~Jesus answered our Prayer for Internet!!!~

~I was too sick in the US when I was packing to think of wanting to bring along many decorations.  And when I got here I was too sick to really care.
But, one thing I did want, was another OLD looking wooden box like I had last time to put in my kitchen.
My sweetheart Phillip came in the other day with this one.   =)
So, I had fun adding the whole wheat spaghetti, hard breads and bottle of olive oil to it on the top of my fridge. =)~

Phillip and I thought that maybe I should explain why we were PRAYING for internet! It wasn't just for fun things like FB (since we don't even have FB =), but on the mission field when you are so far away from Home, internet is a way of life. It's how we pay tithe and bills, find out if we have money, find out who gave and what they gave so we can thank them, our card program we use to Thank them is using internet, send out our newsletters, make international phone calls to our mission and to check on Moma, etc.
We were PRAYING for internet for...We have some bills that are almost LATE, but every time Phillip tried to go pay them using the WIFI from the nearby restaurants, our bank wouldn't let us enter our account due to the internet being unsecured. =(  We haven't had internet for 26 days now.
I wrote a fun little poem about what Jesus did for us TODAY!!! =)

As you know we've been Needing internet for weeks now!
But each time it would RAIN, now that's Discouraging Pal!  
'Cause the company said that they couldn't put in a new cable in the rain,
So each time they would reschedule us AGAIN!  =(

WHY have we been praying for internet???
It wasn't just for fun, you can "bet."  =)
Sure we love to email and blog, it helps our hearts,
But, internet is a tool we use LOTS, it plays a huge part!

When we are in the US, we don't need internet as much,
Except to contact our Colombian friends and such!  
But, When you are a missionary so far away,
You use internet every. single. day.!

Internet is how we pay our tithe and bills,
And it's how we order our pills.
It is how Phillip writes and sends each newsletter,
But wait, oh wait, it gets better!  =)

It is our international phone
It's how we call our mission and Home!
It's how I blog so Moma and Grandma can see
Pics of our Growing Kimberly, Sarah, Noah, Elijah, Mary & BABY! =)

It's how we find out who (and what they) gave,
It's how I find a recipe that I CRAVE. =)
It's how we send out each Thank you card...
So, living without internet on the field is HARD!

Our family has been begging Jesus to P.L.E.A.S.E. send us DRY SKIES!! 
 It's been DRY for days, but rained again last night...we couldn't believe our eyes!!! =(
TODAY was the day we were supposed to FINALLY get it!
And we KNEW God could help it NOT RAIN, no Not ONE LITTLE BIT!

We awoke to sunny skies, not a cloud in sight!
AND NOW WE HAVE INTERNET!!!  Oh, WHAT A DELIGHT!!!  =)
Thank you, God, for internet....You are GREAT!
Now we can pay bills and say Hi to our loved ones in the States!  =)
                                                                    ~Heather~  Feb. 2014 Argentina 
 

~Our Valentine's Days~

I was feeling quite S.A.D. last night, for the internet company…canceled until NEXT Tuesday. This is 2nd internet company we have tried and this is the 3rd week that we’ve been Rescheduled! 
So, I was sort of “Having a Little Talk With Jesus” to help my heart be happy.
A few minutes later our friend Leo called and came by with the few boxes of dishes and stuff we left here when we lived here last time. And then before he left he loaned us his plug-in internet for right now!  
His visit was like a hug from Jesus to my heart! =)
After he left, it was like Christmas! Our family unpacked our boxes and enjoyed seeing our treasures we hadn’t seen in 2 years.
And Thank the Lord and Leo…we can use this internet for now!!!! =)

An Explanation! This internet is slower, so I’ll probably have to shrink all of my pics. No more double clicking them to bring them up bigger. =( Sorry!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We had a very special Valentine’s weekend. On Thursday night we invited Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli over for a simple Valentine’s meal to sort of say THANK YOU for alllll they have done for us. =)
I was so SICK with this pregnancy before we left Cinci that I didn't feel like bringing anything extra..but I knew that Valentine's was just around the corner, so I did buy some paper plates, napkins, and a couple little "Love" signs from Target's $1.00 aisle.~

