Our Little Nehemiah's 1st Birthday!

Last night, we celebrated Nehemiah's 1st Birthday. He doesn't actually turn 1 until the 18th of December, but since Lord willing, we will be leaving on the 17th to head to the USA, we all thought it would be much better to celebrate here at home rather than in the van :)!
We are so very thankful for the blessing of our little guy! He's brought much joy to our home and everyone loves to "love" on Nehemiah all the time. He's really a sweetheart! As is our family tradition, we went around the room giving each person a chance to "bless" Nehemiah and say why they love him. We all remembered when he was first born last year and wouldn't hardly wake up and didn't eat for 9 days. We just kept giving Him over to the Lord as we thought God just might call him back home to be with Him. Then we remember how very sick he was those first 6 months of life as he struggled with his breathing. He's always been a bit weaker and seems to catch anything that's going around...yet the Lord's so gracious and little Nehemiah is growing and doing well.
All of our children have a nickname~ some of them have many :) We call Nehemiah either "Miah" (what Susannah called him when he was first born) or "the bullfrog". We had a froggie birthday party for him. The children made frogs from paper to decorate the table. I made or at least attempted to make a frog cake :) We bought a pack of green mints and some green olives to place on the table too. Everyone had fun blowing up green balloons and making 3 banners to hang up in the room. One said "Happy Birthday Nehemiah"; another said the words of Nehemiah's song I sing him every night, "Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know"; and the last one said "Psalms 127:3 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward." For a special supper, I made homemade pizza~ 2 large pizzas for us and a little personal pizza for the birthday boy :)
Grandma had sent a gift for Nehemiah in the mail, so we let him open it. I just love his expression in that bottom picture. It is a little car dashboard/steering wheel and it makes car sounds and talks in English and Spanish. He had fun playing with it while we cleaned up from the party.
This week has been busy! We started out the week with most of the children under the weather with a couple of different sicknesses, but we thank the Lord they are all doing better now. We finished up 2nd quarter in our homeschool the week before, so we took this week to do some winter cleaning, Christmas baking, and other projects.
Tomorrow we will be putting together some goodie plates, and then in the evening, our church and our family will be going Christmas caroling. Sunday is our special Christmas service. Two Mexican Pastors from this state along with some people from their churches will be traveling to join us. We will be having a time of song, prayer, the children's choir will be singing, Daniel will be preaching, and then we'll end the evening with a Christmas Supper and gift exchange. Everyone is looking forward to it and we are praying that as our church invites their unsaved family members and neighbors to join us, that the Lord will open the hearts of many who will accept Him~ What a wonderful Christmas that would be!
Monday, we head "home" for Christmas. We are all excited about spending our first Christmas in 3 years with our family in the USA. We are looking forward to visiting and fellowshiping with our family, friends and church there. If the Lord brings us to your mind, will you please pray for the Lord to keep us safe as we travel, bless and direct our time in the states, and that our church here in Mexico will continue to grow and enjoy fellowship together in our absence. Pastor Humberto from the next town will be coming to hold services each week.
Well, I have a little Noah (age 3) who's half asleep and crying for a drink. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day and A Little Pilgrim BOY! :)

Psalms 103:2- "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits"

In the words of our little ones, we had the "bestest" Thanksgiving Day ever! We pray you all had a very blessed time remembering the countless benefits of our wonderful God.

We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I told the children after we got home from mid week prayer meeting then night before that they could stay up and help me roll our the cinnamon rolls for the morning. As I tucked them into bed, I told them they could sleep in a bit the next day too (of course hoping to catch a bit more sleep myself :) ). But the next morning, their excitement for the day ahead brought most of them hopping into our bed by 6 am. We had fun talking, cuddling, and snuggling together for a while. Finally, we all got going on morning chores, and met around the table for those home-made rolls and hot canela (a hot tea make with cinnamon sticks). We finished reading the book we'd started earlier in the month- "Stories of the Pilgrims" too.

Earlier that week, Daniel had hired a man to help us begin putting a fence around our house. We still needed to pay him for his labor, which made necessary a trip into the next town to go to the bank. Since we were going to be making the trip, we called our OB doctor to schedule a checkup for me and the little Lockwood growing inside me. We all cleaned up from breakfast, climbed into the van, and headed to town.

