~Bible Day...instead of Halloween!~

But first...I'm a TRASH COLLECTOR! :-) 

I have to show you my ladder I got out of someone's trash. :-) 

Well, it was just leaning against a tree with some other scrap wood, waiting for the trash truck to take it,

But, My Phillip pointed it out to me, and I Fell in Love with it.

~Here's the side of my ladder.~

The only problem was that the LADY of the house that it came from WAS WATERING HER PLANTS in front of her house! :-(

We had some business to take of, so we walked on, LEAVING MY LADDER, took care of our business, and as we walked back TO GET MY LADDER...we were hoping that the lady would be inside by then.  

NOT! :-(  

There she was leisurely watering her lawn. :-( 

So, Phillip got up the nerve to ask if I could have that ladder...mumbling something that I had a use for it. :-)   

I know she was SHOCKED that the Americans wanted her TRASH!  :-)
(Sarah was a tad embarrassed about us getting the ladder in front of people. :-)  I understand!  I well remember LYING down on the seat in our car TO HIDE...on vacation back in 1987 or 1988 when my parents and Andrew and Vonnie found some treasures beside the road! :-)

~I'm pretty happy with my "trashy" ladder. :-)~

 ~I found these 2 fun towels to hang on my ladder.~

Our family doesn't celebrate Halloween.  

I think we Americans have come to think of Halloween as "Candy day," but Living outside the U.S.A. for 10 years now, has shown me what the rest of the world thinks of Halloween.  

At least the Christians think of it as "Devil celebration day!"  :-(  

One of my children read a quote the other day that said, 

"A Christian celebrating halloween is like a Witch putting a manger scene in front of his house at Christmas, and singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" 

In Colombia we learned that a lot Christians there celebrate "BIBLE DAY" in October instead of Halloween.  That sounded like a great idea, and We did that some years while we lived in Colombia.

So, Last night with our English class we celebrated BIBLE DAY!! :-)

Here's some pics of the preparation before and Bible day!

~Elijah...my big helper... carrying Abigail around.~

 ~Little Miss Mary knocked on my door in the morning, and told me that she was wearing her new apron, and asked me IF WE COULD BAKE!  :-)
I told her, "YES!  Today, We are going to make some Fall leaf and acorn cookies together!!"~

 ~Little Mary did an excellent job!!  She and Elijah helped Mommy mix up the cookie dough.  Then, Mary and I made a couple trays of cookies together, then I told her that I had to stop and make lunch.  She asked if she could continue to make them by herself!
I was HAPPY to see how well she floured her board, rolled out the sugar cookie dough, cut out the leaf and acorn cookies, and placed them on the pans.
She did several pans BY HERSELF!  :-)
She said, "When I get back to the U.S.A. and BAKE, Darla (her cousin) will be so Surprised!" :-) ~

 ~We made and baked the cookies, then had to leave the house for several hours.  When I got ready to icing them that night, I realized that I HAD NO RED food coloring!  :-(  

The grocery stores don't sell food coloring here, only party stores...and they were all closed! :-(  

So, K and P helped me "invent" a maroon-ish color for my "red leaves!" (Using pink, black, and yellow.) :-) ~

 ~And since I didn't have any red, and didn't have time to mess with trying to make brown, I just put chocolate on the tops of our acorns.
My hole on the bag of chocolate got cut a little to big, so they are a more "modern looking acorn." ~

 ~Our Fall leaf cookies.  (Thanks, Moma, for the fun fall cookie cutters with 3 different sizes!! :-) ~

 ~And we left some cookies without icing, in case someone didn't want icing.~

 ~Our family made 7 bags of candy for our 5 children and for Jonathan and Valen.~

 ~More little acorns cookies.~

 ~For English class / Bible Day...Phillip gave them a little talk about the Bible being our Map to Heaven, helps us resist temptation, and is God's love letter to us as believers.
Then he played several Bible games with the kids.
Here he had divided the kids into teams and was asking them Bible Trivia questions.~

 ~They played another Bible game, but I was busy in the kitchen making PIZZA for supper, so didn't get pics of that Bible game.   Aunt Caro brought the drinks. (U. Leo was out of town. :-( ~

 ~Aunt Caro brought some yummy candy, so we made up MORE bags of candy for the kids.
So, each child was BLESSED to receive 2 bags of candy! :-) ~

~Then after our supper, the kids acted out a Bible Charade for us!   

They acted out the ninety and nine sheep, and Abigail was "THE LITTLE LOST LAMB," that Jonathan found and brought back to the fold!  :-) ~

~I asked the children to write what they were Thankful for on my chalkboard, and here's what they wrote:

 ~In case you can't read it, it says:
~God
~Mommy
~Jesus
~Baby Abigail
~Dickinson Family (Jonathan wrote that! This made me want to cry!) :-)
~the Hsu family (Sarah wrote that about U. Leo, A. Caro, Jonathan and Valen!)
~For having nice friends (Dickinsons) (Valen wrote this :-)
~That God made everything
~Mommy
~Daddy (Kimberly added that) and
~You, Yes, YOU! (Written by Phillip for each of his family. :-)
~Thankful for everything! (From Caro. :-)

So, after Bible night...we hope that the kids have a deeper appreciation for God's Word...and they got 2 bags of candy as well!  :-)  

It was a special night together!  We love our dear friends!!

