Food and Fun

Since this weekend is Semana Santa and everyone is off work, we had made plans today to head out to camp (a camp started by missionaries here in Spain over 30 years ago) with several other families from church. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day, but wouldn't you know it, today we woke up to a cold, windy, rainy day! So, needless to say, our trip to camp was cancelled. But instead of canceling the whole day, a few of us met at church and spent the morning and afternoon playing games and eating. We had a blast, even it we didn't get to spend the day out at camp. Maybe some other time, though!

Here is a picture of the group of us that were at church today. Please pray for Jesus...he is the man with the glasses, holding the his little boy, Nicholas. Jesus is married to the lady in front of Jeff in the red jacket and they have two kids...Nicholas and Vera. She is the little girl with the pink sweater. Jesus has lived many years under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He has not been the husband or father for this family that he should be, but over the last few months, he has been coming to every Couples Meeting that we hold once a month at church and today he showed up as well. We are praying that the Lord would get a hold of his heart and that he would put his faith and trust in Him as his Savior.

Count Your Blessings

I was tagged about a week ago by Ashley and thought that it was a great idea to take the time and Count My Blessings! Here are only some of the many, many things that God has blessed me with...

1. My husband....I am so thankful for the man that God has given me to share this life with. Jeff and I will be celebrating our 8th anniversary in May and I can honestly say that I fall more in love with him with every passing year. I love you, honey!

2. Being a Mommy....I am so thankful for the privilege of being a Mommy! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Aaron has promised me that he will always be my baby and will never stop giving me hugs. I'm holding him to it! Right now he says he will never leave home and that even when he gets married someday, he plans on living with us. I will have to remind him of that a few years from now!

3. A church family....The Lord has allowed us to be a part of a wonderful church family over the last 6 months here in Madrid. They have been a source of encouragement to us in so many ways. We have had such peace in knowing that this was God's will for us at this time. It won't be long before we will be starting a work of our own, and we will always treasure this time we have shared with our church family here in Madrid!

4. A godly family....grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, siblings....I am blessed that most everyone in my family is saved and serving in the ministry. I am a 3rd generation missionary. What a godly heritage!

5. True friends....Good friends are far and few between, but when you find them you are blessed! God has blessed me with true friends that I can count on when I really need them and I pray that I would never take them for granted.

6. A faithful God.....I serve a God who gives strength when you need it. I have experienced that often, especially over the last 4 years, as the Lord has chosen to make us wait at this time as we pray that He would allow us to have more children. It may happen someday, but the Lord is teaching me to be content when He says yes and when He says no. I object to His will many times, but when I surrender to Him, He is always faithful and gives me strength, peace, calm, rest,....just when I need it.

7. My family.....My parents are here and my sister, brother, sister-in-law and nephew are coming. I know that being able to work along side your family on the field is not at all a common thing. I thank the Lord for this and often. I am truly blessed!

They're Here!

My parents arrived in Madrid on April 1st. That's right...on April Fool's Day, but it's no joke!! Aaron's phrase all day Wednesday was..."I can't believe they're really here!"

Here is Aaron, at 7am, Wednesday morning as we drove off to the airport to pick them up. He was excited, to say the least!



They arrived at 8am and we were there, anxiously awaiting their arrival!



We have spent the last few days getting things set up for my parents. Those of you who have moved oversees understand all the setup that is involved when you first arrive in the country! I am so glad that we are here to help them, since having someone there to help when you arrive it wonderful! When we arrived in Spain, our friends the Starks helped us out so much. Thanks again guys!!

Thankfully, things have gone very smoothly so far. We even found an apartment today that we all just fell in love with! After looking at our last apartment for the day, we ran to the grocery store and discovered they had lobster on sale!! So, we just HAD to take advantage of the very rare sale and treated ourselves to a wonderful, seafood meal!





I thank the Lord for the opportunity that He has given us to team up with my family in starting a work here in Madrid. Here is one last picture of Aaron with "Meena". Now we are just waiting for my sister who arrives next Saturday. Yaaaay!!!

Laughter...Best Medicine Ever!!

If you are in need of a laugh, click here to see a Tim Hawkins song on Chick-fil-A. It made us laugh and you know what they say about laughter!!
Here are a couple more if you need a few more laughs...
Good Night Prayers
Full Range of Motion

My Little Missionary

I just want to brag a little on my son and praise the Lord for what He is doing in his heart.

