2 Happy Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday to my 2 dear Alaskan nephews~~

Grant June 1st~~We love you Grant...you are growing sooo big, I'm sure you'll get to go hunting with your Daddy soon! (You might already have, and I have not heard about it yet. =) We love and miss y'all!
~I love this pic of Grant getting a drink of water and Noah waiting for a drink!











Drew June 3rd!~~We love you Drew...can't believe all the hunting you have already done, like father like son. =) We love and miss y'all! Since Drew is named after his Daddy and His Gramp, I love this pic. NOTICE...the "NO SMILING in pics"...is carried to the 3rd generation! =)

~My Friends.........by Kimberly~

I'd like you to meet some of my friends at our churches!
~Karen, Diana, Karina.~
Karen and I love to try to say our Alphabet...her in Spanish, and me in English, AT THE SAME TIME WITHOUT MESSING UP... while jumping up and down and clapping! Of course, it is hard, and we laugh a lot while we are doing it. (It's harder for me, since I know the alphabet in BOTH SPANISH AND ENGLISH! =) She doesn't get to come to church much, but I'm glad when she does get to come.
~Karen,(wearing one of my old skirts) Kimberly and Sarah~

Diana's Mom is the lady that lives by one of our churches. She used to HATE Christians and would chase them away with a knife if they came to her house. But now, she invites us over a lot for yummy hot drinks. I love it when Diana comes to church.
~Karina,(wearing one of my old skirts) Kimberly, Diana~

Karina and I play a game called, "Pepitas y Pepones". It's a game where you throw a rock, (A small, broken piece of tile) AND EACH SIDE OF THE TILE IS DIFFERENT, representing each team. So however the rock lands, if it is my team, she tries to catch me, and visa versa. It's a fun game. I thank the Lord for the friends He has given me.

Happy Birthday Katie!

My dear niece Katie in Alaska has a birthday today!! YEA! Hope you have a GREAT day Katie! We love and miss you, and your dear family!

~An update on our last few days~

On Saturday, Sarah and I worked hard and SHE FINISHED KINDERGARTEN! YEA! We have ONE HAPPY Sarah and ONE HAPPY Mother! =) HAPPYLUJAH!!! Kimberly has been a REAL trooper too...she is doing 15-20 pages a DAY in EACH of her PACES...trying to get done soon! She set her alarm this morning for 6:00 AM, and when Phillip checked on her at 6:30, she was UP, DRESSED, AND WAS FAITHFULLY DOING HER SCHOOLWORK!! =) Now ... if I can just get everything done for Sarah's graduation and reception this Saturday at our home. I was too tired last Saturday to make cookies for our church people...and after thinking it over, I came to the decision that I'll make cookies for our church people every OTHER weekend.
~Our kids playing, Sunday morning while we were waiting for our bus (which took a long time) to come to take us to church!~

The bus did not arrive until 9:45 and our CHURCH STARTED AT 10:00! UGH! It normally is a 45 minute ride. BUT KIMBERLY TOLD ME THAT GOD MUST HAVE DRIVEN THAT BUS THAT MORNING, FOR WE GOT THERE ONLY 6 MINUTES LATE! THANK THE LORD! Before the bus came, I PRAYED that we could get seats, for I was exhausted. When the bus did come, it was packed with people and their Huge bags of fresh fruit and veggies that they had purchased from the market. So, there I stood in the crowded bus aisle, trying not to fall over and holding Noah in my arms! Phillip snapped this pic, right before I sat down in a seat that a kind gentleman gave up for me. =)

God gave us a good service Sunday morning. This was a down day for people in the church, it's the way it is when you are working with new babes in Christ! =)

After church we invited a man and his son home to eat Sunday dinner with us. They rode their motorcycle, and we rode the bus.

As we were coming down the mountain in the bus, it began to rain...so that meant that we walked the mile home in the rain. Since we did not have Noah's raincoat, Phillip took his rain coat off and let Noah ride the suitcase (his "Caballo" (horse) and put his big rain coat on top of him.

