MK SPIRIT WEEK--Thursday

Today we are going "CrAzY for Christ" as we dress up as one of our heroes of the faith--a missionary!

At our house everyday this week we have been listening to a portion of the amazing testimony of Darlene Deibler Rose, who served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and was a POW of WWII.

If you have never heard her powerful, inspiring, and convicting story, I strongly urge you to take the time and listen to it...you can find her story from her own lips at nogreaterjoy.org. It is divided into 5 parts for your ease of listening.

 Here is Darlene Deibler Rose as a young missionary wife. Isn't she lovely?!

And now introducing our very own mini "Darlene Deibler Rose"...

Not too shabby, right?! I think she makes a pretty cute "mini" myself. ;)

 

Here's Ethan portraying one of the Boegis bandits that Darlene met up with face to face one night in the hallway of her house...you'll have to listen to her story to find out what she did! 

Here's a quote from Darlene's book--Evidence Not Seen, referring to what happened after that night:

“We heard bandits return several nights after that, but they never again entered the house. It wasn't until after the war that I learned why. I had suspected the Jaffray's gardener; he was Boegis, and he knew the layout of the house. When I asked him why they had never entered the house again, he answered incredulously, "Because of those people you had there - those people in white who stood about the house." The Lord had put His angels around us. He had delivered.” 

 

 

Lookin' fierce!

 

And here's "Darlene" displaying her rat-killin' broom and her miracle bananas...again, you just have to listen to her testimony to find out what this is all about!

 

Although Brenna didn't really get in on the action today, I just couldn't resist this beautiful face! Such a lil' sweetheart! <3 p="">
Thanks for stopping in and I hope that we have piqued your curiosity to find out more about incredible people like Darlene Deibler Rose and other missionaries, some of whom can be spotted over at Baptist Missionary Women!

MK SPIRIT WEEK--Wednesday

Ok, are you ready for this?

Do you have your sunglasses on?
You might need them so that the overwhelming bright colors and wacky patterns don't hurt your eyes.

**WARNING**
What you see next may be shocking and not appropriate for those that are matchy-matchy.

Here goes...

CrAzY ClOtHeS DaY...Gansemer Style!

Here they are in all their glory!

Love the angry face and bent ear!

Brenna is our -stylin' princess, complete with flowers, bows, and beads

Clara is our -well-dressed flag

Ethan is our -tie wearin', ninja fightin', cape flappin', little man!

SILLY SISTERS!

Yes, I was brave and participated, too! As if my kids would've let me off the hook?!

TA DA!!! The Clowns Have Come to Town!

Yep, we've got spirit, all the way down to our TOES!!! :)

 Don't forget to check out the other awesome outfits over at Baptist Missionary Women blog!

And tomorrow, we'll see you back here for more fun!

MK SPIRIT WEEK--Tuesday

Did you survive the suspense of not knowing?!


Drum-roll please.....


 Dum, da, da, dum, dum, dum, dum......



Today is CRAZY HAIR/HAT DAY!!
 

Here's what we came up with...

Here we are, showing off our new "do"s

Clara is sporting a bow/bun-hawk

Ethan is our bucket head

  

Brenna is wearing a pony-hawk for the day

Lots of fun and giggles.

Don't forget to hop over to Baptist Missionary Women to see more of the action...and check back here tomorrow for...

CrAzY ClOtHeS DaY!!!! You won't want to miss it! :)

MK SPIRIT WEEK--Monday

And here you thought that the only exciting thing going on this week was Valentine's Day on Friday! Well, not so for us missionaries!!! This week we are participating in Missionary Kid Spirit Week, a great idea that started over at Baptist Missionary Women blog and will reach around the globe!!! Such a fun idea that I couldn't pass it up and know my kids are going to have a blast with it everyday!

Here's what "Crazy Mustache Monday" looks like at our house...

Brenna, 22 months :)

Ethan, counting down the days til he turns 4! :)

Clara, 6 1/2, my fun 1st grader! :)

Yep, I got in on the "Stashin' Action", too! ;)

So I "MUSTACHE" you, Did these pics bring a smile to your face????!!!! They sure brightened up our Monday!!! My kids ABSOLUTELY LOVED this, even baby Bren! Honestly, I thought that she would be scared of them or at the least rip hers off in about .02 seconds--boy, was I wrong!!!! She did NOT want to take it off! In fact, as I sit here uploading these pics, she just came up to me with it plastered on her face again! She's so funny!

Who said MKs don't know how to have a good time?!  

