pictures of the kitchen/laundry room

I've been wanting to post these for a while and keep forgetting.

Wow! Having a laundry room has been wonderful! Sure beats having the washer in our bedroom as it was in the mission house this time we came back. I've almost gone into shock not to have to fill it with hoses and buckets. The washer is actually hooked up so it can fill automatically! Shew! The laundry room is off of the kitchen. The iron gate goes outside.


This is taken from the door of the living room into the kitchen. The laundry room is through the open doorway.

This is my favorite room of the house. It's a good thing, because I spend a lot of time in here. These pictures are taken as if I were turning to my right. I have loved having all the counterspace to make cookies, rolls, and lots of other goodies.

I apologize for the drainfull of dishes, but I like to let mine drip dry. Sorry if it offends you. :-)

Now I'm standing in the doorway of the laundry room and looking through the kitchen. The doorway you see is in to the living room.

Doug's been tagged

Since Bro. Hight said Doug was tagged, I asked him the questions and these were his answers.

1)What I was doing ten years ago

Traveling on deputation for our first term in the Dominican Republic

2) Five things to do today

I don’t know. Life changes too much on the field. Here’s what’s planned.

Have devotions
Meet our pastor for prayer & discipling
Meet with the planning committee for this summer’s VBS
Recover from meeting with the pastor and VBS committee
Play a game with the kids

3) Snacks I enjoy

pretzels
chips
cookies
cake
pie
chocolate...........

4) If I were a billionaire

After I paid tithe and taxes, I wouldn’t be a billionaire anymore.

5) Three bad habits I have

Not responding to questions. :-)

6) Five places I’ve lived

state of contentment
state of confusion
state of shock
the same state in the U.S. for all my life
Dominican Republic

7) Five jobs I’ve had

painting
equipment rental
redworm dealer
missionary/pastor
pouring concrete

8) Five people I’d like to know more about

I’m playing freeze tag, not regular tag. :-)

Birthday surprise

Yesterday was my birthday and my sweetie outdid himself this year.

I had thought about going to a ladies' Bible study in the morning. I tossed the idea over and over trying to decide between lady fellowship and duties at the house that should be attended to since this week is our spring break from school. I told Doug the night before last, "I don't think I'm going to go to Bible study. If I go, it will take one more day away from getting things done here."

I awoke early yesterday and the electricity was off. I knew I wouldn't get laundry or much of anything done till it came back on, so I decided to go to the Bible study.

Doug picked me up at the Bible study and when I went to the truck, the kids weren't in there! I said, "What did you do with the kids?" He said, "Okay, kids come out now." I said, "Yeah, right. Like Jonathan would be quiet all that time."

He told me that the kids were at some friends of ours and he was taking me out for lunch and shopping! Wow! I love to shop, but rarely pleasure shop here. Since the city is so busy, we only purchase the necessary things and don't take the time to browse much.

He asked me where I wanted to go and my choice was Wendy's. I got a chicken club sandwich combo. Mmmmm! I haven't had one of those sandwiches since we left the States 7 months ago! Yes, they have Wendy's here, but we don't eat there very often because we try to be very frugal. I also had a vanilla Frosty. That was the best in the world! You have to understand we don't get ice cream here very much either because of the high price. It was so yummy! I had been planning to go home and make ice cream for my birthday, but this was better!

From there he took me to a big department store where we bought the children some needed play shoes.

When we got home, they had a cake waiting for me - not decorated. It was vanilla with chocolate frosting. Doug said the children helped him make it.

Doug said I about ruined his plans when I said I wasn't going to the Bible study. He said he prayed that I would change my mind. God answered His prayer! I wonder how long he lay awake praying. :-)

It was a very special day and fun to be spoiled by my husband. :-)

You got it!

The other day we were in the grocery store and Ryan asked, "Mom, are we rich?" I said, "We have more than some people do." Regina said, "Yeah because some people don't have a family." Smile. She's starting to realize the value of what being "rich" is. Yes, we are very rich - not monetarily, but with blessings money can't buy - 4 healthy children, a happy home, salvation, and the investment in souls for the Kingdom. Rich indeed.

Submission and Banana bread

The Lord helped me this past week as I prepared for ladies’ meeting. I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures. I don’t think to do so since I’m not accustomed to taking my camera with me everywhere I go.

For weeks I felt like I should talk about "Submission to God". As I looked up verses and tried to put something together by way of a Bible study, I realized it was going to require way more time than what I had to study properly.

