Over the desert and through the cactus....

...to Grandmother's house we go!! :)

Getting ready to pull out this morning...please pray for safety as we travel.

Please Pray for little Eliseo...he's been running a fever the past couple of days...he's just so sweet :)

Our goal was to leave by 5 am...with 11 children to get ready and the trailer to load...that's not too bad :) The Lord is so good!

Family Fun :)

Another week has gone by and while the group has returned back home to Idaho, we thank the Lord for the blessing of their labor and enjoyed getting back into the routine of things as we continue to work and serve and even play together as a family.
Wednesday, we went to the church building in the morning to clean up and sort through the things the group left here for us. They left us more tracks and Bibles to pass out; several coloring books, crafts, crayons, and markers to use with the children here; and they even left us the puppets!
They also left bags of clothes/shoes/sheets that we were able to take along with the left over food and some tracts/New Testaments to a group of workers from the mainland who are renting a large building here in town to live in while they work.
The rest of the week Daniel worked with Brother Macario continuing to teach him as they went visiting and soul winning together. The children and I spent a day catching up on house work and laundry and now everyone is excited about going to the states!
We plan on leaving early Monday morning and will be up there about 17 days. We are all so excited to see our family and friends, and Daniel will be sharing in the churches in our hometown area.
Please pray for safety as we travel and that we will be able to serve and share the gospel while we are there.
Yesterday, it was very hot, and after all the chores and work of the day was done, Daddy came home and declared it to be "time for a cool activity". We just love having fun together and we just had the best water war. I had little Eliseo and the camera, so I was technically "off limits" from getting soaked, but little Noah continually snuck up to my back and poured cups of water down it. :) Water war, watermelon, 11 children, Mommy with a camera and a way too fun Daddy = LOTS of smiles! :)

They're heading back home

Pictures from the Weekend

I wasn't able to post on Saturday...I was too busy running back and forth to all the stores in town buying Gatorade. The poor group all got Montezuma's Revenge....when you get sick from "both ends". This is the most common sickness we see down here, and usually knocks you down for a whole day.
So yestderday, the group laid low...literally in the horizontal position all day. A couple of them didn't get it too bad and one lady (Marie) didn't get it at all. So it was a quiet day as they rested and we kept them stocked with whatever they wanted/needed checking in on them every couple of hours.
That night, when we made our final check, most all of them were sitting outside in a circle praying together. Then today, most of them felt much, much better. Continue to pray for a couple that are still not feeling too good. Yesterday, all anyone wanted was Gatorade and Saltines and tonight, most of them were eating tacos. :)
Today we had a morning service with the group in English and then our regular afternoon church service with the people here. We rejoiced as Hna. Maria Flores and our son Benjamin got baptized.
Benjamin turned 8 this May and trusted Christ as his savior on his birthday. When he found out we were having a baptsim today, he asked me to help him get some extra clothes. I asked him why and he said because Daddy was doing baptisms and since he is now saved, he wanted to get baptised too. I asked him some questions about why one gets baptized and he had a good understanding. I also asked him if he could tell everyone why he wanted to get baptized and he said, "Because I trusted Jesus and got saved on my birthday and now I want to get baptized too."
Daddy cried, mommy cried, and Benjamin just smiled...he was so very happy! After church we had a time of fellowship with the group and people from our church and the children and young people played some games before we headed home.
Thank you for praying! Though this team has gone through some rough times this week, the Lord is truly blessing, using them, and I love hearing their testimonies of their time here.

97 years here...forever with her Lord!

This morning at around 4:30 am we got a phone call that my Grandma Hancock went home to be with Jesus around 1 am. When my parents first moved to northern California I was only 6 years old. We did not have any grandparents near by, and the Hancocks became our adopoted grandparents. As the year passed, they became so very dear to our hearts and truly filled the roll of grandparents in every way.
Grandma loved the Lord with all her heart and loved Grandpa so very much too. Even in their later 90's they were both so full of laughter and love and continually shared Christ with everyone they saw.
We are comforted and rejoice that Grandma is with the Lord and we will soon see her again. Grandpa is without his wife of 72 years now. Due to Grandma's increasing health issues, they had been living together in a care facility. When grandpa's son asked if he would like to move in with him now, Grandpa told him that the care facility is his mission field that the Lord has called him to for as long as he is here on earth.
Noah, our 8th little blessing, has the middle name of Hancock after Grandma and Grandpa. The picture above was taken when we were on furlough in 2006. We love you Grandma and look forward to seeing you soon! Psalms 116:15

Last Day of VBS

We had a wonderful last day of VBS. I was busy running errands with the children a lot today and didn't get over to the church to take as many pictures. Again, due to running errands, I wasn't able to arrive at VBS until it had already started, but I started taking pictures once I got there :)
Again, it is late and I still have a lot to do here at home before bed, so I'll post and label the pictures I took today :)

Another blessed day!

