So much fun, so little time!!!

It seems like there have been several things happening in the last few weeks, and it only promises to get busier. So, I will just recap a few events...

Missionaries retreat:

For thanksgiving, we went to Guananjuato for our annual missionaries retreat. It is a highlight in our year to be with fellow workers in Mexico. This year was no disappointment. Jason and Heather Thorton from Oklahoma shared with us in a powerful way and just as refreshing was the fellowship with everyone. Are girls enjoyed playing with other kids non-stop also.


Isabella in her Thanksgiving shirt!




Downtown Guanajuato. It is a beautiful city and we enjoyed seeing it. Great place to take visitors!




We seem to attract children! This is what life would look like with twins...



The whole group of missionaries from Guadalajara, Leon, Mexico City, Tlaplan, Cuernavaca and Playa Azul. I think I got everyone.




Our happy family!


Leader's retreat:
The next weekend, we had a leader's retreat to get a head start on next year. It was a huge blessing to spend a weekend with our leaders encouraging them and being encouraged by them. We stayed close to home and stayed in Patzcuaro. It was cold at night, but the fireplaces were very warming. We were challenged to look at our cell groups and evaluate why it has been so difficult to multiply them...2009 promises to be a good year and we look forward to what God will do. We have a great group of leaders and God has truly blessed us and this church with them.



Sam and Isabella hanging out



The view from where we were at. It was beautiful!



Olivia looking mischievous.



One of our sessions with the leaders



The group at the retreat



Christmas movie:
Jose Luis and Adriana thought that a neat way to reach out to the neighborhood around where there cell group meets would be to show a movie in the park area and invite all the kids to come. So, last night they invited us to join them in doing this. It was an amazing activity. First, because it was all their idea, and they pretty much got it all together. They even had people who don't go to the cell offer to help with food and candy. They showed the movie "The Nativity" which was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. They served popcorn and hotdogs for the kids and pozole for the adults. There were around 50 people there, which was just amazing! We praise God for their faithfulness and their desire to serve him and reach out to others.

Tomorrow we have our annual "Christmas Convivio." It should be a special time for everyone. We are expecting at least 150 (food always draws a crowd). Please pray with us that people will see Christ tomorrow in what we do, also, please pray for Sofia. She went to bed with fever tonight, and there are so many fun things for her to do this coming week!

Update: Tomorrow has come and gone and I realized that I hadn't posted this! The Christmas convivio was great!!! We had almost 200 people there and we were thrilled. You will have to wait until tomorrow for all the details. It is way past my bedtime, and Isabella isn't promising to sleep tonight.

Fun stuff I promised

I mentioned that some interesting things have happened, but Sam had the camera, and no blog is complete without pictures. Now Sam is back and I finally have time to blog about it (I should really be in bed!). The first thing that happened a couple of weeks ago is a city wide prayer night. The coolest part about it is that it was in one of the plazas downtown. On the night of October 31st, while a lot of people were doing other things, it is estimated that some 4,000 people gathered in the San Francisco plaza for a night of worship and prayer. It was really neat to see something like this happen. There were even city officials, including the mayor, there to support the activity. This is a first in Morelia, but hopefully not a last.
It's funny, because when we got home, Sam and I were talking about the evening and how neat it was. Both of us talked about how we needed to keep in check our critiquing of the evening and wanting to change this or that, but simply being in the moment. We praise God that churches would come together to do this and that people who have never heard his name would be touched by what they heard and saw. I am firmly convinced that the world will know who God is by the unity of the churches! The disunity of the churches is certainly a huge foothold for Satan.










The second big event was a baptism. This is one that we thought would never happen. On Sunday, November 2, Pina, Adriana's mom was baptized. She has known us since we arrived and knows what we do. She has participated on and off for all this time, but has not wanted to make any changes in her life. She has been critical of her daughter at times, but she has been watching and listening. When she came to talk to us about wanting to be baptized, we saw a woman hurt by life and wanting desperately to be loved and accepted. So, we open our arms wide and love her with the love of Christ. We rejoice greatly for her life. God has already given her a heart of service. She is always ready, willing and offering to help. We praise God for her life and look forward to her place in this community of believers.