Just as we got inside, it started HAILING!! And our poor guests were still coming on their motorcycle in the pouring rain and hail. They arrived SOAKING WET!! We had a good time with them, and Phillip had a good visit with him discussing the Bible and God.
~Jason and our kids. Jason was VERY concerned about me taking a picture of him, for he had no shoes and socks on, for they had gotten soaked in the rain. Colombian culture is that you ALWAYS wear shoes, in the house and out. One day a lady from our neighborhood rang my doorbell, and when the kids and I went out to talk to her, and she saw that Noah had no shoes on....SHE SCOLDED ME FOR HIM NOT HAVING SHOES ON! UGH! =(

Our visitors left at 4:00 and we took a bus to our evening service. God helped us in that service too. In the evening church there are a lot of little (UNTRAINED, UNCARED FOR) kids, so our services can be pretty LOUD, and TIRING! But, God helped the kids to do good and listen well Sunday night. PRAISE THE LORD FOR WE WERE EXHAUSTED! We got on a VERY Crowded bus, and I was STANDING AND holding Noah, but was not holding on to anything yet, when the bus came to a Screeching HALT...and Noah and I went flying! BUT...thank the Lord that a man and a lady blocked me from falling...and then someone INSTANTLY gave me a seat! (Phillip later teased me in ENGLISH that that was a Nice "ACT" because it got me a seat! NOT! ;)
Today, Memorial Day, we decorated the table with Red, White and Blue, and had a good meal, and listened to "Little Bear Wheeler" telling Stories about AMERICA, Memorial day and the Revolution War, etc. He nearly had Phillip and I crying with our love for the USA and our appreciation for our country, our Godly heritage and our FREEDOM! GOD BLESS, KEEP, AND HELP AMERICA... MY HOME SWEET HOME!

~From a Missionary wife's heart~

I remember when I had just become a missionary, and everything was DIFFERENT, NEW and H-A-R-D...and my missions director's wife teasingly said that she was "jealous" that I got to go to the missionfield...Help us! I told her that she could go in my place. =) Then a little later on I heard a M. K. who was now a missionary herself say, "My Mom always told people NOT to feel sorry for us because we were missionaries!" As a new missionary...I had to think that over for awhile...the way I was feeling right then, I didn't mind if people DID FEEL SORRY FOR ME!! =) My house had been torn apart, my things divided 6 different ways (1. to keep, 2. to sell, 3. to give away, 4. to take to language school in Costa Rica, 5. to take to Colombia with us, and 6. to take on our 8 month deputation where we nearly lived in the VAN with 3 small children...Noah was 6 months). I was also wondering where the "REAL HEATHER WAS", was fighting Culture shock in Costa Rica, trying to be a wife and Mommy of 3 children...while attending school each day and trying to learn a new language, and I was missing my family, my friends, my country and my CULTURE big time. But...God has helped me since then, and I can honestly say today "PLEASE DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR OUR FAMILY BECAUSE WE ARE MISSIONARIES!" For we are in GOD'S will here in Colombia...and there is SATISFACTION being in God's will!! I can say that had I been drawing out of a hat for what I WANTED IN LIFE...I would not have chosen to leave my country, family, and friends, AND MOVE TO DANGEROUS COLOMBIA...but I serve ONE THAT LOVES ME MORE THAN I CAN EVEN FATHOM, AND SO IF HE SAW IT BEST TO CALL US TO COLOMBIA, WHO AM I TO QUESTION?! I also will say that LIFE IS NOT EASY ON A MISSION FIELD...but that I have decided that God being my helper, I will PURPOSE TO ENJOY BEING HERE...FOR THIS IS WHERE GOD HAS PLACED ME! (US!) Many of you have heard the expression, "If Mamma ain't HAPPY, ain't NOBODY HAPPY!" And I've found that to be true. I could go around moping and WISHING I were back in the USA, or wishing I were with my family and friends there, and I'd be miserable, my family would be miserable and I would WISH my life away. But, I'm determined to ENJOY our years here, and make it a WONDERFUL experience for my family. Both Phillip and I feel that God gave us our family FIRST...before he gave us a ministry...so we put our family FIRST after God. We never want our children to have to say,"My Dad was always gone serving others," or "My parents never had time for us"...NO...We are a family, we go places together, we minister together, and we serve Jesus and enjoy life together. Now there are down times, and discouraging times (that's part of culture shock, and even life) but I try to bake something yummy, play games with the kids, take them to the park, or do something fun, and practice what Phil 4:4 says:

~Rejoice in the Lord ALWAY: and again I say, REJOICE.~

So, Don't feel sorry for us, .....but THANKS to each of you for your thoughts, LOVE, concern, and PRAYERS FOR US!! =) Your prayers help us be the lights here in Colombia that we want to be for Jesus! Thanks Bunches!