Praise the Lord for another wonderful day of work, fellowship, sharing the gospel with the children here, and just rejoicing and praising the Lord for His abundant blessings! I think the pictures will say it all :)

He shall give his angels charge over thee

Last night, I updated here and got ready to head over to be with the team for evening devotions. I called Daniel's cell phone to see if he was over there yet and he told me to just wait at the house because he and Pastor Rich would be there in a couple of minutes.

While we were dropping the children back off home from VBS yesterday, the bus ran out of gas right in front of our house. Most of the children had already been taken home, and the group along with a few people from our church, walked back to the church building which is only about 5 blocks from our home. The bus is being loaned to us for the VBS and we needed to return it to the onwer that evening, so after eating supper, Daniel and Pastor Rich had gone to buy some gas to put into the bus to get it started again.

They arrived here at the home and spent about 15 minutes getting the bus running. We then drove the bus back to the owner, talked with him a few minutes, and then headed back to the church to be with the team.

As we approached the building, we saw flashing lights and realized there was a police truck and ambulance parked in front. We jumped out of the car to see what had happened.

The front porch of the church is covered witih a fiberglass roof. It provides shade, but is not made to hold a lot of weight. While waiting for us to return, some of the team wanted to sing some songs and have a time of fellowship together and went out onto the roof.

The Lord truly protected them...most of the team had already gone back inside and only 3 of them remained there visiting. We are amazed and thank the Lord that the roof didn't break when the rest of them were on it.

Suddenly, the roof broke and the three that remained there fell down to the cement below. Jonathan was standing at the time it gave way...he landed on his feet. His knee was hurting him this morning, but by lunch time, he was walking around, working, and in great spirits. Thank you Lord!

Courtney and Lorna were sitting down together talking. I'm not sure how Courtney landed. Her father is here with the team and so when we arrived he was taking care of her. She was in a bit of shock, but her main injury was a bruise on her knee. This morning, she was smiling (she was such a radiant smile) and painting away with the rest of the team. Thank you Lord!

Lorna had got hurt the worst. Someone nearby had heard the screams when they fell and had called the police. She landed on her "seat" and when we got there, the EMTs were asking her questions and getting ready to strap her to a board. The Lord gives grace just as we need it and though quite shaken up and hurting, she was smiling and even joking and we were so thankful that she could move her legs and could feel everything.

The amulance took her to the hospital where I deliver my babies in the next town so they could check her out and take some x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. Sondra, another girl from the team, road in the amulance with her, and Pastor Rich, Daniel and I followed in the car. She had a cut on her ear (which they nurse cleaned and put a butterfly bandage on), a cut and bruise on her arm, and a very sore backside, but nothing was broken. Today, she's moving a bit slower than normal, but has a joyful spirit. I brought her over to our home this morning so she could call her hubby. Thank you Lord!

I wanted her to be able to talk to him before I posted anything here...I've been busy cooking for the group and taking care of the children most of the day, but before we head out for our next day of VBS, I wanted to update here as I know many of the families of the group check the blog.

I'll try to update tonight with more pictures of the work and ministry of the day as well. Though we don't know why the Lord allowed this to happen, we just praise Him for His gracious protection over what could have been so much worse. We know that everything He allows is for our good. The Lord knew the bus would run out of gas...if it hadn't, we would have all been there earlier. But the Lord allowed this to happen, and how we all praise Him for His protection, and pray that He will use this for His glory.

Thank you so much for your prayers! We know God is hearing and answering!

