likes, even though she wants to spice up the food just like a Schley. She loves the Lord and it shows in faith and her works. She is a special sister and today is a day we remember...HER! Happy Birthday, Mar!

Blogging break

I'm off in two hours. I am going on the high school field trip. I'll be taking a blogging break for a couple of days...until Saturday morning. We are travelling every night so we don't have to sleep in any hotels. We'll be on the bus for three nights and one night we stay at a national park. Oscar and the kids will be home alone. Pray for us all!

Crocs

Ok, I guess I'm not supposed to own Crocs...those wonderful flip flop shoes that leave your feet and ankles feel like you're walking on air. I had a pair. They were comfortable. I loved them so much that I didn't want to wear them out or wear them too much at camp. I put them in a drawer...AND LEFT THEM THERE!
Oh...I was sad! The cost...the comfort...something I could NEVER purchase in Paraguay (oh yes, they have fake ones).... I had a broken heart for days...months...a whole year. How could I have been so careless.
Someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday and all I could really think of were those wonderful Crocs that I didn't have anymore and so I asked for a pair for my birthday.
Ever since I got them I used them EVERYWHERE, and EVERYDAY.
Today, I even let Edson put them on after I got home from school. He likes to walk in mommy's shoes. I was busy shutting the gate behind Oscar, distracting Edson from his daddy leaving, we played tag a little bit and I dragged him in the house away from Sasha.
Two hours later I went outside and found my comfy, little Crocs in shreds beside Sasha's sleeping face.
This dog has got to go! This is a nightmare! I cannot bear to let go of my second pair. Ahhhhh!

Life in San Pedro

Getting the bread baked...notice their "trays" are banana leaves.

Lots of cabbage, lettuce and beets

Cute little chicks and mother hen kept safe (boxed in) from the dogs!

Peacefully chowing away...

Happy Birthday, Abuela

This weekend we went to Abuela's 73rd birthday. All the her kids were there for the first time in about 5 years. There were about 70 (children, grandkids, and greatgrandkids) all together. Too much food. Too much noise. Too many kids running around everywhere. Lots of laughs. Lots of work. Lots of love.

Half of the crowd...
Edson with Oscar's sisters.

My prayer for you today...

Psalm 20 (NLT)

1 In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry.

May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.

2 May he send you help from his sanctuary

and strengthen you from Jerusalem.

3 May he remember all your gifts

and look favorably on your burnt offerings.

4 May he grant your heart’s desires

and make all your plans succeed.

5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory

and raise a victory banner in the name of our God.

May the Lord answer all your prayers.
6 Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed king.

He will answer him from his holy heaven

and rescue him by his great power.

7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,

but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

8 Those nations will fall down and collapse,

but we will rise up and stand firm.
9 Give victory to our king, O Lord!

Answer our cry for help.

Stress

Some of us are dealing with stress...this article just arrived in a newletter.

"Set Realistic Goals"An excerpt from The Nature of Success By Mac Anderson
When I was a freshman in college I learned an unforgettable lesson.
I was having a rough week when there was a lot to do and very little time to do it. I was overwhelmed. I panicked.
That night a friend stopped by my dorm room. When I told him my problem, he said, “Mac, I'll share something with you that my grandmother told me a few years ago. She said to always remember: ‘Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.’”
I said, “Bob, come on. Here I am drowning in work and your lifeline is a quote from your grandmother. Come on!”
After he left, however, those twelve little words kept dancing in my head. I took out a piece of notebook paper and listed all the things I had to do in the next three days. That night I began knocking them off one by one.
Three days later I took out that paper and marked through the last thing on the list. It felt great! And then I took out another piece of paper and wrote down the words: “Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” I then folded the paper and put it in my wallet. As many of you know, I've been collecting quotes ever since.
You see, success doesn't come cascading like Niagara Falls; it comes one drop at a time through short-term, realistic goals.
Experts on motivation disagree on a lot of things, but one thing they all agree on is that your levels of motivation are directly tied to your expected probabilities of success. In other words, if you believe you can do something (the goals are realistic), you're likely to be highly motivated. If, however, you think you can't (because the goals are unrealistic) your motivation level falls greatly.
The lesson here is to continue to dream big dreams, but realize that the short-term goals that take you to the next plateau are the real keys to success.

