Boys, boys, boys

Ok, ok.... All birth control jokes aside... I got pretty attached to this little man over the past week. :-) He is just way too cute for his own good. He is in that fun stage where he's discovering new things constantly. He is making the most hilarious noises, but I could never get a video of it.

We were sitting outside one day, and I snapped these pictures. Like I said...way too cute.

I still can't believe how little he was when Patti Sue first got him! When I would sit and type at the computer, I could reach over with one hand and pick him up out of his bassinet. He was TINY!

On another note.... some other very cute little boys: Ivan, Anthony & Jefferson. They're sitting here in the office playing with Tinker Toys at the moment, and I snapped this pic really quick.

And the other boy in my life....

Dwight and the guys are pouring cement today, finishing off the floor on the 2nd level of the new building. It looks like they'll be working into the night, but I know it will be awesome when they're done. Hopefully we'll get a post up soon with an update on the building. ~ I walked the classes to the property during their P.E. time, and it was so cute to see their faces when looking at the new building. Dwight walked them through where the rooms will be. The kindergarteners all pretended to wash their hands and take showers in the spots where they will eventually be. I wish I would have had my camera, b/c it was hilarious!

Randomness

Happy Friday everyone! :-) It's very quiet here right now, and it's wonderful! We're keeping John Paul for a week while Patti Sue is in Cancun at a missionary womens' retreat. As a result....Dwight and I have now pushed our date for wanting to have kids back by about 2 more years.

HA! Just kidding.... We are just REALLY into getting our sleep, and that just doesn't happen when you have a baby! I really am having fun with him. We stayed home in our pajamas all day yesterday, and it was fabulous.

Last night we had the guys who work with Dwight over for dinner. It was Pedro, his wife Sandra and 1 yr. old Amber Danielle. Then there's Luis, his wife Veronica, and their almost 2 year-old Francis. Dwight had described to them what 'fajitas' were whenever he cooked them for my birthday, so that's what we cooked last night. Dwight explained everything in Spanish...as far as what all you put ON the fajita... They were very overwhelmed with all of the options, and they were just staring at all the bowls of toppings. They eventually got into it, and we think they enjoyed it. I wish I would have taken a picture, so you could 'meet' them all!

Please be praying for the relationships involved with these people. The 4 of them have all come to us as individuals at some point....seeking advice, help, comfort, etc.... in regards to marriage and different things going on. While Dwight and I feel like we're the last people they should be asking..... They continue to do so! This is one of the big reasons we want to be more committed to becoming fluent in Spanish. It doesn't really frustrate us until those moments when someone is pouring their heart out to you.....and you can't communicate what's on your heart! So....we would appreciate your prayers.... for each of them individually, for them as married couples and for the men who are trying to truly follow what they know to be as honorable Christian men. It's not easy in this society, because there are many areas that Christians here just kind of gloss over and don't consider wrong. So, we would appreciate your prayers. We know the Holy Spirit is at work whenever we don't have the words, and we have to really rely on that and take comfort in knowing that.

On another note.... we got a new baby boy who is living at Patti Sue's house. It's quite the group of baby boys over there. His name is Nanki, which means lance/spear in his native language. I don't have any pics of him yet, but here's one that Patti Sue sent out in an email. He has one clubbed foot and one of his femurs is malformed. He's the cutest little thing!!!

Also...I never posted these pics of Jeniffer and Thalia's birthday. Mama Inez gathered all of the kids in one room and surprised the girls with this cake.

They put trick candles on there and all of the kids thought that was the greatest thing on earth when the girls had to keep blowing them out.

One of the Tias shoved the girls faces in from behind..... :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Friday Mornings at Casa de Fe

It's just amazing to sit back and think of how things are continually changing here! School is going really well, and the kids are responding positively to the structure and discipline. (Go figure! :-) The teachers are doing an awesome job of staying motivated and energetic about their work here, and the love they have for the kids is so apparent.