Stay tuned for more crazy fun coming everyday this week...tomorrow will be Crazy_______ Day!!!! Guess you'll have to come back and find out! :) Happy Monday!

While Daddy's Away...

While Daddy's Away...
The kiddies will play.
And mama will, too.
He won't have a clue
the fun that they've had
while missing their dad.

They will rush through their school,
then do something "cool"
like books and play dough,
table games, tic tac toe.
There will be ice cream and sweets,
tasty treats can't be beat.

All these distractions will work for a while
but then it will turn into a fading smile
Extra hugs and kisses from mama just can't compare,
with having their sweet daddy there.

So at the end of a tiring, fun, and busy day
their thoughts turn to daddy and they wish they could say:
"I love you bunches!" to this wonderful man
a father who is dearly missed by his little clan.

Corny?...oh yes! But all true.
Daddy's away this week doing the work that the Lord has given him. Preaching a week of camp to 12-14 year olds in Buenos Aires. 600 miles away. A long overnight bus trip away.

Things just don't feel quite right when daddy's not home. Everything seems just a bit off-kilter somehow. I guess it's a good reminder of how much we take for granted. Of how often I take him for granted. His calming presence. Makes me feel safe. Makes me feel loved. Makes me feel content and at peace. Someone to share life's burdens and joys. I realize that ultimately all of those things come from my Lord. But they come from my hubby, too. Most definitely. I think that's partly why God has given him to me. To show me how all those things feel in a very real and present way. How I need to cherish the time we have together! How I need to remember that it's the "little things" in our life and marriage that really count. How I need to love and submit to him and show it.

God has given me a precious gift. A Godly and loving husband who is about His Father's business. A wonderful, hardworking man. A kind and caring father to our children.

I am truly blessed to call him mine.

Itchy Fingers

My fingers have that feeling again...my fellow bloggers know the feeling, right?! That itchy, tingly sensation that screams at you to just get a few words out via your fingertips. That need to rest them on the plastic keys and hear the soft and steady clicking as you let the words flow and the story be told. I get that feeling often. Unfortunately, I haven't seemed to quite figure out how to make that more than a feeling and turn it into a reality. You know how it goes, don't you?! Days steadily come and go, another morning to drag myself away from the soft sheets and hit the ground running with all the norms of motherhood. First there are bodies to clothe, mouths to feed, hairs to arrange, laundry to wash, dry, fold, sort, and put away, the overflowing sink full of dirty dishes, soon to be followed up with another meal preparation and, you know what that brings, more dishes and clean up. Crumby floors, scattered toys, books strewn from here to there and back again. Dirty diapers, runny noses, tears and screeches, laughter, tickles, and squeals of delight. Shouts of gladness, yelps of pain. General chaos with a few precious moments of peace sprinkled in, just to help me remember what sanity feels like.

Yep, that crazy mixed up life of a mom of littles. And it's the best thing in the world.

So, until I actually figure out what life looks like from the other side of the eight ball, let me just say that I do think of you as I go along my busy day. I do wonder how you are doing and wish that I had time to sit down with you for a good catchin' up chat. Wonder how you are coping with the mayhem that is your life. How the struggles are piling up. How the victories are won. What life is like on your side of the world.

And I bid you a most belated, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and just so I can be ahead in something, Happy Valentine's Day, too!  I love you, sweet friend, dear family member, wonderful missionary lady, or blog acquaintance. And as I pause in my day, and you pass through my thoughts, I pray for God's blessings to be upon you. That He will supply that need, protect you and your family, give wisdom in the decisions that come your way, guide your path around the unseen bend or the upcoming fork in the road, and most of all show you His love and loan you His strength to help you through each day.

God Provides

Ok, in case there is anyone out there, #1 still interested in reading this neglected blog, and #2, that hasn't heard that we are now safely tucked away in our home haven in Mendoza, well WE ARE!!!

Part of the front of our house--love those pretty sunbeams :)

  Wheew! Moving is Super Nuts-o Crazy! {As if you didn't know that, right?! ;) } Yeah, it definitely is.
God worked in a marvelous way and allowed the paperwork to finally go through on the house that I mentioned in my last post {here}. He helped us to find a good price on a moving truck (1/2 the cost of every other company that we had gotten quotes from--yay us!) and it came with workers included to help with the loading and unloading. Boy, did we ever need that! Plus, 3 men came from a church/city 3 hours away to help us move in. The Lord truly performed some miracles on our behalf, as we needed every square inch in the moving truck {I still have no idea how it all fit, it was definitely of the Lord! Maybe, he zapped things with a shrink-ray as they went in?! ;) } and we needed every ounce of strength that each man possessed to clean out our house and move in all of our stuff!

