~Urgent prayer requests~

Dear Prayers,
This week we received the news that our land lord (Who has lived in the USA for over 30 years) is coming back to Colombia and wants to live in his house that we have been renting for nearly 3 years. We have been very happy here and loved the area...but it looks like since he is coming home to Colombia and naturally wants to live in his own house...it has now become God's will that we find another one, and SOON. So....PLEASE DO pray that GOD will guide us to the right house in a SAFE area for our family. Your prayers are NEEDED that we find God's mind on where HE wants us to live. The wrong place could put our family in a lot of danger!!

ALSO...about our Colombian visas...we had to pay for a month's extension due to a problem with a government office. They said that they could get the problem fixed in a month. We need to PRAY that they do get it fixed, for we need to renew our visas by May 16th or so. Only God can work out these details.
Thank you, your prayers mean A LOT to us.

God is an awesome God!!
--
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

~Kids under construction...~

(Elijah's 11 month pics)
~Hi, My name is "handyman Elijah"~
~At your service.~
~How DO I use this cell phone?~
~I THINK this is where I'm supposed to talk. =)~
~If you need any repairs done...just call me on my cellphone at 1-513-4-ELIJAH. =)

~YES!!! I got the day off!~
~Who cares about "OSHA"...forget this hard hat!!~ =D

~An answer to prayer...and some random pics.~

Thank you for your prayers for the problems in our rental home. God has answered those prayers and this week an electrician came and worked on a lot of our outlets, light fixtures, and light switches. Later they plan to change a couple of electrical cables outside too. A friend of our land lady also came and fixed some water-damaged walls and repainted them...so now they are like new again. We are very thankful for all that has been done this week.
The Lord willing, next week they will look at our spare water tank on our roof and see why it doesn't work and try to fix it soon too. There are times when the water is shut off WITH NO WARNING (and NO CLUE how long it will be off)...and we have not had any BACK UP source of water due to the spare tank not working. It is NOT EASY when one has 4 children and wakes up to NO WATER!! ={
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~One Saturday I decided to make 4 jean skirts for some girls from our church. (2 of the girls live 24 hours away and were leaving the next day to go back home.)
I started the skirts and was working on them, when all of the sudden I started feeling yucky. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me finish them so I could send them to church with Phillip the next day to give to the girls before they went home. Praise the Lord...God helped me get them finished (My dear Kimberly helped me on them too) and the girls were happy with their new skirts.~
~One of the skirts. We were in a hurry while trying to take this picture and never could get a very clear one of the flower and hem.~
~A close-up of one of the flowers on one of the skirts.~
~A lady from our church invited us over to her parents home for a nice meal. We really enjoyed our evening with them and their yummy food. Phillip was trying to make conversation and complimented their cute placemats, etc. on their table. However, we have learned (but due to our culture inbred in us...we had forgotten) that if you compliment Colombians on anything they have...a lot of times they want to please you so much that they will give you what you complimented them on. So, that night as we parted ways...the hostess handed me a bag and I asked, "What's this?" Upon looking in it...I found all of her placemats, napkin holders, napkins, and cup holders off of her table. I felt so badly, but she was HAPPY to give me her treasures. (The plate and silverware in this picture were mine already.) Aren't the things that she gave me so cute?~
~A bow on the placemat. There is also a matching cup holder covered in plastic.~
~I just love that cute little "Aunt Jamima" lady napkin holder. =D~
~Kimberly teaching Sunday school~
~A couple weeks ago Phillip was out of town and our kids were needing a break, so I took them to McDonalds for lunch and to play. Sarah wore her whistle for she and Noah were going to play "firemen".~
~Sarah and Noah playing "fireman" and "sliding down the poles to run to the fire" (in the playland at McDonalds.) =D~

~Our Easter Sunday~

~For our breakfast...We made a new recipe for "Resurrection cinnamon rolls." You roll up a large marshmallow in a section of roll dough (with butter, and cinn./sugar) and then when it's baked the marshmallow melts and leaves the "tomb empty" inside the roll...the melted marshmallow makes for a delicious cinnamon roll. =)~ ~Our Sarah loves to write us notes. She wrote this pretty Easter note for Daddy and my page is behind his page.~
~The kids Easter baskets (poor Elijah didn't get a basket, nor any candy...but he got a cute little monkey and a new toothbrush. HE LOVES HIS TOOTHBRUSH! =)~
~Phillip and I each got a Twix candy bar and dear Phillip shared his pack of M&M's with me. (I had had 2 packs, but needed something to add to a gift for my secret sister that morning, so gave mine away. =)~
~A just awake Kimberly and her basket~
~A barely awake Noah and his basket~
~A tired but happy Sarah and her basket~
We had a very good service Sunday morning, and God helped Phillip as he preached. We taught the church several new Resurrection hymns. PRAISE THE LORD THAT JESUS IS RISEN!!~
~For our Easter dinner we had Shrimp with Lemon Linguine, rolls, a big salad, homemade grape juice and a dessert.~
~I made our dinner rolls to look like the backs of Easter bunnies (or Spring Bunnies =). Here they are before they were baked.~
~After the "bunnies" were baked.~
~Our family on Resurrection Sunday. The kids outfits came from the Eisenharts ...Thanks bunches!! The dress I am wearing is the wrap-around dress that I just finished making from a pattern that Julia M. sent me. Thank you again, Julia!~

After our dinner, I took a quick nap, and our family ran to our evening service (in the POURING RAIN) and had a good service, and then came home exhausted but happy with the good Sunday that we had had.

