Little Lockwood Baby Boy Coming Soon! :)

Yesterday we spent most of the morning at the hospital so I could donate blood for myself for the upcoming delivery of our little one. We were really praying and hoping that we could have this little one naturally. Our doctor considered it, but in the end decided that it was too risky. Mid-wives are not allowed to practice here; I keep telling Daniel we can just have the baby at home, but he keeps saying something about me dying and then he feeling horrible and having 11 little ones to raise on his own while I am in heaven. Men are always so practical :)

The c-section is scheduled for April 11th between 7 and 8 am.

This will be my 3rd delivery by c-section. The doctor told me that I needed to donate blood for the delivery 2 weeks ahead of time. I was confused because I was never asked to do this with any of my other deliveries. When we arrived at the hospital for our appt. yesterday, they seemed as confused as we were. They ran some blood tests on me and then said I could go ahead and donate.

While they were taking my blood, Daniel and the children were in the waiting room visiting with the people there. When the whole family is together, we attract a lot of attention and have so many opportunities to share the gospel. Daniel asked one of the medical personel if it was normal to donate blood for a c-section. She said that due to the fact that they have had an increasing number of deaths during c-sections that it is now standard proceedure to get a donation of blood prior to the surgery to be kept at the hospital as the closet blood bank is over 2 hours away.

Daniel said to me, "Isn't that comforting?" :) Then Daniel asked her why everyone seemed so confused then when I came in to donate. She explained that the pregnant lady does not donate her own blood; she brings in a family member or close friend to donate. I have a rare blood type and since we have no family here, the doctor just thought it best if I donated myself.

We appreciate your prayers for the upcoming delivery of our son. We are so thankful to be in the hands of our Heavenly Father and know that is the very safest place to be.

Last night, while the girls and ladies were cleaning the church, one of the girls mentioned that she had bought and been playing with a ouiji board. Several of the other girls had been playing with her. Daniel immediately talked with them explaining to them how very evil and dangerous that was and told them to immediately get rid of it and burn it. The girl had spent a lot of money on it and Daniel wasn't sure if she was going to get rid of it. We prayed to the Lord that night and in the morning for her. Daniel passed by her house early this morning and called me to let me know that she had burnt it that night. We were very relieved and Daniel was able to use the situation to teach from Ephesians 6:12 this morning.

Thank you for laboring along side us on your knees. Have a blessed week in the Lord.

Whale Watching!!! Be sure to read post below!

A VERY Happy Birthday for Elijah!

Elijah turned 10 years old today! He's our St. Patrick's Day baby; he read "Let Me Die In Ireland" ~ the true life story of Patrick this past year and told me he was glad he got to have his birthday on the day we remember such a great missionary and servant of the Lord.

Wow, did we have a whale of a day! :) We all love birthdays in this family and make those days extra special for the birthday boy/girl. They get the day off of school and chores, get to pick the meals, and sometimes we'll do a special outing together. Elijah had mentioned last week how he would like to see the grey whales which are migrating from our area back up to Alaska. So Daddy said we could go and try go get a boat ride.

The bay is about 30 minutes from our house, so in the late morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out there. There were several booths with tour guides. We went to the first booth and they old us it would be $70 for an hour trip. Daniel asked if it would be possible to go out for only half an hour, but they laughed and said no. As we walked away, a man at another booth flagged us over to him. He began by asking us questions~ Are these all your children? Are there any twins? How do you know Spanish? ect... We told them it was our son's 10th birthday and he wanted to see a whale. One of the men said they would take us out for just the cost of gas for his boat! We were so thankful and the children were bursting with excitement.

We got to go out for almost 2 hours and saw LOTS of whales! Elijah was the first one to spot one, and as he yelled, "I see one" all the other children began to cheer too and soon all the boats on the sea were following ours around as we spotted the whales.

It was such a special day for Elijah. As we finished Elijah's birthday dinner tonight, we were all sharing with Elijah how he is a blessing to us. Elijah wants to be a missionary to Russia; last year, he saved his money and bought a cd to learn Russian. This year, he has been praying that the Lord will help him find a missionary to Russia that he can pray for and give to. He's been saving all his money to give to that missionary. Elijah is a blessing to Daniel in helping him with the work here, he's a big blessing to me in helping with the many chores, and as his siblings shared, a blessing to them as he loves to read to them, play with them and take care of them. The Lord blessed Elijah with a wonderful birthday!

Spring is here

As the days are getting longer (more sunlight) and warmer, they also seem to be getting busier...in a good way. It's been awhile since I've updated here! Last week, we just finished our new prayer letter and sent it out by email. We will mail the "snail" mail ones this week. If you read this blog, and do not receive our prayer letter, but would like to, just drop us an email and we'll be happy to send you one and add you to our list.
We thank the Lord for some answers to prayer in our church family. A man and his wife have been attending church with us for some time now; they have times of faithfulness and then times of disinterest. They both have made a profession of faith in Christ, but both admittedly said they did not like each other or even love each other at all. Daniel has been sharing with them from the Word for months and many of the church have been praying for them. For the past few weeks, they both have begun coming to each service. I noticed that they were sitting together (normally they would not) and the man, rather than sleeping through the service, has been listening and asking questions. Their neighbor lady (a sweet faithful lady in our church) said that there seems to be a "spark" between them that she hasn't seen before. We praise the Lord for the work He is doing in their hearts.
On the home front, the children have been healthy and finishing their studies around lunch time so they can enjoy the nice weather and help with whatever is needed. Sometimes they go with Daniel when he goes preaching; sometimes it is working on a project (right now, we are pouring cement around the house to protect the foundation from the rains); today, the boys are out throwing knives at their homemade target. We are looking forward to soon planting our garden and buying some chickens and sheep.
Our baby is due in a month and everyone is eager to meet him. I need to get out the baby boy clothes and get them washed and put into a drawer...I know that this last month will go by quickly.
Friday, we are going down to La Paz (about 2 1/2 hours south) to watch the former mayor of our town get inaugaurated to his higher position (diputado). We are blessed to have good favor in the eyes of the government officials and he has encouraged us to work here all we can. While we are down there, we hope to see Brother Juan and his wife and daughter; they are a family from Tijuana who moved down to La Paz to start a church. We are all looking forward to visiting them and seeing how we can encourage them.
Monday is Elijah's 10th birthday. Though he is happy for us to just stay home and eat hot dogs and cake, he is hoping we will drive down to the beach to watch the grey whales. Daddy said "maybe" :) which I'm think is a "yes". In a couple more weeks, we have to renew the children's visas in Loreto (another ocean side town), so the children will enjoy some fun in the sand and water then.
Though is still gets down into the 40's at night, the days have been getting warmer; in my 8 month pregnant state, they feel just down right hot! We have an outdoor thermometer which is in the shade and it reached 91 this weekend.
We praise the Lord for all he is doing here~ Though we are still largely planting seeds, we can see the ground beginning to be broken up. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord is so good!