Quito!

We have had a CRAZY week, and we are now in Quito trying to relax.... We're staying at OMS with our friends Darryl & Kelly, eating Tony Roma's delivery, watching March Madness, and looking for blog backgrounds. :-) VERY different life than in Shell!
The Doyle's (Dan, Tammy, Connor, and Sean) are flying in tomorrow night, and they'll be spending the next week with us in Shell. We are SO EXCITED that they'll be able to meet the kids and be a part of the work there!
That's all for now...... except I must make a comment about the blog background. Dwight informed me last week that our background was "too girly," so I have spent the last hour or so trying to find a masculine Easter background...... NEGATIVE on that one. So...I gave up and posted this ridiculously feminine background for your viewing pleasure.

Prayers Needed!

Those of you who have visited CDF any time in the last year have met Maria Fernanda, a sweet little girl with special needs. Maria became ill recently, and she passed away at the hospital in the early morning on Saturday. This was very unexpected, and things progressed very quickly.
We buried her yesterday afternoon next to Esteven, and it was very strange to be going through that process again so soon. Similar to Esteven though... We are all taking comfort in knowing that she is perfectly healed and whole with her Father.


Please pray for Patti Sue right now as she is the person who bears the weight of so many decisions that have to be made. Please pray for Mama Ines and all of the Tias who have taken care of Maria for the last year.



In addition to this....we have just had a crazy weekend with several different things going on. Please keep all of the following in your prayers as well:

~ Our teachers: Dallas, Ali, and Lana (Ali's Mom) have a horrible stomach virus (no school tom.)
~ Baby Nanki has the same virus
~ Mike Waskosky fell and broke one of his wrists this afternoon...requiring surgery and the insertion of a pin
~ Amanda is in the hospital receiving IV antibiotics and treatment for some infected areas caused by her cast (which has now been removed)
~ Dolly was brought in to the hospital, but did not have to be admitted. She has been struggling with lung issues, but she seems to be slowly improving.
~ Praise report...Rubi had an abscess on her neck drained earlier in the week. We took her in on Saturday morning to have it checked and cleaned, and the doctor said it's healing perfectly.

Thank you for the prayers that I know will be prayed. It's comforting to know how many people support Casa de Fe spiritually, and we are fully trusting in God's perfect provision right now.

It's SO GOOD to be here....

Because of my ridiculously long post about the last 6 weeks, I'm now posting about what actually took place on Monday. :-)

Monday morning chapel was awesome, and it was so good to hear the kids singing praises again. They learned some new songs while we were gone, so they were very excited to show them off. :-)

Ali planned a skit that the kids absolutely loved! She was playing a train conductor whose train was headed to heaven. She stood on a chair calling for all ticket-holders to come forward, and her mom was the first person to come up. (Ali's mom is subbing for Melissa while she's in the States.) So... Mrs. Lana stepped up and went on and on about how she does so much for the church... AND she sings in the choir... you get the idea. Ali told her she didn't have the right ticket, so she had to walk away from the heaven-bound train.

Miss Dallas was next, and she was a VERY glamorous 'rich lady' - who happened to be wearing purple star-shaped sunglasses. lol... She presented a ticket representing all of her money and how she gives away so much to the church and the poor. This wasn't enough either...

Then came Dwight.... WOW. I am so sad I don't have a video of this, because it was priceless. He had his shorts hiked up really high...glasses taped in the middle...and a big stack of books. He had a ticket of knowledge, and he just DID NOT understand why he wasn't able to get on the train! He KNEW everything, and it just wasn't making sense.

Right here he's adding it all up on his fingers...the kids thought he was sooooo funny.
HA! I love this one.... check out both of their facial expressions.

REJECTED......He's trying to find the right answer in his books as he walks away.

Ali called for any other ticket-holders, and I had given the last ticket to Thalia. She went up to the front, and her ticket just said 'Jesus.' Ali made a big production of it, and everyone celebrated that Thalia FINALLY got it right!!! Jesus was the ONLY thing you needed to make it on the train for heaven.

Here are the rejected ticket-holders....

