Busy times!

We have so many answered prayers to share!!  The very biggest at the moment is that WE HAVE THE VISAS!!!!!

I have written a detailed narrative of what we have been doing and how this has all unfolded on my Journey of Waiting blog.  You can check it out here:

http://manabita.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/visa-update/

Have a blessed day!
Joy

Sunday Evening...

Well, I just noticed that it's been over a month since I posted on here!  I just can't seem to keep up with everything.   It seems that the older I get the faster time flies by! ;)

We had expected that we would be heading to the US, this month...well actually when we started the whole visa process for Carla and Matthew, we expected to be heading to the US in May or June, but that was not God's plan! We are learning every day through this process, that God's timing is not our timing and that His ways are not ours!  He is NEVER late, and his plans are ALWAYS perfect!  We have received news that our visa process has passed all the steps needed in the US.  The next step is to be assigned a date for our interview at the consulate here.  We have been told that we should be assigned a date in August.  So we are prayerful that we will be heading to the US by the end of August/first of September.  We would really appreciate your prayers about this, as our first scheduled meeting is at a church in VA. Sept. 21-22.  This is a new church for us, and it is really important for us to add to our support base.

This month we have enjoyed celebrating the 4th together as a family.  We "officially" finished up our school year, the first week in July and the kids have been enjoying their vacation.  I have been working on organizing our school plans for the coming year, and figuring out what we will need to take with us to the States.  I have also been working on compiling a reading program that will meet Matthew's needs.  I think that is just about finished, and I'm quite happy with how it has turned out.  It is always neat, when you can "re-cycle" and re-use things that you already own! ;)

Friday, we celebrated Tony's birthday.  The kids and I enjoyed taking him out for supper and trying to spoil him a little bit.

Our church is doing well.  The leaders are doing a great job, stepping in and getting ready to carry the work during our furlough.  This week-end we enjoyed having our Missionaries, David and Monica Proano here, with a group from the US.  They did an "Evangelistic Seminar" Saturday morning, and then Saturday afternoon, people went out passing out tracks and invitations to a program this coming Saturday evening at the church.  This morning we had a guest speaker from the group, and it was a great challenge to our church. This afternoon, we went with this group and several people from our church to the Malecon here at the beach, and shared the gospel through a couple dramas and painting.   We know that 1 young lady accepted Christ, and several people took the gospel of John that was passed out and followed along attentively has David showed how to do the little Bible Study in the front of the book.  People from our church took time to talk with those that stayed around til the end of the presentation, and lots of invitations and tracts were handed out.  Please pray with us, that there will be fruit from this outreach.  

This morning as Tony and I were sitting on the front row, getting ready for the morning service to start, a man that had accepted Christ 2 weeks ago, came up with a huge smile on his face to shake our hands!  He was so happy to be there.  It is so neat to see the joy now radiating from him!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta!  God is working and we are so excited to be a part of his work!

Blessings,
Joy

Celebrating Father's Day...

Here are a few photos of what we did with Tony, to celebrate Father's Day this year...

 

This family photo was taken after services Sunday.

We took Tony to a Mexican Resturant for supper, Sunday. We went about 5:00, and were the only people in there... Most people go out a lot later for supper around here. 

After we ordered our food, the kids gave Tony his gift and the cards they had made.

Everyone loved their dinner! ;)

Carla and Matthew had "Flautas de Pollo"...

Tony had the "El Coyote" 

Teddy had a beef burrito and I had tostados.  It was all delicious!

Today, we went to San Lorenzo, to climb up to the light house. 

You can just barely see it on the top of the  hill.

And we're off...

At the half way point.

This is where I stayed...

but the kids were ready to move on...

"Victory is ours!" is what Matthew said, when they reached the top! ;)

had to take a photo of the "stairs".  There were "only" 650 some...

There were also sea turtle nest marked off.  That was neat.  The kids came home and checked it out on the computer to see photos of the turtles.  

on the way back out of the little town, we came across a bunch of baby pigs crossing the road...

