Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Mexico Part 3

 I'm finally back with more from our big trip to Mexico and a bunch of photo memories.  This batch is some additional shots of our time in the city of Saltillo.  

The kiddos thought this park was great fun!


Here is a sweet one of Clara and her friend climbing the many stairs leading up to the Dinosaur Museum!


Friends!  On our way to the Museum

At the Museum.  The kids enjoyed this adventure too!


On the zippy outside the museum.

Another park shot!

And oh, what a treat!  Getting to ride in the back of a pick-up.  Vehicle laws are a little different in Mexico.  :-)


Our very gracious hosts helped up celebrate our dear Hilkiah's 6th Birthday, with another get together with the church group.  We had a delicious meal and they baked him a cake! 


A street food treat in the city of Torreon!!!

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Mexico Part 2

Ok, starting off this "Part 2" post, we have a picture that was taken on our trip down to Mexico.  This shot should give most of you a clue as to where we had dinner.  Cracker Barrel.  :-)  That evening we also got to enjoy a salt water pool at the hotel we stayed in. 

Ok, on to where I left off on the last post.  Our first stop was in Monterrey, where we stayed with a lovely and very hospitable family!  One of things we got to observe while with them was an annual outreach to children that they do in a park.  The outreach has to do with Mexico's national children's day, which is like our Mother's and Father's day.  The picture below shows a few of us after some initial set up was done and before the kids arrived.  Quite a few children came and were treated to singing and lesson time (about David and Goliath), games, crafts, sandwiches and treats. 



Here's two shots of the home we were staying in.





The four pictures below were from the night we were taken to a historial site high on a hill over looking the massive city of Monterrey, where we were treated an excellent view of the city lights.  After taking in the sites we sat down and had a singing time and a late night picnic.  Hilkiah LOVED the bolillo sandwiches!!!!!!  He wanted the recipe.







From Monterrey, we headed to Saltillo a very historic Mexican city.  This first picture of of a weekly children's outreach that a local church does in a very rough neighborhood.  May the Lord Jesus richly bless them and give great fruit as they faithfully minister in this way!





The next couple shots are of the lovely family (and one of their other guests) that we stayed with in Saltillo. 



A cute though somewhat out of focus smile from Tirzah.


Clara and Hil "helping" with a baking project.  The younger daughter was just barely older then Clara and they had some fun times together.  The older daughter, Elda, was so good to all of us!

The next two shots are from a delicious meal following a church meeting.  The family we stayed with have been faithfully hosting the assembly in their home for over 20 years!


And of course, there is always the need to recharge with some sleep!


More to follow...

Friday, May 20, 2016

Mexico Part One

A little over a week ago our little family returned from a pretty big excursion.  A trip to Mexico had been in the works quite a while, and finally, in April/May of this year it happened.  End of April, the 7 of us (baby bump included :-)), loaded up and began a long drive south.  The first night we spent in a motel in Texas and had a dip in the pool. 

The second day found us crossing the border and not really knowing what we were doing.  At first we tried to cross where, unbeknownst to us, only commercial trucks are allowed to cross.  We then stumbled around trying to find the place where "little old us" crosses.  We found it. We assumed we would be stopped, our passports stamped, and whatever else needed to happen would be taken care of.  Well, we kept following the car in front of us and found ourselves all the way across the border, in a Mexican town, passports never looked at, no permits, no nothing.  Free pass today???

We carried on to our first destination, the city of Monterrey, a couple hours from the border.  We found that city to be teeming with traffic, much of which drives quite aggressively.  The streets also over abound with speed bumps.  Rather jolting experience.  :-)  We truly were in a new place.

We joined the family we were staying with at a Bible study in the home of another family from their church meeting.  We were ushered into this lovely little home where, thankfully, the singing wasn't over yet.  That singing was beautiful.  It filled that little home, resounding off the the walls and hard floors and touching your heart, even if you didn't understand the words.  It was a lovely welcome to Mexico.

Much more to follow, but that is a start. 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Random Cutnesses

 These first two pictures are from a math session awhile back.  Our curriculum had this very fun day planned where the kidos got to compare different items and guess what would weigh more.  It made for an easy and enjoyable session.  Fun stuff.  Hil in particular really got into it and did some hollering when their guesses were correct... which was almost every time.
 Ok, and every kido needs to have a picture of them at the kitchen sink.  :-)
 The invaders of Mom and Dad's bed.