As I sought the Lord more and more earnestly as the day came closer, still nothing was coming together. Finally the day of the meeting, I came up with the idea to make soft pretzels. The dough would be a symbol of our being "yielded" to God for Him to make us into what shape He wants.

The more I prayed and thought about it, I realized this probably wasn’t going to "click" with them the same way it would us. They really don’t even know what pretzels are and how would they even know if they were in the right shape.

Then the idea came to mind to teach them to make banana bread. They had asked me a while ago to show them. I got my ingredients together and as I shared on being submissive to God, I added ingredients. What about the baking soda and salt anyway? Are they REALLY important? Why can’t we let them out? I pretended to gripe about why they should be in there when I didn’t think they were necessary. The ladies were starting to get the idea of what banana bread had to do with submission to God’s will.

Finally when I had the batter mixed, I said, "Okay, it’s ready. Who wants to be the first to try it?" They answered that it was not baked and I had to put it in the oven. I said "The oven! It’s hot in there. I’ll die." Then I said, "Okay, but just for 5 minutes." They said "No, a half hour." "A HALF HOUR? I don't want to stay in there that long," I responded.

They seemed to apply the Biblical concept of questioning God when we want to let out ingredients, and skipping the oven He has prepared for us. If we let anything out, or don’t stay in the oven for the full amount of time, we won’t be as flavorful or beautiful to others, spiritually.
I thanked the Lord over and over for how He led me to do this object lesson. It was killing 2 birds with 1 stone - teaching them how to make something they love, and applying a Biblical truth the Lord wanted me to share.

I think it will be something they will remember for a long time and hopefully they can make the banana bread and sell it to get some income.

Real faith

Sunday evening in church, our pastor's wife gave a wonderful testimony of God's provision. She said they awoke Sunday morning with nothing to eat. She told Euddy, "We're going to get ready and go about our day as normal, expecting God to provide." God did indeed provide. He miraculously supplied enough food for their lunch and supper on Sunday. Her face glowed as we sang the hymn "I know whom I have believed". It is a joy to watch the faith of our people grow.

In America, it is rare for us to have to pray for our next meal. But in a country such as this, it is common. I had a lady recently told me that when she left for work, she left her children at home with no food and no milk for the baby. We Americans really don't know what it's like to live that way. But in other countries, your faith is challenged daily.

Brandon's birthday

Last Saturday was Brandon's birthday. We made a cake and a pinata, and invited some American friends to go out for pizza with us. It was a really nice time. Brandon wants to be a pilot when he grows up, so he has a love for airplanes. He wanted an airplane cake this year. This was a relatively easy cake once Doug sketched the outline for me. We can hardly believe our boy is 9 already.


Pictured with Brandon and Ryan is Cody, one of Brandon's American buddies.

After pizza, we all went to a park where we had a pinata and the children played soccer.

Easter drama continued

I'm sorry it took so long to get the rest of the pictures posted from the Easter skit. I'm glad it didn't take Jesus that long to come back to life. :-)



Jesus appears to Mary.

Easter drama

Easter was a bit different for us this year. No special events. No new Easter outfits. The kids didn't get Easter baskets, or any sort of Easter candy. Maybe it was a bit too drab. On the other hand, we don't want our children to get caught up with all the "extras" of Easter that really have nothing to do with the real meaning. There is no awakening of spring. We've been in spring/summer since November. :-) It just gets hotter from here on out. So, while away from all the bunnies and chicks, we had fun and did an Easter skit on Good Friday. The children had a blast and hopefully will remember it for a long time.

Here Easter week is called "Holy week". All of the schools are closed and many have vacation from jobs the whole week. Everyone flocks to the beaches. There is no special Easter candy or such as we have in the States. They do have an Easter dessert that they make out of kidney beans called "sweet beans". It is tasty, but not necessarily our favorite cuisine. The city is pretty much shut down and there is little traffic on the weekend. Definitely different than Easter in the States.

They whipped him.

Mary cries.


It doesn't look like she's very sad here.

Jonathan watches the whole thing.

They tied him.

Then they put a crown of "thorns" on his head. Those thorns look pretty soft to me. :-)

Pounding the nails

Jesus on the cross

"It is finished"

They pierced his side. Mary cries.

Jonathan can't take any more.

The story will be continued..............

Finally - Holiness Convention pictures!