Last week after school, he said, "Mommy, today I was talking with some of my friends in school about God and my friend Pau told me that he didn't believe in God. He said that he believes in reincarnation (these kids are 6!). Then my other friend, Alejandro said that he believed in God but when I was explaining to him about trusting in Jesus as your Saviour to go to Heaven, he said he didn't understand. And my other friend Juanjo said that his Daddy believed in God."

At this point I gave him a big hug and told him I was so proud of him for telling his friends about Jesus. I told him we would have to pray that the Lord would work in their hearts. A few moments later he said, "I thought I had to wait until I was bigger to tell others about Jesus, because I was too scared, but I did it!!"


The picture above is of Aaron with his friend Pau. Please pray for his mother, Maribel, as the Lord is allowing me to build a friendship with her. The other day she invited me over for a cup of coffee and when she asked about why we had come to Spain, I had a chance to explain a little of why we are here. Please pray that this door of friendship would stay open, so that I would continue to have more opportunities to share Christ with her.


Here is a picture of Aaron with his teacher, Marta (in the pink sweater holding Aaron's hand) and his friend Juanjo

Then a couple of days ago he came home from school and told me about a conversation he had with his teacher at school...

Aaron: Do you know who created the trees and the animals?

Marta (his teacher): Well, they are just reproduced themselves. No one created them.

Aaron: I know who created everything.

Marta: oh yeah? Who?

Aaron: God did!! A long time ago He created everything! It says so in the Bible!

At this point, Aaron told me, "Mommy, she acted like she really didn't believe me! I think she believes in evolution! I told him that she probably does and then Aaron said, "Yeah well, you can't make a monkey out of me!!" jeje Then he told me that he was sad that his teacher didn't believe in God.

I am so grateful that he has a tender heart for the Lord and a desire to tell others about Him. I pray that he never loses that desire, but that it will only grow.

Some Thoughts on Peace

I was listening to a message yesterday morning as I cleaned through the house and came across this thought...

"Prayer is not about changing God, but about changing me, because THAT is where the peace comes."


It reminded me of something that Amy Carmichael once wrote....

"It is not in forgetting that peace is found
It is not in trying that peace is found
It is not in indiference that peace is found
It is not even in submision that peace is found
It is rather in acceptance that peace is found."

I then thought of two of my favorite passages of Scripture....

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding..." Proverbs 3:5

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

Aaron has been memorizing a verse this week in Prov. 1:7 where we are reminded that the
"...fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge:..."
If we truly believe that God is who he says He is and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, how arrogant we are to question His plans. Out of His lovingkindness, He does promise peace in difficult times, but we must first accept that His will is best. Then, and only then, can the peace come.

Look What We Found?!

A Taco Bell 20 minutes from our house!! I have to say, we are not big Taco Bell fans when back in the States. I mean, we rarely ever go, preferring a more "authentic" Mexican restaurant. Here in Spain they do NOT eat anything that resembles mexican food, although I know this may shock some people. So even though I would have preferred to see a Sonny's open up, when someone at church tonight told us about the Taco Bell, we had to check it out. Sure enough, it's the real thing and they even had free refills on the drinks (very, very rare here) as well as a self serve drinking station! Now that, is a rare thing! And to top it all off, they served Coca-Cola instead of Pepsi. Jeff was in all-you-can drink, Coke heaven! The tacos even tasted better than I remember! Funny what a little taste of home can do!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....

So far this winter, Madrid has surprised us with snow! Much more than usual. It's been fun, because it doesn't usually last very long, so we have yet to get tired of it! Last Sunday morning, it started snowing on our way to church and this is what it looked like when we arrived at church. Let is snow, let is snow, let is snow!!!

Yearly Ladies' Meeting in Madrid

Last weekend I had the privilege, along with 100 plus women from churches mainly from the Madrid area, to get together for a day of fellowship and classes. What a blessing the sessions were, as well as the fellowship! This is the 11th year that this meeting has been held here in Madrid and every year, the amount of ladies who attend has been larger. The theme this year was about running the race of the Christian life. To me the most encouraging part of the meeting was seeing so many sisters in Christ gathered together and to see how many of the churches have grown! Spain is know for being a slow field, but God is still at work and this was evident at this meeting. I am so excited about what God is going to continue to do here in Spain and just glad to be a part of it!


Here is the group of ladies that went from our church.