Prayer Request

As we approach the date of our short term mission trip to Mexico, it is quite normal that we would experience some attacks from the enemy. Lately, I have been having some severe migraine headaches. Yesterday it was so bad that not even a vicodin took away all the pain. This morning the headache is a bit better, thank the Lord, but I am having pain in my legs that I have not had in a long time. I am asking for prayer because I know that Satan would like to discourage me by bringing back my fibromyalgia symptoms. I know that God is bigger than this and that He can get me through it all. Thanks so much. We are so excited about our trip two weeks from today we will be begin our first full day in Puebla. God is so good and we are anticipating awesome things when we are there.

Yummm... Chocolate Chip Chookies

Preston definitely enjoyed his chocolate chip cookie at Grandma's house!

Erin's Gymnastics

Today Erin was promoted in gymnastics. We went in to do a make up class and the pre-team coach was there. Since the make up we were doing was ending up being with a beginning class, Erin's coach asked if she would like to go with Rene and try that class. Pre-team is the highest you can go in this particular gymnastics gym. Erin was very excited and she ended up doing her first round off back hand spring the very first time she tried it. I think we have found a place to challenge Erin and to see her advance more. She has been working hard on her back walk overs and has been asked to do a bigger part in our church family production which will be put on before the whole church. In October, the virtue is perseverance and Geri, the worship team leader, asked Erin if she would try to do her walk overs but mess up on them and keep trying and keep trying and at the end of the production, do five of them across the stage. Letting Erin do gymnastics is something that we are very glad we did. It has given her confidence and she has persevered in it.


Below is a video from earlier this month at one of Erin's gymnastic practices.

Preston Turns One!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It is hard to believe that Preston is already one year old. How can that be? Time is going by do fast!

The Life of a Kitten

I came into the office and this is that I found. The life of a kitten is so hard you know. This is Pepper and she is four months old.

Gearing Up...

Today after we finished school, Erin went to a friends house I went shopping to pick up craft items we are bringing to Mexico in a couple of weeks when we are there on a short term mission trip. We prepare many activities while we are there and this year is no exception. We will be making name bracelets for the kids and they will finish them with the beads. In the past we have made name tags for them but they think is is funny to collect the name tags and wear different ones everyday. It is quite funny but defeats the purpose of them having one. So, the team thought it would be good to do name bracelets figuring the kids wouldn't want to loose there bracelets. We'll see how it goes. We are also teaching those who want to know, how to crochet. Of course that is something I enjoy so I will certainly be in on that. We have many more things planned and we link in a Bible lesson with each craft.



The major project we are doing with the kids at Esperanza Viva is the Memory Books. Memory Book Club is a club that was started by one of the ladies in our church, Tamara Farris. She has designed these scrapbooks for kids who are grieving the loss of something. The kids in the orphanage are all grieving someone. The theme song is "I Am Somebody" which goes on to say that "I know that my worth is not found on this earth, I'm a child of the Most High God." It is a place for them to discover that God knows their name and that He has a plan for their lives. Tamara started with them in Africa where so many children are living in refugee camps and have lost parents or loved ones to AIDS. The books are now in seven different countries and five different languages. We helped in getting them traslated to Spanish. She donated 100 books for us to bring down. God is so good! We are so excited to bring them to EV. I am hoping that we can continue the once a month memory book club with them with the staff there or perhaps when we are their full time.
So, things are really coming along. We are down to only 3-1/2 weeks till we go and we will be there for nine days - seven full days there and two travel days.

Our New Curriculum

Psalm 101

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who makes us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheeo of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love

endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through

all generations.

We began using Teaching God's Heart for the World today. We began by reading Psalm 100 - 101 and worshipping with a new kids worship CD that I bought recently. We went over what the Gospel Message is which was a review for the kids but it is always good to have a reminder. We had a prayer project to look at current newspaper and to find an international need and pray together for it. Well, our newspaper had pictures from Hurricane Ike on the front page. It was not international news, but Jim thought it would be a good one to look at. We got the computer out and the kids were able to see the needs that are in Texas because of the hurricane. We then prayed for the people who were left homeless and in need. It was good for the kids to look beyond themselves and pray for those they don't even know.

This week our main focus in school is Bible and prayer. The kids are still doing Spanish every day this week and we will be doing some math. The curriculum requires us to have a personal prayer time and Bible reading time which should get the kids into a better habit of having these times on their own without Mom and Dad. Even though we tell them they should have this time, it is hard if it is not planned into the day to day life. With it being part of their daily school work, it should work better.