It was really a cute lesson, and I think the kids truly understood the message. Sometimes it seems like they just hear the Scriptures, prayers and Bible stories, but you don't know if it's really sinking in or not. .... Ali came in to the office yesterday and said that Thalia and Jeniffer asked if they could pray with her, because they wanted to ask the Holy Spirit to come into their hearts. Praise God!

What a privilege to be able to be here and be a part of this.....

On another note... the Tias made my day by making volquetero (minus the tuna). They know it's my favorite, and it's the only time I eat a snack with the kids. YUM! It was just icing on the cake that morning.... Please feel free to come visit, and I will gladly share with you.

We're BAAAAACK!!!!!

Wow! The last 6 weeks have FLOWN by! I apologize for my failure to blog during the last few weeks. I had grand intentions of doing it more while I was in the States......

So...To catch you all up... We had a great time with family and friends while we were home. Some of the highlights...

1. Fried venison

2. Our niece, Amy's ladybug birthday party and weekend with the Elliotts

3. Reprieve from cockroaches

4. Nani's bread...inhaled in various forms- loaves hot from the oven, rolls, sticky

buns, cinnamon toast....you get the idea

5. Our nephew, Cayce's birthday party and weekend with the Striplings, Mom & Dad

Martin, David Martins and MortesDD put this really cool collage on her blog, and it would open up when you clicked on it. I'm not that sophisticated with the blogging world....so sorry for the small pics. :-) This was the first time we saw Cayce since he was born!

6. Lots of time with two of the cutest nephews in the world...Tanner and Daylen- AND their beautiful mom...Kim :-)

I kissed Tanner's little cheeks... A LOT (well...maybe they're not so little)

7. Mexican food...several times

8. Shopping....Including a 5 1/2 hour trip to Wal-mart....accompanied by Dwight :-)

9. A FABULOUS few days (for me) spent with Emily, Peepaw and Bo on the farm

10. Chik-fil-a and SWEET TEA

11. Settlers of Catan with Mom, Dad and Trent (important side note: Mom & I won)

12. TEXAS BARBECUE

13. Dinner with Mrs. Lupe and Vikki...got to see Ryan too!

14. Awesome time in worship with our home church family

15. Mason jar burgers and homeade pizza from Shelley :-)

16. Short but fun time with Kristin & Chris...this included STEAK

17. American Idol with my daddy

18. Shopping (and packing) time with my mom!

19. Sausage cheese balls and oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookies (at

separate times) with Mom and Dad Martin...
20. Sopapilla Cheesecake and LOTS of laughs over old yearbooks with Jeremy and

Carrie

21. Houston Rodeo with David & Kim....Who knew how many Tim McGraw songs

we knew ALL the words to?!?

Wow....There is no way I can mention everyone we spent time with on this list! I'm sure Dwight could make another list and mention 20 different things I am forgetting.

Mr. & Mrs. Martin gave us a ride to the airport last Wednesday. Anyone see any similarities in this pic???

Mom stayed home from work to help us frantically pack. :-)

At the airport.... I wish I had a picture with Dwight's mom, but she conspicuously left all of the ones of herself off of her blog. ;-)

We got into Quito on Wednesday night. Our good friend Darryl Chambers, who runs a guesthouse in Quito, picked us up. Patti Sue and JP were waiting up for us at the hostal...SO GOOD to see both of them!

We got back to Shell on Thursday afternoon, and it feels SO GOOD to be back!!! I wish everyone could visit here, and then you'd understand what I mean. We moved into a new house, so we've been trying to unpack and move in...still a work in progress. :-) We had a team arrive yesterday afternoon, so we've hit the ground running.

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On another note.... Dwight and I needed to raise financial support after we committed to stay another 6 months. Our home church, Conroe church of Christ, agreed to accept money for us in order for donations to be tax deductible. The elders suggested we do a presentation and then the church would give a love offering. We received more than double what we needed to cover these next 6 months!!! We were/are so humbled and overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.

To all of our family and friends who fed us and welcomed us into their homes last month....Thank you! We love you!