~"Christmas in August", orchestra, and our Sunday!~

Praise God that Bro. Edwards arrived safely (and all of his things too) on Thursday night, Aug. 23rd. We visited and had a snack, and our kids were DYING to open up the suitcases and get their gifts, but we wouldn't let them say anything, knowing that Bro. Edwards was exhausted. FINALLY, at 11:30 PM Bro. Edwards said, "If I were these kids, I'd want to see my gifts"...and I said, "They thought you'd never say that!" =) So, we opened the suitcases and we are really enjoying our new gifts.
~Enjoying seeing our goodies!~~A neat car and trailer that Grandpa and Grandma D. got Noah!~I won't list everything we got, but we love everything we got from Dad and Mom D., the Evans, the Edwards, and Julie Miller! ~The girls' cute nightgowns with hearts and frogs on them, from Grandma and Grandpa D.~
Some of our gifts are: books for the kids from the Evans, a scrapbook kit for me from the Evans, from the Edwards: vitamins, popcorn, P.B., choc. chips. I WAS THRILLED THAT MOM D. sent me her IHC pictorial issue from last IHC, and one of the Ladies Companions that I had not received! From Dad and Mom D. some crayons, a couple neat cars for Noah, other goodies from them, and things we had ordered and had sent to Dad and Mom D.. From Julie Miller: WONDERFUL PATTERNS. From the Evans: yummy, fun cereal. And MANY MORE goodies from the Evans, Dad and Mom D. and the Edwards, but I won't list them all. We feel sooo blessed and loved! We were up until 2:00 AM and then we crashed, knowing that the girls' violin teacher was coming the next morning at 8:30 to take us to watch a neat Symphonic orchestra practice for their concert that night. (Watching them practice was FREE, where that night was going to be expensive!) When we got there they told us that they were NOT allowing children in that day. Adriana told them that these were her violin students and assured them that they would be very quiet, so they let us in...PRAISE GOD! ~The orchestra practicing~
~The violin teacher, Adriana, and her husband, Kimberly and Sarah!~

~Adriana, Kimberly, Sarah, and I~
~A visiting violinist and celloist. We think they might have been from the USA. =)~
Adriana told us a cute thing about the string family: That the double bass is the Grandfather of the family, the cello is the Father, the viola is the Mother, and the violin is the child. =) We really enjoyed our time with Adriana and her husband and enjoyed the orchestra, then we came home tired, but happy.
Saturday, I made a couple skirts for the girls. My dear friend, Roseanne sent us some really cute material and a great idea for skirts, so I'll post about those later! Also, Please continue to pray that God protects Bro. Edwards here. He fell on Saturday, but Praise God, he is ok. The ground is so uneven and full of holes, etc. where our churches are, no nice sidewalks to walk on. Thanks for your prayers for Bro. Edwards. We are LOVING having him here, and he is enjoying himself too.
We had a good Sunday, just as busy as ever. God helped us in both of our services. Poor Bro. Edwards was about DONE IN with walking the 3 miles today. ~Kimberly teaching her S.S. class. She made 2 puppets and taught about the Tower of Babel, and at the end of the story when God mixed up the languages...she made one puppet talk in Spanish and the other in ENGLISH...it was cute. She had 8 children today.~~A mother brought this little baby and let her sit in her stroller and watch the kids in Kimberly's S.S. class. So, I snapped a quick pic of her and Noah. Noah wanted to wear a tie like Bro. Edwards today! =)Since our people are so poor, Phillip doesn't usually wear a tie to our churches. Too much dressing up is intimidating to the people in those neighborhoods.~
We hurried home and had a yummy Sunday dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cooked carrots, cucumber salad, hot, buttered, Sourdough bread, homemade grape juice, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Now, that may sound like a normal Sunday dinner to you, but you have to know 2 things. FIRST THAT IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE HAD ROAST IN ABOUT A YEAR! THEIR BEEF HERE IS SOOO TOUGH. BUT, MY DARLING PHILLIP JUST BOUGHT ME A NICE PRESSURE COOKER, AND WE MADE OUR ROAST IN THAT, AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! Still not as tender, but close! Also, the potatoes here are sooo HARD to peel, they kill your hand! So...I have started baking them in the microwave the night before, then the next day, they peel easily, and then I dice and boil them to make sure they are done, and soft, then mash them, and we have yummy mashed potatoes! =)~Phillip is interpreting while Bro. Edwards testifies.~
~We have not had a pulpit in our newest church, so Phillip had the guy on the right (that attends our church) make this one, and he brought it tonight.~Thank you for your prayers, WE REALLY APPRECIATE THEM!