God's Messages

The little things God creates...He always amazes me! "68"- the year I was born!

Toothless Kids

I think toothless kids are just soooo cute this is Isaac and Maria's girl. She is such a blast! She has such a wonderful, outgoing personality. She and Edson get along so good. I just love this girl!

God Makes Me Laugh

After we went on our little "outing" (to Hotel Excelsior) the other day, we bought the kids some sandwich stuff and a bag of nachos (that I can only find in big supermarkets in town). I paid for the small amount of groceries with a debit card. The next morning I remembered that I didn't take it out of my jeans pocket and reached into the washer and found my card, some change, but I couldn't find my paraguayan identification card, the card I always have to show along with my debit card.
I prayed, I searched, I prayed, I cleaned, I prayed, I took the washer apart, I prayed, I went back to the supermarket...all the way in town, I prayed, I took the seats out of the car...I prayed, but couldn't find it!
We realized last week that we wouldn't be able to leave Paraguay for our Argentina trip if I didn't have that ID card.
So...we started the LONG process of getting a new one. I went to the police station for one paper, Identifications, for another, here and there for this and that, one paper had to be notarized, one stamped, one in 48 hours...
Finally, I went to the police station again and they gave me a special paper giving me permission to travel while I round up the rest of the paperwork.
It worked! We got to Argentina and back!
I washed two loads of clothes last night, and stuck in one more this morning before the kids went to school. I opened the lid and my ID card was on top smiling at me!
I started laughing and thanking God! Where did this ID card come from? The clothes I was washing were the kids' clothes, there was NOTHING in there of mine!
I still think its so funny. I must have washed 20 loads since I lost that card...how could this be???
I got half of the paperwork done already! I'll stash it way for the next scare!
So, anyway, I have my paraguayan ID card...and I'm still laughing at the mystery.

Our Latest Activities

Some of our activities...Spring-Youth. We had a party for our youth group on September 25th. The pastor was remembering past years when they would have a parade of flowers on September 21st downtown Asuncion, and people would make huge floats of flowers, busses would be decked out with balloons, supermarkets and stores would have cut out flowers, streamers, and balloons...times have changed. We celebrated at church with finger foods, a special program, sports, and a cake.
September 29th was a holiday here in Paraguay. Oscar and I were invited to a conference at Hotel Excelsior on the 28th and 29th. We got to see Adolfo Torres a national, Christian singer who wrote a beautiful song about Paraguay. We also got to meet author, Norma Pantojas, from Puerto Rico. It was a nice get-away for both of us (completely free, thanks to a good friend of ours) as we were reminded to be faithful to God's calling in our lives.
Finally, our yard is full of flowers. I just love this time of year!

Kitchen Stuff

I have dreaded this day...the day I realize I can't find one of my useful, kitchen tools. I have two favorites: my Pampered Chef potato peeler from my sister and my "hand-me-down-from-aunt-janet" melon baller. I use them often maybe weekly, sometimes daily. I wanted to make zapallito relleno today. Zapallito is a small, round zuchinni kind of like a gourd, but edible. It is filled with ground beef that is sauteed with onion, garlic and peppers, maybe a hard boiled egg and stuffed with cheese all in a tomato sauce and served over (garlic) rice.
I usually use my melon baller to scoop out the insides. It is so quick and handy, a teaspoon just doesn't scoop well.
So anyway, I searched and searched for my melon baller and couldn't find it. Could it have accidentally gotten thrown out when someone (not me, of course) threw away the guava seeds? I looked in the toy box, sometimes a little someone likes to help me cook. I spent time rummaging here and there and while I searched, I made a cleaning project out of the whole mishap. But...I didn't find it!
I scooped out the seedy center with a teaspoon, filled my zapallitos and sadly accepted the fact that my melon baller...disappeared.
Now...I will hang onto my potato peeler like GOLD.
P.S. the filled zapallito's were great!

HELLO AGAIN!!!

This past month has just been a whirl of activities. School camps, church camps, visitors, puppies, meetings, and food fairs for 9th grade, etc. etc. etc.
I think things have slowed down...maybe a little...today for lunch anyway, we didn't have company! Last night there were 5 people who stayed over, this afternoon three people came.
Visitors are little "gifts" to us. We are thankful to spend time with them and share our lives and our Christ with them. Even little Edson enjoys the visitors so much that he stands in front of the door blocking it so they can't leave! Brandon and Gaby also have the gift of hospitality and are always open to visitors. Every sofa turns into a bed and sleeping bags or comforters are used instead of mattresses. A little "TERERÉ" and popcorn go a looooong way! More tips: Add more water and salt to soup, make a quick batch of "sopa paraguaya", make pancakes, spaghetti, (if the visitors are Argentine...lots of sweets), huge trays of pizza, fresh orange and grapefruit juice, fruit.
What a beautiful way to fellowship and share the blessings that the Lord has given us...invite people over! Talk about God. Share about His miracles. Pray with each other. Enjoy yourselves. Love each other!
Tomorrow it'll be family time, family sharing, family love and hospitality. Maybe things will be a little more normal, maybe not....see you tomorrow!

