May flowers

It's been a fun spring for me because several of the trees in my yard flowered for the first time since we've lived here. I have 6 lilac "bushes" and none of them ever had blossoms except one barely at all last year. I even had to ask our neighbor what type of tree they were cuz they didn't do anything cool. So without fertilizing or pruning or even praying, 5 out of the 6 have flowers this year! So that means that they'll just get more and more every year. And my dogwood had beautiful pink flowers on it for the first time too. This is a big deal for me because I have no green genes. I didn't inherit any ability to garden or plant or landscape. Nothing on my folks, they just hired it out. So I have no idea what I'm doing but I've got this amazing yard and garden and I'm benefiting from the old owners investments. And the squirrels left some of my tulips alone so we got to enjoy many of them through their whole blooming time! Life is good.


I took a few shots of the kids as we walked around Cox Arboretum

He wanted his hair to be like his friend, Brayton, from school. Fauxhawk. He is starting to ask for gel in the morning.

We have new neighbors across the street and they are a blessing! Kaitlin is their 5 year old and our kids play together nonstop. It is a new thing for me as a mom to let my kids go over to their friends house to play without me! Lydia is only 3 but totally keeps up with them and talks like she's 5. The 3 of them go back and forth between our houses (with our help crossing our extremely non-busy street) as they play. It will make for a fun summer! And it's bonus cuz Kaitlin's parents are really cool too!

Lydia's first ballet recital was tonight. It was adorable! Her class stood on the stage for a good long song and I think there was some choreography. I was just thrilled that she actually danced on stage and didn't freeze and run off. She even smiled at us as she did her plies and tendus. (she's the one that the teacher is positioning before they start)

Like every show, there's a good party afterwards. It was so fun to watch Lydia love it all!

Loving this season

Probably the highlight of ministry since I've been back was this last weekend at the girl's retreat. It was probably the first major retreat we've ever done with only the girls and the first retreat that I was so heavily involved with every detail and speaking times. And it was so much better than I had anticipated. The Lord had given the other two staff girls (Heather and Sarah) and I vision for it and it was dead on with what the girls needed to hear. The Lord spoke and ministered and we all had a wonderful time. And we ate like queens! No hot dogs or PB& J for us! I'm loving where our girls are right now! There is such a hunger for the Lord and vulnerablity. It's a sweet thing to be a part of.

Steve headed out to Mexico Thursday morning for Punto de Encuentro's first retreat!! We were very pumped that he was able to go and be a part of it. The group down there is doing great and growing! It is very encouraging to hear the updates from it. The retreat is going on right now and I don't know exactly how many went but 15-20 students were expected and that is really great for a first retreat. Our Hondoran "Jesus", Freddy, is speaking at the retreat on the Holy Spirit. It should be a pretty sweet time!

While Steve's away... we've been enjoying the beautiful weather! Here are some shots from the park by Mimi and Poppy's house.

(after eating raspberry ice cream!)

They grow up so fast! It really is crazy. It feels like just yesterday when I was at Pizza Hut for my free BookIT pizza and now we're going for Cole!

Does it ever get easier?

I said I'd try to blog more and I think I'm just barely making my every two week promise. It's amazing how there is always something to do. I get really sick of always something to do and get done. I try to keep perspective and realize that it is more important to spend time with the Lord, or with my kids or on the phone with a student than to keep the house clean or do the laundry or check my email or take a shower! The list goes on. And every so often, like today, I start to have a break down from a pile up of frustration of the lack of control I have in my life. I put the kids down for a nap and they actually stay and then I get to break down before the Lord with all my hopelessness and inability to do everything or do anything right. And with all His gentleness and love, He reassures my that He is in control and that I don't have to get it all right and if I drop a few of the balls that I'm juggling, it's okay. It's when I start to do things on my own that I get overwhelmed and fail. He is continually calling me to more dependence on Him and into His rest. Who can resist? My productivity. My battle is between needing to be a Martha and wanting to be a Mary. That means I'm growing though. I used to love being the Martha. What's the balance? I may never learn it but meanwhile my kids get to school, soccer, and ballet on time with clean clothes on. And my house gets cleaned every once in a while when we're going to have company over. And I still get to pour out vision and speak life into the girls I minister to and plan a retreat for this weekend. And I still more than anything, get to get away with the Lord, waiting on Him, worshipping Him, covering my family in prayer, whether during the kids' breakfast, or "break/nap" time, or late at night. My heart feels more connected with Jesus than it ever has been before and that is all I desire.


