A beautiful week-our happy news!

12/8/14 Day 26
Today is a Catholic holiday so most people don't have to work.  We did some odds and ends stuff here and bought out tickets to go to Chile.  We will be gone from Dec 16-Jan 5.  This is to renew our visas and to spend some vacation time away for Christmas, plus we will be helping with projects at the missionary center we will be staying at.  This evening the South zone church had a talent show for the kids and then food items to buy afterwards.  We went to that with Elizabeth and then ended up staying late and talking to others that were there.

12/9/14 Day 27
We did alot of fun things today.  This morning we walked to Juan and Ami's house to swim.  We swam for awhile and then ate a picnic lunch.  This afternoon we walked to Jorge and Angelica's house which is just down the road from Juan's house.  This is where Nathan has helped Jorge pick cherries at his house.  Our kids played with their kids.  They loved the tree house that they have out back and Jayvin wanted to be a worker and pick cherries.  We also watched Nazarena (their daughter) do her twirling acrobats on her ribbon-like rope in the house.  Nathan tried to do it as well and we all got a good laugh.  Elizabeth and I talked with Angelica for awhile and then we walked back to Juan's house.  This evening we went over to Pablo and Viviana's house for supper with Elizabeth.  They have two boys Mateo and Juan who are age 6 & 8 yrs old.  It was a wonderful meal with friends and fellowship-we really enjoyed the visit with them.  We got home ~midnight from eating with them.

12/10/14 Day 28
Nathan went out to Juan's house this morning to work and the kids and I visited with Delbert and Frieda for awhile and then we took a walk to try to find the shoe that Liam lost on our way home from Pablo and Vivi's house last night.  We didn't find the shoe but I checked out a new grocery store that I hadn't been to before.  This afternoon we had Elizabeth over for lunch and then we took a long siesta.  This whole week has been so so beautiful weather wise with the high's in the 80's and cooling off at night.  This evening we took a long walk with the kids and then had family devotions together instead of going to the church for their prayer meeting.
12/11/14 Day 29
Nathan ran to Juan's house this morning with Lydia on his front pack.  I think he'll be sore tomorrow.  The boys and I went to the market for fresh produce and then they helped me cut up fruits and vegetables to prep for lunch. 

12/12/14 Day 30
Today Nathan went to Juan's house to work until late afternoon.  We were going to go to Juan and Ami's house for supper tonight but they weren't able to at the last minute because of change of plans.  Lydia spent the night with Elizabeth and two other friends, Nazarena and Mariana.  Lydia was looking forward to this ALL week.  We walked to the icecream shop for icecream with the girls and had a good time together.  The girls definently had a slumber party, but I don't think there was too much slumbering going on.   I can not believe it has been a whole month since we have been here already.  I feel so greatful for the opportunity to be here and the ways the Lord has provided for us.  In so many ways we feel very blessed and humbled to be used by the Lord in this way.  We wish we could sit down with each and every one of you and tell you of the miracles of the Lord in our lives for the ways He has provided for us to be here.  Suffice it to say that He has provided EVERYTHING WE NEED for LIFE AND GODLINESS.  May we be found faithful in what He has given us.  Speaking of blessings, we were able to skype my parent's and grandma tonight to tell them that we are expecting baby #4.  I am 13 weeks pregnant today and expecting another sweet little one in June.

12/13/14 Day 31
Today we went to Humberto and Monica's chacra(farm) to spend the day there.  This is Mariana's family.  We ate lunch with them and swam in their pool.  It was a wonderful day of play and sun and talking with Humberto of the things of the Lord.
12/14/14 Day 32
Today we went to Juan and Ami's (behind their) house, for a church service with the West zone and the ladies that had come for a retreat from another town.  Juan preached the message and then we all had lunch together (asado-meat cooked on an open fire).  The kids enjoyed running around with the other kids and splashing in their pool.  This afternoon/evening it rained and rained and we even lost power for about 45 minutes but we are very thankful for the rain to cool everything off.
12/15/14 Day 33
Today we are packing and doing laundry and last minute grocery shopping.  Early tomorrow morning (3am) we are heading out by bus with Jacob and Elizabeth to spend 2 1/2 weeks in Chile.  I don't know if I will update our blog until we get back, but we would covet your prayers for safety while we travel.

A whole week of YUCKS!