While the children sat in the waiting room, Daniel and I went in for my check-up. We were thankful that both mommy and baby are doing well and are happy to announce that this new little pilgrim (according to the doctor's interpretation of the u/s) will be a......

BOY! :) How excited and thankful we are to be expecting our 8th son. The girls were a bit disappointed as they are a bit out nubered, but as soon as I started talking about making the baby a blanket and finding some new blue sleepers, they were giggling and deciding who would dress the little guy first.

We came back home and while the little ones took their naps, the older ones helped mommy in the kitchen. We'd put the turkey in that morning and it was well on it's way to being done. Benjamin cut all the potatoes (25 of them), Rebekah worked on the vegetables, I made the stuffing, and the rest of the crew took turns shaking the cream to make butter for the biscuits. The afternoon before, the boys cut up peaches and apples and we baked a peach cobbler, apple pie, and a blueberry pie. Though we missed having pumpkin pie and yams, it was a bountiful feast we all enjoyed so much~ beans and rice and tortillas are great, but there is just something about mashed potatoes! :)

While I finished the meal, the children all stood at the counter and made turkeys with apples, raisins, marshmallows and toothpicks. Josiah said he made a porcuipine instead and Noah was basically eating his as fast as he was putting it together. They had a great time and after I snapped a few pictures of their creations, they enjoyed eating their special snack :)

As we sat down for our Thanksgiving meal, we all went around the table taking turns saying what we were thankful for this year. We have so much for which to bless the Lord and we just loved hearing the children share what they were thankful for too...it went on for quite some time...it was so precious.

There, of course, is no official Thanksgiving Day here in Mexico. In fact, just 2 days before Thanksgiving, the Mexican's had a big holiday...their Revolution Day. They had marching bands from all the schools and parties all day. A few cowboys stopped by our house and let our children have a ride on their horses. But I love reading our American history and about those faithful men and women~ their love for the Lord, their sacrifices for their families, their courage and bravery, their endurance and their gratefulness. Last year, I bought a simple book that gives a basic overview of Mexican history because I wanted the boys and I to learn about it. Oh, how very depressing and sad~ it is filled with greed and selfishness...such a contrast from ours. Even on their money, they have pictures of 'gods" and idols printed. Though they no longer worship those particular images, as a country, they are no closer to knowing the true God. It always burdens us more for their precious souls.

Thank you for your prayers for the lives here and for upholding our family before the throne of grace as well.

Special Sunday

Due to an extra busy weekend last week, I was unable to update last Saturday~ sorry! Every day is so full, yet so blessed. Sunday, October 21st, we had a special service...our 3 oldest children wanted to follow the Lord in baptism and Daddy was so blessed to be able to baptize each on of them. We have taught each of our children (daily) the gospel, but never tried to coax them into trusting Christ as their Savior. We continually point them to the Savior...humbly teach them we all have sinful hearts, rejoice in God's grace and the gospel that covers our sin and the abundant mercy and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Our 3 oldest children have accepted God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and as parents who know their children, we've seen the fruit and work of the spirit in their lives. They began asking if they could get baptized, and as we prayed and talked with them, we saw their understanding of believer's baptism as well as their desire to follow the Lord's command in it.

In the post below, I've posted some pictures of the baptism part of the service.

After the baptism, a time of singing and the message from God's Word, we went outside and enjoyed a fellowship dinner of posole (a soup made with meat and corn) and bread. After we cleaned up, I drove some of the people back home while others stayed, sang hymns and roasted marshmallows around a bon fire.

For the past 6 months, we've been holding services in our home. We take out our dining room table each week, and set up chairs in the dining room and living room. As more people have begun to faithfully come each week, we have been running out of room to accomodate everyone. We were praying about what to do when the Lord opened up the door for us to use an old church building. An apostolic church in this town built a small building where they use to meet. About 3 or 4 years ago, the church had a split and disolved and the church building has been sitting vacant ever since. Daniel found the owner of the building and asked if we could possibly use it. They said yes! We are able to use the building RENT FREE (we just have to pay the light bill) until they need it again. It has homemade wooden benches inside and is simple yet perfect. We've met there last Sunday and Wednesday and will be over there again this afternoon to go soul winning and invite the people from that area to service tomorrow.

