Another view of the house

Here is a shot of the back side of the house. You can see our travel trailer off to the right hand side.

More pictures

Rebekah wearing a new skirt she helped me sew







Front of the house and Noah at the work site







Rebekah, Elijah and Benjamin collecting seeds from the desert weeds

Many of you have asked about some updated pictures of the house. I've been having some problems uploading the pictures. I will post one picture here and then try to post another one later tonight. We praise the Lord for the continued good progress, safety of the workers, and the opportunities Daniel has had to share the gospel with the men.

It looks like we will be able to move into the house late January to early February. Little Lockwood #10 is due to arrive in about 4 weeks, so we will get to be extra cozy as we add him to the travel trailer for a few more weeks.

We are so joyful to see the continued spiritual growth in the faithful brothers and sisters in our church here in Insurgentes. The Lord continues to teach and work with each and every one and you can see our hearts being knit closer together as we grow together in Him. I don't think a day goes by without us being able to share the gospel with someone...usually with many. Pray the Lord really works in the hearts of the people here and they see their need of a Saviour.

We are planning a special church service on Christmas Eve just for our church family. The children's choir is learning some new Christmas hymns to sing and verses to recite. Hna. Maria stepped out of the van last Sunday night as she arrived at church with a big smile on her face. She walked up to me and said, "I brought a special visitor". I looked up and saw her husband getting out of the van. She had been praying that he would come for months.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and the people here. As we enter into this Christmas season, we praise the Lord for it is only through Jesus and His righteousness that we are able to have a relationship with our loving Lord. He is so good!

Little upate

The construction continues as the workers are reiforcing the walls to support the roof. The next couple of weeks they will be getting the roof ready to be poured. The electrician put all the outlets and switches in this week...I'll take some more pictures later this week of the house and post them. I do have some pictures of our current sleeping situations :)...we are all excited about having a bit more space once the house is finished! :)
Yesterday was the celebration of the Mexican Revolution. Every child who is in school is in the town parade. We got up early to watch the procession...the children of our church were so excited for us to watch them.
Rebekah began sewing class with me last week. Though I did most of the sewing, we finished a simple elastic waist skirt for her yesterday. Though I did most of the sewing, she enoyed cutting out the pattern pieces and material, helping me pin pieces together, and loved putting the elastic through the casing.
Though the 90-100 degree weather doesn't make it feel to much like "Thanksgiving", we have so much for which we are thankful and praise the Lord daily for His many blessings. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord is so good!

Joining the Family

Timothy turned 10 years old in October. We knew he really wanted a puppy for his birthday. So we kept our eyes open and prayed the Lord would help us find one.
This past weekend, we went into the city to do some errands. At one stop, we parked next to a veternarian clinic. I walked over to it and saw she had these two cute puppies outside in a cage. When we asked her if they were for sale, she said that they were free....just needed their shots.
Daniel chose the white and brown one for Timothy, but once we took her out of the cage, the other puppy looked sooo lonely....so Elijah is now the proud owner of a puppy too. :)
The boys have been working hard each day to earn money to buy dog food. At the little store here on our street, you can buy some meat scraps for animals for a good price. Timothy walked to the store last night to buy some. He came home a few minutes later and said, "I bought half a kilo of meat for our puppies for only 5 pesos (about 50 cents). I saw some other meat there too and when I asked how much it cost, the man said it was 70 pesos a kilo (about $7). That meat was for people....it is sure a lot cheaper to feed a puppy than a person!"

Quick update on the Construction

In a couple of minutes, we will be leaving to practice with the children's choir and visit our widows, but I wanted to post a few more pictures and give a quick update on the house.
We continue to praise the Lord for the good daily progress being made as well as for the safety of the workers. Continue to pray for the Lord to soften their hearts to the gospel.
They are all out working this morning and should have the walls finished by next week.

Josiah loves to pitch in and "help" with his dump truck. In the empty lot next to our property, you will find many holes, strings, wires, and pipes sticking out of the ground next to piles of dirt and sand as each of our children have begun their "own construction project"...they tell me they are building simple things like church buildings, museums, and a zoo. :) Each morning, the children sit out on chairs under the awning of the trailer for a few minutes to watch the construction before we leave to home school at the church building.

Walls going up!

Construction continues rapidly! The floor was poured on Friday and the walls began going up yesterday. The workers do all the work by hand. All the trenches...dug by hand; all the cement...carried to the right spot in wheelbarrows or buckets. They do have a small cement mixer and they get that thing going and work so well together as a team.
The walls should be completed by then end of this week or sometime next week. Then it will be on to the roof! Please continue to pray the Lord will give wisdom and safety to the workers. We are praying also that the Lord would work in their hearts during this time they are spending with Daniel and that as he shares the gospel with them, they would see their need for a Savior.
Susannah wakes up as soon as she hears the first scrape of the workers shovels. She loves to stand on the bed where she and her sisters sleep and watch the work being done from the window. :)

Daily Life

We praise the Lord for the thus far good progress on the house. The workers are doing such a good job. They arrive at 7 am on the dot and get right to work. Daniel has spent the past few days putting in the plumbing while they poured the perimeter foundation and are preparing to pour the floor by Friday.

Once the workers arrive, the children and I head off to the church building to home school, wash clothing, prepare meals, and do whatever other work needs to be done. The girls were excited to start up some more "baking classes" and enjoyed making some cupcakes and cookies for the men working on our home.

Last week, Hna. Victoria along with Hna. Josefina, taught her first Sunday School class. We have so many children that come without their parents. After we are all together to sing hymns and have a time of prayer, the children can either go to the back room with Hna. Victoria for class or to the nursery with me. It is a joy to see these ladies growing in the Lord and wanting to serve Him in teaching the children.

We have a unique opportunity this week. The town fair started this evening. We have been given permission to have a little booth there where we will be passing out free lemonade along with gospel tracts, booklets of John/Romans, along with an invitation to come to church. We all went and set it up tonight. Then I came home with the little ones while Daniel and a couple of people from the church will stay at the booth until around 10 pm. The fair lasts until Sunday, and the children and I hope to go help out too for an hour or so each evening. Please pray that we would be able to share the gospel with many and the Lord would work in the hearts of those with whom we come in contact.