~HEATHER~

~A nice dinner at Ricardo and Elisa's house.~

#1 If you saw my message on FB to pray for the Presidential voting last Sunday, here's an update.
From what we understand, it was so close between 2 men, that they are going to vote again in November.
PRAYERS APPRECIATED THAT GOD'S WILL BE DONE IN THE NEW PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA!   THANK YOU!

#2 Could you please pray for 2 young men?  Thomas and his friend.
Recently Phillip ran to the grocery store to pick up some crackers for me.   After his purchase, Phillip was talking to Thomas, the young man who sells vegetables, about his soul.
Thomas wasn't really acting interested, but all of the sudden his friend drove up on his motorcycle.   When he saw Phillip talking, he came over to listen to Phillip!
He later told Phillip that he's lived and done everything, and that NO ONE in the world had anything to tell him!  But, when he saw Phillip talking to Thomas, he knew that PHILLIP had something worthwhile to say!
He opened up and told Phillip that he has tried everything in life, but that he wasn't happy, and that his problem was drugs. :-(
After listening to him talk for awhile, Phillip told him that JESUS WAS THE ANSWER AND THAT THERE WAS HOPE!
The friend instantly got tears in his eyes and Thanked Phillip for telling him that!
Please help us pray for Thomas and that other young man.  Thank you!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our dear friends Ricardo and Elisa invited U. Charlie (A. Yoli was out of town) and our family over for a yummy Dinner and special evening.
~Here is a picture of our yummy food!

~These were her Flan and cheesecake, part of our dessert.  Delicious!~

~And Strawberry jello.~

~And they served us delicious coffee, Chinese tea, and this yummy Angel Food cake as well.~

~Baby Abigail and I.~

~Our table.  It was such a special evening together!
L to R: Ricardo, Elisa, Jenny, U. Charlie, Phillip and Abigail, Kimberly, Sarah, and I.~

~Tommy, Elijah, Noah, and Mary.~

~I had a fun time playing Christmas songs on their piano and singing them with Kimberly and Sarah. :-)  We really enjoyed seeing cute pics of Tommy and Jenny, Ricardo and Lisa's twins, when they were babies.~

~Kimberly, Sarah, and I "coffee-ing together" this past Sunday afternoon. :-) ~

~Heather~

~My burlap pillows...and everyday life~

 Again, here is the LINK to order fun Totes from my friend Ashlea.
(For some reason when I first put this link, it works great, then it quits working. :-( 
My friend's name is Ashlea Arnold Kline (Thirty-One Gifts), if this link quits working again, and you want to contact her directly through FB to order.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was soooo happy to find some burlap here a few months ago, and I got 1 meter of it. :-)
I've gotten A LOT of use out of that meter.

I made my burlap banner hanging in our dining room,
and then ....

I made these 2 burlap pillows for our bed (and still have some left over.)

~I L.O.V.E. burlap, and I love burlap and white.~

 ~On One burlap pillow I "up-cycled" old white lace FROM SOME LEGGINGS that wore out :-) and glued on some fun buttons.~

 ~On the other pillow I asked my sweetheart to help me spray paint the image of my wooden "bicycle built for two" onto my burlap.~

 ~I love how they turned out....they add a touch of FUN to our room.~

 ~Look who is standing on her own, and taking a few steps.~

 ~Elijah, Mary and Mommy studying together...after lunch. (Leftovers from lunch still on table. :-)~

 ~Learning to write and read their letters.~

 ~For some exercise the kids and I went on a walk to gather some Natural Fall decor.~

 ~Left-over pork chops and Kimberly's pancakes for a Saturday brunch.~

 ~Look who enjoyed an Oreo.~

 ~After Phillip taught the English class in our house on Wednesday, we took our supper and all the kids to a park to get some exercise.~

 ~Elijah, Valen, Sarah, Mary, Jonathan, and Noah.~

 ~I made 8 of my French bread pizzas.~

 ~Noah and Jonathan enjoyed playing soccer in the middle of the park.~

 ~Phillip watching Elijah and Mary go around in the tiny Merry-go-round beside him, and Valen climbing the Monkey bars.~

 ~Valen and Sarah.~

 ~An Abigail...crawling away from her Mommy. :-) ~

 ~Caro, Abigail, Me (Heather), and Kimberly.~

 ~The kids really enjoyed the park and this exercise part too.~

 ~Strawberries are pretty cheap right now.  So one day this week I made some "Strawberries and Cream" for my family.
I enjoyed serving them on my new tray from my Sarah.~

~HEATHER~