Polka Dot Pics and a Prayer Request

Ok, ok, last post about our Mother's Day ladies' mtg. *Promise* But I couldn't show you only pics of the pretty decor, and not take the time to show you all the lovely ladies, too. So, hear ya go:

My Pastor's wife, Angela, and I by our "masterpieces"

Daughter/Mother

Grandma/Mom/2 Daughters

Sisters

Daughter {expecting}/Mother and a friend

Daughter/Mother {expecting}

Daughter/Mother/Daughter-in-Law

Mother/Daughter {She is a fellow missionary wife and friend, who was our guest speaker for the day}

Angela with friends

The group at my table

As you can see we had a lot of Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Friends, and FUN!! Best of all for me, my sweet teacher made the effort to join us for this special occasion, too. Although she was not able to stay for very long, at least she came and that gives me hope that she will come again and ultimately, that she will come to know Christ as her Saviour. Please pray with me for Silvina and her sweet family, that Matt & I will be the witness that we need to be and that God will use us to draw these dear people to Him.

My Teacher, Silvina & I

Seeing More Spots...

Wow!! What a crazy/busy time last week and weekend were! Our Ladies' Tea went off without a hitch! Praise the Lord, I finished all of my projects {grant it, much to the demise of my house--grimace} and everything turned out BE-A-U-TIFULLY!! At least in my opinion--I will let the 'evidence' speak for itself  ;)

Table Centerpieces--Huge thanks to my amazing hubby for hunting up all the materials for me!

A Closer Look

My Matching Bulletin Board--Proverbs 31:10, 28-30

My Cute Lil' Friend

He kept the guest speaker company on the pulpit!

Ladybug Key Chain Souvenirs

The Adorable Cakes--Our Pastor's Wife did a great job!

The Cake Table

All the Pretty Tables

Another View

Doesn't it look nice and inviting?!

And now presenting, the cutest little ladybugs EVER.....


Drum roll, please.....

"Mom, what's this thing doing on my head?!?"

"I know I'm CUTE!!"

"CHEESE!"

"So, how does it look?"

Miracles in the Mail

"Good News! Good News! Christ died for me! 

Good News! Good News! He set me free! 

Good News! Good News! To live eternally! 

That's Wonderful, Happy, Good News!"

My news, though not nearly as spectacular and amazing as God's Good News, is still pretty miraculous to me! I got my Argentine document!!! After 10 months of waiting and wondering if it was even where it was supposed to be or lost in outer space somewhere, we found out that it is done, complete, everything in order, and made it to us!!! WOOOHHHHOOOOOOOO!!! As you can tell I am {just a bit} excited!

Now, we are just hoping and praying that Matt's document will arrive any day now, and that the few little issues we had with Clara's are all resolved and will be coming this way soon, too! What a blessing and miracle!
I know that you other missionaries know what a hassle these things can be and how long they can take, some missionaries down here have had to wait for up to 5 years to receive their documents! 5 years! That's a looooong time, folks! In light of that, 10 months doesn't seem so bad!

Some of our many documents

Ethan's Argentine passport and document and my new document

Ethan's came easy for him, the perks of being an Argentine citizen

My much anticipated, long awaited, "little red book"

 P.S. WHEN we do get the last of our documents, there will definitely be a BIG celebration at our house!!

A Utensil Bouquet

I know, I know, you think I have completely lost it right?!? Right? You don't have to lie, just tell it to me straight. I myself haven't really decided if I think it is a stroke of creative genius or pure insanity, but nevertheless, here it is.

My Utensil Bouquet

 Good, bad, or ugly (Hopefully the first one {wink, wink}). I will still claim it as my very own attempt at putting a new spin on the ordinary...

Or maybe it's just my way of trying to incorporate a touch of spring into everything lately.  {pleased grin}

Some things, in and of themselves, just seem so basic and mundane, and well, just plain, old, "Blah!" So why not try to shake things up a bit, right?! Don't ask me where in the world I got this idea from or why cuz I really can't tell ya. It just came to me--and I thought, "Hey, why not?" Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Ordinary basic black kitchen utensils, regular ole' drinking glass, one little bunch of flowers, a nice soft dish towel and a scrap of ribbon--Viola!! {Attractive} Centerpiece. Nah, just kidding! It's just a little gift for my Secret Pal at church. 

After all, presentation is everything--don't ya think?!
Anyway, whether she likes it or not (and I really hope she does), I had a lot of fun playing around and putting it together.
Sure would love to hear your thoughts on my unique bouquet or share your ideas if you have done anything similar (even only 1/2 as crazy is okay, too {chuckle})


P.S. Don't forget, more "Spots" Projects to come soon!

Sincere Prayers from Little Lips

Last Sunday--what a day! Thankfully we had recovered enough to be in our place at the Lord's House. I am so glad that the Lord gave us the strength to make it through the day, because it would have been a shame to miss all that went on.
First, it was Mother's Day here in Argentina. Unfortunately, just as this nasty "bug" attacked our home, it hit a lot of other church members' homes as well, so the attendance was down. In fact, when Sunday School started it looked like we were only going to have my 2 kiddos in our class. However, we took over the next class of 4-7 year olds, too, as the teacher and her kids, you guessed it, were out sick. My co-teacher and I wound up with 12 kids and she shared with them a wonderful lesson about Hannah and baby Samuel and praying and leaving your worries with God. Then it was Craft Time!! The other teacher and I had prepared some soap bars, all grated up, for the kids to make sachets for their moms. Let me tell ya, they will get plenty of fragrance out of those things; those soaps had a very strong scent! Midst a bit of craziness helping all the kids put their soap shavings in their little cups in pretty colored layers and hot gluing the tulle on top, writing notes, etc., we came out victorious and each child left with a smile on their face and a nice little gift in their hand to take to their mom.