Pictures from today :)

What a blessing this group has been! The work they did in one day would have taken our family a week or more to do! I just thank the Lord for bringing them here. They have such a sweet spirit...I've heard no complaining at all, though it is so very hot, they are eating foods that they are not use to, they are sleeping on a cement floor, and so far from home and all that is familiar. We know the Lord will bless them for their labor of love for Him.
We had a full house for VBS today! Daniel shared the gospel with the children...many who have never heard before. We pray the Lord not only reaches their hearts, but their families as well. VBS always gives us the opportunity to talk to many of the parents of the children who come.
Josefina just came over to watch the little ones as they sleep and I'm going over to the church for the evening devotions with Daniel and the team.
A mom from one of the girl's on the team emailed me today and said that their families back at home in Idaho were meeting at 9 am today to pray for them and us. The Lord is truly blessing and we just praise Him for the work He allowed us all to do today.

Group Arrives on Isaiah's 6th Birthday :)

We praise the Lord for bringing the group from Ustick Baptist Church in Idaho here safely. Though we have never met them before today, we felt like we already knew them. So many of them as well as people from their church had sent us notes, encouraged us and prayed for us this past month. We had a wonderful evening getting to know them and are looking forward to having a great week as we serve the Lord together here.
Daniel picked them up from the airport in Loreto around 2:30 pm and they pulled into town around 5 pm. After unloading their things and visiting for a while, we enjoyed a taco supper and then had a short meeting going over the plans for the week ahead. Our children had so much fun coloring them all pictures for the team and are excited about going around the neighborhood to invite their friends to VBS tomorrow.
Isaiah turned 6 years old today! We had his birthday supper (omelets) last night. Isaiah is our most sensitive and quiet child. He never demands his rights and is content to just sit quietly and watch Daddy work, helping however he is asked, for hours without complaining. As we were going around the table sharing how Isaiah is a blessing to us, almost all the children mentioned how Isaiah is so very happy by the littlest things. He is truly a content little...I mean...big boy. When we moved to Mexico, Isaiah was just a year old...and now he is six! How quickly they grow and how thankful we are for each day the Lord entrusts them to our care. Isaiah is truly a servant and we pray that he will give his whole heart and life to serve our Lord all his days.
Thank you for your prayers this week! The Lord hears and answers! How good and wonderful He is!

Isaiah's birthday supper (Isaiah is in the blue shirt with the white stripe sitting next to Rebekah)

I made a couple of sheet cakes for Isaiah's real birthday today that we took over to the church for supper to share with the group. Here is Isaiah smiling and the ladies of our church helping serve the cake.

Here is the group getting set up for supper shortly after they arrived.

Here we all are gathered around before the evening meeting.

A Busy Blessed Week Ahead

Everyone is very excited over here at the Lockwood home. Why? Because tomorrow, Daddy is picking up a group of 19 people who are flying in all the way from Idaho! They will be here an entire week and we are so happy to have them here.
They will basically be on the same schedule we follow...work projects in the morning (before it is unbearably hot), a rest time for a couple of hours in the heat of the afternoon, and then minstering to the people here for the remainder of the day.
They are going to help us paint and do some maintanance on the building we just rented to hold services. In the afternoons, they will be helping us put on a Vacation Bible School for the children in the town. We've done this every year with the help of Americans who have come to visit, and it is always a wonderful time.
Today was spent gathering supplies for their stay and cleaning up the church. Daniel picked up some of the brothers and sisters who wanted to help get everything ready, and we spent the later afternoon working at the building. Daniel is still there now with our older boys and some of the others as they are working on the plumbing.
Daniel and I are especially excited about this group because their leader/Pastor was our youth pastor in California when we were teen-agers. We haven't seen him in about 10 years, and he was a tremendous blessing to us back then and we know he will be now as well.
Please pray for us during the week ahead. Pray that this group will arrive safely, that the Lord will protect and sustain them as they work, that the Lord will work through them to minister to others, and that He will bless and work in their lives too.

Daniel teaching the boys how to sweat copper this afternoon.

Katia, Marisela, and Hna. Meche cleaning the church while Nehemiah supervises :)

Eliseo's all smiles lately. His eyes are a lot like Benjamin's eyes and almost close completely when he smiles. :)

Nehemiah with his bullfrog. We were getting ready to go out to the trampoline to have evening devotions with Daddy :)

Daddy is very loved!