Another Letter from Jermaine

We receive another letter from Jermaine this week. One of the things that he said made my heart sing. He is going to church there every Sunday and he is sharing with the other guys in his group about the Bible. As I said in an earlier post, Jermaine rededicated his life to the Lord the day before he went into boot camp. I was concerned about him being able to stand up under the pressures of boot camp. I am encouraged now. God is good!

He was very glad for all the letters being sent. He said that some of the guys haven't received much mail and that their moral is down a bit. He tries to encourage them and talk to them and he said it does seem to help.

Jim and I are trying to see if we can both make it down for graduation. Jim needs to be able to rearrange his schedule to do it. Please pray that he can.

SCHOOL DAYS

SIMPLIFYING AGAIN
After having counters on all our blogs, it seems that it would be better for me to just post everything on one blog. So, I am going back to one blog and I thought I would update the look every month based on the season or the months event. So, this month being the beginning of a new school year, I will have a school theme. I guess this is where the scrapbooker comes out in me. I want to creat new cute pages. The following enteries came from our School Days blog. So some of the it you may have read and some you may not have.

STARTING SCHOOL ON TUESDAY (from 8/30/08)
During the last two years, or has it been longer, we have done a co-op with some good friends the Davenports. Due to a difficult pregnancy and being on bed rest, we will not be doing a co-op this year. But, since we are trying to cram a lot more school into a shorter period of time, this could be good for us. We are wanting to finish school by the end of March because we are moving to Mexico as full time missionaries in April. Jonathan will miss not seeing Adam and Joe every week though.

This year we are trying out new curriculum. Because we are moving to Mexico, I won't have the advantage of the local homeschool curriculum store any more so we are trying Alpha Omega Life Pacs and Switched on Schoolhouse. I have used these before so I am familiar with both of them. I have also talked to one of the mom's in Mexico where we will be living and it is the curriculum that some of the other homeschoolers use there. We will be doing the basic Bible, Math, Language, Science and History and then also we will be doing Spanish. Needless to say, our days will be full.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (from 9/2/08)
We just finished our first day of school for this year. It started out rather well, turned a bit rough and then got better. But, we finished all our work for today which is very good since we are doing extra work these first couple months. I hope everyone else had a good first day if you started today.

HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE (from 9/4/08)



Erin had a science experiment to do for her school work today. She was not aware that I had science equipment like a microscope, beakers, test tubes, etc. Both her and Jonathan were very excited to see. The experiment she needed to do involved a microscope which was fun but then they decided to do some of their own experiments. Jonathan said he wanted to do something with baking soda and water. Of course, I knew what he was wanting to do and I knew that the water would not work. But when we tried vinegar, there were shouts and screams of excitement!

We tried to video tape it but I am not having success with YouTube today. The kids tried to see if regular white vinegar and apple cider vinegar worked the same and they found out that they do.

ADJUSTING OUR SCHEDULE (from 9-8-08)
Well, with our first week of school finished we are now entering our second week. I am discovering that starting the kids with double work in the first week of school is not always the wisest thing to do. By the end of the week, last week, I was discouraged and so were the kids. So, we are slowing down a bit and trying to do some things together which makes school so much more enjoyable. We are also making use of a timer which really helps in accomplishing things in a timely manner. No pun intended. We set a timer for 20 minutes and they work on a subject until the timer goes off and then get a short break. This helps me too, since if they are on a time limit, they don't fool around as much. It keeps them focused and gives me a few minutes without nagging to fold some laundry or do some dishes. So, that's where we are right now.

We received our first letter from Jermaine yesterday. He seems to be doing well. They made him guide so he marches and controls the platoon. It is an amazing feeling to get that first letter and know that he is doing okay. I think we would have gotten the letter sooner but he had the house number wrong. Hopefully he will get the next one right so it won't take so long. We are just glad to have gotten one. On the Marine Mom's board they say that sometimes you don't get a letter at all except the first one which is a form letter. So we are pleased. Three weeks down, ten to go.

Jermaine's Address

Well, I finally received a letter today with Jermaine's address. For those that would like to write to him, it is:

Recruit, Streeter, Jermaine L.
3rd RTBN I CO PLT 3208
39003 Midway Avenue
San Diego, Ca. 92140-3208

It took a while for me to get it because Jermaine didn't bring our address with him or have it memorized. So, he sent the letter to his old room mates and they got the letter to Ashley, his fiance, and she gave it to me today. Well, at least I received it. His graduation from boot camp will be November 14 and he and Ashley are looking at November 22 for a wedding date. It looks like November will be a busy month.

If you send a letter to Jermaine, the envelope outside should have no decorations. It should only his address and your return address. He can only receive letter at book camp, he cannot receive packages.