~Look who is having a BIRTHDAY WEEK!~

Our Little Mary is 5!!!

Where in the world does time go?

It seems just YESTERDAY that we found out the SURPRISE OF OUR LIVES...

that little Mary was ON HER WAY! :-)

And then...a few short days later, we found out that her placenta was only 40% attached!!! :-(

So, WE WENT TO PRAYER, 

and MOMMY WENT TO BED (for several weeks, Doctor's orders!!) 

and then the next ultrasound showed 

that our GOD had reattached Mary's Placenta!!!! :-)

We are SO THANKFUL that Jesus sent us our very SWEET little Mary!  
She is a sweetheart, and is hilarious and makes us laugh a lot.
She loves Jesus with all her heart! 
The other night she cried and told me, "I'll TRY to get to Heaven!"
I assured her that we couldn't get to Heaven on our own, but only with God's help. 
I then told her that just as Sarah had held her hand, (and would have kept her from falling if she would have tripped), as she had gone on a walk that day, ...
If she will keep her little hand in GOD'S BIG HAND, He will keep her from tripping and falling and help her to make it to Heaven someday!

We're in the middle of celebrating MARY today, so stay tuned for more fun pics!! :-)

~HEATHER~

~Our English class~

This past Wednesday Aunt Caro made a yummy meal for us!  It was a yummy treat!!  We had a good English class.

Eating Yummy CHINESE food, 

At our ENGLISH class, 

In ARGENTINA! :-)

~Leo made these Moon Cakes, a Chinese tradition.  They were good.~

 ~They brought this yummy choc. candy bar.~

 ~Yours truly with my Dear friend, Caro, our Cook for the evening! :-)

 ~U. Leo and Baby Abigail. 

 ~ Phillip had Noah write down some ideas of subjects that Bubu likes, and then Phillip and Bubu practiced English in Kimberly's room.

 ~Sarah and Valen practiced English in Sarah and Mary's room, ...
talking about subjects that Valen likes!~

 ~Afterwards Phillip had everyone gather back in the Living room to study English together and to learn their Scripture verse in English too.~

 ~And then Jeremiah who was staying with us, joined them too.~

 ~Bubu trying to teach Elijah and Mary to play their recorders.~

 ~Aunt Caro made fried rice.  Delish!~

 ~Chinese hot sauce.~

 ~Aunt Caro's yummy corn soup.~

 ~Cute Chinese bowls with yummy Chinese soup.~

 ~Bubu and Valen bought these nice Bible coloring books and
colored pencils and crayons
 for Elijah and Mary.~

 ~So nice!  Such fun pencils too~

~And not knowing if they would bring a dessert, I made Choc. chips cookies.~

~HEATHER~

~Sarah's 8th grade trip to Uruguay...Part 2!~

Little Jeremiah (son of our friend Fernando who was in the bad motorcycle wreck)
is staying with us.
Fernando is still in ICU, (Intensive care!) and Mariela has to stay with him. 
Last night little Jeremiah was crying. :-(
I gave him a "Mommy hug," and prayed with him, and then Kimberly put on some Spanish children's Sunday school songs for him to listen to as he went to sleep.
I know he wishes with all his heart that Life could get back to normal and he could be with his parents again!
He's only seen his daddy one time, THROUGH A WINDOW, since his wreck. :-( (About 4 weeks ago now!)
PLEASE KEEP FERNANDO, MARIELA, AND LITTLE JEREMIAH IN YOUR PRAYERS! THANK YOU!!!!!

~This morning, Phillip took our boys to their classical guitar lessons.  
So, Kimberly and Sarah took their school work, and then took Mary and Jeremiah to the park!~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part 2 of our Uruguay trip!

~I love lighthouses!