Our Mother's Day Craft

A Closer Look

All the pretty layers of soap shavings

BUT, that was not the best part of the day...
Sunday night we had a "home coming" at our church. 2 sisters, that had made some poor decisions and gone astray from the Lord and from their church family that loves them, returned! That's right, although they had forsaken God, He never forsook them, and gently led them back to the fold. What a joyous and emotional time! Everything is not all squared away yet, they still have some fences to mend and things to make right, but they made that first o-so-difficult step!

HOLD ON NOW...even that, as wonderful as it is, is not the best part, to me!
 Ok, here it is...
My sweet little daughter...hmm...have I ever told you how amazingly thoughtful and sweet she can be?!

My sick girly, recouping on the couch last week

She never ceases to amaze me and this week was no different. You see, last week the 2 sisters had promised to come, but had not been able to make it. So, especially as the older girl used to be Clara's babysitter, I told her that we needed to pray for them to come back to church. Poor Clara was so disappointed last week when they never showed up. She looked up at me with those big, sad eyes of hers and said, "Mama, they didn't come." If you could have seen her; it was so sad and pathetic. Well, every night before bed we have Bible story time and Clara prays. Lately, as she is getting older, I have been telling her to chose what she wants to pray for. This week, every night without fail or prompting, in spite of being icky-sicky, she so fervently and innocently prayed for the girls to come to church this week. And they did! Don't you see what a victory this is?!! My little girl got to witness first hand the power of prayer.

My little girl is not so "little" anymore

When we arrived at church, the girls were on the sidewalk talking to Pastor and I said, "Look, Clara, they came! The girls are here!" She rushed inside to give them hugs and kisses and even asked me to sit with them during the song service. How could I say "No"?! There were many tears shed before the service began, and during the singing I noticed that the older girl had burst into tears all over again. Later I found out, much to my surprise, that she had started to cry because Clara had told her, "I prayed for you, and you came!" What a miraculous, eye-opening, heartwarming experience for my 3 year old sweetie and her old, skeptical mama! Little lips that offer sincere prayers to the Lord from little hearts that aren't so blackened and stained with the sin of this world {as mine is}, I think the Lord has no choice, but to listen and answer!

Such a sweet girl...

Needless to say, I am so thankful to be a mama, especially to this wonderful little girl that is growing up and learning to pray right before my very eyes! ♥

...with a beautiful smile and a kind ♥

♥ Me & My Babies on Mother's Day in Argentina! ♥

Happy Mother's Day from Argentina!

The Cathedral Outing

 Recently, we took a little "tourist" visit to a neighboring town about 20 min. from where we live. It is very well-known in the area for its ginormous cathedral. Let me tell ya, it truly is a sight to behold. What you see here is the biggest part, but it is only the beginning of a quite complex, huge structure attached behind and onto the right side, too. As for the inside, I can't say what it's like because we didn't want to take the kids in there and interrupt anything (fine with me as these gigantic Gothic-type Catholic churches kinda give me the creeps anyway {shudder}), but I have been told that it is pretty ornate as well.

La Catedral, Lujan, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Here's the thing that really gets me. First, it strikes me as rather comical that this monstrosity of a building is the only even remotely large building in the whole town. It definitely makes a statement. Secondly, the statement that it makes to me personally is very sad. It makes me think about all the people that sacrificed their hard earned money in hopes of earning Heaven to build this mega church building, which does not even teach the truth from the Bible. There is shop after shop and every street corner covered with people selling rosary beads and little statues of this saint or that one. People come from far and wide to visit this church and attend mass there. In fact, once a year (just a week after I took these pics) they have a big pilgrimage in which thousands upon thousands of people walk all the way from downtown Buenos Aires out to this Cathedral.

Matt in front of the cathedral--gives you a better idea of its immense size

A few ?s that I asked myself while gazing up at this towering edifice:
Who will go and tell all these masses of people about the only One True Way?
Who will love them and strive to help them, not just take their money?
Why does it so often seem that our enemy is winning and has so much more territory covered than we do?

My "Big Kids" lol

And then I stop and think:
What a great reminder! This is why we are here. To tell them of Christ's love. To show them that Jesus, yes, died on the cross, but that He did NOT stay there! To show them that it's not just a pretty story, but a priceless gift that God is offering to them.
Yes, this is why we have come! This is why we are attempting {struggling, beating our heads against the wall, at times} to learn another tongue. This is why we are adjusting to the differences in culture and opposite seasons. This is why we flew over 5 thousand miles south, leaving our beloved families and friends behind. This is why we took our daughter, Clara, away from her grandparents, and why our baby boy, Ethan has not met or been doted upon by our families.

Me n my cuties ♥

We came to make a difference! A difference in people's lives. But not by our own power and strength, only to bring them to the understanding of God's mighty power and strength and overwhelming love that can change their lives, and their eternities, forever! Such wonderful, good news that we bring, if we only have the boldness to share it. May the Lord grant me the help and strength that I need to go in His power and tell those that I meet along the way His amazing story!

Enjoying the outdoors!

Ok, back to our little outing. As all these {deep thinker} thoughts were running through my little head, I also thought about what a blessing it is for me to have my sweet family with me and to share the day together.

Smiling down at Ethan & Daddy after climbing some steep stairs

God is so good to give us families to walk through life with and share life's joys and sorrows. It is amazing to me how God directs your path to the one {perfect-for-you} person and that together you have the blessing of forming your own family. As much as I miss my parents and in-laws {and siblings, and cousins, and church families, and friends, etc., etc.}, I am so thankful that the Lord has given me my own family that I was able to bring with me on this journey of ours. This journey to Argentina and this journey of our life together.

Monkeyin' around! :)

God bless,