~Fourth of July decor...and baby update!~

~HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!~
Our precious baby and I went for our appointment and Jesus REALLY helped!  =)
The midwives and nurse were very HAPPY with my blood sugar numbers.  And they tested my blood for an iron deficiency and my blood work came back great too. =)
Thank you, Dear Jesus!
Due date looks like it's still for around Aug. 24th-ish.
I'm due to have a non-stress test and an ultrasound of baby on Monday.
We are getting so EXCITED to meet our new little one! =)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~As you may remember when I left my USA house in Jan. I was very tired and sick with my pregnancy. Even though we took down the most of Christmas, there was still some Christmas touches here and there. =)
So, our very FIRST day back from Argentina, little by little I started taking down Christmas decor and threw up some 4th of July decor...to help my heart.  =) ~

 ~Love this old can made into a candle that my friend Connie got me.~

 ~It's fun to be HOME again and enjoying our old things, like this old gas stove. =) ~

 ~The Beckers gave me the fun patriotic table runner.~

 ~We were given some welcome treats at church, so I used the ribbons off those to tie on the tops of my lanterns.~

 ~We had a fun evening visiting with our friends Elijah and Joanna DeMint.~

 ~On the front porch.~

 ~Love this fun star on our front door.~

 ~Last evening our family sang a special song and then Phillip gave a report about our time in Argentina to our church.~

 ~My fun little bird house, with 2 "love birds" and the "God Bless America" sign.  =) ~

I hope y'all have a very HAPPY fourth of July!
We are so BLESSED to get to live in this country!
We hope to go over and spend the Fourth with my precious Daddy and Moma!!!  =)
 

~Hallelujah we're home safe and NOW have internet!~

We JUST GOT INTERNET 10 minutes ago, so NOW I can update my blog.  =) 
THANK YOU TONS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!

While we were packing to leave Argentina...Phillip's debit/Visa card came up MISSING!  
We SeArChEd HIGH and low...and COULD NOT find that card ANYWHERE!
Finally just before leaving the house in Argentina, Phillip called our bank and CANCELLED that card!
After a 45 minute drive to the airport...I asked Kimberly to look through Elijah's backpack, to make sure he didn't have any Kitchen knives, lighters, etc. (things that boys think are cool) in it.  ;-)
GUESS WHAT SHE FOUND?!
Yep! you are right!
She found Phillip's debit card, which he had JUST CANCELLED... IN ELIJAH'S BACK PACK!  =)   
Gotta LOVE that "little Leader!"   
We are excited to see how God will use his take-charge type personality!! =)
~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~   
Jesus gave us a safe and uneventful trip home from Argentina.
As you know we flew all night.  I had asked Jesus to PLEASE help the plane to NOT be a full-flight, so that I could have 3 seats on which to to lay down.
Jesus did just that, and so I was able to stretch out for several hours.  Praise the Lord!  =)  (Of course, one doesn't sleep very soundly on the airplane, but at least I could get off my feet and rest.)
I was also concerned since my "baby bump" is rather LARGE...that the airport authorities could question HOW FAR ALONG I WAS...and not let me fly.  (I was 7 1/2 months along, but could appear to others to be further along.)
So, I tried to "hide baby" under a coat and scarf.   ;-)
THANK THE LORD, no one even questioned me about my due date, and we arrived safely in the USA.  =)
~Here we are standing in the check-in line in the airport in Argentina.  
The lady was very kind and didn't charge us for our extra suitcase, and gave us seats together.~

 ~Our dear friends Uncle Charlie and Leo took us to the airport.
Leo parked and helped us get everything into the airport.
Leo and our family!~

 ~We landed in Atlanta around 5:30 A.M., went through customs, grabbed our suitcases and sent them back through, and boarded the plane for CINCINNATI!!!!   We were GOING HOME!  =D
Our Dear mission director and wife, the Beckers, and Daddy and Moma, and my 3 nieces and nephew were are FUN Welcoming party!  =) ~

 ~Elijah sat down in the middle of the airport to pull his "treasures" out of his backpack.  He loves his monkey hat and sunglasses.~

 ~The day we arrived was my DEAR sister Laura's birthday.  
After I got a L.O.N.G. nap, Laura served us a YUMMY supper.
Daddy bought a cake, and Phillip got some ice cream, and Kimberly made some choc. syrup to celebrate Laura!
Laura and her family were a HUGE blessing in getting our beds ready and cleaning off the 5-month layer of dust from our house, and putting some groceries in our kitchen!  
We have NO CLUE what we'd do without them, and LOVE THEM TO PIECES!!!~