The Lord is so good. We've seen Him answer so many prayers these past few weeks, and we humbly rejoice in His gracious hand in our lives. Thank you for your prayers for us and the people here...the Lord truly hears and is working!

Pictures from Baptism

The first picture- Timothy in the water with Daddy...everyone gathering around to sing a hymn.

Second Picture- Timothy (a bit nervous :-) ) getting ready to share his testimony.

Third Picture- Elijah getting ready to share is testimony.

Fourth Picture- Daddy praying with Rebekah

See posts below

See Post Below

It has been a while since we last wrote. First, I am so thankful that I (Jaynee) have been feeling soooo much better from my morning sickness. I know many people here in Mexico as well as in the states have been praying for me, and I thank the Lord for His graciousness in answering those prayers. With mommy back to feeling well, we set back into our daily schedule in full swing...this leaves me very little time during the week for the computer, but my goal is to at least update everyone here on Saturday evenings and maybe in the mid week if I have time.
The past couple of weeks, Daniel and the boys worked many afternoons on Hna. Juanita's kitchen. She is a widow lady in our church and has 4 of her young grandchildren living with her. She has a small brick house and had a kitchen attached to the outside put together by plywood and other odds and ends. As you can see from the first picture, it was falling away from the rest of the house, and we were thankful to be able to help her out. Her grandchildren tore down the old kitchen and then Daniel and they boys set to work. With the help of some local cement workers, they were able to build her a new kitchen. Although the kitchen was a blessing, Daniel shared that it was even an even greater blessing to be able to spend so much time with the family there while building the new room. He was able to spend hours witnessing to, talking with and discipling not only Juanita and those who live with her, but with her son, his wife, and their children/grandchildren who live next door. Please pray for these families that their hearts would be open and they would receive the Word of God, believe it, and give their lives to the Savior.
Tomorrow evening, after the church service, our church is having a posole dinner (a type of soup) and a time of singing around a fire outside. Though it still hits the 90's during the day, we are just as thankful as can be for the cooler nights and mornings...I think it get's in the 50's...cool enough to wear a sweater and sip a hot cup of tea or coffee. The Lord is so good!
The children are all getting excited about "going to grandma's house" for Christmas. This week they put together a paper chain to count down the days until we leave :) We all had a very good week and again, I am so very grateful to be feeling better. Daniel and Hno. Macario were able to go visiting and soul winning most every afternoon together this week. Daniel was thankful to have a man willing to go with him. Timothy and Elijah have started teaching Rebekah and Benjamin piano each afternoon after their studies and chores are done. I feel so blessed to have so many "little/big" helpers. Rebekah and Abigail have been making apple butter ever Saturday for the family for the week. They use the crockpots to make it, so really need no supervision and we all enjoy the "fruit" of their labors all week at breakfast :)
The 3 oldest boys have been sleeping out in the "treeless" tree fort every Saturday evening (provided they've worked hard with sweet spirits all week). They have enjoyed staring at the many stars in the night sky and have made many comments about how very big and mighty the Lord is just by looking at his vast creation. Yet He loves us so much!! Thank you for your prayers for our family and the people here...continue to pray the Lord will open their hearts so they can know our wonderful Savior!

Happy Birthday Timothy

We are now the daddy and mommy of an 11 year old! We are so thankful the Lord has blessed us with such a big, strong, loving boy. As we gathered around the table last night to give Timothy his gift and have some cake, all the children "blessed" him with words of how much they appreciate their big brother. All the children said how they love Timothy because he is always helping them and plays lots of games with them. He is so strong for being such a wiry thing ( don't tell him I said that :) ), and has been a great help to his Dad in many work projects. He is very thoughtful and always helping mommy around the house too. A few years ago, we heard a missionary to Brazil speak at a mission's conference. That night, at the age of 6, Timothy told us he wanted to go to Brazil when he grew up and be a missionary there. He still has the same desire, and he, along with 4 of his brohters/sisters, have been helping support and writing to a missionary family to Brazil for a couple of years. We know first hand the need for laborers to go to the field...the need is so great and the workers so few.

