~Day 3...USA Company~

~These are a couple pictures of us receiving our gifts from our family and church family in the USA!!! We LOVED everything that they sent! Noah and Elijah enjoying their new cars.~~Looking through all the bags and discovering all the fun treasures. (My poem below will give you an idea of what we received.)~


Here is a poem that I wrote to our Christian Nation Church family to thank them for all of our wonderful gifts that they sent to us!!

~Christmas in March~
"Santa Claus" arrived in Colombia in the form of 4 USA Preachers. =)
Their suitcases full of cars, clothes, and creepy plastic creatures. (Toy bugs for Noah from his cousin Bryan. =)
Peanut Butter, choc. chips, muffin papers and more,
Pam spray, Skyline chili packets, pecans...goodies GALORE!

Bic pens, pretty perfumes, Things for our girl's hair,
Purses and 2 NEAT books, "Fire Proof" and "The Love Dare".
Tea tree oil, kitchen towels and colorful building blocks,
Cute Matching outfits for our kids, with matching socks.

Adorable Scrap-booking things and a nice kids' cookbook.
Yummy Reece cups...surprises everywhere we would look. =)
Sweet neat gifts to us from all of you there,
We LOVE EVERYTHING! Thank you for your love and care!! =D
~written by Heather 3/26/09


On Saturday, I ran to the market and got fruits and veggies and ran back home and made brunch.
~Bro. Mark and Daryl were a HUGE help to me in the kitchen. They both helped wash dishes and Bro. Mark helped me cook breakfast a couple times. I surely missed having some lady helpers, but these guys and my sweet man and Kimberly and Sarah helped me tremendously. Thanks y'all~After brunch the guys ran out the door with a snack that I packed for them...and had 4 hours of Bible classes at church. Daryl, Bro. Eisenhart and Bro. Mark all taught in these classes. ~Since I'm borrowing pictures...I only have a picture of Bro. Mark teaching and Phillip translating.~

After the 4 hours of Bible classes the guys ran up the mountain and had a house service. ~Here Bro. Pilmore is holding one of our baby girls from church. Bro. Pilmore loved all the Colombian kids (and our kids)...maybe they helped him to not miss his 4 kids quite as badly. =)~

~Day Two...USA company~

Friday, March 13th. We woke up exhausted from our late night, but happy that our visitors were here! =) Noah's cousin Bryan sent him some bugs so that he could have fun scaring his Mother and sisters with them. =) ~Elijah grabbed one and put it in his mouth and started crawling away. UGH! It looked too real.~

The men (except Daryl) were happy to see that I had a coffee maker and promptly made them some Yummy COLOMBIAN coffee...Then we had a breakfast of Breakfast burritos, my homemade salsa, muffins, and fresh cold banana milk (if you've never had it, it's good. =)
After cleaning up dishes and visiting some we all jumped into taxis and went and rented a truck for the few days our visitors were going to be here. We then dropped off (to the official government translator to get them translated into Spanish)some of our important papers that we need to renew our Colombian visas and then came back home. I took a much-needed nap while Phillip finished up the last of the translating and compiling our church manual for the Christian Nation Church here in Colombia. After I woke up we took it to the printers (it was to be done by Tuesday morning, the first day of our Christian Nation Congress) and we all got a bite of supper at the mall, came home and visited some more and went to bed.
We Thank God for helping the men and their luggage to get here safely, and for helping Phillip get the manual to the printers. Stop back by soon for day #3. =D

~Day one ...USA company~

On Thursday, March 12th our family was working our heads off getting ready for our company who was flying in from the USA that evening. Phillip (with some help) was painting one of our churches, and then that afternoon he had a service in that same church. He got home at 7:15 PM and he and the kids and I did all the tons of last minute things that needed done and then ran out the door to pick up our company from the airport. They were arriving at 9:00, but we knew that it would take them some time to get through customs, and we had SO MUCH to finish before we left the house. We finally finished up and left the house at 9:45 and PRAYED that God would help them to have not come out of the airport yet. When we got to the airport, they hadn't come outside. We waited only 10 mins. and they came out of the airport. God is good!
~We were so happy to have our pastors Bro. Eisenhart, and Bro. Pilmore, our Missions director Bro. Becker,~
~and our very own brother-in-law Daryl here in Colombia with us.~

We rented a taxi van to go home. As were loading all of their luggage in the van, I went to take some pictures and asked Sarah or Kimberly if they had my purse? Kimberly said, "Oh no, I left your purse on that bench over there where we were waiting." Phillip took off running and PRAISE GOD my purse was still there and my cell phone and our camera were still in it. =) We brought our guests home and I fed them a quick snack and they gave us our "Christmas in March" gifts from our friends and family back home. We LOVED all the nice gifts. Thank you very much to EACH of you for the all the sweet things that you sent to us. We went to bed late that night due to enjoying visiting with our visitors and enjoying all of our fun gifts.
I plan to write about each of the 7 days that they were here with us.
I have tons of pics to post, (I borrowed these 2 pics from my brother-in-law's blog) but we still haven't had time to work on our computer to get it to upload pics. I hope to be able to post my pics soon.

