~Our last few days with Gramp and Gram~

Jennifer...Thank you for your question on Moma's Fun Food Friday Choc. Chess Pie Post. She left you a comment below yours and then I CORRECTED the baking temp on that pie post as well. Thank you for catching that!
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~On the Wednesday before Daddy and Moma left on Friday morning, we invited all 3 of our pastors and their wives over for a snack.  Bro. Alberto and Sis. Alba from Medellin made the girls and I some more adorable jean skirts, and our boys some neat new red and black shirts.  Here's my skirt they made me.  They didn't know it,  but I was wanting one in this style!~

~I love it and think that they did a great job.~

~Kimberly and Sis. Ilce helping me cut up the onions for our creamy tacos.~

~Moma and Sis. Alba (who made our jean skirts) working on our lettuce for our creamy tacos.  Sis. Farly helped me too, but I didn't think to get a picture, for I was trying to serve the food.~

~Elijah in his new red and black shirt...trying to HELP Sis. Ilce cut up the lettuce WITH HIS SAW. =)~

~Our Christian Nation Church from the USA called during their service and had our pastors give their testimonies over the phone and Phillip translated.  It was a precious time.~

~Bro. Jimmy awaiting his turn to give his testimony.  (We were packing some of our stuff in suitcases to send back with Daddy and Moma.)~

~Bro. Alberto and Sis. Alba made this adorable blouse and jean skirt for Mary.  She thinks she's pretty special when she's wearing it.  She made us laugh.  =D ~

~Everyone eating!~

~6 more people in the kitchen.~

~Bro. Rigoberto brought along his father.  It was special having him with us too.  After we ate we had a special time of sharing, passing out "roses", shedding some tears, thanking others for giving their lives to God, passing out some gifts, singing a chorus together, and praying.  It was a very dear time together.~

~Since we were busy sewing and spending time with Gram her NEXT TO LAST day here...We just made and served a simple lemon-lime jello cake with a strawberry on top for dessert.~

~But jello cake is Bro. Jimmy's FAVORITE...so he was happy.  =)  But, then he sat on the stairs to eat it and ended up having to share with Elijah and Mary.  (The black bag had been put down for one of our kids NOT for Bro. Jimmy. =)  We gave him a second piece since he had to share his 1st.~

~Mary trying to help us "clean up the floor" after company left. =)~

~Daddy and Phillip's breakfast before they left for their last day of classes.~

~There's nothing more delicious than Gram's Biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  =)~

~Our last super together.~

~Daddy and Moma as they were heading to the airport EARLY the next morning.   We surely enjoyed every minute they were here with us!  They were a BLESSING to us and to our people as well!  We Love you, Daddy and Moma/Gramp and Gram...Hurry Back!! =) ~

~More pics of our days with Daddy and Moma~

THANK YOU for praying for Daddy and Moma...their trip went as smoothly as can be expected with how WEARY they were.  They arrived home safely last night!!  Praise the Lord!  Traveling mercies and smooth trips are things I DO NOT take for granted...after some of the scares we have had while traveling.   =)
~We did a lot of sewing while Moma was here.  Fixing some skirts for Kimberly and making new white bloomers for Sarah and Mary.~

~On Saturday, March 31st we made preparations to feed lunch to those who would be studying at the pastoral class on Sunday afternoon.  We cut 80 potatoes, lots of celery and onion to make our BIG pot of soup.  Here's Elijah helping cut celery (notice his SAW there in case he needed to use it on the celery. =) ~

~Daddy cut most of the 80 potatoes for the soup.~

~Here's Kimberly stirring our BIG pot of soup.  It wasn't full, but there was A LOT of soup in it!~

~Sunday morning's service.  The front rug got a bath...and wasn't dry, so we had service sideways this time.  It was a special service.~

~God helped Daddy as he preached and Phillip as he translated.~

~Mary during church...with Kimberly sitting behind her in her new skirt Gram fixed for her.~

~Bro. Alberto and Sis. Alba with Mary.  They are the ones who pastor in Medellin and who sew clothes for a living.~

~Bro. Rigoberto and Sis. Ilce with Mary.  They work in Cartagena.  He's the one who gave Phillip the bag you'll see pictured below.~

~L to R:  Sis. Alba, Bro. Alberto, Sis. Ilce, Bro. Rigoberto, Heather, Phillip, Moma, Daddy, Sis. Farly, and Bro. Jimmy!~

~Moma and I serving our BIG pot of soup.~

~We also served apples and made oatmeal raisin cookies.~

~Sis. Farly (on your right) made the sandwiches for our lunch and provided the drinks!~

~All of us ladies together.~

~Sis. Farly's yummy sandwiches.~

~All of us who ate lunch before the pastoral classes started.  We helped served the lunch and enjoyed eating it, then took the babies, Gram, and Mommy home for a MUCH-NEEDED NAP! =) ~

~Bro. Rigoberto works at a youth detention center and he and his young people made this bag for Phillip.  We thought that the little girl who came with the bag was so CUTE we decided to keep her.  =)~

~Kimberly enjoying a fun moment with Mary.  (Thanks, Brittany, and family for all the fun clothes you shopped for and sent to Kimberly!  She's enjoying them!)~

~Noah's dear friend who lives next door to us and our kids skating.  Poor Elijah is using Sarah's skates she outgrew...but he doesn't mind the pink too much...as long as he can have some skates to use.~

