Summer Days and an Opportunity to Help

Full, long, wonderful summer days! I LOVE summer! It's always been my favorite time of the year. I so enjoy the break from full time school. What do we do with all this extra time? Oh, so much!! Of course, on the top of my to do list is always cleaning, organizing, and other projects that there never seems to be enough time to tackle during the school year. We are working on our home made Christmas gifts right now, working on sewing the girls some new jumpers for the fall, my fence is lined with all sorts of containers of various shapes and sizes all containing a child's treasured "garden"...radishes, carrots, flowers, melons...all popping up!
Restocking our playdough containers, baking cookies each week, making lots of popsicles, playing lots of games in the evening together...so much fun!
And one of the most wonderful parts of this past month has been being able to go out more and visit and/or help the people here. Spending more time with the families of the children in my class, spending more time with those families we are reaching out to on our bus routes, and the sweet fellowship with those in our church.
Juan and Leticia brought home a beautiful, baby boy last week!
He's got the thickest head of dark hair and the most round, chubby cheeks! I got to see him in the hospital the day after he was born, then I was able to visit him the day he got home, and then I was able to bring them a meal and pass on some baby clothes and other items with which we've been blessed. I'm hoping to go visit again tonight once Daniel gets home from preaching in Jesus Maria. Oh, they named him Abraham Emanuel. :-) Both mom and baby are doing well. Leticia had to have a c-section, so recovery has been a bit slower, but she's doing well and I know the entire family appreciates your prayers so much.
On the home front, our summer schedule looks like this...mornings (when it's not too terribly hot yet) we are working on our cleaning/organizing projects and last week found us doing a bit of painting too. I have a long list of projects every summer, and depending on time/resources, we just choose off the list each week what we want to do.
In the afternoons, while the little ones nap, we work on a bit of school...writing letters, writing in our journals, music practice, lots of reading, working on nailing down math facts and phonics facts well with the younger ones, sewing and other crafts, etc...
Then, in the evenings, when it's cooled down, most everyone is outside playing together, playing with their friends, the older boys hiking the fields with their bb guns and sling shots, or visiting our neighbors and friends.
Next month, we have our annual family camp for our church. I'm planning on having my evening Sunday School class over for a bbq/game time/fellowship time soon. And we have another group coming down in a few weeks.
We had a big work Saturday at the church a couple weeks ago and we had so much fun cleaning, doing yard work, painting the back classroom, organizing the kitchen etc... We got so much done so fast, we are planning on having a work Saturday every month. There is nothing like sitting around drinking a cup of ice cold coke or lemon iced tea together after a few hours of sweating away working :)
I wanted to present an opportunity to give to the children's ministry here.

For a while now, we have held a little "store" at the end of each month after the evening class. For a while, we were using candy as treats and prizes for the children, but it always burdened me a bit. I know I don't like our children to have a lot of sweets as it isn't good for them or their teeth. So I had an idea that I loved when I was a child. Instead of candy, I began giving them tickets (we started with paper "money" we made up and then I recently found some yellow tickets that hold up much better) for attendence, bringing their Bible, bring a friend, answering questions, winning a Sword Drill, memorizing their verses etc... Then at the end of each month, I open the "store" and they can buy things with their tickets...little toys, games, stuffed animals, craft kits, bracelets, school supplies, stickers, coloring books, and then I offer a bit of candy too :). They have sooo much fun saving their tickets each month to buy the treats. The larger items cost more, so they can either spend their tickets on little things or save them for the next month and buy somthing larger then. They just love it! We've been able to pick up some things here and there and then last month, a couple of ladies sent us some boxes of treats in the mail. The children were so excited with all the "new" items on display last week! :)



So I thought that might be a fun, practical way someone could help here. The children love American candy and any little toy or game. New or gently used. I always feel so badly that shipping here is so expensive...I always tell people to send light things! :) But if anyone is interested, feel free to email if you have any questions.
The Lord is so good! Sometimes my heart is just so full of joy that it feels it will simply burst! He's changed me so much! And while I know I still have so far to go, He's ever so patient, so loving, and an ever present help the moment I ask.
He's been convicting me so much about prayer this last month. How little I pray! How much more could He do if I would only ask. I was writing a friend the other day telling her how much I have come to see God's love for me. And how much I love Him more and more for that!
I got the most sweet compliment I have ever gotten from my husband the other day (although, I first I didn't take it that way...ha! :) ). He said, "Jaynee, I just can't believe how much you've changed the past year." I knew exactly what he was talking about, and at first I felt sad because I thought, "Was I really that bad?" How quick I can be to get selfish and proud! But then, I thought how GOOD my Lord is to have changed my heart soooo much! And, you know, the more I remember how much I've been forgiven and how much He loves me, the more I want to tell others of His love and forgiveness for them.
When we first came to the field, I was here because in my head, I knew I needed to be. That was where Daniel had been called and I had no choice. How I wanted to "want" to be here, but how hard it was! Only God can change a heart! And how much I love being here, loving and helping my husband in all I can, bringing up the children God has given us to know and love Him too, and continually asking the Lord to use my life to reach others for Him.
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer as well! He is so faithful and good!