Our miraculous moving truck! Yep, it ALL fit in there!

 And, right when I wanted most to be healthy and feeling best, I got sick. Yep, the night before we moved I could feel it coming on--sore throat, stuffy head, body aches and complete lack of energy. Just what I needed going into a move. Evidently, the Lord wanted His strength to show through my weakness. He reminded me {again!} that "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". I leaned hard on Him and my hubby and just took it one day, one hour, one box at a time. After all, it wasn't like the dirt and piles of treasures were rushing off somewhere. They were there waiting for me each day and little by little progress was made, boxes unpacked, things scrubbed, trimmed, pushed, pulled, unwrapped, cut open, de-taped, and this unkempt shell of a house was transformed into a wonderful, comfortable haven of rest home for us lowly missionaries.

Our quickly filling up living room and one of our hard-working helpers

 What a joy it is to:
Cook in my own kitchen!
Sleep in my own bed!
Have my own things around me--such as books, pictures, decorations, etc.
Play "hostess".
Watch my kiddos run around in our backyard and enjoy their own (long-lost) toys.

3 cuties on a bench in our backyard

And so many other little things, that all summed up just simply whisper to me...
"You're home....Home in Argentina, home in Mendoza, home in this sweet place, with this sweet family that I have given to you, and home in the center of My will."

I am so thankful. It is good to be home.

On "Being Homeless"

I know, I know...I said that I was going to "jump back in" to blogging...but, what do you say when you feel like you are stuck in a major holding pattern and going nowhere fast...I know we say those kind of cute little quips from time to time, but what if they were literally the truth?! Yep, that sums it up pretty well for me right now...

When we were on furlough, and staying mainly with my in-laws with a little bit of "here, there, and everywhere" thrown in, I would often joke with my daughter about being "homeless" as we didn't have a house of our own. But, it's not so funny when you really are/feel homeless.
Since returning to Argentina on July 1st we have been staying at the church that we worked with during our first term (in the Buenos Aires suburbs).

The first few weeks were a flurry of activity:

• We FINALLY finished up Clara's paperwork and received her Argentine document! Huge blessing and answer to prayer!
• We traded-in and bought a different vehicle, which will much better suit our needs as a family of 5.
• Our container made it into port, and after a long and grueling week of lots of running around, waiting, and paperwork for my hubby, it was safely unloaded into storage with our other belongings. Wheew!

• We then made the long 12+ hour trip out to Mendoza to begin our house search.

That's where the fun really began...we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, that's for sure!
We spent 2 1/2 weeks out there as a family, stayed in a cabin type place and then an apartment in the downtown area, made tons of phone calls, scoured the paper and internet daily, set up lots of appointments to see houses, went to see around 20 houses all over the city and suburbs, and drove around checking out neighborhoods/looking for "FOR RENT" signs, etc.
Sprinkled in amongst the house-hunting madness, we took the kids to the park a few times, to the zoo, visited the mall, tried to give them a few fun moments amidst the stress of being toted all over the place...

And, there's no end of the story...YET.
We finally came back "home" (except that is comical, because the whole point is that we are looking for just that, a home) empty handed.
So, Matt returned to Mendoza by bus a week later to scope out a few more options that became available. And, he found a great house with a good yard space for the kids. Hooray!!!
Wait, save the celebrating til later, we still have that infamous hurdle called "paperwork" to overcome. Yep, been workin' on that for a couple weeks now...so glad that they could get right on that for us (LOADS of Sarcasm inserted here). Anyway, without going into all the nitty-gritty and discouraging details, renting is no picnic here, in fact, it is probably more complicated than buying.

