~Day 6...and Happy Birthday to ME! :-) ~

Day 6 of...my 30 days of Thanks!
I'm am very grateful to Jesus for giving us SWEET FRIENDS ALL OVER THE WORLD! (ALMOST :-)   
When one has Friends, they are very RICH!
Our family has LOTS of DEAR Friends in the U.S.A.,
DEAR Friends in Canada,
DEAR Friends in Mexico,
DEAR Friends in Peru,
DEAR Friends in the Dominican Republic,
DEAR Friends in Guatemala,
DEAR Friends in China,
A DEAR Friend in Taiwan,
DEAR Friends in Costa Rica where we studied Spanish,
DEAR Friends in Colombia where we lived as missionaries for nearly 7 years (and we are still serving our Colombian people),
and DEAR Friends here in Argentina!  :-)  
WE ARE VERY BLESSED!

THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY WEEK...and in this post you will see how my DEAR FRIENDS CELEBRATED ME LAST NIGHT!!!  :-)
~Thank you, Dear Jesus, for my 42 birthdays you have given me!~

 ~Our dear friend Caro told me that they were going to provide my birthday meal, all I needed to do was to set my birthday table.  :-) :-) :-)
Well, you know me, that is one thing I LOVE TO DO is set a fun table.
Kimberly helped me crush white and brown egg shells to glue around leaves on our place cards.~

 ~I ran to a material store and bought 2 STRIPS of Burlap, and a strip of pretty lace.  Since I have no sewing machine, I just laid the 2 strips of burlap on the table and used the lace to HIDE THE FACT THAT IT WAS 2 PIECES OF BURLAP to make a pretty "tablecloth" :-) ~

 ~And I hot glued some burlap around my clear vase and got some pretty white flowers.~

 ~My centerpiece consisted of my flowers, Our new picture, my bicycle built for two, and a pretty little white metal pitcher with greenery...that my Phillip got me.~

 ~The little place cards that Kimberly and I made.  Kimberly glued crushed egg-shells around Maple leaves.~

 ~Some of the fun gifts from my Sweet family~

 ~Sweet cards from our younger children.~

 ~The center piece for the kids' table.~

 ~I made some pumpkin cookies, (since they matched the napkins so well :-) and each one present got one. ~

 ~U. Leo and A. Caro bought a TON OF YUMMY FOOD!  It was all DELICIOUS!!~

 ~Such yummy food...~

 ~And so many choices.~

 ~U. Charlie giving Valen and baby Abigail (which is hiding) a horsey ride.~

 ~Sweet Abigail and her Dear Uncle Charlie.~

 ~Our table.~

 ~My fun gifts after U. Leo and A. Caro and U. Charlie and A. Yoli added theirs.~

 ~Dear Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli bought me this YUMMY Chocolate Mousse birthday cake.  Aunt Yoli decorated it so nicely.~

 ~She added a pretty ribbon, a fun volcano candle, the pink "42" candles, and... ~

 ~and the "cupcakes" are fun candles too. :-) ~

~The volcano candle DID NOT want to light! :-) ~

 ~They sang Happy Birthday to me in Spanish, Chinese and English.  :-) ~

 ~My Sweet family and I with my yummy cake.~

 ~The Ladies!~

~Ready to open gifts.~

 ~Reading Noah's sweet card to me.~

 ~Reading Elijah's sweet letter to me.~

 ~U. Charlie and A. Yoli gave me such a beautiful silk scarf from Christian Dior and...~

 ~And another pretty scarf that says "I Love Jesus" and has a hymn book and Bible on it...and~

 ~And these beautiful yummy smelling jasmine flower.~

 ~U. Leo and A. Caro and family gave me a yummy King sized Chocolate candy bar...~

 ~A can of YUMMY smelling and YUMMY tasting Green (Jasmine) tea...

 ~And a Nice Sharp kitchen knife from Taiwan.~

 ~My Sweetheart and family got me my fun red and white tennis shoes, and this nice picture book of Buenos Aires, Argentina.~

 ~It even has a picture of OUR park by the river (and the city in the background)...where we take our kids often.~

 ~A my sweetheart and my family got me this fun little tea bulb to hold tea leaves.~

 ~The kids.~

 ~The boys.~

 ~Abigail taking some steps and walking to A. Caro and U. Leo.~

 ~Aunt Yoli just came back from Canada and brought our kids this bag of yummy candy. :-) ~

 ~Look who spotted the CANDY BAG! :-) ~

IT WAS SUCH A FUN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!!  I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!  THANK YOU,  

UNCLE LEO AND AUNT CARO AND FAMILY, 

AND UNCLE CHARLIE AND AUNT YOLI, 

AND MY FAMILY...

FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS YOU DID TO MAKE MY BIRTHDAY SO SPECIAL!!!!

~HEATHER~

~Day 5 of...30 days of Thanks!~

~DAY 5...of my 30 days of Thanks!!!!
Every since I could remember, I LOVED babies.  First it was the little baby dolls that I would hold so tenderly, change their clothes, and love to "rock to sleep."  But it wasn't very long that I developed a LOVE for REAL BABIES!  RIGHT AFTER the final A-men at church, I was the little girl to run to the closet Mommy to ask if I could PLEASE HOLD HER BABY! :-) When I was younger I WANTED 12 BABIES!  :-)  Now, I'm Thrilled with OUR HALF A DOZEN! :-)  Thank You, Dear Jesus, For giving me the privilege to be the Mommy to:
Kind Kimberly, Sweet Sarah, Noble Noah, Energetic Elijah, Merry Mary, and Adorable Abigail!!!!  I am SOOO BLESSED!!!

~Does God care about baby toys and things?~

BUT FIRST...
Day 4 of...my 30 days of Thanks!
~Day 4  I'm so Happy that God chose Phillip to be the Father to our 6 wonderful children.  He is a GREAT Daddy! He prays for our children, teaches them God's Word, LOVES THEM, talks to them until wee hours of the night if they need to talk, teaches our boys how to work, laughs with our children, teases them, invests time in them, and thinks that each one of them is VERY SPECIAL!  I'm very Grateful to God that Phillip is such a Great Daddy!!!

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is a post I never got to post back in February, so am posting now so it will be in my blog book, so my family and I can remember ANOTHER ONE OF THE GOOD THINGS GOD HAS DONE! :-)

Our family says, YES, GOD DOES CARE ABOUT BABY TOYS!!! 
You see our 3rd Sunday back here in Argentina back in February, our friends from the Chinese church arrived at our house with a lot of things for baby Abigail to use!
They loaned her a baby bed, a baby swing, a nice bouncy seat, and a baby monitor.

Our first time here in Argentina (2011), we had no bed or anything for baby Mary (13 months old), so....WHAT A BLESSING THESE THINGS ARE TO US AND BABY ABIGAIL!

They also loaned us a fun tent for the kids to play with, and a little electric piano too.
We had a nice time together at our house on Sunday afternoon. :-)
Here's some pics to enjoy!
~Here our friends Ricardo and Elisa, and Tommy and Elijah and Noah were putting together the bouncy seat for baby Abigail.~

 ~The bouncy seat all together.  She loves it!  It has fun toys that sing.  It is such a BLESSING to have some things she can do, and to get her off the HARD and COLD marble floor.~

 ~Abigail enjoying her swing, while Mary plays on the little keyboard they loaned us.~

 ~Phillip praying for our snack.~

 ~Uncle Charlie and Aunt Yoli dropped by for a visit and brought us some more fans to help keep us cool in the summer heat.~

 ~Ricardo and Elisa brought some pastries to enjoy with coffee and hot Chinese tea.~

 ~Here's the fun tent she loaned the kids.~

 ~And here's the tent...with 3 fun children inside.~

 ~One day, Kimberly made us some yummy roasted carrot fries to go with our lunch.~

Thank you, DEAR JESUS, for dear friends and for the NICE things they loaned to us for baby Abigail!!!  

God is good, all the TIME!!

 ~HEATHER~

~Days 1, 2, & 3 of...30 days of Thanks!~

This being only the 3rd of November, it's not too late to start 30 days of Thanksgiving! :-)

~Day 1  I'll be eternally grateful to Our Dear Jesus for being willing to leave the Splendor of Heaven to come down to save us, the pitiful human race.  Although I was raised in a Pastor's home, that didn't save me.  God was patient with me and led me to Him.  I have NEVER been sorry that I chose to serve Jesus.  #sweetergetsthejourneyeveryday!

