Pausing

This is the time of year when many people take inventory of their lives.  The past year is pondered, previous goals are evaluated, and yesterday's choices are measured.  In the OT we see God tell the people of Israel to remember, to look back and see with a freshness all that He has done for them.  It is good to look back, but it can also be difficult.

As we hit the one year mark of life as missionaries, we are also looking back.  We see God's faithfulness to sustain us through language school in Texas and to safely plant our feet on Paraguayan soil.  We see His goodness to provide a wonderful home, great teammates, and reliable transportation through the roughest of terrain.  We see His grace and mercy every time we meet a Paraguayan believer.  We see God like we have never seen him before.

But it has been difficult, and we have struggled.  The Spanish language and accent are very different than what we studied in the States, leading to many unclear, stressful conversations.  The culture is very people oriented which taxes our need to rejuvenate alone.  The daily grind of having unreliable water and electricity makes getting household chores crossed off the list challenging.   These are all stresses we've faced this year head on, running at full speed.

As the months pass by, we are realizing one cannot maintain a sprint forever.  We are beginning to see long term effects of the stress in ourselves and our kids.  Our children are battling with anger about the loss and changes they've experienced this last year.  One child has become very apathetic towards all things and shies away from making any choices.

Proverbs 27:12 says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it."  We see danger signs in our family, and we don't want to keep pushing past the breaking point.  We want to be like the prudent and take refuge.

Please pray for us as we pause to receiver God's healing from this past year's stresses and seek His leading into this next year.

Christmas in pictures

Tradional Christmas Train--on a much larger scale

Our family has been doing this candy Christmas train for a long time.  Over the years we've shared the memory making with friends.  This year it was an event.  We made the 6 hour drive into Asuncion in order to spend some time celebrating Christmas with our teammates.  With 15 kids all working to build and create using candy, it was a very boisterous room.

 These were the main ingredients.  A huge thank-you to our church family for sending these tasty candies.

 Here is the before picture (well,  after many candies were sampled to insure tastiness).










During...

 
















And after....
 

Another huge thank-you to our friends, the Mckegs, for sending us a candy train kit.  It was exactly the pieces we needed for Gabby to be the engine train this year.  God did in fact, give wings to your package.


It was a blast to share our tradition with this great bunch of kids.

kids' club

One of the ministries the church does is kids' club.  Once a month elementary age kids come to the church for singing, games, crafts, and a snack.  This month the kids came three consecutive days to enjoy these activities.

We had the opportunity to give 19 of them a ride from the countryside.  19!   One of the things I enjoy about the Paraguayan culture is that they will make sure that everyone fits without complaining about personal space.  What a joy it was to hear their laughter and see their smiling faces in the rear view mirror.

Preparing for the singing and story time.

Craft time. 

We played a version of "duck, duck goose."  Instead of saying duck and patting heads, we used a sponge to say drip, drip, splash.  As you can see the kids loved it.

Cookie Time

It was a little different this year with humidity, heat, and runny frosting, but tasty nonetheless. 

Thankful Tree

This idea was inspired by our good friends, the Self Family, in Versailles, KY.  Each day of November (or as many as you can get) each member of the family writes one thing on a leaf for which he or she is thankful. What fun it was to hear what the kids were thankful for. 

I had to add a closeup of the happy squirrel Rebekah drew in the tree trunk.

The beginnings of Christmas

The girls and I made salt dough ornaments to spark a Christmas mood.  I'm not sure where we are going to hang them since we don't have a tree.  We'll have to be a little more creative this year with decorating.