So, if you have stuck with reading my "pity party" post to this point, let me reassure you that honestly and truly we are doing fine. Has it been buckets of fun every minute of each day?? Absolutely NOT! BUT...
God is still on the throne.
God is faithful.
God is trustworthy.
 God knows exactly where were at, why things are going {or not going} the way they are, what we need, and WHEN we need it.
God makes no mistakes.
God has a beautiful plan for us, it just doesn't look anything like we thought it would. BUT, THAT'S OKAY...HIS WAY WILL BE SOOO MUCH BETTER. I know that.
I trust Him. No, really, I DO!!! It's so easy to say that, but another thing entirely to have to put it into practice.
God is teaching and growing me and my faith through this whole process showing me that I must be content "in whatsoever state I am" {Philippians 4:11} Even if that means sleeping on a mattress on the floor for over 2 months, having suitcases for dressers and a "limited wardrobe", lugging my laundry to our Pastor's wife's washing machine every week, my kids don't have their toys right now, everybody and their brother keeps asking me if we have a house yet and I still have to answer, "No, not yet."
I can still be content with where I am at and what I DO have. Because, when I stop and think about it I have:
A husband who loves me and is by my side day and night, 3 precious kiddos that drive me crazy and I wouldn't change it for the world, my health and the health of my family, an amazing family back home that loves us and is praying for us, sweet friends and church family here that are willing to put up with us and help us during this time and let us have a part of the ministries and activities while we are here, sweet friends in the states that encourage me by their kind words, notes, and prayers, and a GREAT BIG GOD THAT LOVES ME and has NOT forgotten me and His precious Love Letter to me to remind me of these things.

I can choose an attitude of gratitude for all of these things and choose not to wallow in self-pity, discouragement, and depression.
I can choose joy in the midst of this time of trial because joy has nothing to do with my current circumstances and everything to do with WHO HE IS!
I can choose to dwell on the positive and look for opportunities of service instead of letting my situation render me powerless and useless.

I am learning so much in "God's Wait Room"...it all boils down to this...Do I really trust God like I say I do, or are they just empty words? Because if I truly do trust Him, then I know that He has it all under control. I don't have to worry or live in fear of what tomorrow holds. Although I cannot see what is down the path or around the next bend, HE DOES. My part is to pray, do what I can, and leave it in His more-than-capable, powerful hands. That's it. And that is more than enough.

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

Psalm 27:13-14

 

About Brenna Bear

My Brenna Bear--She's definitely my little "mold breaker".
Clara and Ethan were so similar in looks and attitude as babies, but not my Brenny.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. She is a very good baby, just very different.

1st off, mommy wanted Brenna's pacifier to be her best friend. It is definitely one of mama's best friends and worked well to comfort Clara and Ethan. Brenna had other ideas. She did NOT like the rubber plug from day 1. So, she is my finger sucker. Yep, she broke me. She sucks her two middle fingers shamelessly, but mainly when she is tired out.

LOVE that little smile hiding under there!

Then there's the reason for her "Brenna Bear" nickname. She has a favorite blanky bear. Actually, she has 2 {it's always good to have a backup ;) }. My other two were never really attached to anything, but their pacifiers. Not Brenna. Brenna's Boo Bear goes with us everywhere. It makes her happy, so in turn, mama's happy and everybody can be happy. :))

Sleeping at the table with fingers in mouth and bear in hand

Precious baby blue eyes

She really is a joy and the older 2 love her dearly. Sometimes they love her a little too much. As in, in-her-face and on top of her. But, she is already learning as the baby of the family to make her little presence known and voice be heard. Her shrieks are heard loud and clear when the others get a little to carried away messing with her or taking her toys. Overall, it is fun to watch her grow and able to interact and play with them more and more.

Giving Brenny some love

Happy Pajama Kids

Also, I think she is headed for anger management classes. Most of the time, she is a good-natured baby, content to play and keep herself occupied. BUT, watch out if she gets mad. She has been known to {rather violently} bash her poor little forehead into the floor. Which of course, only proves to make her more upset. Yeah, that is definitely something we are working on. Brenna and her means of self-inflicted torture. Crazy girl!

Then there's her crawl/scoot/jitter bug thing. I don't know what to rightly call it, but it's pretty funny to watch. Brenna would not want to be known as being conventional, so she invented her own way of getting around. She despised being on her belly. She did/does NOT want to stand. No really, when held up to stand her legs would go straight out in front of her! So, she sits and scoots using one arm and sliding her leg along the floor. Don't worry; it doesn't slow her down one little bit! She is quick as lightning! However, mama's thinking that it is about time to figure out this walking thing 'cuz the cold, dirty floor is not so good on the laundry or baby's bottom. I think she is holding out on me. One of these days when she finally decides the time is right, she's just going to hop up and take off and then I am going to be stunned and chasing after her! ;)

She's so full of smiles, ticklish spots, and baby belly laughs. Chubby cherub cheeks. Raven hair and blue eyes with flecks of brown/green. She is such a squishy ball of fun! I love my Brenny girl. She is so unique and special to me already. Can't wait to see the plans that God has for her life!