~Moma and I being "twinkies" ("twins"...well, sort of twins. =)~

~The kids at the bakery where we took Gram for breakfast one morning after the men had left for classes.~

~Moma, Kimberly, Mary and I at the bakery.~

~Then that night we had an invite to go to a couple's house who attends our church.  They served us a DELICIOUS meal!~

~They were so HAPPY that Moma ate all of their food and enjoyed it.  (Daddy was too tired to come and he needed the evenings to do even more studying than he had previously done...for the next day's classes.)~

~Noah showing Gramp his new skateboard that he had been SAVING his money to get.  It was on sale because it had a scratch and because the store was going out of business...so he got it for nearly 1/2 PRICE!  Praise the Lord!!~

~Each morning, Moma and I would get up early and serve our men breakfast before they left for the classes.  Here's their breakfast table...before the main course had arrived.~

~Each morning we would serve them fresh fruit or fresh fruit juice.  This morning it was fresh yummy mango! (On the little plate was a jelly filled donut to enjoy with their coffee!)~

I still have more pics to share of Daddy and Moma's time here...that I'll post after Resurrection Lord's day. Phillip has some pics of class on our old camera, so I'll try to post some of those as well. The Lord really helped Daddy as he taught and Phillip as he translated for the pastoral classes. THANK YOU for your prayers!
 

~A Tribute to my sweet Moma...AND PLEASE PRAY!~

I wanted to take a post to THANK MY PRECIOUS MOMA FOR ALLL SHE did for my sweet Grandma!  For the last 10 years (more or less, I can't remember exactly)  Moma and Daddy have kept Grandma in their own home.  My Mother has bent over backwards, gone the 100th mile, and made Grandma's last 10 years some of her very best years of her life! =)  She daily made awesome "Taste of Home type" meals for Grandma.  Grandma LOVED to read, so Moma often got her good books from the library.  Moma helped her with her finances, writing checks to missionaries, helping mail her letters. She also took the time to help her get a sweet picture for each of her NICE Christmas cards she sent out each year. =)
Grandma had a beautiful cozy little room which Moma kept decorated for each season.  At Christmas Moma had a set of 3 sweet little churches she always put in Grandma's room as part of her decor.  Moma scheduled and took Grandma to all her doctor's appoints, spending HOURS on the phone helping her with Medicaid or something similar, etc.
Grandma LOVED birds!!  She often stood at her window or Daddy and Moma's glass patio door watching birds at their bird feeder, squirrels, and deer which would occasionally come through their backyard.  I've just mentioned a FEW of the 100's of unseen things that Moma did for Grandma.
Moma gave herself selflessly to help Grandma have a wonderful joy-filled life.
Thank you, Moma, for being JESUS' Hands and feet and heart to Grandma!  I love you!
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~Thank you for praying for my heart...Jesus REALLY helped me yesterday when all of my family was together remembering my Grandma.  I felt your prayers!!
~We got EVERYTHING UNPACKED and put away yesterday!
I can't tell you what an overwhelming job that is to unpack 13 suitcases which are filled with a VARIETY of things!  Everything from bathroom toiletries to things for the kitchen!  (Because of weight, we often have to add extra things last minute to suitcases...so it's not just..."This one is Kimberly's things, this one is Sarah's, etc.")
And with 38 stairs to run up and down, it gets tiring, especially when one has had little sleep. =)
But, Thankfully we have lots of little feet who can..."Run this down to the kitchen" etc., and we all worked together to get the task done!   This also included SORTING THROUGH EACH CHILD'S CLOSET to find the clothes that they have out-grown while they were gone!  We normally make a large bag or 2 to give to Sis. Farly to distribute as she sees fit.
I'm SO HAPPY to be unpacked!
~My sweet Daddy and Moma are coming to see us!  WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!
I still have FALL decor up from us leaving for Argentina in October.  I hope I can get it down before Moma gets here. ;-)
~Daddy is to teach classes to our church leaders here.  PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL BLESS AND USE THESE CLASSES!
(A side note...another team of 2 were supposed to come here to teach classes in March, and my parents were supposed to come in JULY!  One of that other team wrote to us saying that for some reason they were NOT feeling clear to come in March.  So, Phillip called and asked Daddy if he and Moma could switch and come in March, and it worked out.  Jesus knew that my Grandma was going to go to Heaven just a few days before Daddy and Moma were to come, that I would not get to go home at this sad time, and that my heart would NEED them to come in MARCH instead of July!  Isn't God AMAZING!!!?!!!!)
~There are SO MANY details of our trip (both ours and Phillip's) that we KNOW HAD TO BE GOD!  WE stand amazed at how He was with us...inspite of the "YIKES FACTOR" our flying separately was to us.  ~Our carpet was cleaned on Monday (I had written that it was cleaned earlier, but I had misunderstood.)
It is still DAMP which makes for a DAMP CHILLY house.  (It gets about 40's at night...and the houses here are made out of concrete, with no heating!)
So....
BEHIND ME LIES A LITTLE BLOND HAIRED "CHERUB" NAMED ELIJAH WHO IS STRUGGLING TO BREATH!!  PLEASE HELP US PRAY FOR HIM AND LITTLE MARY WHO ARE VERY SICK RIGHT NOW!
Again I say...THANK YOU TONS for your prayers!!!  I'm asking Jesus to send each of you pray-ers a HUG!!!
Pics of our trip coming soon.