~Pictures from our first Colombian Ladies meeting~

Getting everything ready on the BIG DAY!
~My helper Kimberly gave Elijah a bath.~
~My helpers Sarah and Noah helping me clean the house.~
~Since my theme was love...for our sweet treat I made heartshaped cakes. I was soooo HAPPY to find these heart shaped muffin pans. They had a deal on that if I bought 2 Betty Crocker muffin mixes, I got a muffin pan for FREE. I bought several!! =) ~
~I included a little surpise in the middle of our cakes..some cherry pie filling.~
~I was soooo HAPPY with our good attendance...27-29 of us for the very first meeting. First we sang some Spanish songs on the home and then the Lord helped me to talk to our ladies about being our husband's girlfriends. =)~

~The ladies were very good listeners and seemed to really enjoy what I had to say...especially the stories and illustrations I told them. ;} ~~Elijah had a little playmate named Valentina.~
~Going around the room taking prayer request from each lady...

~And then the person to their right would pray for that prayer request. God's presence was very close during this time. (I had given the camera to Kimberly and asked her to snap some pics.)~
~The cakes on the table~
~Since Colombians don't like a lot of really sweet things I didn't icing our little cakes.~
~The table and food.~
~The ritz crackers and tuna salad (in the v-cut canteloupe)~
~The pretty flowers that I found for our table...and the hearts the kids and I sprinkled down the table.~
~Food time.~
~The ladies were happy with my American food. =)~
~Smiling and eating at the same time.~
After we ate I taught them how to make 2 different kinds of cookies, and we ate the cookies with Colombian coffee. Then we drew names for a "secret sister" to pray for and give gifts to until our next meeting. The ladies left encouraged and happy and all excited for our next meeting at Sis. Farly's house. Thank the Lord for His help with our 1st meeting.

~The last of the USA company pics~

Since I can upload pics now, I'll post all the rest of the pics from our visitors stay back in March. We loved having Bro. Eisenhart, Bro. Becker, Bro. Pilmore, and Bro. Daryl with us, and their ministry was such a blessing to our churches here. Sorry for the overload...but there are LOTS of pics in this post. =)
Some more Pics from our Sunday... from my camera this time.
~I LOVE fresh flowers, so I'm happy to be living in Colombia where they cost pennies. I got these flowers for our table, (plus more that filled another huge vase on a table in our living room) all for $5.50! =)~
~Our Sunday dinner table~
~A place setting at the table.~
~Since I had the dinning room table already set for Sunday dinner, I served our breakfast buffet in the garage. :)~
~One of our desserts for Sunday dinner was this coconut cake. Yummy!~
~The other dessert was this up-side-down apple pie. UMMMM UMMMM!! =D~
~Bro. Eisenhart, Bro. Becker, Daryl, and Bro. Pilmore, Jimmy, Farly and girls and our family after church on Sunday.~
~Us during our Sunday dinner (Daryl was studying for his sermon.)~
~A smiling Sarah with some of her goodies from the USA.~
~A Happy Kimberly with some of her goodies.~
~The Beckers sent Noah these fun cars.~
~Grammy E. and the Beckers sent some fun cars to Elijah.~
~Some of my goodies that the Beckers and Sis. Joan sent to me. Some perfume, and lots of fun scrapbooking papers, stickers, etc. THANKS TONS!!!~
~Tuesday afternoon (March 17th) before the first service of our Christian Nation Church congress Phillip and Bro. Becker had to pick up some people from the bus station and so Bro. Eisenhart, Daryl, and the kids and I got some Colombian gifts for them to take back to their families and ate lunch at McDonalds.~
~A couple ladies and I singing "My Tribute" (in Spanish of course)in the service that night. (The dress that I am wearing I recently made from a wrap-around pattern that Julia M. sent to me. Thanks, Julia! =)~
~The people from our church in Medellin...a 10 hour bus ride away~~The family that came from our church in Cartagena...a 24 hour bus ride.~
~Our USA visitors being introduced to the church.~
~The Lord helped Bro. Paul Pilmore to preach that first night of our Christian Nation Church Congress~
Wednesday, March 18th was the 2nd and last day of our Christian Nation Congress and we had services and workshops all day long. God helped each one that preached, and helped Phillip as he translated. God's presence was so close that it almost felt like we were in the upper room at Pentacost.
~Here we were eating a snack between services. Later we had a DELICIOUS typical Colombian lunch.~
~Our family singing "Yes, I know" in Spanish during the evening service.~
~A group shot after the Congress. (I was afraid that Elijah was going to hurt that baby beside me, so I'm talking to him in this pic. =)~
After a whole day being in the church...fellowshipping with fellow believers, and basking in God's sweet presence none of us were ready to leave that night.
~After the last service back at our house...the guys enjoyed talking, eating pizza, and relaxing after the busy week of preaching. They stayed up until nearly 2:00 AM and had to get up early to pack and leave for the airport the next morning by 6:00 or so.~
Our family LOVED having each of the men here with us. Their Christian fellowship and preaching ministered to us as well. God is really working here in Colombia, and oh how that encourages our hearts! GOD MET WITH US DURING OUR SERVICES THE WEEK THAT OUR USA VISITORS WERE HERE...Tears were shed, lives were changed, and goodbyes were hard to say. =)