Back into the Swing of Things

I've decided one of the hardest things to do is have a nice relaxing Christmas and then have to go back to work..... However this year wasn' t as hard as it has been in the past. We had a wonderful time with family and friends while in the States. However, it was nice to take a step back and analize what we are doing and how we can do it better.
Upon arriving back in Ecuador we participated in a week long Medical Mission trip. Medical Missions always have a way of opening our eyes to how blessed we are. I remember the first time Justin went on a trip with me. He knew no Spanish and we had no intentions of ever moving to Ecuador. God's plans for our lives cease to amaze me.
It was great to come back to the Church here and listen to how God blessed it while we were away. The small groups continue to go well and there are many who are excited about learning more about our Father. There were four baptisms while we were away and several others who are really searching for God's will in their lives. All I can say is it's exciting for us to see God moving and we feel truly blessed to be a part of His work in Ecuador.
The childrens program continues to do well. We have some new CDs with fun kid songs and have been teaching them one or two a day. The kids are loving it.
We want to thank you all for your prayers and love. I will continue to try and do better at writing on the blog. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. God Bless.

In the States

We pray everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. We arrived back in the States a little over a week ago and we were able to spend the holiday with the Reegers and the Marcums. It was so good to see everyone.
We are now in Seattle and will be here for another week or so. Kaidan and Kaleb seem to be enjoying themselves. Kaidan loves to eat sweets and can't get enough American candy...........She literally fell asleep underneath the dessert table with a Thanksgiving rug as a cover and a Cool Whip lid in her hand......It was a proud moment for this mother!:)

Please meet our new, temporary, family additions. The police brought these children by last Friday and asked us if we could take them.....it was hard to say no. They are a handful but are beginning to adapt. Please pray for our family, it's been a challenge, having four extras in our home. We are searching for a place that can take all four, so they do not have to be separated. Please be praying for them and us. We have a camp of 150 people here this weekend and then are feeding another 150 on Wednesday on top of our normal crazy schedule. We love you all and apologize for not communicating like we should. God bless.

Days of a Mother

It is hard to believe a puppy can be more work at times than a baby. I honestly did not know what I was getting myself into when we gave Kaidan a puppy for her B-day. Yesterday morning I felt like I went from one mess to another between Kaleb and our puppy, Chaska. Chaska broke a beaded necklace of Kaidan's and the beads obviously went everywhere. Well, Kaleb and Chaska thought that was great. They both went diving for the beads and it seemed like they were competing as to who could get the most beads in their mouths. As soon as I freed Kaleb's mouth of beads I had to go to Chaska, and of course as I was getting the beads out of the Chaska's mouth Kaleb seized the moment and dove for the beads again. So, I was trying to pick the beads up while keeping both dog and child from choking in the process. As soon as I collected all the beads I went to the kitchen to put them out of reach and in those two seconds Kaleb crawled over to a plant and had dirt everywhere. What use to be a white dog and clean child changed in a matter of seconds. I honestly thought I was going to loose my mind.:) But, now they are both sound asleep and peace has swept over the house for a while. Love you all.

Happy Birthday Kaidz

We celebrated Kaidan's fourth Birthday with face painting, salsa dancing, pinning the map on Dora's backpack, and of course cake. It was a fun time for all of use. Even Kaleb got into the spirit!:)
Love you all.

Our family has a new member! Her name is Chaska. Kaidan has been wanting a small dog for a while now, so we decided to get her one for her birthday. Chaska is very cute and playful. We enjoy watching her and Kaleb take turns torturing each other. He'll make her yelp and she'll make him cry, and yet they still continue to follow each other around.
Kaidan has also been very busy collecting eggs with her Daddy every morning. She is quite the little farm girl. She loves being outside with the animals and her Daddy.
Our last couple of weeks have gone great. We have been very busy with the kids program and small groups and are loving it. It feels like things are finally falling into place and running fairly smooth.
Thank you all for your prayers and love.

We began our kids program last week, so it's been a pretty crazy week. We've had an average of 85 kids everyday and Saturday we had 111 children. I believe last week went pretty smoothly being the first week. We feel much more organized this year and are excited about all the new little faces we are seeing. On Saturday we also had a parent's day and over 50 parents came. We are hoping to have much more contact this year with the parents through small groups, family courses, and just fun play days with the family.
The last big thing that happened last week was our family and the Cuaran family, family who will be helping with Tabacundo and Cayambe church, began our first Sunday here in Tabacundo. We united with the church here in Tabacundo, which mainly existed of the children's home and the Snyder family. However, through us inviting parents and kids from the kids program and the Snyders inviting families from the school program they run, there were well over 100 people gathered in Tabacundo for Church. Praise God! We were so busy with Bible classes and meeting people we didn't get a count but know we had a least 100 if not 120 people attending. We will be hosting the Church services here at the camp from now because of the number of people attending. It is an exciting time. Please be praying for all of this. We are beginning small groups this week and the family courses will start next week.
Our family is doing pretty well. Kaleb got really sick last week, but seems to be doing better this week. He seems to get colds easily and this time it hung around too long and became an infection, so he'll be on antibiotics for a couple of weeks. Kaids is doing Awesome!! She's loving school and speaking Spanish like a native. I love just watching her play with her little friends. If she didn't have blond hair and green eyes you wouldn't know she was a little gringa. Justin's Spanish is doing incredible. He is taking a major role in getting the small groups started here. Because of our background in running small therapy groups we are both pretty comfortable with running small groups and many of the same principals apply in running small groups. He led the leaders small group last night and taught several vital principals in running groups. Mind you, he did all that in Spanish. I must say I was very impressed and proud.
So, that's about all that's gone on this last week. We love you all and pray all is going well in your lives. Thank you for your prayers and love. God bless.