 ~Cousins!  Happy to be together again.
Natasha, Brittany, and Kimberly.~

 ~We had planned to make a trip to TN this week, to see my GG (Grandmother) and family there, and take our family camping before baby comes.
Camping is one thing that we REALLY MISS when we are not in the States.
However, plans changed, and we couldn't go to TN this week.
So, we've just been at home trying to catch up on REST, finding the clothes our kids out-grew while we were gone and getting rid of them (or storing them for the next kid =), unpacking, and organizing.
This picture of Mary shows you how we all feel.  Exhausted, but HAPPY to be home! :-) ~

 ~And since our camping plans were cancelled or post-poned, we got the supplies and have had fun doing S'mores with our kids in our back yard.  :-)
Baby and I have an appointment with my midwife group next Tuesday.  I'll update you after that appointment.~

~Phillip had a Happy Father's day!~

After 2 days of STRAIGHT RAIN, God answered PRAYER and sent SUNSHINE!!!
Praise the Lord!
As you know, we have no dryer, and of course use clothes lines OUTSIDE to dry our clothes.  So now that God sent sunshine...we can get all our clothes washed, dried, and packed up.  =)
Your prayers are appreciated as we finish last minute things and packing, and for our trip back to the USA.
(BABY AND I REALLY need your prayers!  
With the stress of traveling, and my not being able to eat a lot of RAW veggies (can't take those from one country to another), and with the lack of sleep Wednesday night, those things can do crazy things with my sugar numbers.)
Lord willing we leave Wednesday night and fly all night and arrive on Thursday morning, June 19th. 

We are SAD to leave our DEAR friends here =( , but excited to get home to see our DEAR family and friends there. =)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~For Father's day our family had an invitation to a house of a lady from church.
So, I found out how many Fathers were going to be at her house and on Saturday night I made a double batch of my chocolate chip cookies.

 I made up a bag of 3 cookies per father...~

 ~and made 12 bags and tied them with blue and white ribbon.  Baby blue and white are Argentina's national colors.  ~

 ~And since I know our friend Leo loves American cookies and had just had a birthday...I took one of their bags that FLOUR is sold in here, and made a "gift bag" for him from our family with 12 of my choc. chip cookies in it.  =) ~

 ~And then for a Father's day treat for Phillip and our family I made ice cream sandwiches out of some of my cookies and rolled them in mini choc. chips.~

~Phillip took a picture of this cute Father's day sign in the front of the church Sunday morning.~

 ~A few weeks ago the Sunday school teacher had asked Kimberly if she could teach the S.S. kids some kid's choruses.  Then, after they learned them, she asked her to lead the kids in singing those choruses up front for Father's day.~

 ~Sarah isn't in S.S. anymore, but joined the kids to help them sing.  I played the piano for the 2 choruses they sang.~

 ~They sang "Amaras al Senor Tu Dios" ..."Ye shall Love the Lord your God", and "I saw a Wiggle Worm" both in English and Spanish.~

 ~The kids did a great job singing.~

 ~The church gave each father a small stainless steel thermos for their gift.  Phillip really liked his nice gift.~

~After a delicious lunch at church Kimberly practiced with the choir one last time, then we went to that lady's house for the afternoon.
My Dear friend Caro made these ADORABLE tie name tags to put on the glasses for the Fathers.  Phillip and I LOVE the one with the Chinese writing. =) ~

 ~And she also made this Adorable banner made out of ties that says, "Happy Day, Daddy."

 ~And on either end she blew up 2 balloons and Phillip drew a mustache on there for her.~

 ~Some of the ladies cooking in the kitchen.  The one on the left is the lady of the house.~

 ~Some of the Fathers visiting.~

 ~There were LOTS of yummy snacks to snack on all afternoon until the main supper at 7:00 that night.~

 ~This man is Kimberly's choir director from church.
He and his wife own a Chinese restaurant and make the YUMMIEST food! =) ~

 ~Here they are putting the final touches on supper.~

~Nico (the dentist), Alicia, and their family.  It was Alicia's mom's house where we spent the afternoon.~

 ~The supper was what they described as sort of a "Chinese Taco."  It was all put inside a "shell" which I think it was made out of rice.  It was delicious!~

 ~Daddy and 5 of our 6 PRECIOUS children!!~