~On the day of our dinner I got enough energy to take Elijah and Mary with me and we walked several blocks to the material store and bought some red ribbon to tie bows around our silverware to add another fun touch to our table.  (I was so HAPPY to find the pink place mats here in this house! =)~

~And my Dear Moma gave us each ziplock bags of candy the day we flew.  When we got here we put the candy that didn't get eaten in the 'fridge.  It made for a fun "confetti" to put down the table.~

~The only problem, is that the package of plates I bought in the States only had 8 plates in it!!!  That meant that one of our kids would not have a colorful fun plate!  I was SAD for them, but didn't know what to do.  =(
There is a fun party store RIGHT in front of our house, but February is vacation month here in Argentina and they have been CLOSED for weeks!  When Noah asked me that morning what THEIR table was going to have on it, I told him about my LACK of one plate and asked him to PRAY that that store would open TODAY!  
A few minutes later, we looked out and THEY WERE OPEN!  So, I quickly got ready and went to go across the street.  When I opened our door, there stood this man telling me he was our neighbor and that he owned the party store and another shop nearby.  He talked for a few minutes to Phillip and I and then I asked him if his store was opened.  He said that NO his store wasn't opened...that the men were remodeling it during this month!!  =(
But, when I showed him my paper napkin with hearts on it and told him that I just needed a few plates to match this napkin, he took me inside the store with stuff sitting EVERYWHERE, and let me buy what I needed!  I thought that was SWEET of God to care about the kids having a fun table too! =)
~The kids table.  It's like this house has 2 dinning rooms.  This is where we always eat as a family.  This is a room between the kitchen and the formal dinning room.
The formal dinning room is where we adults ate.~

~Since I had a HARD time finding a cake stand here last time, I brought this metal one with me.  I purchased it several months back at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.  We cut some of Kimberly's yummy brownies into heart shapes, and then I broke off toothpicks to "attach" the real cherries to the top of each brownie.~

~I just had to leave the 2 cherry stems together.  They represent Phillip and I and our 18 1/2 years of Marriage bliss.  I never DREAMED what all adventure my life with him would bring!  But, I've held on tightly to God and to Phillip...and we have had quite the fun ride!  =)~

~My flowers Phillip bought me. The white ones smell pretty.~

~Since I’m just now starting to cook again, I just made a simple meal.  I made my lasagna, my French bread, iced tea and lemonade/orangeade, and a Cesear salad.  The ingredients that each country carries are so different, so I always wonder how my first lasagna will turn out, but Jesus helped it and it turned out yummy. =) ~

~In this picture that Kimberly took you can see my little big baby bump!  I can't believe I'm only 13 weeks along.  Help...I'm afraid I'm going to be an elephant by the time 39 weeks arrives.  =)
(I'm being VERY careful with my diet and sugar/carb intake and as you know we are WALKING our legs off here...so that exercise is good for baby and I!)~

~We had a very enjoyable night with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli.~

~Uncle Charlie had been asking/teasing little Mary to kiss him on his cheek (it’s very common here to greet each other with a kiss on the cheek.)  Mary wouldn’t give him one for several days.  Finally U. Charlie asked Mary if he bought her 2 ice creams if she would give him a kiss THEN.  She agreed that if he bought her T.W.O. ice creams she would give him a kiss on his cheek. 
Silly Little Mary!

One day last week U. Charlie stopped by our house and Mary surprised us all by giving him a kiss without him even asking.  He told her for that kiss he'd buy her T.H.R.E.E. ice creams!!!
So, when they came for dinner, they had their arms full of boxes of yummy ice creams…for not just Mary, but for our whole family.  I'm afraid they are going to spoil our kids and us! =D~

~Kimberly made brownies for our Valentine's dinner with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli...which we served with fresh peach slices, vanilla ice cream and my homemade chocolate syrup.~

On Valentine’s day (Friday) our family went out to eat/ As you may recall each February Phillip takes our family to an ethnic restaurant…to Thank Jesus for giving us the privilege of being missionaries and Phillip uses this time to remind us of our responsibility as well!   