Youth Camp Weekend

Yeah! finally time to blog. No distractions! okay, backing up a couple of days...
We were at the Youth Camp this past weekend. The amazing part about the whole thing is that we didn't organize it! I was in charge of cooking and one class for girls. The rest was NOT UP TO ME! I have probably organized more than 12 years of camps, so it was wonderful being on the following side.
The cooking part, for me, is always an exciting challenge. I love it. There were about 60 people there and my sister in law from San Pedro came with her son, so she helped me. I went and bought alot of the ingredients early so I had the meat all cut up and some other things already organized. I also took a nifty, coffee maker that my mom gave me for fresh brewed coffee in the morning.
We left Edson, for the first time in his life, with someone other than us. Rosa loved showering him with attention and taking care of him, but when he saw Brandon on Sunday night, he DID NOT want to go back with Rosa. He came back home all in one piece with no scratches or bruises so I guess I can "loan" him to Rosa another weekend. He went to church and the whole time was saying "mamá" "papá". He probably felt like...how weird, mom and dad are not at church.
My class was about finding our true love in Christ. Our first assignment was to write "love letters". That part was amazing! Just imagine a whole roomfull of girls ages 13-20, they are VERY romantic. Then, we talked about what the Bible says love is and isn't. Finally, we talked about how Christ can fill up our love tanks with his perfect love.
Even in through the rain, everyone had a great time!

Guess who I'm talking to...

"No, don't put that food in your mouth, it's Sasha's food!"
"If you touch the dog's food or water once more, I will have to spank you."
"Don't put Sasha's food in her water dish!"
"Come here...right now...and stop touching the dog's blanket."
"Stop dumping out her water."
"Did you dump Sasha's food in the plants?"
"Don't hit Sasha."
"No...uhhh....what are you doing?"
"Okay, let's tie Sasha up and (let's tie you up, no just thinking)...go in the house."
"Bathtime! Too many dog germs.!

Happy Birthday!

A special "Happy Birthday" to one of my best friends and sister, LIZ.
Liz, I am inspired by your Godly focus. You have taught me the art of GIVING. You are a blessing to me in so many ways! I am attracted to your outgoingness and envy your ease and ability to speak in public. I am encouraged by the victories in your life even when your battles are so great. I see a beautiful example of Christ in your life.
You're very, very special to me. Happy Day!

No time...

I haven't had a moment to sit down and think this whole week. Please forgive me for not blogging. We are soooooo busy all of a sudden. Could it be because of spring and all the activities that come along with good weather? Could it be that we are overbooking activities? Could it be the end-of-the-year deadlines at school? Could it be that (this I posted on Facebook)...I have a husband, three kids, a dog, a youth camp ministry, (I still have to by food to take!), Adonai school outing, mother-in-law's birthday...meaning a trip to San Pedro, new missionary coming from VA, ACA school-kid's camp - each boy going a different week, I sell cheese for San Pedro relatives, school deadlines for 2009 need to be done by October 15th, a little soon-to-be 2 year old who has a 3 minute attention span, etc. etc. etc.
Last weekend we had a Praise and Fasting retreat near our home. It started Sunday at 3:00pm until Monday 3:00pm. (Monday was a holiday.) It was a good time of prayer, intentional focusing, and refreshment from the Word.
This weekend we are going to our church's youth camp, although not as youth, but kitchen workers and speakers. Edson will stay with Rosa all weekend...a first for him and us. (Pray about that heartbreaking separation.)
Oscar will be picking up his sister and nephew at the bus terminal at 2:30. They are both going to camp. Estela, his sister, will help in the kitchen.
Lots of stuff. Lots of activities. No more time to blog...see you on Monday!

Sasha