The Latest

Things have been as crazy as ever lately. There are so many things that have caused me to think...'Oh, I should blog about that.' oops. So. This blog will be very random.

- Construction is coming along, and we are all so excited to get closer to completion. This picture is from a few weeks ago, but it was a very exciting moment for Dwight. He built this attic space above the 2nd story, and it was quite the project. - This is Greg Chalmers handing Dwight the wood....Greg visited with a small team for a week this past summer. He saw the need for more help at the property, asked if he could come.....and now he's here for a couple of months. He's been a huge blessing in so many ways, and we're all encouraged by his servant heart.

2 or 3 weekends ago we had a huge group of volunteers come to work at the property. Patti Sue invited the missionary community, and Steve Wilson brought a bunch of the skilled workers from the hospital maintenance department. We were joking abut this being our own version of Extreme Home Makeover, b/c all of the hospital people were in their matching blue polos. :) This is a picture of Dwight speaking to the group before getting to work. He did the whole thing in Spanish!!! I know I'm not supposed to be prideful, but I couldn't help it. ;)

- Sewer problems. Not a fun topic, I know. BUT.... We experience it regularly here at Casa de Fe. Our kids tend to shove the most random objects possible down the toilet. We were having issues earlier this week, and we had cleared the pipes on our side of the fence as much as possible. It was still backed up, so we had to call the city to come check things out. This is what they did to the street outside of Casa de Fe...... Apparently the culprit was a Keen sandal (we have about 40 pairs of them!). Who knew a Keen sandal could travel that far in such a small pipe!?!

- FUN moment- It's so awesome to see how God brings people together through Casa de Fe. One of our volunteers (last summer and winter), Carolyn Asbach, has become a good friend of mine. I got a random email from her boyfriend (whom I've never met), and this was the result of our conversations:

Isn't that awesome!?! He asked me to send a bunch of updated pics of the kids, and he made Carolyn a book....just passing it off as something sweet to encourage her. The picture above was the last picture in the book, and he was on his knee when she got to this page.... Pray that God blesses their marriage!
Also...please take note of Pablo holding the question mark. It's by far the best part of the picture. :)

I just cannot get over God's creation here.....It's so humbling to be surrounded by this kind of beuaty every day. If we look in one direction, all we can see is rainforest. If you turn the other way....you see snow-capped mountains! It's incredible. It's normally not clear enough to see the mountains, so when they come out every couple of months; we all get really excited and rush to take pictures. - We have now had 6 straight days of crystal clear skies, and we've woken up to this every morning. This is the view from our porch.....It's hard to see the mountain in this picture, but I wanted you to get the idea. These are both actually volcanoes. This is Sangay....still puffing every now and then.

This is El Altar. There is a huge crater on the other side...amazing.

Since we've been here we've experienced both earthquakes and erupting volcanoes. It gives these beautiful mountains- always a reminder of God's power- a whole new meaning. The verse below reminds me of God's infinite power....and our infinite smallness.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in His works-

he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Ps. 104:31-33