Other than that.... Steve's been working on the long awaited, promised tree house. Stage one (the base and deck) is pretty much finished. Stage two (the actually house and railing and ladder) will probably come sometime next month.

After a long day of playing in the yard.

We are grateful for our fun family times. Cole's soccer season started back up this spring and after last year, it could only get better. It's amazing the difference between his demeanor a year ago and now. We left several practices last year because of his moodiness and breakdowns. This year, he is going for MVP of the league and is hilarious to watch.

We also get to play in the city volleyball league. Or first game was tonight and even though we were coming from a non-power, barely any rules church league, we did pretty good. My mom and dad were also asked to be on it after their stellar performances on our church league's team. Mom has to sit out for awhile due to an injured thumb. It's a blast though. Steve actually gets to hit the ball as hard as he wants/can.

So good night and God bless.

Hello again

Well we've been back now for forever it seems and weren't sure what to do about this blog. But we've got enough family spread out all over the country that makes picture updates worthwhile.

Cole turned 5 in February. He was pumped about his bow and arrow so he can now be like Robin Hood. It's really been a whirlwind since we've been back and I really didn't plan much for his birthday. Thankfully, we have friends that could come over with almost no notice when Cole really wanted friends at his party not just family!

Lydia also had her b-day a couple of weeks ago. She was anticipating it for a good month after she watched Cole blow out candles and open presents. This was the first year she really understood what was going on and it really made it fun. She is so expressive and was thrilled that it was her birthday time. When we moved back into our house after Mexico, it felt like every toy and book the kids rediscovered was Cole's. My excuse to Lydia was that he's just older and has more things. So now she gets really excited when something is just hers. We got her a play kitchen for her birthday and she was so proud of it being all hers.

Mom and I got to drive out to Tulsa to help Jess get ready for her babe. She's due the beginning of May and we totally transformed her old office into an awesome baby girl room. And moved and organized her upstairs loft into the new office. It was a lot of work and fun and it looks awesome now. I think she feels more at ease now that her house is ready for mini Miron to come home. It was nice for us too since the trip got rid of a lot of baby gear and furniture that we were keeping for Jess!

Cole jumped right back into preschool here and loves it. Lydia won't start preschool here until the fall but we didn't want her to lose the social skills and development after being with kids for four hours every day in MX. So we put her in a dance class. Okay, it was really just my dream to have my little girl in ballet class but it's a nice excuse! It's only a half hour once a week and she just sat and watched the first two classes but yesterday she finally participated and loved it!
I'll try to post pictures more regularly now that we have a working digital camera!! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebration.

To ease your suspense.... It all DID fit!! Steve did an amazing job of packing. By the end we were just shoving things into any "hole" we could find. He did such a good job that I think we'll make a run by Tonala on the way out! (Ask me what Tonala is sometime.) So we're packed up, sleeping at the Engage house and ready to take off tomorrow morning. Well, most of us. Cole had a rough night tonight and when I tucked him into bed he said that he didn't want to leave. Please be praying that our transition back is just as easy.

Here's what out car looks like, stuffed with a bookcase, about 6 decorative vases, rugs, a coat stand, aquividora (?) and 2 pinatas they brought home from school today. It's loco!!

Here's what we didn't bring (by choice): Cole's and Lydia's craft collection or should I say recycling bin.

Last night as we were getting a head start on packing, pretty much our whole Punto group showed up at our door with tons of wonderful, homemade food (Mexican of course)for our last good-byes. It was a surprise and it made our night. And even though a hangout in Mexico can mean all day, thankfully for us, they came at night and took off only a little after midnight. It was well worth getting nothing done last night. We will miss them terribly.