Anyway... We have chapel on Monday mornings, and the teachers introduce the new weekly Bible verse and plan a lesson to reinforce it. The kids also get to sing and learn new songs, pledge to the Bible & Christian flag and pray together. They gather together for a brief time Tu,W,Th before heading to class, but Fridays are exciting for them as well. On Fridays, the kids are presented with Certificates based on who has really stood out the past week. We've been implementing the '7 Habits of a Highly Effective Leader' as some base rules, so there is a lot of focus on character development. All of the kids are growing, and it's a challenging process....but they're getting it! You should see them light up whenever they get the class award for the week.

I was just standing there this morning and struck with this sense of pure joy. I know that a blog post can only impart a fraction of the way I feel and the specialness (for lack of a better word!) of what is going on here at Casa de Fe. BUT....I wanted to share regardless! In the least....I hope it brings a smile to your face and reminds you of what you're blessed with at home or wherever you are.

Veronica got the award for the kindergarten class this week.

Carlos is the only one who's been taking their new karate classes seriously, so his reward was a new uniform. Please disregard the outfit he's wearing in the picture. :-)

Look at that face! He was so excited.

I'm trying to upload a video but having problems. Hopefully I'll be able to post it later!

Kuka

Kuka (Krushkaya) is one of my favorites....although I would probably say that of all the kids if I thought about it. :-) Kuka has special needs, and she is a hoot! She scared my mom and aunt, which I thought was hilarious. Some of her favorite things are to put objects in high places and then watch them to fall to the ground. She gets REALLY excited the louder and bigger the crash of something. She also enjoys sneaking up to high places and spitting on people below. Hmm...what else... sometimes just randomly kicking you when you have your back turned...you know, fun stuff like that.

But her FAVORITE thing is to dance! If anyone starts to sing or play music, she just starts bobbing up and down. She also likes to look up out of the corners of her eyes and turn circles while bobbing. Her position of choice would be standing up on the arms of 2 chairs, bobbing up high. :-)

She came into the office the other day, and Dwight and I had some fun with her. :-) That reminds me...she likes to throw things into the office from behind the fence...and then (OF COURSE) she has to come get them! She usually lingers....pointing to different places on her face where I'm supposed to kiss her before she leaves.

This isn't a great video, but you can kind of see her bobbing up and down while Dwight sings. :-)

Look at that beautiful face! Who could resist that!!??!!

Get Into These Arms!!!!

Ha! It looks funny written out, but I promise it would be much funnier if you could see me or Emily say it in person. We watched a movie while they were here visiting, and a lady said that when she met this other woman for the first time. HI-LAR-I-OUS! I do believe that it is our new friendship mantra.

OK! So… Mom, Aunt Cindy and Emily came to visit us!!! They arrived Friday, the 11th and left EARLY on Thursday, the 24th. We had the rare privilege of catching a flight with MAF to Quito on Wednesday. I didn’t get any of those pics from Em, but I’ll share them when I do. It was AWESOME! They all got to see Ecuador from above rather than on a 5 hour bus ride. We were so grateful for the opportunity!

I’ve been wanting to do a blog since they left, but I didn’t even know where to start. I’ve been uploading some of Emily’s pictures, but it’s taking FOREVER. Literally….5 days of re-trying on upload after upload. I hope the slideshow gives everyone an idea of how much fun you would have if you came to visit us. Ha! Yes, I just said that.

Thank you Mom, Aunt Cindy and Em! And thank you to everyone who sent stuff with them as well! :-)

El Numero Dos

Just so the facts are clear, when I found out that Mrs. McGee, Aunt Cindy, and Tandy's best "girl" friend(second to me of course), Emily, were coming, I was excited about taking pictures and writing a blog so that TANDY would be in the pictures. That alone makes for an award winning blog entry, that is... if there were such a prize. So I put together a little slide show of the pictures I was able to capture. I think the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that certainly is not true with these pictures. The encouragement and excitement Tandy and I experienced could never be expressed by my words or our pictures. It was wonderful seeing Tandy with family and friends and sharing with them first hand the blessings of living and working here with Casa de Fe and the people of Shell.