~Our Romance Story in a "Nutshell"~

~That is a typical Colombian bag that I have over my shoulder
Our Dear friend Janet took this pic of us, here in Colombia~

Thought that I'd take you down memories lane with me. My Phillip grew up in between AZ and MI, moving back and forth through his younger years. But he spent his high school years in Michigan, and became best friends with Matt J. When it came time for them to go to college, Matt went to Hobe and Phillip went to GBS. At Hobe, one of my dear friends, Kimberly N. and Matt became good friends. Phillip went to GBS the year before I did. I visited GBS several times that year, but since Phillip lived and worked off campus he never saw me. The IHC before I went to GBS as a freshman, my friend Kimberly told me about Phillip and told me that she thought that we'd make a good couple. =) AND GOOD OLE MATT called Phillip twice the summer before I came and told him the same thing...that he thought that we would make a great couple, and told Phillip to look me up. Since Phillip's Dad was the maintenance man at GBS at that time, Phillip was working with him in the boy's dorm...on the day that I arrived. He had casually told the guys that he was working with that his friend had told him to look me up...but that he had no clue who I was. Right then I walked by and he said something about that being a new girl...and the guys recognized me from visiting GBS the year before and told him that that was the Heather he wanted to look up. So, he watched me for 2 weeks or so, and I had NO CLUE he was in the world...for he lived and worked off campus and was a Sophmore, not a freshman, so he was not around. At the end of the 2 weeks we started becoming friends...but I still did not think about this guy being the "Phillip" that Kimberly had told me about. A few days after he asked me to the Freshman picnic...we were chatting and he mentioned his best friend Matt...and I let out a squeal and said, "Oh, now I remember, you are the one that Kimberly told me about!"...and then he told me that Matt had told him about me too. Before I came to college, I had talked to my Heavenly Father about the guy that I was to date. I asked him to protect me from the wrong man...and that IF IT WAS HIS WILL...to please help the man that asked me to the picnic to be my mate for life! AND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED! (But I kept THAT SECRET between me and God and stayed close to God, to be careful that this was the man for me.) After dating for 18 months...he asked me to marry him on APRIL FOOLS DAY 1994...but Thank the Lord he wasn't fooling around, he was SERIOUS. =) His gift to me was an AWESOME, HUGE picture that he drew of me...all dots...it took him 50 hours during Mid-term exams at GBS. He is an amazing artist...and I TREASURE his gift to me. When we came back to GBS from our spring break...(when we had gotten engaged in South Dakota visting my parents) I got soooo sick of the "I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU LOOKS"...when I'd tell my friends that Phillip drew a picture of me for an engagement gift. So, Dad D. and I put up an easel in the GBS kitchen and left my picture on display for 3 days...and I never received any more "Poor You" looks or comments. =)
~This is the best pic I have of the portrait that Phillip drew of me (BUT THIS PICTURE DOES NOT DO IT JUSTICE!)...my parents are keeping my treasure for me while we are serving God in Colombia.~

We got married June 6th, 1995....and so really soon we have been married for 12 wonderful years!!!!....Thanks to our DEAR friends Matt J. and Kimberly N. =)

~Please pray for little Donna Sofia~

~This is a pic of Donna Sofie in her cast.~

Please pray for our dear friends Carlos and Gloria...and their precious little baby girl Donna Sofia. They just found out that their little Donna's hips are not in their sockets...so she has to wear this HORRIBLE cast for 4 WHOLE MONTHS! Because of the cast, she does not fit in her crib, car seat, and stroller, so her Mother has to hold her a lot! She is already a chunk (I love chunky babies) but THIS MAKES HER WEIGH A TON! She is so uncomfortable with this, and has to wear it until the end of August!!! UGH! Please pray for her, her Mommy and her Daddy during this rough time. And please pray that when she gets this taken off, that her hips will be fine. THANKS for helping us pray!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know about y'all, but I don't always have the "fancy" ingredients like Parmesan cheese on hands. Yesterday, I needed to make a quick lunch for the kids and I, and I didn't have the cheese...NOR THE CHICKEN on hands...but I went ahead and tried this dish from T.O.H. (Aug/Sep.2006) and we loved it. It was Delicious, but I'm sure it would be better with the chicken and cheese. OK, by the time you get done reading all the CHANGES I made, the author wouldn't recognize the recipe...but it was still great. =)...Served with fresh homemade bread, and fresh lemonade...with sugar on the glasses and a lemon wedge...you have a great meal. =)

