~Our fun breakfast date~

~I snapped this fun picture of 2 of my men sleeping. =)~
The other morning, Phillip and I decided to take a little date and go out for breakfast and coffee. We left Kimberly in charge of our children and left her our cellphone numbers in case she needed us, and we walked just a couple blocks away to a bakery.
~Phillip and I as were leaving for our date...pardon our "Square Eyes" (as my brother-in-law Michael calls someones' eyes when they have just awakened. =)
~My sweetheart and I.~
~Our fun date at the little bakery. We had such a nice time just relaxing and chatting together. The food was yummy too.

While on our date I asked Phillip to tell me his 5 favorite things about Colombia, and I also asked him to name some of his favorite memories of the 3 years our family has been here. Then I told him my answers. Some of my favorite things about Colombia are as follows:
The beautiful Andes Mountains
The Colombian people
The coffee and yummy food
The Dear caring Colombian friends that God has placed in our lives. They love us like their family and we do them too.
Their custom of bringing a little gift to ones' home when visiting.
And their custom of always serving their visiting guests something to eat and drink when they are in their home.
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~The other Thursday Phillip was in a taxi headed to church when a guy passed selling roses. Phillip asked the taxi driver to make sure he had heard the price right...for the price was UNBELIEVABLE!! He had heard right and He got me 2 dozen beautiful red roses for about 90 CENTS!!!! That is one of the perks of living in Colombia! =)

~Elijah and his "walker"~

~One day I had given Elijah a bath and Kimberly got him all dressed and did his hair. Then she put him to bed for a nap, for we were going to go to a park for our family day after his nap. Here is what his hair looked like before his nap....~
~All slicked up with no where to go. =)~
~Here is what his hair looked like AFTER his nap. =)~
~I love how his hair sort of curls. He's our sweet loveable little boy. I think I like the "relaxed look" better. =D~
~Elijah...using a little stool for a "walker". =) (Sorry this is soooo Dark, hopefully you can at least tell a little of what he is doing.)~

~Our Sunday~

~On Satuday I made 60 Rice Kripy treats to pass out at church. Since Colombians LOVE bright colors, I sprinkled the treats with colorful sprinkles. They LOVED them and want to know how to make them. I plan to show the ladies how to make them in one of our Ladies' meetings soon.~
~We had a good morning service and the Lord helped Bro. Jimmy as he preached. After service Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, Edgar, Joanna, and my Phillip had to go to 2 other services. There wasn't room for all of the rest of us in their car, so I invited a bunch of young people to come home to eat with the kids and I. All the young people were teasing me that I was running a day care, so they put on bibs for a silly picture. We showed them a few Challenging Christian videos and had lots to eat. =) We had a good afternoon/evening together.~
~Later that night, the adults came in from their 2 services and I fed them the left over Skyline chili. It was a sad evening for we had just found out that Farly's Grandpa (who had been sick for awhile) had just gone into a coma the night before. We had special prayer for him. (Later that night we learned that he passed away. =( Thankfully, they feel he was ready to meet His maker.)~
~The young people playing a fun Bible game in the living room.~Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their Lord's day.

~Please keep praying about our visas~

I know that this sounds like a SCRATCHED CD that got stuck...but we still need prayer for our Colombian visas. =) There is a government lady who still won't give us the last paper that we need to get our visas renewed. Thank the Lord we did get to pay for another month's extension, but that will expire on June 16th. What I haven't told you yet is that for a year now we have been planning to fly back to the USA at the beginning of August to do deputation, and so we need to get our Colombian visas taken care of before we leave.
THANK YOU FOR PRAYING ABOUT OUR VISAS, GOD KNOWS WHAT IS BEST!!
Thank you also for praying for the right house for us. It appears that God has showed us what to do for right now. Bro. Jimmy's father owns a house that has 4 apts. in it. We plan to rent one of those apartments in July and that way we will know that our things will be safe while we are in the USA, and then when we come back to Colombia we will look for another house, Lord willing.
We plan to do deputation services in the USA August-November. It's been since 2004-2005 since we have visited a sufficient amount of churches, and as you know, support slowly drops off over the years. We had planned to visit more churches last time we were in the USA, but with the difficulties of my pregnancy (I was carrying so much fluid due to gestational diabetes that I was measuring 39 weeks when I was only 7 months pregnant, and I was having so many contractions that I was put on bed rest for several days/weeks) we didn't get to do very many services. We are looking forward to seeing many of our dear supporters soon. Hopefully we might get to see you too?! =D

~Yes, our son...is now one.~

Thank you all for your prayers for Elijah. Poor little baby, He had thrown up so much that I was very concerned about him. That is when a nurse and a pharmacist both told me that Elijah needed to FAST from all foods and Mommy's milk for 24 HOURS, so that his stomach could heal. That was VERY hard, but we gave him other liquids and some medicine and at the end of that 24 hours he was MUCH better! Thank the LORD!! The end of that 24 hour period was Sunday afternoon and from then on he began acting more like himself. YEA! We were sooo HAPPY to have our bubbly baby back. =) When I saw that he was feeling a lot better, I fed him and put him in bed for a Sunday afternoon nap, and then made supper (for the family, Elijah couldn't eat food yet) and mixed up his birthday cake and we got to celebrate with him on Sunday night....3 days late! Here are some fun pics.~The birthday boy...that is not sure what to think of everything. =) I love his little feet, with his big toe sticking up in the air. =D~
~I quickly mixed up and decorated a simple birthday cake. =)~

~Thankfully the lit candle was interesting enough for Elijah to stare at it, so we could get some decent pictures. He still was dragging some, but was feeling LOTS better than he had been, so we went ahead and celebrated his 1st birthday with him.~
~Us helping Elijah open his birthday presents.~

