~PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!~

~Well, I'm EXHAUSTED beyond measure, but needed to unwind, and what better way than to "chat" with y'all my dear friends. =)
Today we arrived to work on our house around 9:00, and by NOON, I was so TIRED that I was falling apart.  I told Phillip, you'd better PRAY for me, for I don't think I can go on.
He had SPECIAL prayer for me, and wouldn't you know, God sent my friend Marisol shortly thereafter to LIFT my load!!!  She cleaned my kitchen until it shined and then helped me clean our 2 bathrooms too.  I cried while telling her HOW MUCH her coming meant to me, for I couldn't have made it without her today.  The Lord gave me a special touch and we got LOTS done!.  Here's some pics to enjoy!
~Marisol cleaning my kitchen.~

~Sarah working in the boys room.  That room is DONE! Can I hear a PRAISE THE LORD?!!!  =D ~

~Yours truly...washing chairs to give away.
Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly are being a HUGE blessing as well!!  Sis. Farly was at home making our supper for tonight and Pastor Jimmy was getting a hot water heater hooked up in their house so that we'd have hot water to shower with when we got to their home tonight!!  =)   (This morning Phillip, Kimberly, and Sarah BRAVED C.O.L.D. showers!!) ~

~Dear Phillip sorting, packing, throwing things away, etc. in our room, and behind him is the ever present VERY HELPFUL Mary.  =) ~

~Then around 1:45 or so we left, for Sis. Miriam had invited us over for lunch at her house today.  ~

~She and her daughter fed us a Delicious meal.~

~We had a short, but nice visit with them, before running back home to work again.  They were very generous and kept our Elijah and Noah to play with their Adrian and Joel for the afternoon. =) ~

~We ran back to our house and Marisol had been waiting for us.  We laid Mary down for a nap, had a good ol' cup of COLOMBIAN TINTO (coffee) and then went to cleaning the house again.
Here's Marisol and I attacking the kid's bathroom.  =)  Jesus helped us to get lots done.~

 ~We came back to Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly's house this evening, and they had Sis. Farly's DELICIOUS soup and a yummy cold drink waiting for us.  We had a nice visit with them, took those wonderful HOT showers I mentioned earlier, and are now ready to go to bed!
Elijah fell asleep first.  Phillip laid him down to rest, and later I came in the room, and this is how he was sleeping.  DO YOU THINK HE GOT CONCERNED AND DECIDED TO PRAY THAT WE'D GET EVERYTHING DONE???!! ;-) ~

~So tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) a truck is to come to our house to take EVERYTHING out of our house.  We have to have EVERYTHING OUT OF OUR HOUSE by Wednesday evening, for the carpet cleaners are coming first thing THURSDAY morning to clean our carpets!  

PLEASE PRAY that we can get it all done really FAST tomorrow!

I tell you what, y'all's prayers are what is keeping us going.  Just when we feel we can't go ANYMORE!!!...someone must start touching Heaven for us, and we get more strength to keep going!  THANK YOU.  PLEASE Don't stop praying!!!   =)  

I want to get it all DONE, so we can rest for a few days before the very BUSY, STRESSFUL day of flying home.

~On Thursday night, Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly and the church here in Bogota have a goodbye service/evening planned for us.  I have a feeling that I'd better take 3 boxes of Kleenexs with me for that night, for I'm sure I'll cry LOTS of tears during that service! =(  I've already cried with 3 of my neighbors who were crying while telling us goodbye...how much MORE with those of our church whom we've known and  LOVED for nearly 6 years now.

Our DEAR Colombian people have a place in our hearts that is Reserved for only THEM! =)

 

~An Update on our "moving day!"