(When we were on deputation, we went to Mrs. LuRhe Edwards house and she put the sugar on the glasses and I loved the idea...and I like to add fruit to the glass too =) Just dip the VERY TOP EDGE of your glass in a bowl of water, and then in a bowl of sugar...or cut a lemon slice and put it on the glass and slide it around, then take the lemon off, dip the glass top in sugar, and put the lemon back on. I like to use different fruits. When serving Strawberry juice, Strawberry lemonade, or Strawberry tea, I like to use a fresh Strawberry...with the stem for color. In the Fall, I put an apple slice on each glass, etc. It's fun, pretty, tasty, and takes hardly any time at all. =) And my guests, my family and even I...like the sugar! =)
~Colorful Chicken Fettuccine~
10 ounces uncooked Fettuccine (I used Spag. noodles)
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (I didn't have)
1 Tab. oil
1 cup julienned carrots
1 medium sweet red pepper, julienned
1 med. green pepper, julienned (I didn't have this)
2 cups fresh broccoli (I used fresh, chopped green beans)
4 teasp. cornstarch
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth (I used 1 cup HOT WATER and 2 bullion cubes) 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. dried thyme (I don't have here)
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.
Cook noodles. Meanwhile in large skillet, saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. In the same pan saute the carrots for 1 minute. Add peppers and broccoli; saute 3-4 minutes longer until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, broth,lemon juice, salt and thyme until blended; stir into vegetables. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream.
Drain Fettuccine; place in large bowl. Add the chicken, vegetable mixture and Parmesan cheese; toss to coat. Yield: 4-6 servings.

~Getting our Foreign ID cards..FINALLY!~

A few weeks ago we took a taxi to North Bogota to the D.A.S. office to get our Colombian Foreign ID cards, for they had told us that they would be READY. But...when we got there they informed us that since the electricity was out for 3 HOURS a few weeks before that IT PUT THEM WEEKS BEHIND IN THEIR WORK. =( That was the second or third time we had wasted the money to go up there to get them and they weren't ready. Phillip asked the lady in the office for a phone number that he could call next time, to make sure the ID cards were ready, before we paid a bus or taxi to take us all the way up there. So, since we were all starving, we decided to have a rare treat and take the kids out for lunch.

We went to a restaurant that had lots of toys to play on...not just the normal ball pit, and playground, they had a motorcycle ride, train ride, and other little rides that you normally have to pay for...but with dinner the kids got to ride them for FREE! They were very HAPPY! (There's nothing like this type of restaurant around where we live...so since we were in the NORTH, RICH AREA getting our paperwork done...we decided to take advantage of it.)

~The girls on the motorcycle ride~

~As you can see, Noah was not really impressed with the LOUD, MOVING motorcycle...

~That is until his Daddy joined him, and then he enjoyed it! =) ~

Yesterday, after waiting for around 2 months...Phillip decided that the ID cards must SURELY be ready...so he called that phone number of the D.A.S. office and waited on the line for 10 minutes, while his phone call was passed from person to person, for none of them had a clue how to help Phillip. Finally, Phillip told them thanks, hung up and jumped on a bus to go to the office. He got there and they handed him his ID card, but could not seem to find mine. The lady asked Phillip to just sit down and wait...and he did that...he waited for who knows HOW LONG...until all the other people had been helped and had left...then the lady in the office disappeared for a half an hour! When she came out she said that my ID card had not been made yet, so she had made it up really quickly. =) THANK THE LORD PHILLIP CAME HOME LAST NIGHT WITH OUR 2 ID cards, for the kids don't need one, just Phillip and I. (Here they ask for your ID {cedula} card and number EVERYWHERE YOU GO, so it's an important card to have!!) For more pics of this see Phillip's latest blog post!

