~Our Trip to Uruguay...part 2~

PLEASE PRAY!  Phillip talked to Bro. Jimmy in Colombia last night and they are having so much rain that there are FLOODS in Bogota...and the waters are only 3 blocks from Jimmy's house and 5 blocks from ours!!!!!!!!  Please pray that God will protect both of our houses, and help those who are suffering there!  THANK YOU!
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Thank you for your prayers for our trip to Uruguay, the Lord really helped us!!   There were several times that Jesus put us in contact with people and we tried to touch their lives for HIM!  Others are WATCHING each of our lives (your too! =)...may they see the DIFFERENCE that Jesus makes in us! =)
When we rode in taxis, we had to ride separately; the guys in one, and us girls in another.  In one of the taxis Phillip's taxi driver asked him what he did and Phillip told him that he was a pastor/missionary and the guy said, "That's what I thought you were!"
On our boat ride home a couple older ladies were watching our family and near the end of our ride one of them started talking to Kimberly in English.  She asked Kimberly if we like to travel a lot and Kimberly told her,  "Yes, my Daddy is a missionary"...to which she replied, "That's what my friend thought y'all were!" =)
Here's lots more pics of our trip.
~Phillip making a "castle" with the boys to try to help Elijah to not go out in the water and get his hurt ear wet. =)~

~Mary loved the sand and water!~

~Elijah getting a bath with his "plastic bag shower cap"...to keep his sore ear from getting wet. =)~

While walking around Montevideo we met a couple and the guy was wearing a shirt that said, "Cartegena, Colombia" so I told him that I liked his shirt...and our family stopped to talk to them.  Bless his heart, the guy was missing part of his face due to a cancer surgery he had had earlier in Miami.  We noticed he got very quiet when he found out that Phillip was a pastor.  Though we don't know his name, our family is trying to pray for him when he crosses our minds.
~Elijah, Sarah, and Noah eating our last meal in Uruguay...before we got on our 2 1/2 hour bus ride.~

~Kimberly, Heather, Mary, and Phillip eating lunch.~

~Our 3 "men" pulling our suitcases.  It was so CUTE to watch Elijah try to help this time.  HE WANTED TO DO IT BY HIMSELF!  Sometimes he would completely fall over while pulling his suitcase, but he'd get back up and try again.  (Always before he would ride in the stroller...but now he's getting big enough to want to help!  =)  He got a lot of smiles from passer-bys.~

~On our bus ride home Kimberly sat beside a nice lady named Nancy.   They chit-chatted at first then the Nancy started to rest...but when Kimberly pulled out her Bible to read it, that pricked her interest.  She started asking Kimberly questions and they chatted the rest of the time.  She was raised a Jehovah's Witness.  She was interested in hearing what we believed, and she didn't try to argue with Kimberly at all (Which we as parents really appreciated).  When she left she commended us on our sweet daughter.  We trust that God used Kimberly to be a blessing to Nancy!~

~Before we got on the boat to go back home we had purchased some candy to eat with our supper we had packed.  We got some M&M's and some Nerds.  While our 3 year old Elijah was trying to eat his sandwich, he kept getting distracted by the thoughts of the CANDY that was awaiting him!  =]
Finally, when he was done he told me that he wanted some of that...,that..."What do you call it?  'NERVOUS?'" (Nerds =)
[The name he called Nerds was more truth than poetry for our very ACTIVE Elijah!  For when he has sugar he gets even MORE active/"nervous".=)]
Then when we opened the M&M's he looked at one and asked me, "Is that a "M" on there?"  And I said, "Yes, it's a "M" for Mommy!"  To which he said, "No, it's a "M" for ME!"  We thought he was quite clever! =D~

~Noah eating "Nervous" too!~

~Mary, Kimberly, Elijah, and Mommy on the boat.  We met a couple from Colombia who now live here in Argentina and we surely had a nice time chatting with them and sharing the things that we all MISS about our beloved Colombia!  We exchanged email addresses!~

~The sun set taken from the deck of the boat.~

~Phillip and some of our kids up on the deck.~

~I took this picture of Elijah and Noah up on the deck...and if you look closely you can see Kimberly and Sarah through the window behind them down at our table inside the boat.~

~2 people who fell in love...and have gone MANY places together for Jesus!   Uruguay made country #10 for Kimberly, Sarah, and I, #15 for Phillip. =)~

~Kimberly snapped this neat picture of the Uruguay flag and the moon.~

~A fun picture that Phillip took from the deck of the Uruguay flag, the moon, and the water.~

~There was a duty-free (tax free) store on the boat, so the girls and I went down to look around.  I was DELIGHTED to find a BIG bag of Mini Reeses cups for only $22 Argentine pesos...being just a tad over $5.00!  YEA!!!  I was SO excited!
I quickly ran back up stairs and asked Phillip if we could buy them to save for a Christmas treat.  He agreed and came down to buy them...but when he went to pay for them he found out that that price was the US dollar price...$22.00!!!! for that bag of Reese's!  UGH!  ={  We left it there!
A fun picture that Phillip snapped of a pretty boat at the dock back in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We arrived back at our home at 11:00 PM!~