 
Sister Sweetness

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Word Escapes Me

At the breakfast table this morning, with a plate and two pancakes sitting in front of him, Ittai says in a grumpy voice "I don't have something."  He indicated Clara's plate and said "one of those."  It was a fork.  :-) 

Also, at breakfast, I asked the kids if everyone had a good sleep.  Clara responded with earnestness, "Oh yes!  I loved it!"  Sounding too grown up. :-)

Monday, April 4, 2016

Of Indians and Armies

There was a little 3 1/2 year old fellow playing Indian outside just a bit ago.  I called said fellow inside to finish the salad left uneaten on his plate.  After coming in, I was informed that "Indian's don't eat salad.  They eat corn".



One morning a while back, Hilkiah announced that he wanted to have 19 kids.  His older sister responded along these lines: "You don't want to get married, and you have to get married to have kids."  Hilkiah's explanation for why he didn't want to get married was "I didn't want to get married because I thought every time you got married you had to fight in the army."    :-)

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Mini Vacation

 A couple weekends back, we took an impromptu, one night trip out of town to see a couple vehicles we were interested in buying.  We ended up not purchasing either vehicle, but we were blessed with family fun along the way.

Lunch at DQ



Fun on a coin operated horse



Some great faces from my boy.  


Our night away

Monday, March 28, 2016

Some Recent Cuteness

Tirzah waking up.


 A little later, this great yawn was captured by big brother, Hil.



 One of my precious artists, Ittai.


 Another precious, if more messy, artist. :-)


Sweet Girl



 Several weeks back my big girl asked to sleep with curlers.  Here she is after they were put in.  And the following picture is the fine lady the next morning.  :-)

Friday, March 25, 2016

Blessings

It's been a day of blessings.  Life can be so full of challenge, struggle, things I don't understand, but God is so GOOD to pour in such blessings with it.

Some blessings from my day:

The serious face of a three year old, facing me with his sweet brown eyes and listening as I read from the Bible.  That look of attention was so precious.

That same precious child, because of listening to  a book being read later in the morning, asking with sweet eagerness if "Jesus would come to our house?"  And later in the conversation saying "I would say Hi and hug Him".  It gave Mommy the opportunity to share with him and the others that if he would put his faith in the Lord Jesus, Jesus would come to live inside him and and would be with him always.

This same sweet little fellow bringing yet MORE weed flowers as gifts for Mommy.  A three year old sweetly bringing you weeds is just way too precious!!!!  Seriously.

Potty-training successes.  We're "behind" on that, but very thankfully, the Lord has been blessing us with progress!  And boy, it can be exciting... and a relief!!!!

All the bigs going to Grandma's for part of the afternoon.  I took my dear Tirzie on a walk.  As she was riding in the stroller, without older sibling to distract her, she started singing away.  She knows a few words from "Jesus Loves Me".  She sang and sang.  Sometimes I would join her and then she would carry on solo.  "Twinkle twinkle" got added in there a little bit, but we mostly sang Jesus Loves Me.  Preciousness, that may not have happened or been appreciated with out that one-on-one time.  Thank You, Lord.  And thank you, Grandma!

Monday, March 7, 2016

Snipets

A few snipets from life in these parts:  We had a sonogram, and our latest Blessing is due September 12!  That puts us at 13 weeks right now.  We had the sono at 11 weeks 4 days and our tiny little person put on a good show! Already jumping in there! :-)

Here's some cuteness from the big sister:
 This girl brings us soooo many smiles and such joy.  She is developing like crazy and adding words rapidly to her vocabulary.  She loves to hold up phones or a toy camera while saying "cheese. cheese."  Then she'll turn the device and offer you to " 'N she?" (offering for you to "see" her latest "photograph").


Some friends invited us to join them last Saturday at Home Depot's once a month workshop for kids.  This month, the project was assembling and decorating toy wagons.  We'd never been before, and the kidos really enjoyed it.  Here's some shots of folks at work, followed by a photo of the finished projects.  That one includes our little friend.  





This last shot was taken today, of folks enjoying a spur-of-the-moment treat: fast food picnic for lunch!  Fun stuff!!!