I Need a Secretary and a Cook

We wanted to have school camps right away so that the kids could get to know each other and we could enjoy the pool and nice weather at the Quinta. So, this just means added jobs to start out the already hectic school year. This also means that I am overbooked...no new posts on my blog, no food at my house. So, if you want to be my secretary or cook...you are welcome! My kids would love new food, good food, lots of food.
I would love it for you to blog for me! We could talk, drink tereré, or tea, or whatever and share, maybe pray together, laugh and cry. You could take notes and summarize while I finish the cooking, rocking a sick toddler, watching over the puppies, buying things for the school camps, baking huge pizzas for a youth-praise and worship retreat, or just enjoy a long awaited - long deserved night out with my husband (tonight for our 19th anniversary!)
See, I'm not being lazy, I'm not sick, I'm not sad or depressed...I just need a secretary...and a cook!

Argentina 7- Asado

Today is finally cool...or maybe should I say, COLD! It's 70ºF! The past couple of days have been sooooo unbearable hot and sticky. Fans blew around hot air. It was even better to leave glass windows shut so the hot air would not blow into the house. Everything was dusty. The grass was drying up. Finally, we had an amazing wind storm and then a couple hours of light rain. The electricity went off at about 3pm and stayed off until 12pm! Good thing things cooled down and I had saved 3 gallons of water before the water went off, too.

Last night we had 15 people over and we had to "dine" by candlelight! This morning I woke up to the messiest house I've seen in a LONG time!

Today it is fun to sit at the computer. Its cool. Edson is asleep and the boys are off...TO SCHOOL! I have a couple of minutes to myself and a lot of catching up to do!

So...My Argentina pictures can't be complete without the famous ASADO pictures!

Just Catching Up

Along with all the work to do arriving at home (make guava jelly, school meetings and stuff, getting back together with our Paraguayan friends, organizing this and that, downloading pictures, cooking for crowds...again) I have to catch up on READING my favorite blogs and WRITING my own.
Anyway, we're back home. All is well. We went 3300 km. No car problems. No document or paperwork problems. We got caught up (after 20 years) in Argentina...and now, I have to catch up on my blogging.

I Need a Vacation!

What have I NOT been doing?

Ever since school ended we have been running and going, serving and cooking, cleaning and preparing, weddings, paperwork, etc., etc., etc....

So, since Christmas, hmmm, I have to back up to Christmas to see what when on in this whirl-wind life of ours...

We had Oscar's relatives over at the Quinta. It was fun! We had boxes and boxes of popsicles!

Then, more company...cousin relatives from San Pedro. Fun! Busy!

Paper work for our Paraguayan friend whose fiancé is stranded in Cuba and can only get out if she goes up to get him, marry him and bring him back. She met him after a six year scholarship studying there.

We fixed up some borrowed dresses and made a beautiful boquet of orchids, went shopping for more wedding things and spent time talking about marriage.

We committed to cooking for the youth camp this past week. That means, plan, buy, and prepare the food...Saturday-Wednesday!

All the while...we were trying to get our friend up to Cuba and, finally, Tuesday morning she got a tight, flight up and was delayed 2 hours in Paraguay. Cuba is such a difficult country to communicate with and we finally got word that she is with her dear and is planning a wedding, I think maybe tomorrow.

The car needs fixed, clothes washed, (no electricity in half of the house...the half that has the washer...hmmmm, weird!) More cousins, here, after camp.

I think I'll go to the Quinta and use their huge trays for a couple of homemade pizzas!

Vacation time is coming...soon! Yeah!

Sunsets

You may have seen this yesterday on Facebook, but I wanted to write a little story behind it here.

When I was in seventh grade, Mr. Shelton, our art teacher asked us to do a free-style picture of a paradise. I dreamed up some palm trees and an ocean setting and started to draw. I don't want to brag, but I almost never got lower than an A-. So, I drew and colored a sunset paradise. It actually looked almost exactly like this real picture I took the other day. I proudly presented my work and it came back graded as an F!

I was soooooo mad I could not look at him for days or weeks. He just didn't understand my artistic feelings. How could he be an art teacher and not "get" what I was drawing and dreaming. I must not have ever really gotten over it because it is still so fresh in my mind...or maybe it was the first time I ever got an F, or maybe I didn't follow directions, or maybe it was just that HE was having a bad day.