12/1/14 Day 19
Nathan and Jayving went to Juan's house to work this morning.  He is helping with odd jobs around his house that need to be done.  Like picking up sticks, digging a trench, hauling pipes, and cement work for a new pool.  Lydia, Liam and I walked to the daycare and spent the morning there. 
12/2/14 Day 20  "Thankful"
Today the kids and I stayed home to do grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry while Nathan went to Juan's house this morning to work.  Today I am thankful for the small (big to me) ways that people are reaching out to us in the community.  We went to the market today to buy produce and the man there was talking to the kids and interacting with them.  Then we went to the grocery store and the man at the meat counter asked how long were were going to be here in Choele and he was teasing the kids a bit.  I'm so grateful for the small ways that I can communicate and interact with the community people here.  Lydia put up our Christmas decorations today, but it doesn't seem like Christmas around here with the temperature well into the 90's today.  Tonight we had Tyler over for supper.  He just graduated from high school and has been staying at Chito and Mary's house for the past six months.  He is from Pennsylvania and will be returning to the States shortly.  It was fun to get to know him better and we talked with him from 7-11pm.  We got to bed by midnight and by 1am Liam was throwing up.  This lasted every 30-45 minutes until about 4:30am. 
12/3/14  Day 21   "Tired"
Nathan was going to go to Juan's house today and we were going to go back to the daycare but since we are both tired from being up with Liam last night we are all staying home today.  We will work on cleaning and laundry today-both seem like never ending tasks.  The good news is that Liam seemed fine all day today.  This evening we walked to the North zone church for their prayer meeting.  Pablo and Vivi (the pastors son and his wife) asked us over for supper next Tuesday night which we are grateful for and Delbert brought us home from the church meeting so we didn't have to walk.  On our way home Delbert said that the cook and another boy from the daycare were throwing up too, so Liam must have gotten a virus from there. 
12/4/14 Day 22 "Sick"
We had a good nights rest but Jayvin started throwing up early this morning.  Nathan decided to go to Jorge's farm to help pick cherries early this morning right after Jayvin had thrown up just once.  After Nathan left though Jayvin kept throwing up again  and again and then Lydia woke up and she started throwing up too.  I had two pukers simulateously and I didn't know what I was going to do.  I asked Elizabeth to text Jorge to tell Nathan to come back home.  Nathan came back then ~10am and Lydia and Jayvin were sick all day long.  I was doing laundry from the time we woke up until the time we went to bed today.  I was grateful for a working washing machine though.  It takes ~ 2 1/2 loads of laundry for every 1 load I would have done in the States and each load takes ~ 1 1/2 hours to do-exactly why I was doing laundry ALL day long from all of the yucky's.  The temperature got to 104 degrees today but this morning was pleasantly cool, so we stayed outside as much as possible this morning so they could puke outside and then I could wash it away.  By the afternoon I was starting to feel nauseous, but I just thought it was from cleaning up so much from the kids.  By evening I threw up, but thankfully only once.  I just want to end this day and start over better tomorrow.
12/5/14 Day 23
I don't have any energy this morning but I'm feeling better than yesterday and everyone else is too.  Thankfully Nathan never got sick.  It has felt like a long miserable week and Nathan and I are feeling homesick this evening for different reasons.  This evening we walked to a park for the kids to play.  This is a park we had never checked out before-one that is really close to our house-it's about all the energy I had for the day, but we didn't stay long.  Soon after getting there we realized we were getting thorn like bristles in our sandals and the tires of the stoller.  I was worried that we would have holes in the tires of our stroller by morning, but thankfully we didn't.  The temperature here today was 101 degrees, so it was another hot day.  Nathan and the two older kids decided to sleep outside since it was much cooler outside than inside.
12/6/14 Day 24  "Glory a Dios"
By 5am Nathan and the kids were back inside from their tent adventure.  It was starting to rain very hard.  It hardly ever rains here in the desert of the Patagonia, so it was a welcomed relief to have rain.  It rained a good part of the morning and really cooled everything off.  What a wonderful blessing to be cooler and to have all of our windows open for a good part of the morning.  This morning Elizabeth and I walked to La Anonima (the larger grocery store) to buy food for the next couple of days since Monday is a holiday here.  On our way there Floyd and Jacob pulled up and they were headed there too, so we got a ride the rest of the way there and all the way back with our groceries.  It's amazing how the Lord provides for us.  At 5pm today Elizabeth and I took our kids to Pablo and Vero's house.  We talked with Vero for awhile and the kids played with Pedro their five year old son. 

12/7/14 Day 25
This morning a group of people picked us up in the church van to drive to Darwin.  This town is only about 10 minutes away and it is a place where they have a mission center.  Last time we were here Nathan and I had helped extensively on building the church building in Darwin, so we were very excited to return here and see the people and building that we had worked hard on.  Right when we were on the outskirts on town Jayvin puked in the van, so they graciously turned the van around and we went back home to get him a new shirt.  I would have been very disappointed if we weren't able to go today, because of being stuck at home all week with the pukes.  He seemed to be fine all the rest of the day.  We had a worship service in the buiding and made empanadas there for lunch. 

 

This evening at 7pm all of the church zones here met in the central church building all together for worship and church.  Lydia sure is making friends here and this evening she even went to the Sunday school class for her age group all by herself.  This mommy is thankful for the ways that she is meeting people and really interacting with other kids here.