TCK's

One of my grown daughters just wrote a post about some struggles she is having, in adapting and adjusting to life in small town USA.  In her post she is brutally honest about her feelings and also how she has come realize that she has not been fair or just in them.

With some back and forth with all 3 of the grown girls, my oldest, shared a set of blog articles that she had come across at one time, and how they had been very convicting and had helped her in her adjustment back to the US.

For me, the articles articulated some things that I had already known, but hadn't put into context.  They also pointed out some things to me that I had never really thought about.  The one on hypocrisy, is brutal.  While I don't think my husband or I have crossed that line, at least not continually, I can see how, snatches of things said, or even things not fully explained, can from a child's perspective be conceived as such.  WOW!  Very convicting.

The article on leaving and loss, was amazing!  I have personally experienced so much of this, BUT my kids, so much more!

So if you are truly interested in TCK's (Third Culture Kids), and would like to understand where they are coming from and some of  things that have shaped their thinking, (be that misconceptions or truth), I recommend you check out these articles.

Lies MK's Believe

Blessings to you and yours,
Joy

The Journey of Waiting

Here is a link to my latest post on my adoption blog, The Journey of Waiting . Hope you enjoy it!

Busy Days...

We are keeping busy around here!  This coming week the kids and I will be finishing up the basic core work for their school year!   No, we aren't starting our summer vacation early, BUT, I wanted to be finished with the work we needed to do, so that WHEN we receive the visas for Carla and Matthew, we will be able to just go to the US, and not have to worry about when and how to do school the first few weeks we are there. :) So, I guess our Summer Vacation will start when we get to the States!

On that note, people keep asking me, WHEN are you coming to the States? or WHEN are you leaving for the States?  Hate to tell you, BUT we have NO IDEA!!  I can guarantee you that we will be on the first possible flight out, once we receive the kids visas! :)  But exactly WHEN that will be is not in our hands.  We are thankful that God knows all about it and that it is all in his hands and we are trusting HIM!  We know that HIS TIMING is PERFECT!!  So we rest in Him for this.  Don't think, though, that while we are "resting" in Him, that we are not busy.  I have come to learn that "Waiting on the Lord" is an active process.  So during this time of waiting, we are working on getting everything prepared for our absence.  There are things around our house that need to be packed up and taken care of.  There are preparations at the church that need to be made.  This week I will be meeting with Ceci in preparation of turning over the responsibilities of the Ladies Sunday School Class.  I will also meet with our Leader's wives, to discuss how the Mother's Day breakfast went, and also to help them figure out what events they should work on and organize without.  Tony and I will be taking Pastor Darwin and Jessica to the Christian Bookstore to check out new Sunday School material.   I would ask you to please be praying for each of these people as they step up and take on responsibilities for the ministry here.

We had a great day at church this morning.  Our attendance was 140 in the preaching service.  I had 28 in my Sunday School class.   The ladies were still talking about the Mother's Day Breakfast. ;)  I would ask you to be praying for those visitors last week, that heard the gospel for the first time.  The seed has been planted.

Thank you so much for praying for our family and for the ministry here in Manta!  God is working and hearts and lives are being changed.

Blessings to you!
Joy

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!   We had a great day here.  I enjoyed breakfast in bed, and some sweet presents from my kiddos.  Also had the special treat of talking with all 3 of my big girls, and my Mom.

We had a great turnout at church for our Mother's Day Breakfast.  70 ladies attended, and we had several visitors.   Those taking care of the food, did a wonderful job.   Ceci and Melanie did an awesome job with the program.  Viviana and Alexander, were two women from the Bible who visited to share their testimony and how their encounter with Christ changed their lives.   Ceci pulled it together with a very clear salvation message.   They did all that, along with singing all together, and 1 game in the 30 minutes we had for the program!  :)  We also enjoyed giving roses to all the ladies present.  (Moms or not)   We had 188 in our worship service, with several visitors.  It was a great day of planting the seed!