~A recipe and "The Ladies' Companion" poem~

The other day I was reading my Ladies' Companion and I saw a recipe for
Honey Bun Coffee Cake sent in by Martha Brugger. I wrote Valorie Q. and asked if I could post this recipe. So, with her permission, here it is.

~Honey Bun Coffee Cake~
1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs beaten
3/4 cups oil (can use applesauce)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans are great)
Mix dry cake mix, eggs, oil, and buttermilk well. Pour into a greased 13x9 baking dish. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Swirl into batter. Bake at 300 for 40-60 mins.
Icing: Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 T. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla for glaze. Pour glaze over warm cake.
It's quick and delicious! Slice yourself a slice, pour yourself a cup of coffee, tea, or milk and ENJOY!!!!

Here's a poem that I wrote about The Ladies Companion magazine!
The Ladies' Companion
If you don't get The Ladies' Companion, you are really missing out.
Please lend me an ear and I will tell you what it's all about.
It's a magazine written just for we Holiness gals
And helps bring our lives together...sort of like "pen pals".

There are articles for and by ladies, mothers and wives
Telling how God is working in all of our lives.
Articles on hymns, children, singles, and the home
Decorating tips, Cute quotes, Scriptures, stories and poems.

Delicious recipes for breads, cakes, meats and corn on the cob
Valorie Quesenberry is the editor and does a fantastic job!
So, if you don't get it, send in your subscription today
You won't be disappointed...hurry, don't delay!
~Heather Bryan Dickinson, Bogota, Colombia, March 2009~

Subscriptions are $8.00/year for 6 issues.
The Ladies' Companion
Country Pines Inc.,
11013 Country Pines Road,
Shoals, IN 47581

~Hungry anyone?~

The other morning Elijah who had been playing in the back yard with Noah came crawling back into the house. Phillip was going to give him a bite of banana but noticed that he had something in his mouth. When Phillip went to see what was in his mouth...IT WAS A DRIED UP WORM...BUT HE HAD SUCKED ON IT LONG ENOUGH THAT IT WAS NO LONGER "DRIED UP." UGH!
We love our little Elijah to pieces...but he surely keeps us hopping! He still wakes up nearly every 2 hours all night long to eat. I think he takes after his Uncle Andrew and his Grandpa Dickinson who feel that they have TOTALLY WASTED THEIR DAY if they aren't up by 4:00 AM! =D The other morning after quite the night with Elijah Phillip told me, "It's a good thing that we didn't have Elijah first, or you might not have wanted to have anymore kids." Hee! Hee! =)
I wrote these words about Elijah to the song "I saw a wiggle worm."

Elijah's a wiggle worm, as wiggly as can be...
He wiggles here, he wiggles there, he wiggles right to me.
I put him in his bed, "SLEEP RIGHT THERE I SAID"
But then he looked at me and cried, "I want in Mamma's bed."
He couldn't do it, even though he tried,
So Mommy got him out of bed and laid him by her side. =)

We trust we can channel allllll of his energy to do great things for God some day!

~Heather's God~

This week I was reading in my devotions in Daniel and at least 2 kings in His day proclaimed to their kingdom to respect DANIEL'S GOD!! That stood out to me! Daniel was known in those parts as one that served the TRUE God...and God was known in those parts as "DANIEL'S GOD"!!! We are representing God to this world...we are the only "Bibles" that some are reading. Oh, I want to live in such a manner that where I live and all around me GOD is KNOWN; That those who know me...know "HEATHER'S GOD"!!

~Recipe~

Last Sunday I had Kimberly and Paula mix up the quick cake mix cookies for our dessert. (Betty Crocker Cake mixes have just come to Bogota...and I'm soooo excited! =) I'm sure that most of you have this recipe, but if not it makes FAST yummy cookies when you are in a hurry like I was that day! =D

~Cake Mix Cookies~
A Yellow cake mix (or a different flavor if you want)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
(Additions that you can add to this recipe are:
coconut, cinnamon, M & M's, choc. chips, pineapple, raisins, etc.)
Bake on greased pan at 350 for 10-12 mins. Cookies will be soft. Leave on pan for a few minutes before taking off. Enjoy!