Odds and ends

There have been some cool things happen here, but Sam has the camera with him with the pictures, and blogs just aren't as fun without the pictures, so you'll just have to wait for some of the updates.
Sam has been out of town this week. We have missed him very much and are all ready to have him back tomorrow. We were sitting on the couch and Sofia was lamenting how she missed her dad. I was trying to comfort her and talk about it, and she cries..."Daddy is the one that gives us our domingos (allowance)." Oh, that's a good reason to miss dad!
Here is one of our moments without dad around. It sounds funny writing about it now, but it sure didn't seem funny at the time. I'm learning to laugh at myself -- someone says that it's healthy! So, the night before Sam heads out is a long night with Isabella who is sick and fussy. As Sam heads out to the airport, he says "Don't hesitate to call the doctor." Now my dilemma begins whether or not this warrants a visit to the doctor. As I walk in from seeing him off at the door, I almost step in whatever Sofia just threw up. Oh boy, this is going to be fun! Sofia seems fine, so I send her off to school. Shortly after, Sam calls from the airport: "Guess who I ran into? The pediatrician. He says it's probably her ears, but here's the number of another doctor." Only Sam would run into our doctor while traveling, and only Sam would tell him all about our medical problems. So, dilemma number two, do I really want to go to a doctor I don't even know. But, Isabella is still cranky, and I really want to get some sleep, so I make an appointment. The only problem is that the appointment is in the afternoon, so it becomes a family event. I load all the girls up and off we go. As we wait for the doctor, Sofia and Olivia go to the play area at the end of hallway/waiting room, and Victoria is studying for her grammar test. When the doctor arrives, I send Victoria to get the girls. Sofia comes running, but Olivia isn't so sure...I can see there is trouble, so I head the 50 meters down the hallway to get her. As I hold her hand to come with me, she does the dead man's float on dry land. You know, it's the one where they become full size, double weight rubber dolls. I'm holding Isabella, so I can't even spank her to get up. Finally I pick her up and walk all the way back with a baby and toddler in arms. Finally, we're contained in the doctor's office. Immediately, Victoria gets called on for playing with the scales. As I'm talking to the doctor, Olivia gets the panicked look that she needs to go pee. I look down, and it's too late. Victoria offers to take her to the bathroom, which I'm glad for. They step over the puddle and before I know it, instead of using the bathroom in the office, they are out the door and down the hall for the public bathroom. Ahhh!!! Of course, as the doctor is checking Isabella out, she is all smiles, totally opposite what she had been all day. We survived. The doctor was very kind even when we apologized for the puddle on the floor (at least no one peed on him), and he assured us all was good, since he has 4 boys. What more could we do but top the evening off with a little Starbucks drive through (for hot chocolate, of course).
For some crazy reason, I thought it would be a good idea to take Victoria to the movies while Sofia was at camp. BIG, BIG mistake. Victoria wasn't the problem, in fact, she loved it. It was the rest of her sisters...Olivia walked up and down the aisle, played and tried as hard as she could to get out of my reach. Isabella fell asleep pretty soon, but with all my moving around to catch her sister, didn't last long. I was up and down for most of the movie. Fortunately, there weren't many people there to disturb, so it was okay. Mental note: next time leave the rest of the kids at home (not alone, of course!)
To close off lunch today, I got the girls ice-cream cones. It seemed like a good idea, but once again, not so much. Olivia's ice-cream fell off the cone at least twice before we got home. I'm very grateful for leather seats (Sam will be too when he finds out).
Enough rambling and off to bed.

Sofia goes to camp

This past week, our sweet little Sofia went to camp by herself for the first time. Along with only a few of her classmates, she spent overnight at a school camp. She seemed to enjoy herself very much! The principal told us about her zip-lining experience. He told us that as she was zipping along over the lake, she stopped mid-lake (not enough body weight to propel her across). So, rather than panic, she carefully followed the leader's instructions and pulled herself on across. He was very impressed that she wasn't scared at all. Of course, Sofia told us about it also, and has told us several stories. My baby is growing up!
Sofia never ceases to amaze me. Last week as I picked her up at school one afternoon, I walked in and didn't find her with her class. I did however find her surrounded by 6th graders! They were treating her like royalty, and she was eating it up!!!! The teacher said that Sofia claimed they were her sisters. Only Sofia...

Sofia waiting to head off to camp




Sofia and friends on the bus to camp

Problem solved!