After church, I took photos of 42 different family groups.  This has been a Mother's Day tradition since we came to Ecuador, and other missionary friends introduced us to the idea.  We take photos off all the Mom's present with their families, and then have them printed up and hand them out the following Sunday.

Here's our family's photo from this year...

After church, we came home, and my sweetie, fixed a wonderful dinner for us.  Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, salad and fruit.   It was all delicious.   In the evening we went out to visit our friends Mirian and Fernando and enjoyed chicken and patacones at their restaurant.  Wonderful ending to a great day!

Here are some photos from the Ladies Breakfast at church...

serving breakfast, this was about 9:55am...

Because of the expected turnout we had to change our plan and have it in the auditorium.  So we used the back corner, and the ladies decorated the walls with fans and verses.  

Cristobal, (standing by the keyboard) played soft music for the first 30 minutes, while we served and had breakfast.  Joselyn led us in a song at the start of our program.  

These are our two "visiting" speakers.   Alexandra (in black) played the woman caught in adultery and Viviana the woman who touched the hem of his garment.  (probably not the 2 characters from the Bible that I would have chosen right off, BUT, their "testimonies" were POWERFUL!  I am so thankful for the time and effort they put into to doing this.)

Here is the breakfast that was served.  "Torta de choclo", grapes and a chocolate. It was very yummy! ;)

Ceci, pulling together the testimonies and sharing a very clear Salvation message.

playing a short game... the prize was the "fan" Melanie is holding.

getting ready to end the program.  All the ladies seemed to have a wonderful time.  Everyone got a beautiful rose, to celebrate the day. ;)

Cold Porcelain Clay

Back in 2009, I took some classes here in Manta, working with Cold Porcelain clay, (Porcelana Fria).  It is a huge thing here, and even bigger in Argentina where I have read and been told they have schools teaching it.

This is something that both Teddy and I enjoyed working with, but since our teacher moved away, we kind of got out of it.  Teddy has been after me for a while to make some more dough, and try our hand at it again.

This morning we made a batch.  Here is the recipe we used:

1 kilo of white glue (That's about 4 cups of white glue)
1/2 kilo of corn starch (That's about a pound)
15 drops of Porce Clear, (and no I don't know what this is in the US... you can check it out here: http://meirebari.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=121
3 Tablespoons of baby oil, or vaseline, (we used baby oil, today)
2 Tablespoons of glycerin
1 Tablespoon of Sodium Benzoate (didn't have this, so left it out)
http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Benzoate--2-oz/dp/B0064O8OAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367094361&sr=8-1&keywords=sodium+benzoate

1 Tablespoon of Stearic Acid (you will find it with the candle making supplies in your local craft store)

(I have found some recipes that call for Tylose, and  Wilton White White, which I might try adding when I have access to them. ;)

Before you start mixing or cooking anything, prepare a flat surface, (can be your counter top, can be a mat on your counter or a glass cutting board, etc.) by spreading cold cream, (like Ponds or Nivea) all over it, as if you were greasing a cookie sheet for cookies. ;)  Once that is ready, you can go on with actually making the clay...

You will need a non-stick pan.  We have one that is used exclusively for crafting.

You want to start out by mixing the glue and the cornstarch.  You will want to mix this well until it is totally incorporated. (use a wooden or heavy duty plastic spoon.)

Once the cornstarch and glue is mixed well, add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.

Over medium low heat you want to stir constantly, (and you need to be ready for a workout!), until it starts to form a ball and is no longer sticky when you touch it with you finger.   We're talking about 15 or 20 minutes here.  As soon as it reaches this point, you will want to turn it out onto your prepared surface.   Cover your hands with the cold cream, (have the jar open and near by, so you can keep applying as needed)., and you want to start kneading the dough. Yes, it is hot at first, so you need to be careful.  You want to knead it until it is all smooth, and cooled.  When you reach that point, knead it for about 5 minutes more.  Then divide it into 4 parts, (if you made the whole recipe), and form it into logs and wrap each log in plastic wrap, then put them in a zip lock bag, and then in another zip lock bag.   This dough works best if you let it set for a couple days up to a week before you work with it.   Also you do not want to put  this dough in the fridge.  