~Our Sunday ~

Well, we still haven't figured out how to post pics. Thank you for each of your nice comments trying to help solve our problem. The problem is that our computer will not read our camera card, so we cannot get our pictures to upload on our computer. =( After our USA visitors leave, we'll try to work on it some more. I really MISS posting pics...keep praying...God is able to help us figure it out! =D
~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday we felt like the devil was trying to discourage us, for everything that we did trying to get ready for the First Christian Nation Church Congress here was turning out backwards. Phillip was working on the translation of our church manual (that he needs to get to the printers this week) and everything was going wrong. Our bank was having problems so we couldn't get any money out to pay bills, etc.
I told Phillip that I felt that the devil was trying to get us down...and that in our weakness God is made strong. We prayed and God started helping us!! Praise Him!!!
Please do pray for the Christian Nation Church Congress! Please pray for those who are going to preach, and for Phillip as he translates all the sermons into Spanish for our people. Thank you!
We have had a wonderful Sunday! God's presence settled down on our service this morning as we sang hymns like "What a Friend we have in Jesus", "Amazing Grace", "He Lives", and "Tell it to Jesus!" Several us were crying as we felt the MASTER in our midst! God's presence makes all the difference in the world. God helped Phillip to preach a very encouraging sermon about God wanting to help us when we are down and discouraged, that he doesn't look at us and say, "They are down again, I think I'll leave them down.." No, he fans our faint flame, He is there to help us...for He wants us to get to Heaven more than we do ourselves!! God is awesome!!
We came home and had Juan Martin and 2 of his children and his nephew over for Sunday dinner. I hadn't planned to have company, but they all helped me and we had a yummy meal and a great time of fellowship. Then went to our Sunday night service.
Until Next time...Keep looking to Jesus!!!

~Prayer requests~

Well, we had a young man from our church who is very good with computers come over last night to see if he could help us figure out how to upload and post pics on my blog, and he couldn't figure it out either. ={
That virus surely messed things up BIG TIME, and made us loose a lot of needed computer programs!!! Our friend is still trying to think of some way to help us.
1. PLEASE PRAY THAT WE CAN GET IT FIGURED OUT FOR I'M VERY SAD THAT I CANNOT UPLOAD NOR POST PICS RIGHT NOW!! God is able to help us!!!
We are HAPPY for Bro. Eisenhart, Bro. Becker, Bro. Pilmore and my brother-n-law Daryl from our Christian Nation Church are coming to visit us here in Colombia. YEA! =) We are VERY excited to have them come. Also, a lot of times when we get visitors we get some surprises from family and friends back home too. =D
2. Please pray for us to get everything done that we need to accomplish before they get here. (2 churches to paint, our bathroom to paint, a Church manual to finish translating and get printed, plus we have services everyday of the week to attend, and prepare for, lots of cleaning and baking to do, etc. =)
(The men offered to help us paint when they get here, but we'd rather have them preach than paint while they are here.=)
3. Please also pray for the men as they have a lot to do on their end before they come to Colombia.
They are bringing us important papers that we need to be able to renew our Colombian visas...I can hardly believe that it has been 2 years since we got those.
4. Please pray that God will help us to be able to renew those visas with no problems. These can be a headache!!! But with GOD....nothing is impossible!!!!!!!
5. While the men are here we will be having 2 days of special services.
Please help us pray that God's presence will be very close during those services, and that God will do a lot of Spiritual work during this time. THANK YOU!
I have Tons of pics to post when I can. Also it is nearly time to take and post Elijah's 10 month pics.
PLEASE HELP ME PRAY WE CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO POST PICS SOOOOOOON.
Thank you for helping us pray for all of these requests. =)

~Computer problems and a silly poem~

I'm sorry I haven't been posting. Our computer got a bad virus and Phillip has been trying to fix it. Neither one of us can figure out how to post pics now. I'll keep working on it, and hopefully I can post some pics soon.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with an "inspiring" poem I wrote a few days ago when I had a BAD cold! =D
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I hate the common cold, don't you...?
You walk around feeling miserable and blue.
You try to breathe through your nose (pardon me as I rant and rave)
But you can't, so you have to leave your mouth open as wide as a cave. :O
You buy so many tissues that "Kleenex" goes up in their New York Stock
While you sit at home blowing your nose around the clock.
And you slather Vics salve underneath your nose
While your garbage can with wadded tissues overflows.
To try to breathe you sniff a saline solution
For you can't smell anything, not a rose nor smoke pollution.
You eat cough drops by the dozen, just like candy;
For you cough and your throat hurts...it doesn't feel too dandy.
You wash your hands 100 times a day
Hoping not to contaminate others and that this cold will go away.
Your eyes droop and your mouth hangs open as you walk around
Making one look very similar to a Basset Hound. (dog =)
You run for a tissue, blow your nose, throw it away and then...
You SNEEZE and start the WHOLE PROCESS AGAIN! ={
Oh, the things that we take for granted when we are well
But without a cold I wouldn't have had this "story-poem" to tell. =)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Please pray for our computer! It is a very BIG part of a missionary's life...and we really NEED it to work right! Thank you!