This is the neat old lighthouse in Colonia, Uruguay, 

where we went for Sarah's graduation trip and to renew our Argentina visas.~

 ~My prayer is that my life will be like a LIGHTHOUSE, to help guide others toward Jesus!~

 ~We have never gone up into a lighthouse, so I wanted to do it in Uruguay.~

 ~Unfortunately, children under 8 were not allowed to go up in to the lighthouse! :-(
Once I started climbing up inside it, I COULD SEE WHY!!!
I was scared to death! :-)
So, we took turns.
Kimberly, Sarah, and I went up first, and here are Phillip, Noah, Elijah, Mary, and Abigail down below.~

 ~The old church from the lighthouse.~

 ~The river and some neat old buildings.~

 ~Kimberly and Sarah with the river behind them.~

 ~There was a couple from the USA up in the lighthouse, so they took these pics of us 3.~

 ~I only went up on the FIRST level, and then I WENT BACK DOWN, and the K and S climbed up to the top level of the lighthouse.~

 ~There they are!
Notice they aren't LEANING OVER THE FENCE. :-)
Kimberly said it was quite SPOOKY!~

 ~Kimberly took a "THEM-IE" up on top of the lighthouse. ;-) ~

  ~And then Phillip took Noah up.~

 ~And way up top!~

 ~Phillip and Noah's "them-ie." ;-)~

 

 ~And us WAY DOWN BELOW!~

 ~Elijah and Mary below.~

~Phillip and I!~

 ~Not sure what this building below the lighthouse used to be, but I like the neat stone walls.~

 ~And here's the other side of the lighthouse.~

~Fun flowers, and neat light.~

 ~The wall from where they used to fight behind during times of war.~

 ~Such a peaceful place.  If I were to ever disappear, this is where I might be. :-)~

 ~The kids with the old cannon.~

 ~Phillip, Noah, Sarah, and baby Abigail.~

 ~Such sweetness.~

 ~Such beautiful blue eyes.~

 ~Noah and Elijah climbing the chains.~

 ~Mary too.~

 ~My sweetheart and I!  He's a KEEPER!!!!! :-) ~

 ~Phillip + Heather + GOD + 6 children = TRUE LOVE AND HAPPINESS FOREVAH!!!!  :-)
(And, yes, Mary was a PHOTO BOMB; we had no clue she was down there. Silly girl!) ~

 ~Bones from some kind of LARGE creature.
We looked for a sign to tell us what it was, but there were no signs.~

 ~The kids FAVORITE place to hang out, the rocks beside the river.~

 ~About 1,5 miles away from Colonia, are 2 islands.
The tiny one to your left has another lighthouse.
The one to your right (Gabriel island) is just a "National Park" now.
 SARAH LOVES THESE ISLANDS and calls them hers!!
Since she has a dear friend named GABRIELA in Colombia, Sarah calls Gabriel island,
"Gabriela island!" :-) ~

 ~Little Mary~

 ~Pretty little purple flowers growing out of the cracks of the rock.~

 ~4 of our kids.
Sarah is such a GREAT big sister to spend time with the younger ones.~

 ~And Kimberly is a GREAT big sister spending time with the YOUNGEST ONE! :-) ~

 ~Sarah spends a TON of time with little Mary, telling her stories, playing with her, and making her feel VERY SPECIAL!!~

 ~Story time by the river.~

 ~Noah, Elijah, and Mary, who had been climbing on the rocks, but poor little Mary fell in and was soaking wet and freezing!~

 ~Us, FREEZING in the cold wind, with the Lighthouse we climbed behind us.~

 ~And then...the sun began to set!

 ~Both of "Sarah's islands."~

 ~"Gabriela island"~

 ~#WHONEEDSFILTERS!~

 ~#OURAWESOMEGOD~

 ~The fam!~

 ~Noah and Sarah with "Sarah's islands."~

 ~GOING....

 ~GOING...

 ~GOING...