There are lots of recipes and tutorials out there.  We should have taken pictures while we were doing it, but to be honest blogging about it didn't occur to me until we were almost finished! ;)

Here is our finished dough.  I put these 2 bags into a larger zip lock and then that into a plastic (tupperware type) container.  If you take these precautions and keep this dough in an airtight container, it will last a LONG time.  

We had some that we purchased over 2 years ago, and were sure it would be bad, but got it out today, and Teddy was actually able to work with it!  :)

Here is what he did today.  He wasn't totally happy with it, but as I reminded him, it's been a long time since he worked with dough, so I thought it came out pretty good keeping that in mind. ;)

He has some cracks in it, and that is due to the fact that he didn't work it well, to keep it smooth, and some times he took longer, and didn't always keep the dough he wasn't working with covered.   But I thought for his first attempt in a while, that it came out well.   He wanted to make a Panda, because he's been studying China in school.  So this is part of his end of unit project.  He will be writing a report about Pandas to go along with it.  

If you are interested in learning more about his neat type of Air Dry Clay,  you can check out this wonderful blog...

http://coldporcelaintutorials.blogspot.com/

Here are some photos of things we made in the past...  

This was my first project in class. ;)

I made these magnets to give out at a ladies conference. :)

I hope that you enjoyed visiting with me today, as much as I enjoyed sharing.  We are really newbies to working with cold porcelain, so if you have any tips or ideas you would like to share, feel free.  

Blessings to you!

Joy

Leaving the Baby...

My family and I are preparing for a 6 month furlough in the US.  That is always an exciting time for Missionaries!  You look forward to being back "home".  Eating at your favorite restaurants, (let's see Teddy boy is looking forward to Sonic and Ryans) ;)  Shopping at Walmart, and visiting with family!  We have 7 grand babies we are waiting to see, 2 of which I haven't met yet and 3 of which Tony hasn't met!!

But, there is also the other side... when we head to the States we are leaving "our baby" behind.  This baby we have labored over, and nurtured for the last 7 years.  We were there when it started on solid food, and when it took its first faltering steps.  We have prayed over and doctored when it was sick, and we have rejoiced to see it healthy and strong.   When you leave your baby, you always wonder, if those with in whose hands you have left it, will care for it the same as you.  Will they love it, will they nurture it, will they weep over it and rejoice with it?

Paul worried about the same things, and he wrote to the Philippian in church in Philippians 2:19-20, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

But he also said in Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

So as we prepare for our furlough, and prepare our church family, (our baby) to stand alone without us for 6 months, we covet your prayers.  Prayers for us to have wisdom and guidance as we prepare to leave.  Prayers for the work here, that God, who has begun a good work would complete it!  We know that this church isn't ours, it is God's.  We are trusting him to continue to do His work in and through it during these months.  Pray with us not only that it "survives" our absence but that it flourishes without us!  That it grows and abounds in the grace of God!    

Blessings,
Joy

New Blog

Happy Monday, Everyone!

If you are a friend on FB or even have kept up very much with my blog here, you know that one of my favorite hobbies is Digital Scrapbooking.  I have had several people contact during the last few months, with questions about it...how do you do it?  Where do you start? etc.  So I decided to start a new blog dedicated to sharing my love of this hobby.

I am by no means a professional, so it will just be tips and things that I have learned along the way.   If you are interested in digital scrapbooking, please check it out.

http://memorymosaic.wordpress.com/

Thanks and have a blessed week!
Joy

Crazy Day!