~Gingerbread Biscotti~

THANK YOU BUNCHES for your concern and prayers for Elijah, Y'all are the BEST! =D He is doing A LOT better. We are soooo happy to see him being his smiley self again! Praise the Lord! We finally celebrated his birthday Sunday evening. I'll post pics soon. =)
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What is it about sitting and sipping coffee and eating danty pastries in a coffee shop that makes one feel so special? The other day we were out and were in 2 different fancy coffee shops (but for other reasons) and saw all of their fancy pastries that looked so inviting. Well, I didn't splurge that day...but decided to come home and stir up my own pastries, and make my home "a coffee shop"! =D
I had seen this ~Gingerbread Biscotti~ recipe in the Jan/Feb The Ladies Companion submitted by Marilyn Muir Warren, Ohio, and it looked good, so I decided to make it.
Later...I sat down to a yummy cup of Mocha coffee and one of these delicious GingerBread Biscotti!

Here's the recipe.
1/4 cup real butter (1/2 of a stick)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup Molasses or honey
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teasp. baking powder
1/2 teasp. baking soda
1/8 teasp. salt
1 1/2 teasp. ground ginger
1 teasp. cinnamon
1/4 teasp. ground cloves (I didn't have this)
1/2 teasp. ground nutmeg
1 cup slivered almonds
White choc. coating, optional
Heat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, and molasses. Add all dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Fold in the almonds. Divide the dough in half onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Spray your hands with Pam (dough will be sticky) and form each half into a log about 4" wide and 1" high. Place them 2" apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake dough for 30-40 mins. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Your Biscotti may rise higher than mine did, due to us living at nearly 9,000 Ft above sea level.)
Lower oven temp to 300. Cool logs for 10 mins., transfer to cutting board. With a serrated knife cut each log diagonaly into 1/2" slices. Place the slices cut-side down on a baking sheet and return to oven to toast. Remove after 10 mins. and flip cookies over. Toast an additional 10 mins.
Remove from oven and let cool. (Optional) Melt white choc. and dip the cookies halfway into coating or use a spoon to drizzle quickly back and forth across the tops of all slices. (Our white choc. was being difficult, so it didn't drizzle as pretty as we wanted it. =)
Let set completely before storing in an airtight container.
Now...pour yourself a cup of hot coffee, and enjoy one of these...knowing that you made a WHOLE BATCH of Biscotti for what you probably would've paid for a cup of coffee and one SLICE! (`~`)

~Our 2nd Ladies Meeting in Colombia~

~We had our 2nd Ladies Meeting at Sis. Farly's house. Excuse the dark picture. Due to the light coming from the window at the far end of the room, it was HARD to get a picture of all we ladies. There were about 32 in attendance.~
~Some of the ladies in attendance. One lady had just gotten her little girl out of the hospital, but came straight to the ladies meeting for she did NOT want to miss it!~
Farly had her neighbor lady teach us how to make a quick dessert. I cannot remember what she called it, but here's what you do.
1. You take some caramel and spread it on a tray (or a 9x13 dish),
2. then layer some graham crackers,
3. then more caramel,
4. then coolwhip,
5. then repeat,
6. ending with coolwhip.
It was simple but pretty tasty.
Sis. Farly spoke to we ladies from Titus 2:4 and 5. The Lord settled down and many of us were weeping. There were ladies there who are bearing lots of grief in their lives, but I believe they felt the Touch of the Master in this meeting. The Ladies love doing the secret sisters (Amigas secretas) and so we drew names again this month. We pray for and give small gifts to the name we chose.~

I had planned on having the 3rd meeting at my house, but since we have already began packing, it isn't the neatest place. =) We'll see what happens.
When I gave my sugar cookies to the Mothers on Mother's day, they LOVED THEM, and several acted interested in learning how to make them. So, I'm thinking of making the cookies and cutting them into shapes ahead of time, and baking them, then letting them decorate them, and giving them the recipe so they can make them at home. Thank you for praying for our Colombian ladies. It is exciting to see God working among them!

~Please pray for Elijah~

Thank you for all of your nice birthday wishes for Elijah. Unfortunately, we haven't even celebrated his birthday yet, for he is still VERY sick with a stomach flu. He can hardly keep anything down. Sarah is also sick, and I'm not feeling the best. We hope to celebrate Elijah's birthday soon. Poor little baby, it makes my heart hurt to see him so sick! Please join me in prayer that we can kick this virus very SOON. THANK YOU!!

~Is our little son... now 1?~

Happy Birthday, Elijah!
A year at a glance...
~Before he was born. =)~
~3 days old~
~1 month~
~2 1/2 months~
~4 months old~
~5 months old~
~Scrub-a-dub-dub...6 months~
~Feliz Navidad~
~7 months...all packed up for Colombia~
~Our little Colombian cowboy (8 month old)~
~Our little 9 month old~
~Our little 10 month old chef~
~Our little 11 month old Construction worker~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And here are his one year old pics! =)
~"I can't wait to "dig into" this cake."~
~"Yummy, how did I get so lucky to get to play in a real cake?"~
(I had wanted some wooden blocks to spell Elijah's name for this picture and a sweet lady whom I have never met sent them to me. Thank you very much, Kris Stwarka. She is a friend of Sharon H's and attends the Ladies Meetings at our church in Ohio.)
~Love this smile! (I made this little romper for him.)~
~"Mmmm...these wooden blocks are tasty, but not quite as tasty as the cake." =)~
~Too cute~
~Awww...I LOVE THIS PICTURE!~
Happy 1st Birthday, sweet Elijah, we LOVE you tons and are soooo GLAD that Jesus sent you to our family!