Sorry, no pics this time, I'm exhausted and ready for bed, but wanted to give y'all a quick update.
THANK YOU for praying for us today!  Jesus really helped us.
~We were walking to eat breakfast this morning (since we'd already cleaned the stove to sell) when Pastor Jimmy called and he was at our house to help move our stove.  So, Phillip ran home and the rest of us ate a quick breakfast and then took Phillip and Pastor Jimmy some breakfast.  Then, Phillip had to leave for a little while to help deliver a piece of our furniture and to buy some boxes to store some of our things.
~WHILE HE WAS GONE, my friend Marisol arrived WITH 2 MEN AND A TRUCK...to get MOST of our furniture...which she had purchased from us.  But, our guards wouldn't let them bring out ANYTHING of ours!!!  I quickly ran to talk to them (since PHILLIP WASN'T HERE!!! =( and I explained to the guard that Phillip had told another guard on FRIDAY that we were going to move a lot of things today.  He told me, "But you have to call Monica (the land lady, whom we have never dealt with, we deal with her husband), and then she'll call the Administration, and then the administration will call me to let me know that you are authorized to let people take your things out of your house."  =(
So, I said, "I'm sorry, no one told us ANYTHING about this, and y'all have known for 3 weeks that we were moving."  I was feeling quite a bit of STRESS, for the 2 guys and the truck were WAITING to start loading the things onto the truck NOW!!!
~So, I ran to call Phillip, asked him to come home QUICKLY, and to Please call our landlord and ask him to call the administration so the men could start moving furniture out to the truck.  Phillip called our landlord, who got all the necessary phone calls made and we got the go-ahead to start moving things to the truck.  =) THANK THE LORD!  (Pastor Jimmy told us that normally they want all of the phone calls to the landlord, then to the administration, and then to the guards done 3 DAYS BEFORE YOU MOVE ANYTHING!!!  So, THANK THE LORD they let us do it all in one day, since Marisol had already paid for the truck for TODAY.) 
Then, Phillip got home too....another THANK  THE LORD, for the guys were ready to take apart our bed and desk, and that surely wasn't down my alley to find them the tools, etc.
~While the guys were moving MOST of our furniture out to the truck, our friends Carlos and Gloria and his parents came to pick up some furniture too.
~After we got all of that furniture out the door, we ran and ate lunch, DRANK SOME COFFEE to keep me going, and then ran home and started packing boxes to store, and bags to take to Pastor Jimmy's house (For we were moving over to their house tonight.)
~Elijah and Mary got a nice nap, and we got a lot of things done this afternoon.
~Bless Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly and their girl's hearts...they have opened up their lovely home and made us feel so SPECIAL!  We moved over to their house this evening.  We have 2 nice rooms, FAST internet, are with GREAT friends, and had a YUMMY supper prepared by Sis. Farly!!!  Life doesn't get any better. =D
~Lord willing we are planning on going back over to our house tomorrow morning at a decent hour to continue packing and cleaning up the house.  We're HOPING we can be OUT OF OUR HOUSE completely by Thursday morning.
I could tell that people were praying today, for Jesus helped us to get LOTS done! 
PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!!  THANK YOU!!
 

~An Afternoon/Evening of BAKING!~

~Here's a picture of Bro. Jaime, Pastor Jimmy, and Phillip visiting together in our living room.  Notice our empty book shelves sitting beside the front door, for someone to come and pick them up, and the calendar from a local bakery hanging where my mirror used to hang.~

~Several months ago Sis. Farly asked me if I could PLEASE show her how to make an apple pie before we left Colombia.  They have fallen in LOVE with our apple pie, and she wanted to know how to make them after I'm gone!
As you know, for even American ladies, an apple pie (homemade crust and all) isn't the easiest, let alone for someone who has never even seen them being made!  So, in the midst of our MESSY house, sorting, packing, selling, etc. we invited Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly and girls, and their parents over for an evening of BAKING! =)
~The Lord helped us and we made:
 4 loaves of French bread, and then later made my French bread snack with 2 of them for us to eat, 2 apple pies, 2 Quiches, no-bake cookies (Similar to granola bars), and a batch of biscuits.
Here's Sis. Farly and I with our French bread.~

~Weeks ago we took this family picture of all of the Ramirez family together. (That is Bro. Jaime, Sis. Sofia, Pastor Jimmy and his family and his sister Judy and her family!)

 ~We didn't tell them WHY we wanted to take their picture.  We purposely did NOT SELL 3 of our MANY frames, (even though people kept asking to buy our last 3 nice BIG ones =), and we got the picture of the Ramirez family developed into 8x10's and put them into our 3 big frames.
Then we invited Pastor Jimmy and family and his parents over for an evening last Friday.  When they got here, everywhere they looked they'd see their family picture in one of our frames.  =)
Pastor Jimmy and family, and his sister Judy and family got one of our 8x10 frames with their family picture in it. We developed ten 4x6's of their family pic...for each family too. 
This biggest frame (below) that hung above our keyboard went to Bro. Jaime and Sis. Sofia with their family picture in it... to hang in their house.  
Everyone was happy with their pictures and frames. =)  I forgot to get a picture of their pictures in our frames. =(~