Church was pretty crazy this morning!  We had a good attendance, 145.  Not super but not bad either. ;)  Sunday School went well.  The guys that usually run our Easy Worship program for the Worship Service were out today.  We've had a college age young lady learning the program, but today was her first time to do it alone.  It went well for the song time.  But then she ran into problems during the preaching.  It was a situation where the screen was blank, then it was on, then it was blank...  At the same time, we had children crying...  Also at the start of the preaching time, the mic was really "hot"... not sure why, they got that turned down, but then it wasn't really right.

After that, we had Lord's supper and the mic they were using was in and out.  Finally when they just decided to go without the mic, that went fine. :)  Darwin, lead Lord's Supper this morning and it was such a blessing to see him, and to think how much God has worked in his life!

After we decided to order pizza when we got home, and although we've ordered it many times, this time, for some reason, our name didn't pop up on the computer when they entered our phone number. So Tony was in here trying to explain where we lived and after about 3 times, the delivery guy got on the phone and when Tony, asked if he was the one that usually delivered  and then said, I'm the tall, American guy, he knew exactly who and where we were! ;)

Even with all the craziness, it was such a blessing to be in God's House this morning and to worship with our church family.  God has done so much here already.  It's amazing when you look back and remember where we were and where we are today!  Praise the Lord for his grace and mercy!

I would ask you to please be praying for the ladies as they were on getting our Mother's Day Breakfast organized.  We already have 57 ladies signed up!!  Praying that God uses this to bring women and families to Him.

Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Joy

Paper Making

Teddy has been studying China.  Along with his other books we purchased The Great Ancient China Projects book, and have enjoyed it immensely so far.  This week he read about the invention of paper.  Yesterday he tried his hand at it, and had a great time.  I think this is going to be his "hobby" for the time being.  (until something else catches his fancy. ;)

Here are a few pics of the process...

1. fill the blender half full with torn paper.

2.  Add warm water, to almost full.  

3.  Blend, slowly at first and then increase the speed.  The longer you blend the smoother the pulp. ;)

 4.  We cut the bottom out of an aluminum pan and covered it with screen.  We sat that pan in another pan.  Then you start pouring out the pulp...

 5.  Spread it around... you want to try and get it as even as possible...

6.  Keep pouring and spread.  Then he added some bits of colored string to this one...

7.  Once you have it spread out, you want to flip it over onto a smooth cotton dish towel or something else.  (we used an old table cloth.)  At this point, we used a rolling pin to try and smooth it out a little bit more.

We also added a small fan to blow on them to help with the drying time.  

8.  Here is the finished product, after it dried over night.  The top piece, (the lavender color) you can see the smooth side, which was the bottom side while it was drying.  The pink one you can see is the rough side.  It is a little thicker than your normal "card stock"... I'm thinking note cards, book marks... there are lots of possibilities. :)

9.  Here is one happy boy...thinking about all the different kinds of paper is going to be making. :)  He already has a bag that he is collecting "trash" to recycle.  

Waiting...waiting...waiting

This is a link to a recent blog post that explains in a little more detail some of what we are facing right now, as we try to secure US visas for our youngest two children.  Appreciate your prayers for us in this area.

Blessings to you!
Joy

Well the waiting continues...

4 Carla's Heart...

Some of you know our good friends Tim and Lori Duggins. Their church, Mountain View Chapel, has been working very hard to arrange for Carla's heart procedure whenever we are able to travel to the States. This is a link to their church website. Take a look. You may want to keep checking for updates or see a way to be involved in prayer or giving. Thank you!

Mountainview Chapel - 4 Carla's Heart

Thank you!
Blessings,
Joy

My Children...

This past week, I have been thinking about how so much of what is really important can't be bought!

One of the verses that had been on my heart was 3 John 4, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

How true that is.  Here is scrapbook layout I made based on that verse...

I am so thankful for the blessing of family and that by the grace of God our children are walking in the truth!

(This layout was done using The Best Things page kit by designer Carole Harden.  You can find it here: The Digital Scrapbook Place  )