In the pictures above, Timothy is holding up his present...a new backpack and flashlight. Each on of our children have a backpack where they keep all their most precious "treasures". Little Nehemiah especially enjoyed the cake :) The day before (Timothy's actual birthday) we got to spend the afternoon at the beach and bbq hamburgers. The children's visas were due to expire this week, so we had to go to the immigration office to get new ones. Since the office is right next to the beach, we spent the afternoon there for Timothy's special day.

Happy Birthday Timothy! We love you and daily pray the Lord will work in your heart, that you will love Him above all else, obey His voice, and serve Him all your days.

A trip to the ER and lots of MUD!

Susannah ended her birthday last week by dislocating her elbow...OUCH! She had just finished opening up her present from Grandma that night. It was a wooden animal puzzle, and with lots of excitement, she and the girls ran to their bedroom to begin playing with it. Rebekah climbed up onto the top bunk and Susannah wanted to follow. Rebekah bent down, grabbed Susannah's hand, and was trying to help by pulling her up when...pop...and then....scream! Susannah couldn't move her arm and would cry and wince with pain when we touched it. She laid down in our room and fell asleep; her arm wasn't swollen, so we decided to let her rest and see how she was in the morning.

Then next day, she woke up the same; I couldn't even put her dress on all the way, so Daddy took her into town to the hospital. At the hospital, they x-rayed it and found she had dislocated her elbow. They called it "codo de la ninera" (nursemaid's elbow) because it is common for children of that age to be holding the hand of the one caring for them and then to trip and fall while the adult holds them up by the arm thereby dislocating the elbow. Daniel was amazed how easy it was to fix...the doctor just simply and very lightly twisted her hand and it popped back into place. She had instant relief and was as good as new. We were very blessed that the entire proceedure only cost $10!

On Sunday, we were getting the house set up for service when it began to rain...within 2 hours the town was a mess of mud, streets that had turned into flowing creeks and mini rivers, and it was just a mess. When it rains here, nobody will leave their house for fear of not being able to return. So Daniel and the 3 oldest boys ventured out with the van to try to get to as many houses as they could. While the younger ones begged to go too, we figured if they got stuck, Daniel would have a hard time walking back with the little guys. Daniel was able to have a Bible study with some of the people in their homes which was a blessing. When they got back here, they were wet to the bone. They all changed and then had some potatos and warm bread that Elijah had made with me that weekend.

The town is still a disaster...MUD EVERYWHERE! Daniel and the boys took advantage of the soft, wet dirt and have been digging ditches they've needed to dig to put in some water lines. This morning, Daniel and they boys went over to Hna. Victorias house to trip her hedge and the girls are helping me prepare the food for the day and do some laundry. Lots of mud=LOTS of laundry! :)

Happy Birthday Susannah and Praising the Lord in Song

I just figured out how to add video to our blog, so I thought I'd share a clip :) Our church meets in homes for our services. This service was held in our home.

Also, our little Susannah turns 2 years old today! She's holding a present that Grandma sent in the mail a few weeks ago. We got it a few days ago and put it on top of our book shelf to save for her special day. She's walked by that bookshelf at least a dozen times a day this week pointing to her gift saying, "That's my birthday" :)

The children are going to make homemade decorations and hang up balloons this afternoon for her party. The girls will help me bake a cake this morning and Daddy will go into town with the boys to buy a couple treats for the birthday girl.

Two years ago today, I lay hemorraging on a gurney in the hall of the hospital all by myself. This morning I began by thanking the Lord for his gracious hand of protection over Susannah and myself that day and for the undescribable peace he gave me during that time. Our God is so good to give us the grace we need just when we need it. He is so good! Happy Birthday Susannah!

All Day Sickness (a.k.a. morning sickness) Routine

I first started feeling queasy about 4 weeks ago. It was mainly when I woke up in the morning or had an empty stomach. Within a week, it began to linger longer and any sort of strong smell (laundry detergent, food cooking, a diaper) would start me in the direction of the baño! By last week, it just never let up and I've been spending much of my time in bed. It usually only last me through my first 3-4 months, but seeing as how I am not able to function as well as normal, we made some adjustments in the family to help keep things running as smoothly as possible.

1. I told my children that it is a lot different being pregnant at 34 than it was when I was 23 :) Mommy's getting old! But now I have lots of strong, sweet children to help me. They have done so well not only being sure to do their regular chores, but to help out in the things that mommy usually does, but can't do now.