Even though we've been missionaries since 2004...the idea to "celebrate" only occurred to Phillip to celebrate God's calling on our lives...3 years ago.  

This time we chose to eat outside…and believe it or not, a cool wind came up (there’s nearly always a breeze here in Buenos Aires due to the Plata River nearby) and the younger kids and I nearly froze to death!  But, it was a fun memorable night together!

 ~Here's the girls with their drinks.  Kimberly, Sarah, and Noah got grapefruit juice and Elijah and Mary got orange juice. Phillip and I got carbonated water (in the green bottles.)

GRAPEFRUIT JUICE is VERY popular here.  It's on nearly every menu and they even sell a Soft drink made out of it. ~

 ~All of us.  We chose a restaurant kitty corner from our last apt. we lived in.  It was fun to be back where we had spent 5 months, but we are more happy where we are living now! ~

 ~I'm wearing Phillip's jacket, to help me survive being outside.
And Sarah is snuggling a FREEZING Elijah and is using her cloth napkin to cover him up. =)

 ~Then we walked several blocks to catch our bus...and rode the bus for 45 mins. back home.  Little Mary and Elijah fell sound asleep.~

 ~My Valentine and I...and our sweet little baby.~

 

From Heather in Argentina

Hello again this Sunday evening. As we still do not have internet in our house yet =( I’m typing another post for Phillip to go somewhere and post it tomorrow. There are restaurants close by that have WiFi but that means he has to go and buy something in order to use their WiFi, and be gone for an hour or more at a time. Thank you for all your nice comments. When Phillip goes to check email, he is able to save my blog comment page open so that I can read your comments when he gets back home. I have to read them fast, for the WIFI doesn’t reach to our house, so the page disappears as soon as the tablet is shut down, but I really enjoy hearing from all of you.

PLEASE PRAY THAT THE INTERNET COMPANY GETS IT GOING SOON!! THANKS!

(We were supposed to get internet the morning after we arrived!)

The Lord is helping us! I’m feeling some better. I’m now 12 weeks/3 months along. I still get nauseated, but I’m having more better days than before. And Jesus is giving me more strength to cook the meals, wash up the dishes, etc. I still get lots of naps though too. =)

Here are some pictures of our first full day here in Argentina. As I told you, I stayed in bed a good part of the day, but in the later part of the afternoon Jesus gave me the strength to get up and get cleaned up. We walked to a nearby local restaurant for supper and then walked a few more blocks and went grocery shopping. Pizza and baked empanadas are very popular here, and so yummy. We are trying to eat lots of fresh veggies and do lots of exercise to help baby and I with my sugar problem.

PLEASE NOTE: The bottled water comes in those green glass bottles here! It is NOT wine!

Here’s a couple pics from our first Sunday here. Mary is wearing here new little cute white dress that Bro. Rigo and Sis. Ilce from Cartagena, Colombia bought her and sent back with Phillip in October.

And here we are waiting in the rain for the bus to take us to church. We walk about 5 blocks, wait for a bus, ride the bus for about 45 mins., get off walk another few blocks and we arrive at church. =) The neat thing is that the Chinese church eats their Sunday meal together each Sunday. So, we get to eat before we do the whole process all over again to go back home. =D Aren’t we blessed to get to eat authentic Chinese food every Sunday. Lots of veggies, rice, and little meat.

Here’s some pics of our back yard. As you can see there is a large pool in our backyard. But…don’t get green with envy…for we don’t swim in it…’cause it was turned into a fish pond some time back. =) But it makes for a pretty back yard. Like I said, it’s like a garden back there; Lots of exotic and pretty flowers. (And yes…I DO worry about our little ones falling into the pool…but we have a STRICT rule that our little ones CANNOT go outside with out a bigger person. And your prayers are appreciated!)