Whatever it was...I still remember my sunset paradise! And, I love this dreamy time of day when I can start winding down and enjoy a cool breeze or two with my family.

Weddings, weddings, weddings!

We had many weddings this weekend. This is the season for weddings! Nice hot weather for late night weddings! One wedding was a court wedding to get paper work started for the international couple...
Jason y Katy

Tomás y Loida

Nestor y Emilia

Today

Just about every day there is a little bit of rain out there. Sometimes it's just a light rain and sometimes it's a loud thunder storm. It is very humid! Today we are enjoying nice breezes...

that cools things down a lot. The mosquitos are becoming HUGE. They are out at all times of the day. Our trees are loaded with growing fruits...mangos, grapefruits, oranges, guavas, kinotos, lemons, cherimoyas, and the star fruit.

The boys cut the grass today. They washed the car and swept it out. The house is clean, the clothes are dry, folded and put away. There is beef cooking in the slow cooker for empanadas later on.

...Hey, I think we need visitors again!

SUMMER!!!

Today is a very hot day! Yes, summer is here! It is 37ºC...98.6ºF! Tomorrow is supposed to be the same!

That's okay...it's TERERÉ TIME! Cold, minty, herby water in a cup (guampa) packed with yerba mate leaves and a straw (bombilla).

It's quality time for some of us!

Another Chapter Today...My computer

I figured out my computer's problem! It's a suspicion, but it seems to be repeating itself.
When the electricity goes off, that somehow messes up something in the back and my computer won't recognize any USB ports. So, yesterday, I wanted to post my pictures of the wedding and the storm and couldn't get the drives to work...it just won't recognize ANY, ZERO, NOTHING! I have talked to the BEST computer guys I know and no one can explain my computer's glich.
Then it hit me that every time the computer goes on batter-power, when the electricity goes off, I have this problem.
So, last night I left everything unplugged. Today, I plugged it all in...started all new, and WhaaaLaaa...It worked! I downloaded all my pictures and...everything seems fine!

Picture Posts Today

I don't have a lot of practice at taking self portraits...I usually don't have time for this. hahaha

The "New" ME...

Well, I took the first step. I went and got my hair cut!
No, no pictures yet.
I am working on ME!
I think I cut my hair just to distract me from what I really was supposed to be changing...my "me"...my inner ME. It was just so much easier to go to Blanca's and get it washed and styled. I looked different, but that ME was still there.
Let me explain...
Nancy left a book with me before she left called The Bait of Satan by John Bevere. I read it almost non-stop when she left, but every time it hit a sore spot on my inner ME. I set it down for a day or two. I didn't like what it was saying to me. It was too true. It brought up stuff that I hid for years and I didn't want to remember anymore. I was DONE with it...I "forgave and forgot" and buried it somewhere down in there.
I have a special project, now, just me and the Lord. I am working on cleaning up some of those areas that I hid so well. I am arguing with the Lord about some pride issues that I didn't want to give up...you know...it was THE OTHER PERSON'S fault, anyway. I also realized that a lot of stuff I have only forgiven, but not really forgotten.
So, that's where I am...I'm taking advantage of these cold, winter months to spend more time on the real "me".
By the way...my teenage son came up to me on Sunday and hugged me hard right out side of church and said..."mom, I LOVE your hair cut like this!"

Cooool!

On this cold, rainy afternoon. I took a tour around the world! Check out this site by TrekEarth on travelling the world through pictures. I went to Paraguay and Indonesia. It's cool.
I originally came to this site to find out about a flower I posted earlier. It is from the Samu'u or Palo Boracho tree and I wanted to find a picture of it. That's how I got distracted, anyway, the third picture of my recent blog about flowers is Samu'u...
Well, I enjoyed my travels...now, back to work!

A Fun Sunday

Coming home from church on Sundays we usually come across an intersection that has a LONG traffic light wait. Thankfully, in the hot sun and long wait, we are entertained by a man "working" for coins or applauses. Edson is usually thrilled and spends these couple of minutes laughing hysterically. Our juggler has become "a friend" and we gladly put coins in his roughed-up hat. He deserves it! He made us laugh! He juggles balls, rings and sometimes even torches with REAL fire. He is very talented.

With a car-full of tired hot, tired, little boys last Sunday; he became our hero, our entertainment, a few minutes of happiness. He's funny. He does tricks. He's a clown. It's his job and he makes us smile!

Martha's Blog

My sister has been more active in writing. I wanted to direct you to Martha's blog if you want to read about her Paraguay experiences...
I have been "feeling" like the biblical "Martha" who is more worried about cooking and cleaning for my wonderful guests than blogging. I guess I also want to spend my time talking more or doing some quality time with each one of my kids or Oscar as well. Over tired kids need some extra attention or sleep, too.
We are enjoying our time together...be patient...I will blog again!