When you are a Daddy to 11 children and you get really sick, you get lots of Get Well Letters. :)

Laundry

I've had several people write and ask about how we do laundry. I've written a couple of emails to people describing what works for us, and since I've had some comments/emails from our blog about the subject, I thought I'd post about it here as well.
As I've shared, we follow a daily schedule. Laundry is acutally not written in that schedule. That being said, I do laundry every single day. With clothes for 11 children, 2 adults, the cloth diapers, towels, and sometimes wet sheets from little ones still learning to make it to the potty at night, we wash anywhere from 5-8 loads a day. If I don't or am unable to wash for a day or two, I end up a daunting mountain of dirty clothes.
We have a hamper in the children's bathroom, one in our bedroom, and one in the girl's bedroom. All dirty clothes (that aren't wet) go in one of these hampers. In the laundry room, we have the diaper pail for the cloth diapers, another hamper for anything wet (towels, sheets, clothes ect...) and then a 4 section cloth laundry sorter.
In the morning, the children get dressed and bring the hampers into the laundry room. Rebekah and I usually sort the clothes (this just takes a few minutes). We sort pretty simply around here...jeans; darks; whites; baby's clothes; light/pastels.
Then I start the machine. Throughout the day, the washer/dryer/clotheslines are always full until everything is finished. Our machines have buzzers, so when we hear a load is done, whoever is easily available between the older children or I simply take a couple minutes to put in a new load, move the wet load to either the dryer or clothesline, and take the dry clothes to my bed. There, they are immediately sorted into the proper baskets being sure to lay out the shirts, dresses or pants carefully so they don't wrinkle. They are put into one of 3 baskets...girls; boys; mommy/daddy/Eliseo. Sheets are just set on top of the proper bed and towels are folded by a younger child and put right away.
In the afternoon, during chore time, the laundry is usually all clean and the boys put away their clothes, the girls put away their basket, and I put away ours. The little ones put away things like socks/underwear, things that go into the drawers, and the older ones hang up things in the closet. Any beds that got washed get made at that time too.
The key is just for us to wash every day. With so many of us, getting behind on laundry can be a bit overwhelming. Usually, when this does happen (like getting back from a trip or being without power...a somewhat common occurance here), I end up having to dedicate a good part of a day to just working on clothes.
I wash our cloth diapers every other day and the girls or I fold them in the afternoon during chore time.
On Saturdays, the children strip their bedding, I wash their sheets, and they put clean sheets back on. I also try to wash Saturday's clothes that evening after the children are in bed so that I don't have to do laundry on Sunday. :)

You've got mail!

"Daddy's got a box! Mooommmmyyyy, it's a box! It's a box!" That is the sound of joyful little voices accompanied by the running of little feet to the kitchen counter whenever Daddy walks into the door with a package after going to the post office. I think I can honestly say except for when we bring home a new baby or a sick Daddy from the hospital, receiving mail would be the event that causes the most excitement around here. :) A letter from a pen pal is a real treasure and is read and re-read with a reply letter usually written that day.
Boxes usually don't come very often, but the past couple of months, we've been blessed a few generous and thoughtful care packages.
Some have sent little outfits for Eliseo...while we pass down all our baby clothes, it is always special treat to have something new for the new little one. One lady sent us a wonderful box that included a blue sweater that her neighbor had knitted for him.
One family sent us a couple of boxes of American food...I had to explain to the children what Bisquick was and all the neat things we can make with it. A sweet boy and his family sent us a box a few weeks ago that arrived right when Daniel had gotten sick. Included was a couple packages of beef jerky labled for "Mr. Lockwood". At the time, Daniel couldn't eat anything, but was touched by this thoughtful gift and surprised as they had happened to buy one of his favorite snacks. When Daniel first came home from the hospital, everything was making him sick. A week later, when we were going to head back down to see the doctor, he asked me if I'd saved that jerky for him. I said that of course I had. He asked me to bring it and I was so happy to see him enjoy it so much...it settled well and it was his first real food in days.
The other day, a dear family sent a variety of toys, games, school supplies, and American candy. Included was a new soccer ball. A couple days before, our children had their soccer ball out and were playing soccer in the field next to our house. It got kicked into the road just as a car was coming. The man slowed down, but the ball ended up getting under the tire and popped. The children were so sad as soccer is one of their favorite games to play together, but I told them I was glad it was just a ball and not a child that was hurt. They agreed and went on their way to play. What a blessing to see how the Lord touched another person's heart to give them another ball without even knowing what had happened!


