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!

We are here!

Ahhhh...Serenity now...

On Monday afternoon, after some heavy traffic, thinning patience, dead phone battery and "recalculating" by our GPS friend, we made it to Eleven Straight Lane in the Ft. Worth area where we will be staying for the next several weeks. We are in a beautiful house on Miss Peggy Nelson's ranch, and it could not be more perfect! We have enjoyed eggs fresh from the chickens here. Olivia is looking forward to feeding them one of these days, and we have already checked out the lake. Sam is already working on his fishing plan.

We are thrilled to be here and to see so many of you that we haven't seen in a while. If you want to find us...you can at:

(817) 490-0107 or our cell # (817) 505-7552

We would love to hear from you and see you!

They already checked out the boats to see that they are in working order

Isabella enjoys a drier ride while she waits for her sisters.

Too cute

On the trail North...San Antonio and Austin

Pretending that it is fall in Harlingen...it was still very, very hot for October

Some of the Vincent cousins try to all look at the camera at the same time

After two weeks plus with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, we packed up and started our slow trek north. While with our families, Sam attended a Wild at Heart weekend retreat for men in the Colorado Rockies. He had a great time and made some new friends.

Sam enjoying some fishing in Colorado

On our trek north, we decided that a mini-family vacation would be a great start to our furlough. So, what to do to entertain and amuse four kids between the ages of 1 and 10?! Sea World seemed like a perfect match for everyone, we really like San Antonio, and what a great opportunity to visit our friends David and Janie Padilla. So, San Antonio it was. We had a great time. Sea World was fantastic for everyone. We could not have asked for a better day -- sunny and cool! There was something for everyone to enjoy. The animals were all fascinating, from dolphins, to sharks, to whales. It was a little tricky to figure out where to be at what time, but we managed pretty good. Sofia is our roller coaster girl. Since there were hardly any people there, we were able to ride all the rides multiple times. Victoria stuck to the smaller rides, with her dad, but Sofia begged to ride the Steel Eel as many times as I would let her. We stopped at 6...She's my girl. Olivia was a little sad that she couldn't ride some of the rides, but seemed to get over it rather quickly. It was a super day, and as a family, I must say, we did great! I do have to brag on Sam. He did the all the planning and did an amazing job at leading the family in a fun-filled, calm, let's-be-nice-to-each-other day. We all hit the pillow tired that day!

Of course, the highlight of the day was Shamu and his friends. The show with the killer whales really is incredible. It amazes me how with the beautiful animals, skilled trainers, the music and the show, we all left inspired to "follow our dreams" or at least awed by God's creation. Seriously, I was in tears a couple of times. So, after this inspiring show, comes my ethical/moral dilemma. I decided to read the little information mural only to find out that most if not all of those whales have been artificially conceived and bred in captivity. In my mind the sole purpose for these animals is to entertain crowds. Of course, the trainers would say that there is value in the research that they do to help the wild whales survive and keep the animals out of extinction. Not one of those animals would be able to survive in the wild. No wag of their tail or fancy jump will get them lunch! So, here are these amazing creatures that God created for the immensity of the seas, but to survive, they are confined to a giant pool, doing tricks to get a treat. It made me a little sad...and made me think that God has created us for the immensity of his creation and dreams, and so often we limit ourselves to pools because of our fears, insecurities, and whatever else we choose to grab hold of. Food for thought...

Stroller - best money spent all day!

A hug from the penguin

Watch out for the sharks!!!

One of the roller coaster rides. Olivia got to ride this one and she was thrilled!

Olivia shows off her blue tongue...waiting for Shamu can be troublesome

Shamu or one of his friends posing

For the rest of our stay in San Antonio, we enjoyed the Alamo and a bit of the River Walk. The girls were not nearly as enthusiastic about the Alamo after a day at Sea World, but they saw it, and we impressed it upon them to "remember the Alamo." They kept asking when we were going to the mall! Oh, well...We also had the privilege of attending worship services at Oak Hills and one of their satellite churches, the Fiesta campus. It is always a special time for us to worship with other people, and it was special to do this with David and Janie. The girls were wound up at Oak Hills!!!! They were literally bouncing off the walls. It got me to thinking that I think I have a few things to apologize for to my parents, when we were on furlough...hmmm....On Sunday we had lunch with our friends and their family and were blessed with deep conversations about ministry and where God is working. It is great to have times like these.