2. I am so thankful for the many meals I have made with my little helpers working beside me. Since cooking is one of the most difficult things to do when I'm feeling yucky (next to laundry), I appointed Chefs Timothy, Elijah, Rebekah, Benjamin and Abigail to take over. I just have to set out the ingredients, give instructions, help light the stove, and supervise from the couch. They are enjoying being the cooks and doing a fine job.

3. Homeschooling- This is now mostly done in Daddy and Mommy's bedroom. We have a table and chairs in here where they can work; they get to snuggle up next to mommy and read their lessons. We've spent extra time working on their flash cards, doing spelling bee's, and reading which can all be done easily from bed.

4. Daddy- the nutricionist! :) Daniel has been so good in getting me whatever sounds good at the time...7-up, Gatorade, a plain baked potato, or a cup of hot corn. He's also done most of the shopping for me the past week so I don't have to and even picked up extra things from my list to give us some easier meals (Sandwhich stuff, cereal, ect...)


Timothy told me today that he is praying that I'll feel better soon, but that he has liked having the extra chores and enjoyed taking care of me. Daddy is gone out of town for the day and the children are doing such a great job of taking care of everything. Rebekah and Abigail came in the room a few minutes ago fussing over a game they were playing. Timothy walked in and said, "Don't worry, I can help them figure it out. I've seen you do it a lot. And if they can't work it out, I'll just have them put the game away and do something else, right?" Wow, they are growing up fast!

The Lord is so good to give me the grace and strength I need each time I go through this. It is also a time of increasing my faith and trust in Him. When I'm feeling really bad, I thank Him for being right there with me, giving us another little baby, and for all He teaches us through the hard times; then I just look over at little Nehemiah smiling at me with his big brown eyes and I smile too knowing that it is all more than worth it.

Wanna hear our verse for the day?

Isaiah and Josiah (age 5 and 4)

More Hurricane Pictures...Read Previous Posts

Hurricane Henriette...See posts below also

Hurricane Henriette

Monday Morning we packed up a couple of suitcases, grapped our pillows and blankets, loaded up our ice chest and electric skillet and headed 5 hours south to the American Consulate in Los Cabos to pick up Nehemiah's American Passport and Born Abroad Certificate. The trip down was hot and only the front 2 van windows open fully. As we traveled further south, the skies began to darken and the children began to pray for some rain to cool things down. By the time we reached our destination, the sky looked quite gloomy and as we checked into our motel, we were informed that a hurricane was due to hit land in a matter of hours! How did we miss that? Normally the US Consulate sends us an email of any hurricanes in our area. Daniel had checked the news a day before we left, but only read about Hurricane Felix which was not in our area.

The Locals began boarding up and taping windows and we soon realized that the American Consulate would probably not be open until the storm was over anyways. The next morning the rain was pouring and the winds were howling. There were 2 stores open in town...everything else was shut down. We loaded the children into the van and drove to the Sorianna (like a K-mart/grocercy store). I think the whole town was there. The lines were over an hour long. Daniel looked at me and said, "Do we even want to bother?" I said, "Well,we need to eat something today and I can't think of anything better to do. :)" So we picked up some things to make stew in our skillet and some sandwhich things too in case we lost power. We found some bouncy balls, crayons, paper, and clay we bought to keep the children occupied as we would be in our hotel room for the duration of the storm.

When we got back and did what all the other locals did...watched and waited. By the next day, it was still raining, but much calmer. We were able to pick up Nehemiah's paperwork the next morning and began the journey home. The hurricane had gone north up the peninsula during the night and we were unsure what kind of road conditions to expect, but since we had no clean clothes, no more food, and couldn't just rent motel rooms indefinately, we decided to head home.

Thank the Lord for a big, strong, tall van and a very skilled driver (my hubby :) ) ...that and the Lord's gracious hand of protection over us....we were able to make the 5 hour trip in just 10 hours. We had to cross 13 rivers that were running over the highway and some interesting detours. The road had been completely torn up and washed away in numerous places. Houses and cars were destroyed, but as far as we were told, nobody was hurt. Please keep these people in your prayers as they begin to rebuild their homes, roads and towns. We thank the Lord for his merciful hand of protection.