Leader's Retreatngi

Every year we have a planning retreat with our leaders to look at our past goals, set new goals and plan out the coming year. We had originally planned it in December, but it didn't work out, so we finally did it last weekend. I have to tell you, this was a time where God really convicted me in my lack of faith. He just blew me away with what He did that weekend. After debating where to do the retreat, we just decided that the easiest would be to stay in town, so we had it at our house. Our "old" leaders were wavering for various reasons, so we weren't even sure if they would show up, and at one point I wondered if anyone would come! Much to my surprise, we have 15 leaders in our home. It was amazing!!! All of the "old" leaders came, but most were fairly new leaders. It was so exciting to see their excitement and their willingness to serve. We did things a little differently this year in that Sam had a couple of men (both fairly new leaders in this church) speak to the group. It was great to see people from here step up and challenge the rest, and everyone rose to the challenge.

Pepe Reyes speaks to the group

Pepe Reyes spoke on how we can each evangelize in a very real and practical way in order to have exponential growth in the church. None of his ideas were really new to us, but the way that he put them together and shared them with the group was inspirational. It gave each of us a measurable task on what we can do to share Jesus with others. The other person that spoke was Carlos Camacho. Carlos is a preacher and evangelist, and his family moved here from Venezuela a few months ago to work with Steve Austin and the Gulf Coast Biblical Institute (I think that's what it's called). We knew about each other, but didn't know that we were in the same city. Finally, we have connected and they have been a blessing to the church here.

It is time to have new faces in our leadership, and I praise God for that. I also ache for some of our long-time leaders, because they are really walking some tough roads right now. They are in the fire of the enemy and we pray that they will put on the full armor of God, fight and be victorious in Him.

We have a full year ahead of us, with several groups from the States planning to visit this summer. It should be exciting as usual!

A full house! (and yes, those are our Christmas lights in the background. One, we're not too motivated to take them down, and two they really look pretty still)

Everyone listens attentively

Happy 11th Birthday, Victoria!

Victoria blows out the magical candles before digging into chocolate cake!

Last week, our eldest turned 11. It seems hard to believe we have an 11 year-old! We reminisced with Victoria about the day that she was born...what we did, how it happened, how the doctor almost dropped her, how we were surrounded that entire day by friends and family. It was a great day! It rocked our world from that day on! We have declared this year to be a non-party year for birthdays, and with much complaining and agonizing, Victoria managed to have a great day. She got to invite two friends to lunch and then over to the house for cake and relaxing. As the birthday girl, she got to choose where we would eat. The girl picked the all-you-can eat Brazilian churasqueria!!! That girl has her father's taste. It was a delightful lunch with two of her friends from school, and it worked out well, since they still charged them children's prices (wheuuu...) At home, Victoria followed a scavenger hunt to find her gifts, which included a makeover for her bed. She seemed delighted and is enjoying her own, new space; although it is in high demand with her sisters.

We thank God for Victoria every time we look at her. She is so beautiful inside and out. She has a tender heart for others including her sisters. We marvel at what God is doing in her. Some days, we even get sneak peaks at the mood swings to come, and wonder how we'll manage, but for today, we don't need to worry about that. She's still our little girl, sort of.

An early morning hug before school

Victoria loves on Sofia since she got to open her gift before heading to school

The birthday entourage: Isabella, Victoria, Jack the dog, Monica, Dania and Olivia

Discovering the birthday loot -- a Nintendo

Victoria's new bed

This now hangs on her wall. I made it for her, and it has the I Peter 3:4. Okay, so I'm no artist, but it was fun to do and a bit of inspiration for Victoria.

Isabella insisted on helping with the dishes...hhmm...She's too cute

Hello lost cyberworld

I think that I go so long without blogging, that I get a mental block about it, and then don't do it some more, and then don't do it some more, etc... You get the picture. And then, the big question is where to begin or pick up from. I think the easiest will be to just start where we are at. Novel idea...

We are all alive and well and kicking! The girls keep me very busy. In fact, Olivia got a hold of the scissors the other day. You can guess the rest. Victoria brings me the scissors and several locks of hair. Ouch!!!! She basically did away with all of her bangs. The worst was that she was so proud of herself for giving herself a haircut. We had a serious talk about who gets to cut hair, and then she was sad. Our friend Sandy came to the rescue and created a few bangs to cover up the stubble until it grows out. It will be a while!