We were privileged to be invited to and participate in the annual Holiness Convention hosted by Evangelistic Faith Missions. There was a wonderful sense of God's presence each night and many received spiritual help. Our church sent 15 to 20 people every night and on Saturday night they packed out 2 vehicles with 28 people! (including our family) In this picture, most of the people on the left side are our church people. On the third row is Blenski (Pastor Euddy's brother), his wife and 2 children. We were so happy they could attend several of the nights. It is a joy to see this young family get their feet grounded in the Lord.


Hermano Douglas leading the service

Hermano Euddy also helped to lead the service. In case you can read the words behind.....The services were held in a beautiful Nazarene church. We were spoiled to enjoy air-conditioning each night.

Luis Miranda from Honduras was the evangelist. I mistakenly said he was from Guatemala in a previous post. He did an excellent job delivering the Word.

The oldest member of our group, 75, singing a special. Dios le bendiga, Hermana Chucha. [God bless you, Sister Chucha]

Hermana Dionelly (Euddy's wife) singing a special

Praying with seekers at the altar

On Friday night after altar service, the Lord settled down on us in a special way.

Euddy presents Luis with a gift from our church. Our church so appreciated his ministry and received much spiritual help.

Euddy with his brother, Blenski, who was able to make it for 3 nights of the convention.

Some may remember a few years ago when 3 girls were forbidden by their father to return to our church. Here are the 3 girls. They all were there for one night of the convention. The middle one is now our pastor's wife. The one on the left, Cindy, still comes to our church for S.S. Leidy, on the right, attends her father's church some.

It was so good to have Bro. Don Mobley visiting us. He was a great babysitter while we participated in the service. In this picture Jonathan had his fill of convention.

We enjoyed having David & Marilyn Middleton, Don and Luis in our home for a meal during convention.

Enjoying fellowship with Don & Luis Miranda.

Pictured from left to right: Pastor Euddy, Doug, Luis Miranda, Lewis Wheeler (visiting Middleton's on his spring break from AWC)

Misc. pictures

Barefoot brothers

We saw this cloud with a silver lining on our way to the first night of holiness convention.

I thought this was a neat view of the sun in the early evening.

Holiness Convention

We are in the middle of Holiness Convention. Services will close tomorrow night. We have been sensing a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. We are physically very tired, but thrilled with what God is doing among us spiritually. Pictures coming soon.......I hope!

Holiness Convention next week

A virus hit our family last week and put the blogger nearly out of commission. We are up and functioning again, yet with not as much spunk as before.

Next week we will be participating in the annual Holiness Convention hosted by Evangelistic Faith Missions. Luis Miranda from Guatemala will be the evangelist. We are looking forward to great services! You are welcome to join us in prayer that God will move among us. He already has been moving so beautifully here. We desire to see what else He has in store!

Another video about Agape's plane

This video is an interview of the pilots that survived the plane wreck. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "more pictures" to see the damage done to the plane. Also included in the page is an email that we sent to Agape.

http://www.agapeflights.com/caravan.asp

Agape is not out of commission! They work hard each week to find a way to get our mail and packages in. Sometimes they borrow a plane, sometimes another carrier will bring it in for them. They have been using a variety of ways until they get another plane. Their dedication in helping us has meant so much! So keep the mail and packages coming - they'll get here one way or another! :-)

A peek into our community

Living in this community has been like a dream come true. We fell in love with the community and the house in an instant, but our biggest holdback was the question of "Where would the children play?" It hasn't been a problem. They have spent most of their time in the street. The park just beside the community also provides a lovely place to relax as well.

Since living here we have realized how much stress it placed on us to live in the mission house. Once we enter our "home", we can leave all the stress and care of the mission behind. We have left the noise, the dust, the violence, and the feeling of "being on duty" behind. We can take off our shoes, relax, and be a family. Even entering the community gives a sense of security and relaxation.

Here is the guard to our community. There is normally a gate across here and he has to see who you are, push a button that electronically opens the gate, and you drive in. We just found out the reason this community is guarded with military men is because the colonel lives here. They are guarding him. If he were to move away, we would be left with regular street men to guard it. We feel a little safer with the military men that carry big guns and keep a close eye on the place.


This is our classy trash truck. :-) A man rides or pushes this cart like contraption each morning and picks up the trash bags waiting outside.

This is the walkway to the park that is located beside the community. The park provides a place for the children to get out their energy. Here Doug and the children are playing with some other American boys that live here, too.

The community is just on the other side of the park. Some houses even have gates that open up directly into the park. This house even made its own sidewalk and hedge entering the park.