 ~One of our Quiches we made this night.~

~Gaby and Sarah had fun playing baby dolls and asked me if they could dig through Mary's suitcase of baby clothes and get something out for their dolls.  A few minutes later they came down all GIGGLES and finally got up the nerve to ask me if they could PLEASE have these 2 cute dresses that Mary had worn for their babies. I think I surprised them by saying, "YES!"  They were thrilled! =)
Kimberly and Natalie spent the evening playing guitar and violin together upstairs.~

~Here we are enjoying one of our apple pies with ice cream.~

~Our No-bake cookies (similar to Granola).~

~The whole group of us.  Sis. Farly did a great job making all we made.  I have no doubt that yummy smells of American breads, biscuits, and pies will soon be coming from her house.  =)  And we are taking some of her yummy Colombian recipes home with us, to make in the USA. =)
Then since Phillip, Kimberly, and I were going to record the hymns and choruses early the next day, Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly took our kids home with them for the night.  (I knew we wouldn't get much recording done with Elijah and Mary's help.=)
We had such a fun evening together making even MORE Memories!~

 

~Celebrating God calling our family to be missionaries!~

Your PRAYERS and your sweet comments mean so MUCH to me / our family right now! Thank you!!
I'm sure it's y'all's prayers that are helping us get done what we are getting done.  God is helping us!
1. God has helped us sell nearly all of our things.
2. People are coming to get their furniture that they bought from us, so our house is changing.
3. I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on my Spanish cookbook today, and send it to Bro. Edgar to print off for me.
4. We're hoping to record the hymns and choruses on Saturday, Lord willing.  KEEP PRAYING!!!
5. I have 2 of our suitcases nearly packed now!
6. Noah and Sarah have nearly finished all of their PACES except for only a few Math PACES (which we'll probably end up taking back to finish in the USA).   YEA!!!  THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR YOUR HELP!
PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!! 
When we moved here nearly 7 years ago, we were EACH allowed two 70# suitcases!
Now, as you know things have changed, and as far as we know, we are only allowed one 50# suitcase each, and a carry-on.  And One of our 7 suitcases will probably be our small keyboard that we need to take back.  eeeeeEEEKK!!  HOW will we ever get everything that we want to take HOME in our suitcases???
So, please keep praying for the recording of the hymns and choruses, my cookbook, our sorting, and packing.  
On Sunday after church, I cried for 30 minutes straight. It will be so HARD to say goodbye to our DEAR Colombian people! (Of course, we'll come back to Colombia to visit Lord willing, but it won't be the same as living here.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~It was in February, 2004 when Phillip told me that God was calling our family to be missionaries!  So, last year Phillip decided that every February we should go out to eat at a nice restaurant of a different culture to celebrate God calling our family to be workers for Him.
Last year we ate in an Italian restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  (It was right across the street from our Apt. we were renting.=)
So this year, on Feb. 13th, after taking our prayer card pictures at a park, we decided to eat at a Colombian restaurant up on the mountain called "Monserrate."  So we rode the Gondolas up the mountain to this restaurant.
Here's a picture of the pretty white restaurant where we ate. ~

~The kids with the Andes Mountains behind them.~

~And that is when Kimberly took this picture of Phillip and I with the Andes Mountains.~

~Isn't this such a pretty picture that Phillip took of our restaurant and the mountains behind it?~

~Noah and Elijah inside the restaurant.~

~I love all the fun windows in this restaurant.~

~Kimberly and Sarah~

~We learned a neat story about our restaurant.   This white house had been down the mountain in downtown Bogota.  The presidents used it in which to hold their special gatherings.  Someone purchased it and brought it piece by piece of the mountain to where it stands today.  =)
Our family without Mary...who was asleep.~

~We love the fun fireplace inside the restaurant...it's not as common to see fireplaces here in Colombia.~

~Then little Mary woke up, so Phillip took this picture of the our 3 youngest in front of the fireplace.~

~Mommy, Mary, and Daddy. We all chose YUMMY fresh Mango juice to drink.  DELISH!~

~Phillip went to another part of the building and took this picture of our family...sitting at the table inside these windows you see.~

~Our 4 younger children ate Fettucini and Alfredo~

~Our whole family after Mary woke up.~

~I had chicken in a special fruit sauce, a fun little salad, and Coconut rice.~

~Kimberly got a typical yummy fried fish (HEAD AND ALL) that we enjoy eating here in Colombia.~