We got a little picture happy towards the end.

Finishing up

Even though things have been winding down, we've still been pretty busy. Update on the car: Got it fixed and back to us in 3 days costing $450 and got the check from the insurance company within a week to pay for it. Pretty stinkin' fast. We were amazing and grateful since we only had about that time to spare.

We leave Mexico in just a day and half. It's flown by but we are ready to go. Emotionally, that is. We are still praying for a packing miracle to fit everything into our truck. I keep telling Steve- it'll all fit. But he doesn't think leaving a couple junk sheets behind will compensate for the few things I've accumulated since we've arrived. It'll fit. Maybe we'll post a picture of the packed tight/puzzle fitted explorer when we're done. I'm banking on Steve's ingenuity to figure it out.

We had our last Punto meeting on Tuesday. It was sad. We've grown to really love these students. The praise part is that we really feel good about how we're leaving the group. We had some rough spots in there where we weren't sure who was going to commit but the Lord has answered our prayers and everything we hoped to accomplish while we were here has come together. We feel great about the number of students who are totally on board, their connections with each other and Angela's ability to lead this group where it needs to go next. We're now looking forward to heading home.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas party for Punto de Encuentro. All but the last are taken from Paola's phone so the quality isn't the best but oh well.

We had the party at the Engage house since it was already so beautifully decorated for Christmas. Everyone brought a gift to exchange- the biggest thing you could buy for 50 pesos or less ($5). Let's just say there wasn't a lot of stealing going on!

Adrian ended up with a big board of wood. He made the most of it and had everyone write things on it and it is now a nice wall display in his room.

Here's the group and their lovely presents. They are a great group of students. We'll really miss them.

Our plan is to pack up our car tomorrow while the kids enjoy their last day at preschool (Cole cried about missing school on Wednesday when I took the kids to the Zoo!!!) and then spend the night at the Engage house with our loaded up car safely parked behind their gate. We'll head North on Sat morning and 20hours later we'll be in El Paso (with a few breaks and hotels in there). We then head to the Denver area to spend a wonderful Christmas with my family and then to Ohio for our SALT conference which we've got a great group of WSU students going that I can't wait to see!!!! And Steve, like usual, is helping out quite a bit, but it gets us a nice big suite to entertain our family and students in. Please excuse my run-on sentences.

So since this may be the last blog for awhile due to lack of internet while we are driving and a lack of anything interesting to say... Merry Chrismas!!!

Thanks for reading, praying and missing us while we've been down here. We look forward to seeing you in just a little while!

Getting the full experience of Mexico!

This last week, we´ve experienced a little more of Mexico than we were hoping to. Last Wednesday, we parked behind a line of cars and went in search of some clothes for the fam. When we got back, all the cars were gone and ours had a parking ticket on it. They give you half price if you pay it within the first 3 days. - so we saved $7.

Then on Friday, on the way to pick up the kids, Liz was sitting at a red light when a really young looking kid ran into the back of her. Steve got a call, "A car just hit me. I´m in front of the Kinder." By the time Steve got there from CUCEA, the police and the preschool director were there. The light, the bumper, the hatch, the muffler and the corner are all damaged. In the States, it would probably cost $1200-$1500 dollars to fix. But here in Mexico - $500 for everything.
This is what the other car looked like. They had to get a tow truck to haul it away.

Explorer - 1, Jeep - 0.

Trying to figure everything out was a bit hectic and nerve racking. We were really impressed with the police and insurance guys. We´ll get paid $600 this Friday for the damages - just in time for us to pack up and take off for Colorado.

(Additional ironic info below)

When we bought the Explorer, it had a dent in the hatch that would have cost us $600-$800 to fix. But down here, it only costs $200. Well worth it for the resale value. We planned on waiting till we were about done here, but apparently not long enough. We had just got the truck fixed and returned the day before all this happened. The body shop didn´t know that I meant it when I said to them a day earlier, ¨Hasta luego¨ (See you later).