Bethlehem

One of the local churches in our area holds an event called "Walk through Bethlehem". Our family decided to go take the "walk" last Thursday.

They had live animals. There was a camel outside of the church but all the rest of the animals were inside the church. These guys were at the beginning of the walk.

 

Hannah, Samuel and Bethany went into a bedouin tent to hear a story and have a snack.

 

The four kids each received a bag of coins to spend on their walk. The younger three decided to pay a little extra for a colored head covering.

 

 

Caleb was saving his money for the "sword" stall (they didn't have one!)

 

In the temple, they wrote "Messiah" in Hebrew in the sand.

 

Caleb is helping them write from right to left.

 

They each got to make some money with their first initial pressed into the coins.

 

 

 

More animals in the stable at the end.

 

 

There was so much to do and many things to see. We ran out of time at the end and had to skip the breadmaking and the pottery as well as the basket weaving. It was a great view into Bethlehem at the time of Jesus's birth. Praying that we can stay focused this year on the true reason that we celebrate. May Jesus be at the heart of all that we do this Christmas season.

Going Back . . . With Some Friends!

We are in the midst of training and preparing a team that will serve in Guatemala in early 2012. We have three families, a young couple and a single lady for a total of 20 people. It has been so fun to get to know everyone!

Yesterday, we all gathered to deliver boxes of food and frozen turkeys to families in Omaha. We split our 20 people into 5 cars and then each car delivered to 3 houses. It was a great way to serve and get to know one another better!

We all met up again for pizza after the deliveries were done. The only requirement was that the Nebraska game was on in the restaurant.
Here are Caleb and Peter "glued" to the TV!

The girls weren't quite as interested in the game as the boys were!

There is another whole table of the adults where the women are talking about really important stuff and the guys are watching the game. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of that action!!

More updates and info to come!!

Football and Motorcycles

A "guy" entry - written by Don (that part was by me!)

With the end of summer approaching, the football season has begun. Caleb is in his second year of playing flag-football for Lightning. Practices started in July and they have already had four games. Here are a few pictures. Caleb is number 23. He is right in the middle of the first two pictures.


It is such a great group of players and coaches.

Before the season started, we had the team and families over for a party. Pizza, campfire, volleyball - it was a lot of fun! We had over 60 attend. Here is Sam with a couple of his buddies.


Caleb and I have been working on adding a light to his motorcycle for a year or so. He has slowly been purchasing parts and we have been drawing wiring diagrams and researching on the internet. Over the past few weeks, we started taking things apart....then putting them back together. Here are a couple pictures of Caleb working.


After we were all done, he started it up and guess what? There was light!!! We were very excited.

Here is a side shot cuz it looks cool!

Costa Rica

We have been home from Costa Rica for almost 3 weeks now. The trip was wonderful but the time went so fast. We had such a fun time with our team and at the children's home.

One of our goals was to be an encouragement to the ladies who take care of the children. Their days are filled with lots of hard work and we felt like the Lord wanted us to "hold up their hands" like Aaron and Hur did for Moses:

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Exodus 17:11-13

We didn't exactly lift their "hands" but we did wash and massage their feet and give them pedicures.



We made them dessert and put our hands on each of them to pray for the tough things that they were walking through.

We also took over the care of the kids so they could go to town or have an outing all together. It helped us to appreciate how very hard their job is!


We also had times of doing activities with the kids. They had around 30 kids ranging in age from infant to about 8. Very, very busy!!




They also have Julio who is 14 but mentally challenged. He is the sweetest boy!

There were also a couple construction projects that the men were focused on. Don and Chris made forms and poured cement. They also helped build a "roof" over the lines used to hang all of the kids' laundry. The "roof" will help the clothes dry during the rainy season.

Don and I were on assignment from Samuel to find a "blue jean frog". We never did find one but we took pictures of millipedes, large toads and lots of lizards.

We did make some time for fun as well.
Judi, the oldest member of our team, taught us how to do flips off of the top bunk!

We walked down (and back up) about 330 steps to a beautiful waterfall.

We also had a day at the beach. We went shopping and took a trip on an amazing zip line! It was incredible!

The sunset on the beach was breathtaking!

Costa Rica is a beautiful country. We had an amazing team. We pray that we were a blessing to the children's home there.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3

Costa Rica and Other Things

As we mentioned in our previous post (from a long, long time ago!!), Don and I have been preparing to lead a team to Costa Rica. The training and planning and meeting has been so much fun and . . . a ton of work. Our team is required to meet 8 to 10 times before we leave on our trip. We are down to one more meeting and a "packing party". Our flight leaves on Friday, July 22nd.

Our team has also been reading a book together. Yesterday, at our meeting, we discussed The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels. Chapter 9 of the book deals with "whispers that change the world." This chapter was the most relevant to us as we prepare to go out into the world to serve. The chapter encouraged us to "spend ourselves on behalf of the hungry" with our time, talents and money.

The very last sentence of the chapter was one that touched me the most. It reads, "To care deeply about the crown of God's creation - humanity in all its color, shapes and sizes - and to make sacrifices on its behalf . . . there is no greater satisfaction in all the earth." Such encouraging words for us as a team! We have been having such a great time getting to know one another and seeking the Lord together for this trip.

Of course, preparing for Costa Rica is not all that we have been doing in the almost 2 months since I last posted!

Hannah found three little baby gophers at my parent's house that had lost their mother. We had to take them home with us, of course, so the kids could care for them. Unfortunately, they all died after a couple days but the experience was a great one for the kids.
Bethany did most of the feeding.

 

Hannah did help her out since it is a challenge to feed "three little ones"!

 

The kids have also been doing alot of swimming in between finishing up school and other FUN projects that I had for them around the house!

 

Don had a birthday and Father's Day in June. We did get him other presents (including a cherry tree) but here is a picture of the dioramas that the younger three made for him. They asked him what his favorites animals were and then surprised him with their creations - polar bears, sharks and penguins

 

Caleb and Don have been working on a project for the backyard.

 

Last year, we moved our swingset so we could build a patio. One half of the patio was to hold the pool and the other half was for a pergola. The practical reason for the structure is to hold solar panels that will run our pool filter.

 

Last weekend, Don and Caleb started with the posts and beams.

This past week, Caleb finished sanding and waterproofing the rest of the cross pieces so they could put them up today.

 

They did get a break from "building" last Saturday. They attended an "Appleseed Project" event. They spent the day learning about the "shot heard around the world".

 

And doing alot of shooting! They came home tired but happy!

 

Life has been very full for us lately, but we are very thankful. We are surrounded by water as the Missouri floods all over our region. Fortunately, our house is far enough from the river that we won't personally have issues; however, the highway that runs past our neighborhood continues to get busier as they close portions of the interstate because of the water. It is such a sad time as many people have had to evacuate their homes. We pray that all those affected by the flooding will find the peace and comfort that can only come from the Lord. These things that we accumulate in this world are only temporary but a relationship with Jesus will last for an eternity! Blessings - thanks for reading!