~Day 2  I'm very grateful that Jesus gave me such PRECIOUS Parents!  They would be the first to say that they weren't perfect...but I'd say they were as CLOSE TO PERFECT AS CAN BE!  :-)  My Daddy is such a dear Man of God, Student of God's Word, prayer warrior, good worker, gardener, teacher, great Husband and Father.  My sweet Moma is one talented Lady.  She's a dear Lady of God, an awesome cook, decorator, seamstress, has a green thumb, great worker, excellent Mommy, etc.  If I can ever be 1/4 of the Lady that Martha Bryan is, I'll be grateful.  :-) #happywiththefamilyGodgaveme

~Day 3  I am BEYOND BLESSED when it comes to who God gave me for a husband!  MY PHILLIP IS GOD'S GIFT TO ME!  Phillip is the closest man to Jesus that I know.  (And he didn't pay me to say that. ;-) He truly LOVES JESUS with all of his heart!  He spends hours Studying God's Word, and Talking (Praying) to His Best Friend, JESUS. I've seen God lead Phillip, and then He in turn lead our family in soooo many neat ways in our 20 years of marriage.  After God, Phillip Loves ME NEXT!!! :-)  He treats me like a Queen, and is so patient with my shortcomings.  I Thank Jesus for my Sweetheart Phillip!!! 

~HEATHER~

~Our Holiness Meeting at Fernando's~

I hope that you had a good day worshiping Jesus yesterday!
Here's some pictures from our good Lord's day that Jesus gave us yesterday.  Some time back, we told our interpreter Kelly (that interprets from Chinese to English for us each Sunday) that she didn't have to interpret the words to the songs, so she can just WORSHIP JESUS during the singing. :-)
During the song service at the Chinese church yesterday, while they were singing a song that we have NO CLUE what the words were saying, we felt God's sweet presence settle down!   I thought it was neat how God came down in a sweet way to us, even though we didn't know the words. :-)

~Kimberly sang in the Chinese choir.  It was a pretty song.~

 ~Sweet Mrs. Monica got Abigail a new coat. :-) ~

 Kimberly holding a sleeping Abigail on the bus ride back home.
(We are happy that we can pay to charge a bus card on other days, so we don't have to pay on Sunday to ride the bus. :-) ~

 Then after we got off of the 45 min. bus ride, we walked the 5 blocks home from the bus.
Then Kimberly made us some coffee to wake us up, and we gathered our things and took another bus, and 2 trains to go have a Holiness Meeting in the home of our dear friend Fernando (who was in the motorcycle wreck about 2 months ago) and his dear wife Mariela, and their little son Jeremiah.
~Noah drew these cars, and motorcycles, and "motorcycle track" for Jeremiah.~

 ~It was so NICE to see Fernando, Mariela, and Jeremiah again.  From all they have been through since Fernando's motorcycle wreck, Fernando has lost about 40 lbs. :-( (and he wasn't big to begin with) and Mariela has a lost some too. :-(~

 ~PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR FERNANDO, AND MARIELA!
THEY HAVE TO WAKE UP EVERY HOUR DURING THE NIGHT TO TAKE CARE OF FERNANDO.  THEY ARE VERY T.I.R.E.D.!!!!~

 ~When we got onto Jeremiah's street, the dogs in the neighborhood started barking, and pretty soon, I saw Jeremiah peak out of his gate, then he and our boys started running toward each other and gave each other the BIGGEST HUG!  It was so precious!~

 ~We had a precious time having the Lord's supper together.  Aunt Caro and Aunt Yoli brought us some packs of powdered grape juice from Brazil a few weeks ago, for our communion services.~

 ~God's Sweet presence settled down as we worshiped Him and Thanked Him for sending Jesus to die for us, and also for all our blessings!~

 ~My dear friend Mariela.
She has been such a DEAR servant taking care of her husband's every need after his wreck, keeping the home fires burning, cooking a special diet for Fernando, taking care of Jeremiah, etc.~

 ~It is a MIRACLE that we still have our Fernando with us!!!  Thank you, Dear Jesus, for sparing His life!
Phillip and I with our dear friends Fernando and Mariela.~

 ~Fernando, Mariela, and Fernando.  Such a precious family~

 ~Kara and Bethany Boardman and their family sent a nice card to Jeremiah, and inside was $10.00!  He was thrilled!  Thank you, Boardmans!!~

Now with just a few days until our dear friends / fellow missionaries, the Flings arrive from Peru to spend some days with us, and help us celebrate Thanksgiving...we are working HARD in this SCHOOL house! :-)

~HEATHER~