Susannah found skittles! :)

Children enjoying the blessing of some very special gifts. Susannah still holding those skittles :)

There's Benjamin, our chef for that morning. While we were opening boxes, he faithfully stayed by the stove until all the french toast was finshed cooking. Good Job Ben! :) Susannah won't have to eat Skittles for breakfast after all! :)

After breakfast, Eliseo got to watch mommy hide the candy and put the other treats in their proper places :)

Answering more questions :)

*Pictures of Abigail's burn below...just a warning in case "big owies" make you woozie (like they do to me)...you might want to skip the pictures*

I still have some questions sitting in our inbox that we've been asked. Now that things are back to "normal busy" around here :), I will try to answer them this week. Thank you for your patience and if you have asked us something and we haven't gotten back to you, please ask us again :)
As we went through this trial with Daniel this past month, in one of my posts I mentioned how the Lord had prepared us and continually grown our faith and trust in Him through the trials he has taken us through since we've begun to serve Him here in Mexico. One of the trials I mentioned was when 2 of our children were severerly burnt. Since then, I've gotten a couple of comments and some emails asking about that accident.
When we first moved down to this area, we were renting a 2 story house in the larger town next to where we are working now. We had a free standing stove/oven against one of the kitchen walls down stairs. One afternoon, I had been working on supper. We were going to have spaghetti and I had finished making the sauce which was cooling on one back burner and had just added the pasta to a big pot of boiling water on the other back burner. The children had free time and were playing in the back yard. Rebekah was upstairs folding laundry. Daniel was working at his desk upstairs and and Rebekah called to me. I grabbed a basket of clean laundry and ran upstairs to set the laundry on our bed and see what she needed. The next thing I knew we heard a big crash and then screaming. We instantly knew something was terribly wrong and Daniel flew down the stairs while I followed. Before I got to where I could see anything, I heard Daniel yell and my heart felt like it fell into my stomach. I got to the bottom steps and looked into the kitchen. Our stove/oven was lying on the ground and Daniel was getting Abigail and Josiah out from under everything.
While I had gone up the stairs, Abigail and Josiah had come back inside. Josiah (then age 2) wanted to see what I was making for supper so he opened the oven door to use as a "step" to look into the pot. He saw the already made spaghetti sauce and put his finger in to taste it. Abigail (then age 4) saw this and wanted a taste too, so while Josiah was still standing on the door, she stepped onto it too. With the weight of both of them on the door, the stove tipped over with the boiling pot of water/pasta and fell on them.
Josiah was noticeably burnt on his face and legs...he was wearing a shirt and shorts. I grabbed him and Daniel grabbed Abigail and we ran outside to turn on the hose and begin pouring water on them. Abigail was obviously in severe pain...we couldn't see her burns as she was wearing a shirt/skirt. But when we removed her clothing we saw she was severely burnt on her shoulder, back, arm, and hips/bottom. Daniel grabbed a small towel to try to give a bit of modesty to our little girl without hurting her and rushed her off to the hospital. Josiah's burns were not near as bad, so I had him sitting in a tote of cold water with the other little ones gather around praying and crying.
Daniel remembers holding Abigail while she screamed and squirmed in his arms like a worm as she tried to escape the pain. He says it gave him a picture of what hell will be like for those that don't accept the Saviour. The hospital here is only a very basic one. They didn't even have any medicine to treat her. They wrote out a list for Daniel and he had to leave Abigail there and go from pharmacy to pharmacy to find and buy the medicine needed. The doctors didn't give us very much advice and finally sent Abigail home.
We were so grateful to have a doctor from my parents home church who heard of the accident and consulted with us for days through the phone/emails/pictures as we treated her at home.
It was such a scary time. We had never been where we did not have good medical care. We had people tell us we were crazy to take our many little ones to a place where there are no good doctors. The doubts the enemy began to bring to our minds. But as we cried and sought the Lord, we realized that no matter where we are, the Great Physician is always with us. He confirmed in our hearts that we were just where He wanted us to be, and like my dad always taught us, the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. The Lord brought both Daniel and I to the place where we had to give our children and their lives completely over to Him. It was so very hard, but He gave us the grace and faith to just trust and once we yielded in this to Him, oh the peace and rest that came...a burden was lifted.
Josiah doesn't hardly have a scar from his injuries. He still remembers that day very well and is very good to keep his distance from the stove now! Abigail has a beautiful scar covering her back...it is soft and pink now and when I ask her about it, she says she remembers that God made her owies all better.

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

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