~God brought us home safely by taxi, bus, and boat...and how we PRAISE HIM!  Now our Argentine visas are good through March, when we leave to go back to Colombia for some classes in our church there, and to work on some important papers.
The next day...we all were TIRED and felt like what Mary looks like in this picture. =)~

~Our trip to Uruguay...part 1~

[Explanation:  It's expected that when a non-citizen visits Argentina that they have a ticket to GO OUT of that country within 90 days.  =)  So, we had purchased our tickets to Uruguay before even coming to Argentina.  This trip renews Argentine 90 day visas.]
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~I told you earlier that I would tell you what we did on "Black Friday"...the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Before we moved to Argentina, our children were SO EXCITED thinking that we we would have an ocean in our city of Buenos Aires!  Then, a few days after we moved to Arg. they were "devastated" to find out that it wasn't actually the "ocean" that bordered Buenos Aires, but a rather L.A.R.G.E. River called "Plata River" which mixes with the ocean!  (In that part of Buenos Aires...they don't allow people to swim in the river. =( )   It's the second biggest river in South America...#1 being the Amazon.  (Whew!  I hope my brothers and Daddy read this...I'm amazing myself with all my Knowledge.  HA! =)  But, we did find out that there was a park beside the river, so on the Friday after Thanksgiving we took our kids to see the river and play at the park.  Though they were SAD that they can't swim here in our city...they were happy with the park there and we had a fun day!
(Can you find Waldo Elijah?  YES, I KNOW where Elijah is in this picture!!! Our Elijah is always a flurry of Activity...so he does need YOUR extra prayers. =)~

~So, all that background info to say that our LARGE boat ride that lasted 3 hours was to cross the Plata River! (And then we had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride after that, which still followed that same river!  It's HUGE!)
After celebrating Sarah's birthday on Monday, Dec. 5th, and packing LATE, and getting LITTLE sleep that night, the Lord helped us to make it to our boat on time Tuesday morning, Dec. 6th.  =) On the boat we were able to get some tables with a nice view out the window where we ate breakfast that we brought along with us (Knowing that the food on the boat would probably be pricey.)
Here's the kids at their table!
(With an Elijah who thinks now-a-days he has to SLAM his eyes shut for. every. picture. =) ~

~And us at ours.  Our boat was the cheapest boat to Uruguay that there is, but it was still very nice.  It's 6 stories high and has a restaurant, a store, an elevator, etc.~

~It's hard to see but behind Noah, Sarah, and Elijah in the port...is another large boat similar to the boat we were riding on.~

~Here's a better picture of the other boat.~

~This very EXHAUSTED Mother was DELIGHTED when not too long after we got on the boat Mary went to sleep.  So, I went and got a MUCH-NEEDED nap in the comfortable airplane type seats! =)~

~Some fun sailboats we passed as we were leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina.~

~Our 3 younger kids looking out the window.~

~Kimberly and I.~

~Phillip took our children upstairs on the deck...and it was quite WINDY as you can see.~

~Mary and Mommy on the deck.~

~A fun lighthouse picture that Kimberly snapped.~

~Once our boat docked, then we had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Montevideo, Uruguay.  We had run out of water and I was SO THIRSTY!  It seemed like a VERY LONG 2 1/2 hours without water to drink...what will eternity be like in the bad place?
This is a picture of our first meal once we got to Montevideo.  This is a very typical meal that I had wanted to try ever since Phillip had eaten it when he visited Uruguay in 2010.  A piece of lamb or beef covered with ham, cheese, bacon, a fried egg, red peppers, and an olive...and it comes along with that big salad, fries, and a type of Russian salad.~

~Our family eating.~

~Then we walked around and took our kids to this park.~

~The next day...our only FULL day in Montevideo...we were getting ready to take our kids to see what we thought was the ocean (but found out it is STILL THE SAME HUGE PLATA RIVER =)...when we heard a BLOODCURDLING scream.  Phillip ran out of our hotel room to find out where it was coming from and met Noah carrying a bleeding Elijah.  Elijah had crashed into a coffee table..KILLING his ear!!  Poor little one, I know it had to have H.U.R.T SO BADLY!!!  It made me want to cry looking at it!
This picture is much later after he had calmed down some and everything was patched up.  =)
We thank the Lord that it was not worse!!
So, after it was all cleaned up, Elijah fell asleep...thus we didn't go to the river until about 3 hours later!~

~After he woke up we got some lunch items and walked to the river and ate lunch.~

~Then we let our kids "dip their toes-ies" (and more) in the water. =)~

~Elijah and Phillip (with our other 3 in the background).  Phillip was trying to build a sand castle near the shore...just to keep Elijah from going out into the deeper water and getting his head / ear wet.
(But...for a little boy who LOVES water...it was nearly an I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E. task!=)~

~Mommy and Baby Mary...before she crawled out of the stroller and found the fun wet sand...~

~She LOVED the wet sand and water!~

Stay tuned...Part 2 coming soon! =)