 ~GONE!~

 ~I zoomed way in and caught this picture of the Skyline of our city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, ALL THE WAY FROM COLONIA, URUGUAY!
(Normally you can't see across, but it was a clear day and you are seeing just the TOPS of the towers. It is a one hour boat ride away!)~ 

 ~Noah and Elijah climbing on the rocks one last time before we went back to our rental home for the night.~

 ~A neat map of the "Plata River" made out of tiles on a wall in Colonia.~

 ~And then even though it was a CHILLY evening, we got ice cream, to celebrate us memorizing our Scripture for the month of August.
Elijah with his ice cream.~

 ~But, notice... we ate our ice cream BY THE FIRE!!~  :-)

 ~"SWEET SISTER TIME!" #evensharinghericecream~

 ~When God made Abigail...I think he must have made her battery TO RECHARGE with LITTLE TO NO SLEEP!  :-(
I took these pictures of her with the FLASH at 5:00 A.M.!~

 ~Sibling time by the fire...our last morning.~

 ~Before we left our rental house Phillip made chorizo on the fire.~

 ~2 Sweet little girls...~

 ~With nearly matching blouses we got last time in Colonia, and wearing their matching hair bows (a gift from their big sister Kimberly. :-)~

 We got all packed up and went to the Terminal, went through customs, and then got in line to get on our boat to go home!
On our way to Board what normally is a BIG BOAT, We could see a SMALLER boat ROCKING back and forth in the water, next to the HUGE boat. 
Kimberly and Phillip started joking about US GOING ON THE SMALL BOAT.
Kimberly said something like SHE HOPED we didn't go on that boat.
All of the sudden, I looked and realized that THE LINE WE WERE IN WASN'T GOING TO THE BIG BOAT, BUT WAS ENDING, AND WE WERE GETTING ON THE SMALLER BOAT!!! UGH! :-(
There was MUCH PRAYING going on, as we ROCKED BACK AND FORTH FOR AN HOUR, AND THE WAVES WENT UP ON THE WINDOWS.
One of our kids' turned GREEN...and some of the rest of us were feeling quite ICKY ourselves.
Thank GOD none of us lost our lunch, and 
we were VERY GRATEFUL TO AGAIN PLACE OUR FEET ON FIRM GROUND! :-)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!
~Mary, Phillip, and A VERY SILLY ABIGAIL on the boat.~

 ~We were HAPPY to get back home by 8:00 on a Friday night.
That gave us time to eat a snack, unpack, and even do a load of laundry.
Look at the beautiful Wisteria that had grown on the vines, and met our eyes when we looked in our back yard!~

 ~Before we left for Uruguay, these were just dried up looking vines.~

 ~And these yummy fruits are growing in our back yard right now too.
These are Loquats also called Chinese Plums .~

~My souvenir from the Antique city of Colonia, Uruguay was this fun white tin.~

 ~I wanted some flowers to put in my tin....and then remembered these fun artificial roses that were HERE in this house. :-) ~

 ~"Colonia del Sacramento" is the full name of the antique little town we visited in Uruguay. ~

 ~Tea time!~

 ~It's technically SPRING here now, 

but it's still chilly, rainy, and windy, 

so we're still enjoying our hot teas!~

If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would have been drinking my hot tea with NO SUGAR, I'd have told you that you were CRAZY! :-)

I'm a SOUTHERN GAL, and SUGAR just goes with tea, 

LIKE PHILLIP GOES WITH ME!! :-)

But, Partly due to our Chinese friends' influence (they always drink their Green tea with NO SUGAR)
and partly due to my having gestational diabetes with our last 3 babies,
I decided that I don't need to have sugar in my hot tea.
Some bodies just have more of a tendency toward diabetes, and my nurses warned me that with my having gestational diabetes 3 times, I could get diabetes one day! :-(
So, I still rarely eat pastas, potatoes, or rice, for I don't need the extra carbs.
If I can BE CAREFUL WITH MY DIET AND EXERCISE,
I should be able to ward off getting diabetes (at least for as long possible! :-)
~A cup of hot tea...Pure yumminess!~

 ~My fun "French tea box."~

 ~Sarah got an apple to eat for a snack the other day, and noticed this cute little leaf, that I thought was PICTURE WORTHY.~

Jesus gave us a nice time in Uruguay!!!

Fun Memories, while we tried to touch some lives (our kids' included) for Jesus!

 ~HEATHER~