Agosto 15-21, 2011

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:23-24

I forgot my Bible on my last stateside adventure, so I got to buy a new one, and I got a read-it-in-a-year chronological Bible. Oh man, is this fabuluminous! I started with the NT as opposed to the date of purchase as it was in the middle, which, in my mind, would sort of mess up the whole order idea, so on August 15, I was reading the December 24th entry, which included the above verse, sooooo, I thought it appropriate to begin this week's report. If you haven't read the Biblia chronogically, I whole heartedly recommend it.

Lucky for youse, I don't take along my camera to the dentist, where I went again this past Monday, and while I am so grateful to be able to tend to these tusks of mine, I don't like pain, which slowed me down for the rest of the day. I know, Ima whimp...pray for me as this will happen every week for some time to come.

OK,so if you saw my foto on fb, here is the answer: Yaneth!


And for everyone else, and/or for those who don't know her, Yaneth is a dear young teen who, up til late January, lived with Rosa. Before that, life was extremely mean and dangerous for her, so she was removed from that environment and placed with Rosa de Amor. She quickly became a shining star among many stars, and excelled in school to the point of being top student in the entire school. Anyway, in January, she left to go and live with cousins, and it turns out, she isn't living too far away from us. She came on Tuesday to retrieve papers for her new school; what a fabu surprise to see her again! She looks well, lots of smiles and quick but good conversations with her "sisters". Do continue to pray for her, that she remembers Who loves her most, and that she doesn't have to be subjected to abuse of ANY kind.




Wednesday, Luis began his 3rd year! He has really blossomed since returning from the malnutrition hospital! Talks and runs and smiles up a storm! We weighed him and learned he had already gained 2# in two weeks! It's oh so good for both him and mama Elsa to be together, and he loves to be able to be outdoors playing with his best bud, Rosita. Hope you don't mind a few more fotos of his day of celebration:




Luis and Rosita are really getting sure-footed; he grabbed onto her hood and they walked all over the grass...w/out falling!


You think she was hoping for a birthday beso??! These two are too cute!

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Here he is chowing down his almuerzo, making sure he saves room for cake! Finger lickin' good, si?!! It's just so wondermus to watch him eat, something he didn't use to like to do. tyj!


On Thursday Guillermo's disinterest in eating finally caught up with him; is this a male thing?? So he took it really easy. Patsy came for her sewing lesson, so we drove her back to Antigua when she was done. Rosa was out of firewood, so we decided to buy a "half tarea", which fits perfectly in the back of old blue, from our friend Carmen at the "firewood store" down in Antigua. While I was waiting for them to load the wood, I thought my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket, down the side of my seat, and onto the floor, which was then covered with said firewood; I just didn't see this actually take place. So when we returned to the Lily, some of the kids helped unload the wood. When they finished, I went to get the phone, but it wasn't there, so I started racking my brain as to where it may be. We called it w/Guillermo's phone, but it was off. Well, turns out, the new girl, Floridelma, of whom just last week I noted how well she was adjusting after a rocky start, had taken it and even made several calls. Of course, we wouldn't have even learned of this if not for some of the other girls who didn't like what she had done, so that's one silver lining. Took several hours for her to confess and return the phone, which she had hidden in her under garments..bother! Anyways, she was quite tearful, and even though she was sorry for taking it, she was also sorry she got caught AND wasn't gonna be able to make any more calls. So with the girls gathered around, some of whom wanted to take physical action against her...can you guess who? :D...I told her that since I'm a sinner and mess up so that I need to ask Jesus to forgive me and He always does, that I forgive her fully, but that doesn't mean that takes away the consequences of our actions. For Flori, Rosa has to report this to the gov't, which she will do tomorrow, the 22nd. She may need to be moved, and Flori says she doesn't want that. So here's another prayer request, to pray for Flori as the Lord leads. What a relief for me, to not have to hunt and search for the phone!


Friday found G in bed all day; think he also has a touch of flu as he says his skin is tingly (?). He also knows he needs to change his eating habits to keep "fueled" for the work. So to assist him, I made scratch sausage gravy and scratch biscuits. yea! We'd love it if you could pray for our health; gracias.




OK, for the Saturday report, I'm gonna go way off base, but it's such an outrageously happy event I thought you wouldn't mind, and besides, Guillermo was still laid up, so life here at the Lily was rather dull, which isn't necessarily a bad thing now and then. Anyway, where was I...oh ya, we received one of the bestest emails ever! Our sister-in-law, Michelle, wrote to tell us her 7 yr old daughter, our niece, Riley, on the right in the foto(the other cute girl is granddaughter Charlotte) was going to be baptized on Sunday! ANSWER TO LONG TERM PRAYER; WE HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR THIS FAMILY FOR 7 YEARS, AND THANKS TO A WEEK AT VBS, RI RI MET JESUS AND WAS READY TO COMMMIT HER LOVE FOR HIM! Michelle is so pleased with the kids' experience they're gonna begin regular attendance. Please pray along with us that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of authentic, real faith in the living God and Father of us all for the entire family: Steve, Michelle, Riley, Sean, and Shane.