Alamo...been there, done that

We then continued our trek a very short north to Round Rock to spend a little time with our friends Jared and Cristy Abels. Despite the fact that we adults were outnumbered 2 to 1, the 8 children in the house seemed to entertain themselves and become fast friends. Again, it was a late night of catching up and being encouraged by each other. But alas, our time came to an end and it was time to move on. Ft. Worth, here we come...

Jazmin and Sofia in the My Little Pony beauty salon

The impossible photo: Cristy and I with Victoria, Sofia, Olivia, Isabella, Jazmin, Jonathan and Kayla. Eliana was at school and very sad that she could not be in on the fun

Furlough

I have decided that I can either live life or report about my life, but it's a little complicated for me to do both right now. So, the fact that it has been more than two months since I have blogged, should come as no surprise. We will see how things go. We have been in the States for a week now... We are on furlough for the next couple of months. This is a special time for us to break away from the normal routine of our lives, to regroup, refocus and enjoy the fellowship of family and friends. This is the first time that we take our furlough in the fall, which should be special to be at Richland Hills for all the Harvest activities. On the other hand, this means the girls are not in school. We are keeping up their school work via email and that means mom gets to be teacher also. So far it is going well, and the girls are staying focus. Hopefully it will stay that way!

The beautiful scenery on our way north. Not snow capped mountains, but mineral capped, or something like that.

More scenery

A walking break during our travels.

We are in South Texas right now enjoying family time. It has been a special challenge with our four girls, or maybe it has been a challenge with our attitudes and expectations, but all in all, we have all done well. The trip up was as uneventful as could be expected and everyone did well. We will spend another week or so here before we head north to be in Ft. Worth at Richland Hills. Stay tuned...You may or may not hear from us!

Some great cousin time with the GeoTracks

Cousins are so much fun and we are learning a lot about sharing!!!

Birthday season

 Our very cute one year old!

These past couple of months have been birthday season for us.  In June we celebrated Isabella's first birthday.  I know that everyone says how much time flies, and it certainly  has.  Isabella is such a joy to our family.  Her sisters love her (she isn't quite old enough to get into all their things yet) and she loves them.  She certainly knows how to get our attention with a blood curdling scream that makes you think she just had some body part amputated, crushed or otherwise mutilated, when in fact she just wants a drink of whatever we have or a toy that Olivia is playing with!  We celebrated her birthday a few days after the event since on the actual day I was at the beach with cousins ( I know, I wasn't there for the big day, but she won't actually remember that her mom wasn't there, so no one tell her, please).  Anyway, we had a small gathering and had cake for her.  The special thing for Isabella was that she got to celebrate with both of her grandmothers.  It was special for all of us.  Sam's mom came to help Sam with the girls while I was gone, and my mom enjoyed the beach with us cousins and then came to help us move (another story).

The black eye was a small accident while I was gone!  The hard knocks of life came early for her.

Isabella enjoyed tearing into her birthday cupcakes.

 A birthday caterpillar.

Our beautiful girls in their new beach dresses and one last shot in our ity-bity back yard.

Moving onto July, we celebrated Sofia and Sam's birthdays together.  Sam turned the big 40, so we had to do something big to ward off any mid-life crisis ideas!  So, while Sam's brother Isaac was here, we had a fun party to celebrate.  We planed on about 25 people and ended up with 40 or so...But, it worked great in our new house and we were excited to put it to good use.  We rented an "inflable" or bounce house, and let me tell you it was worth every penny we spent on it.  The kids had a blast the entire time and I didn't have to worry about what they were doing to the house.  We cooked out, ate, ate and then ate some more.  Sam got a restaurant-strength, professional espresso maker for his birthday, so he enjoyed making espressos for the men.  The women had to settle for coffee pot coffee.  Sam also got a trip to Wild at Heart men's retreat for his birthday.  He gets to enjoy that in October.  It was a fun birthday festivity, but we are also glad that we are done with birthdays for a while.

Sofia turns 7!  She wanted a Barbie cake

Blowing out candles.  Sofia was especially excited about "mordida" taking a bite out of the cake.

All the festivities in our backyard

Fun, fun, fun bouncing around

All of the kids enjoying the "inflable"

Sofia got an American doll for her birthday, and we think it looks like her.

Our other American doll

The rent place was generous enough to leave the "inflable" overnight, so the girls were up very early the next morning to get a little more jumping in.  It was a lot of fun!