In Mexico and most Latin American countries, people are fairly concerned about getting cold because you might get sick. They feel especially strong about this with kids; therefore, their babies and kids are dressed from head to toe many times including tights, hats, gloves, coats, and always, always, shoes. Well, we don't fit that mold very well. Often times the girls are without jackets (because they're not cold) and at home shoes are optional. I'm especially not a big fan of shoes for babies, because they fall off and I have to keep track of them and I don't really see the practical need for them. Well, this weekend, I found the perfect solution to this problem -- tights that look like shoes!!!! They are so, so cute and it looks like Isabella is wearing shoes (so no one is concerned about her health) and I don't have to keep track of shoes that fall off. I love it! They have socks like these, but I couldn't find any. So, if you know where I can find them, let me know!









We ate lunch at Chili's (not unusual for us), and on Sunday's they have a lady that does face painting. Sofia always gets her face painted, except today because she is sick and up to much of anything. Olivia always wants to get her face painted, but at the moment of actually letting the lady do it, she backs down. Today, however, she let the lady do it and she looked so cute. You can see the end result here.

Norman Rockwell Saturday Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon was a rare occasion...For starters, we didn't have any activities planned, so we enjoyed a family day at home. It was very nice. Actually, our time together started the evening before with a fun walk/ride around the neighborhood. Then, on Saturday afternoon, the girls did some crafts they had wanted to do, and I didn't find any excuses for not doing them. After lunch at home we enjoyed an afternoon of music and fun. The girls each played their instruments and Sam helped them. They are each doing a great job and enjoying guitar and violin. Sam sang them the song that he wrote for me at camp way back when. They thought it was pretty funny. He even wrote a new song for our family today. We wrapped up the evening with playing with the neighbors and watching a new movie. Everyone seemed to have a good time. These are times when I am especially grateful for the family God has given me and reminds me that we need to be deliberate about making more times like these.




Olivia doing a little cooking during the family fun






Victoria and Sofia having a good time!




Sam and the girls playing guitar

Weekend in San Antonio

Last week I had the blessing of getting away to San Antonio, TX for an extended weekend. Sam held down the fort with the three oldest and Isabella and I headed north. Oak Hills Church hosted a Children's Pastor's Conference in Spanish. I had known about it for a while, but hadn't really contemplated going until I realized that it might actually be a doable thing. It was a tremendous blessing for me. Isabella and I stayed with our good friends David and Janie Padilla. They have known Sam for a long, long time, and I have known them since I was in school at ACU. I used to babysit their girls and my claim to fame is that I taught them to eat cookie dough! Their mom was petrified, but they have grown up to be well adjusted young adults, and no stomach trouble. Amazing!!!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The conference was so good. It was just the breath of fresh air that I needed. I met some really neat people from all over the USA and Latin America. I think that a big part of it was to see quality materials, resources and very talented people in Spanish. It was good. I was renewed in the vision for what we want the children of this church to be about. I also really enjoyed to see how Oak Hills is doing some of their bilingual ministry in San Antonio. It was very cool to see how the worship flowed from English to Spanish and back. Something Sam and I have dreamed about for churches in the USA. Of course, the opportunity to have to keep track of only one kid and not have the usual responsibilities was a breath of fresh air also.
Sam did an amazing job at taking care of things on the home front. They had a great time, did homework and made it to school everyday. So, all is good. The fact that he was so encouraging in having me go and taking care of the girls made the time all the more enjoyable. Isabella did get a little clingy, to say the least, so it felt like I held her for most of the time we were gone. She did well on her first plane ride. She cried a little, but mostly slept and ate. It put her in a great mood as we went through customs, so they were all enjoying her and not terribly concerned with giving us a hard time. As we buckled in for the plane ride home and the plane started to move, she started the action in her diaper. It was not pretty!!! By the time we made it to the bathroom it was quite a mess and she needed a whole new set of clothes. Let me tell you, those airplane bathrooms are small enough as is, but when you have to change a diaper in them...they're really, really small. Never a dull moment!
In spite of all of that, it is great to be home!



The Padilla Family -- David and Janie, Cassandra, Adriana, Joshua and Jon Austyn






Isabella hanging out with her new friends -- David and Jon Austyn






Isabella looking cute (this was after she had to have a full change of wardrobe due to an explosive diaper!)