~We've come up to Monserrate many times (Mainly to bring visitors from the USA).
We've only eaten at this white restaurant 1 other time, and that was for Sarah's 7th birthday. (She just turned 12.)
So, Phillip asked our waiter about buying a couple white saucers, and coffee cups with the name of the restaurant on them.  He told them that they would be meaningful souvenirs for our family since we've lived in Colombia nearly 7 years now.  I don't think that that is a request that that restaurant receives too often, but they granted our request. =)
So, like I told you earlier, in the gift bag that I'm holding are the 2 fun saucers, and coffee cups with the name of the restaurant on them.  HOW FUN that Jesus worked it out for us to get those special souvenirs.~

~While up on the mountain we bought Sarah a fun knitted hat that sort of matches Mary's.  It was VERY Cold and rainy that day...and even colder up on the mountain where the wind was blowing.~

~Our family with some of Bogota behind us.~

~Our family with our white restaurant behind us.~

~I took this picture of Bogota right before we got on the gondolas to go back down the mountain.~

~This sky scrapper in downtown Bogota now has fun lights and pictures on it.  In this picture there were fish "floating around" on the building. =)~

~Here we GOOOOOOOOOOO down the mountain.~

~Phillip snapped this last picture of our restaurant in the night.~

~And here is that building with our Colombian flag colors on it.  =)
Jesus gave us a special day celebrating Him calling us to be missionaries.  Since our days are getting busier and busier....It was probably our last outing here in Bogota with our children, and we really enjoyed the day.=) ~

 

~Our nice but simple Valentine's day~

~Please pray for one of my dear friends, Lila, who fell and broke her shoulder!! =(
~PLEASE Continue to PRAY for ME / Our family! Life is pretty stressful right now with people coming in and out of our house, buying our furniture, having to clean our things out of the furniture for people to take, plus trying to get school work, and a TON of other things done.  (And we haven't even started packing!
I'm SO EXHAUSTED!  I Literally feel more tired when I wake up than I did when I went to bed!
~Besides selling, sorting, and packing, I'm also making a Spanish cookbook in these BUSY days! 
Many here have asked for several of my recipes that they Love!  So, instead of trying to write out the recipes for everyone, I'm making a cookbook in Spanish. 
I'm just including about 50 of everyone's FAVORITE recipes of mine.  However, it is stressful making sure I explain how to make my breads and Pie using the correct words in SPANISH, so that they understand what I mean!         Your prayers for this project are appreciated!
~I also have about 150 choruses/hymns to record on the piano (for our 3 churches here), before we leave.  PLEASE PRAY THAT THE RECORDING AND ALL goes well!!!
And now...some pics of our simple but fun Valentine's day.  Since I've already given away my heart-shaped muffin tins, I used Noah's marbles to make our cupcakes heart shaped. =) ~

~One of my girls loaned me her CUTE bear with a heart on his scarf...to add a fun touch to our Breakfast table!~

~Amazingly, my beautiful roses from my Phillip are still nice and pretty after being lugged all over town the day we took our Valentine's pictures. (And we also took our pictures for our prayer cards for deputation that day!) ~

~Elijah helped me and we made fun little place cards for each member of our family.~

~I got all happy when I remembered that I still had my FUN set of coffee cups and saucers here that Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly got me/us for Christmas.  (I had planned to send them home with Bro. Becker and Bro. E., but they didn't have room in their carry-ons.)
These cups and saucers were PERFECT to serve our coffee in for our Valentine's breakfast table...since they have silver hearts all over them!  HOW FUN!~

~I made some whole wheat muffins with cranberries and blueberries in them.~

~I also served eggs, and a fresh fruit bowl too.~

~Then after breakfast our 3 precious little ones helped me make Rice Krispy treats!~

~Then I set up our Valentine's table for lunch.~

~Noah was a big helper and cut all of our Rice Krispy treats into heart shapes, while I dipped them in MINT CHOCOLATE (YUMMY!! =), and White chocolate tinted pink.~

~And here are our heart-shaped cupcakes with fun heart stickers in them.~

~Since it was church night, and I had a lot on my plate, we just ordered pizza from Dominoes for our lunch.~

~I was happy to find these red and white heart shaped plates near one mall, and the napkins that matched in another mall clear across town. =)
I Hope y'all's day was special as well!~