~Our short family outing~

OK...those of you that have read my posts about our Sundays know that they are NOT A DAY OF REST!! So, Mondays are normally our crash, family days...where we allow ourselves to sleep in, and then take the kids to the park or something fun like that. Well, yesterday, I ran the kids to our park close by, and I was sitting there on a swing looking at 2 old Taste Of Home magazines (AND PRAYING THAT MY NEW ONE COMES IN TODAY...FOR IT IS VERY LATE!!) and all of the sudden I was surrounded by a Father and his daughters and they did the TYPICAL 30 minute INTERVIEW! "1. Why are you here, 2.What State are you from, 3. Do you like Colombia, 4. You speak Spanish well, 5. We want to learn English, 6. How cool that you can speak English and Spanish, 7. Speak to us in English, 8. and even ended with "Do you like colored people?" I answered all of their questions and had them LAUGHING as I described some of their food that we just about GAG over (Chicken foot, Cow gut, etc.) Told them that we are here as missionaries to the displaced people in the South part of Bogota...and that YES, We love Colombia, but of COURSE WE MISS OUR COUNTRY, OUR FAMILY, OUR FRIENDS AND OUR FOOD!!! Then I told him that I loved Colored people...that GOD created us all equal, and that I'm no better than anyone else, and visa versa. They seemed happy with my answers, and were happy that we liked their country. It's SAD...for a lot of Colombians are not happy with their country...they want to move to the USA! So, when they find out that we are from the USA, and like their country, that makes them happy. OK...so, my girls came up right then and told me that Noah's bike was ready to BREAK! (We only paid $12.00 for that cheaply-made little tricycle....and he has RIDEN IT HARD for months.) So, we ran home and Phillip tried to fix the bike, so it would hold a LITTLE longer...than we took our children and their bikes to ride on the MAIN ROAD! DID I HEAR YOU GASP? =)

Well...let me explain...it was a holiday, and on holidays the city of Bogota ropes off 2 lanes of the main road and have police everywhere, and anyone who wants to, can jog, walk, ride bikes, roller skate, etc...on those 2 lanes...so that's WHY we were on the main road. We had just gotten on the road and the kids were riding along fine...WHEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN NOAH'S BIKE BROKE AND THERE HE SAT STILL ON THE BIKE SEAT, ON THE GROUND. (I'M CRYING, I'M LAUGHING SO HARD...IT WAS SOOO FUNNY! =) The ladies around us GASPED, while Phillip and I stood there howling laughing and taking pictures. Poor Noah he had tears in his eyes...

But we assured him that we thought that God would help us to get him another bike sometime. Thanks to big sister Kimberly...he still got to "ride" a bike! They rode and we walked about 3 miles or so and we enjoyed our time together.
~Notice Phillip CARRYING the BROKEN bike!~

~Notice that the wheels are now on backwards...it broke so much.=)~

~Our Sunday~

We had a good Sunday...BUSY...but good! We went to a service this morning and got there a half an hour early. God helped during our service and there were 32 in attendance. I grabbed a couple pics of one of our favorite little babies, and she looks "Gringa" (American). Kimberly LOVES to hold her!












There were several testimonies of how God is helping our people. We sang a trio and Kimberly played an offertory. (You have to understand that we JUST now started taking offerings, and that's b/c our people asked us to take offerings. Before we came, there was a miss. family who took offerings but didn't use the money for what they said they would AND THE GUERRILLA CAME AND KILLED THE WHOLE FAMILY! Sooooo, we have told our people that we are saving up their money and as soon as we can they will pay the rent on the church building, not us. =) We rushed home and we had been home 5 minutes when a young man named Jonathan got to our house.
He wants to attend Hobe Sound soon, but needs to practice his English. (It was A "REAL MINISTRY" for we GBS'ers to help prepare a student to go to HOBE SOUND....JUST KIDDING!!!! =) So we invited him over to chat in English and to eat Sunday dinner with us.

For Sunday dinner I made: Kimberly N's. LA Rice, Baked Chicken, a salad, homemade bread, a fresh fruit juice to drink (Made out of Lulo), and THIS IS WHAT WE HAD FOR DESSERT...Kimberly N.'s LA Lemon Pie. Thanks for the recipe girl!