Thankfully they have a garage and the balcony to play on that is away from the pool. The balcony is where the 3 are standing looking over the railing, and it’s the same balcony where they are standing where our clothes are hanging to dry.

Uncle Charlie showed us that the huge Plata River (which is like an ocean) is only 17 blocks walking distance from our house.

So on Tuesday we hand washed our clothes and hung them on the line to dry, and then that evening we walked those 17 blocks (ONE WAY…that meant we had to walk those same 17 blocks BACK HOME!!! =) and took our kids to the Plata River, let them play in the park, and bought 3 ice cream cones to share, then walked that long distance back home again. I felt like I had had enough exercise for a month. =)

The next morning, on Wednesday…just a week after leaving our house in Cincinnati, Kimberly, Sarah, and Noah began school work again. Jesus is helping them and they are working hard to get LOTS of schoolwork done in these few months.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!

Please keep praying that God will guide us to the contacts He wants us to touch here…and that we’ll get internet soon!!!

First pics from Argentina

Heather here. We don’t have internet yet, but I’m typing this up and Phillip is going to a local café to post this for me.

 Thank you VERY much for your prayers!!! Jesus gave us a great trip…once we finally got off the run-way. =) We left our home in Cinci around 1:30 P.M., flew from Cinci to Atlanta at 4:20 and then as you already read, spent an unexpected night on the COLD HARD floor of the Atlanta airport. They had passed out blankets earlier, but we didn’t know about it and didn’t get there in enough time. (And some people had taken 3 blankets per person…so they ran out fast. =( So, like I said Phillip unpacked nearly his whole suitcase in trying to find ANYTHING to keep all of as warm as can be. We finally got to board the plane around 8:30 AM Thursday morning but didn’t take off until 10:30 AM. It was not a full flight, and we were able to move around as we liked, so I was able to have 3 seats on which to take a MUCH-NEEDED nap. =) All 5 kids did great and were great travelers for the 12 hours we were in the airplane. One time Mary was sitting beside me and the Stewardess was coming down the aisle to offer us drinks. Mary giggled and whispered to me, “This is SO FUN!” And I asked, “Do you like it when they give us drinks?” And she grinned and said, “Yes!” =)

Here’s a few not-so-flattering pics of our family traveling and after we arrived…for you to enjoy.

 

We were served breakfast/brunch around 11:30 or noon and then supper around 8:30, 2 hours before we landed in Argentina. THANK THE LORD for Laura, Moma, and Sis. Becker sending us snacks along, or baby and I wouldn’t have made it during the hours between our meals. =) We arrived safely at 10:30 P.M. in Buenos Aries, Argentina, and it was a whopping 88 degrees outside. =) Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli and another brother from their church picked us up and brought us to the house where we are to stay. This is the house that is owned by Charlie’s parents/family. It is a nice spacious house with 3 bedrooms and a office (Which they have turned into a nice bedroom for Kimberly.) It has 2 and ½ bathrooms, A nice kitchen and place to eat, a nice dining room and Living room. A garage where our boys can rip-stick (the funny skateboard with 2 wiggly wheels =), 3 fun balconies, and a back yard that looks like the garden of Eden. Beautiful exotic plants and trees, and a fun fish pond. The kids enjoy feeding and watching the colorful fish. Aunt Yoli had picked up some supplies for us since we were getting in so late. They have been very gracious to us and we are asking Jesus to BLESS them! The house where we are staying is perfect for our family and we love it! God is Good! The next day I was very nauseated…and I teasingly told Phillip, “I can tell everyone has quit praying for us now!” =D No, seriously, THANK YOU for praying for us. I was relatively not sick while we were traveling for those 33 hours. On Friday I hardly even got out of bed. I was so sick and exhausted! When we get internet in our house, I’ll let you know.


Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli took us out for ice cream on Saturday. It was so yummy! =)