Jonathan was here until we ran out the door for our evening service. We had a nice visit with him, and he seemed to enjoy himself too. We got on a VERY crowded bus headed to church, and we kept hearing chickens...then we realized that the man in front of us had one in his back pack. Then, a man plopped down beside Phillip holding a live chicken,

and another man got off holding a chicken, then another got off holding 3 bags with chickens. Don't ask me what all the chickens were about, but it was interesting trying to SNEAK AND TAKE pics of them. =)

As we rode into the town where our church is, we saw that part of a mountain had JUST slid...and ambulances were arriving...Hopefully no one was hurt! (We tried to get a pic, but missed it.) We got to church, and Jason and Diana (the parents that just lost their baby) came to our church for the 2nd time today. They attend our morning church, which is an HOUR AWAY FROM OUR EVENING CHURCH...so it was VERY special to have them attend. We had a good service and nearly 30 people there. PRAISE THE LORD! God is helping our little churches, and our people to grow in Him. I so wanted to have Diana and Jason over, but it didn't work out. Please keep praying for them and for the other people of our churches!
~Kimberly & I on the bus...notice our suitcase, keyboard & stand at our feet.~

On the way home, Phillip was holding Noah, who fell asleep...so Sarah moved over in the bus to sit beside Phillip and to help hold the sleeping Noah...and THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED....

THANKS BUNCHES FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

"This little Missionary went to the market..."

This little missionary stayed home.

This little missionary had a mango, (cause I didn't have any "roast beef" on hands... Roast beef is REALLY tough here, so I don't buy it much =)

This little missionary had NONE!

and This little missionary cried WEE WEE WEE all the way home! =)

Thought that you'd like to go along with me to the Fruit and Vegetable, and Meat and Egg market! It opens early every Saturday morning right down from our house. WE ARE VERY HAPPY THAT IT IS THERE!! Do you have your pesos and your market cart ready? And you might want a TOUGH stomach for the first booth that we come to, is where they have just BUTCHERED a cow...and they have EVERY PART of the cow hanging around (And the bloody head laying on the ground) and they sell most of the meat, liver, stomach, guts, foot, etc., for people buy LOTS of that kind of meat around here. UGH!!

Colombia is blessed with many yummy fruits and veggies...although we don't have some here that we are use to, and miss...we are blessed to have Blackberries (THAT ARE VERY TART!!!), bananas, pineapple, green beans, tomatoes, limes, onions, carrots, small potatoes, iceburg lettuce and spinach, platano, watermelon, canteloupe, apples, grapes (WITH SEEDS), mango, maracuya, grananillo (Passion fruit), cucumbers, kiwi, yummy strawberries, nearly year around, peaches, pears, plums, and more.
~This is my favorite booth to come to. This lady and the one above, call their customers names like "My life, my love, my queen, my king, my all, my heart,"...etc. Hilarious! =) They must be Southern bells in Colombian.~

I miss not have yummy raspberries, and blueberries, and a few other things, but we do COUNT our blessings for all the yummy, FRESH things that we have! =) (I might add that I HATE going to this market...BECAUSE with us being fair Gringos and with my 3 blue eyed kids...the whole market stops what they are doing to STARE at us when we walk up. UGH! There's times that I leave the kids with Phillip, just so I won't be stared at quite soooo much. THEN, THEY ALL ASK WHERE MY CHILDREN ARE!! =)

Phillip just posted a new post on his blog about "The Adventures of Sir Bernard"...check it out.

~A Yummy recipe!!!~

This recipe make look like a little extra work, but to my family and the visitors that have eaten it...it was well worth the work!! A friend emailed it to me from the Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. I loved the combination of the green chiles and the almonds. YUMMY! =) ENJOY! =)

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

Prep time: 30 min. Bake: 40 min. Oven: 350* Makes: 6 servings

¼ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon milk
¼ teaspoon ground cumin (I didn't use this)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
12 7-inch or 6-inch corn or Flour tortillas
1 10 ¾ ounce can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
1 8-ounce carton sour cream
1 cup milk
¾ cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (3 oz)
2 Tablespoons slivered almonds

1. In a medium skillet cook the ¼ cup almonds and the onion in hot butter over med. heat until onion is tender and nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 T. of the green chile peppers.

2. Combine cream cheese, the 1 T. milk, and cumin; add nut mixture and chicken. Stir until combined. Spoon about 3 T. of the mixture onto each tortilla near one edge; roll up. Place filled tortillas, seam down, in a greased 3 qt. rectangular baking dish. Set aside.

3. For sauce, combine the rest of the green chiles, soup, sour cream, and the milk. Pour evenly over the tortillas. Cover with foil. Bake at 350* for about 35 min or until heated through. Remove foil. Sprinkle with cheese and 2 T. almonds. Return to oven; bake about 5 min. or until cheese melts.
~A cute pic that Phillip took of the kids at the park~

~Look who's graduating from Kindergarten~

~I had never written a poem in Spanish before, but God, Carlos & Gloria helped me to write one to include inside of Sarah's graduation announcement.~

Our Sarah will be graduating on Sat. June 2nd. YEA! She is sooo excited. She has worked VERY hard on her school work and only has about 10 Paces left! We are planning on having a nice graduation here, with refreshments (American food) afterward. The graduation will mostly be in Spanish since all of our guest speak only Spanish. =) We have a lot to get done, and a lot of food to make, but we are excited about her graduation! I LOVE being her teacher...she's a great student.
~We snapped this fun picture at a nearby park~

Sarah is using Kimberly's OLD PACES from Kindergarten...so you know what that means...Erase, Erase, Erase...by the time I erase her 5 Paces, I'm ready for a nap. =) So, yesterday I asked Phillip to help me.

~I'm cracking up in this picture, for Phillip told Kimberly to HURRY AND TAKE THE PICTURE BEFORE HE ERASED A HOLE IN THAT ONE SPOT IN THAT PAGE. =)~

~"I Think Your Daughter is pretty"~

Last Thursday night after church, a 12 year old boy was walking beside me and we were all walking to catch our bus to go home. He told me that he thought that my girl was pretty, and that when he and she get older he wants to "TAKE CARE OF HER"! That is the SAD mind-set here, like most of the world now, NOT TO GET MARRIED, just to live together. I told him that when it came nearer the time for her to get a husband that we would be taking her back to the USA to find a man of her own culture. He looked at me and said, "WHAT'S THAT MEAN?" I began to explain that our culture and their culture were 2 different cultures...that we thought differently than they, that we eat differently, etc. And that though it's not a sin for 2 people from 2 different cultures to get married, that it's not wise, for there are MANY MORE adjustments for the couple. When I said that we eat different foods, he asked me, "So, what does your daughter like to eat?" I started naming things like mashed potatoes, hot dogs, pizza, etc. (AND OF COURSE A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER FOODS THAT I DID NOT TAKE THE TIME TO MENTION, nor would he have known what they were) and he got so excited and told me that HE KNEW HOW TO MAKE HOT DOGS...so he could take care of her. HELP! Though this is humorous, I'm already praying for the mates that our children will marry someday. FOR A PERSON'S MATE CAN MAKE OR BREAK THEM...AND CAN HELP THEM ON TO HEAVEN, OR TAKE THEM DOWN THE PATH TO HELL. We do realize too that with our girls having lighter skin and lighter eyes than most people here, we have to be careful and watch our children, and that we DO VERY MUCH! We love the Colombian people, but not for son-in-laws. =) We are keeping in mind that we need to be in the USA before our girls reach the age where some Colombian men want them for their wives. =) (My daughter does NOT know this story! =)

~The restaurant where Phillip took us Saturday painted the kids faces for free~ (The women with hats worked at the restaurant.)

~More about my Mother's Day~

One of my Mother's Day gift was a CLEAR GLASS "FISH BOWL" (as PHILLIP CALLS IT)... THAT I WANTED TO BUY TO USE AS A PUNCH BOWL! =) I don't think they sell punch bowls here, and this is just a large, round, decorative bowl, so it will work just fine. I'll show you a pic of it later...at our daughter's kindergarten graduation that we are planning to have here in our home on June 2nd.) Another Mother's day gift is that Phillip took us out to eat on Saturday.
~Our family, Carlos & Gloria, & some nice missionaries from Brazil that we met.~

I tried to take pictures of the CUTE notes that my girls made me, but they did not turn out...and our scanner is not working right now. Phillip also got me a red rose too. (He might have gotten more roses, since they are sooo cheap here, but yet so beautiful, but I already had some pretty white and red roses that Amparo had gotten me. I had a very Happy Mother's Day! =)
~My roses from Amparo~