He cares for you

We are home, safe and sound :) We got in the wee hours of Saturday morning, carried all the sleeping little ones into their beds, got the older ones up to help unload our pillows and blankets for sleeping, and a few hours later woke up to get ready for the normal Saturday business...soul winning, bus visitation, church cleaning etc... Everyone was so excited to be home and couldn't wait to get to church to say hi to all their friends.

Since Daniel had driven through half the night, I tried to keep the children quiet in the morning so he could get more rest and I had them unload everything from the trailer and put it into the bedrooms. Needless to say, you couldn't really walk in the rooms! :) No matter...I wanted to keep the front of the house clean and open as we often get many visitors so they wouldn't be tripping over all our things.

After lunch, we tackled the van. It amazes me how messy it can get when we travel! I had the children pull out everything from the floors and seats and any other secret hiding spots. We filled 2 big laundry baskets to the top. Then they swept it, vacummed it, and dusted...later we washed the windows and washed the outside of the car too. It was as good as...well, as good as it ever is :) And all ready to be used to pick up others for church the next morning.

Everyone got a good hot shower in the evening and then after the children were in bed, I worked on going through the luggage to find an outfit for church for everyone in the morning...while Daniel was holding a service for the youth, I prayed for him and the teens as I ironed the very wrinkly pants, shirts and dresses.

Sunday we are always busy all day with the church here, so finally on Monday, we began to unpack, do laundry, and by yesterday afternoon, the house was mostly back in order. :)

I've wanted to write down some of the blessings during our time north, but it seems harder and harder to find the time to sit at the computer for more than a minute or two.

So to give an update over the past several days....

Can you guess what we were eating this afternoon???

Elijah sure seems happy about it...there was enough of this soup to feed everyone and it hardly cost me a peso to make.... :)

We tell our boys, whatever you kill, you eat. Oh, and the other rule is they have to gut, prepare and cook it too...every now and then mommy helps. Today, Rebekah was the chef as the boys had some yard jobs most of the morning hours.
So we had jack rabbit stew today...well, we is not exactly true....they had jack rabbit stew today. I did try it and it tasted just like chicken...doesn't everything? :)


I had so many special answers to pray this past . week.
We were planning on being back home much sooner than when we arrived.
A whole lot of problems with the van popped up right before we left that we had to get repaired. And then, our van broke down on the trip. We were so very thankful we were able to get it up and running...the Lord was so good in leading us to just the right place at the right time! But we soon realized that after the cost of those final repairs, we did not have enough money to get back home! We knew that we could have our mission board send us what was in our account in a few days. And in the mean time, we stayed near San Diego with Daniel's brother Phillip and his wife and their sweet little girl. We had so much fun visiting with them a couple days while we waited! We took up all their couch and floor space when we slept :), but they were so hospitable and gracious and it is always special when we get to be with our family.
On the way back down, we stopped in Rosarito at Pastor Chava's to say hi. He asked Daniel to stay and preach in their Wednesday night service; they rented a furnished mobile home for us for the next two days and what a blessing to be with Brother Chava and his church!

All that to say, we were hoping to be able to get a few supplies while we were up north, but we knew the Lord wanted us to get some supplies for our van's engine instead! :)
Knowing there was not much money to spare, I was content to tuck my list away knowing He always provides just what we need.
There were just two things....one of which I prayed specifically for and the other I was just a tad sad about. Each school year, I like to get a new binder for each of the school children to keep all their work in. We have used spiral notebooks in the past, but the pages tend to get torn out, lost, or the books get bent or lost. Binders seem to work so well and I love having one whole year in one big binder. But they don't sell binders here and I so wanted to get some while in the states. And so I prayed about it. I just asked for binders. I didn't say anything to anyone...not even Daniel. Just the Lord.
After spending a couple of fun days with my Aunt and Uncle, they were getting ready to head back home...on their way out, my Aunt went up to Daniel and gave him some money and said....
"We want to help you get some school supplies for the children."
Not gas...not food...not clothes...things you might commonly think of giving toward...school supplies!!! How special to me it was that the Lord put that exact thing on their hearts.
And there was enough for binders and even some of those other school supplies I'd written down on my list I'd tucked away in my bag.

The second thing that I was really hoping for was to be able to get some more treats and prizes for the children in our classes at church. I'd promised them some American Candy and so I got a bag of that, but was hoping to come back with several new items to replenish our dwindling store (The store is held once a month after the service...the children earn tickets they can use to buy things at the store...they earn them by attending, bringing their Bibles, winning sword drills, memorizing verses, answering questions, bringing friends, etc...).

Saturday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for the church, the post man drove up on his motorcycle and said 4 boxes had just arrived. While I finished finding shoes and packing the diaper bag, Daniel ran down to the post office. He walked back inside with 4 huge boxes...they were filled with crafts for the Sunday school children and filled with treats/prizes for our store!

Oh, the Lord is so good! Such little things, yet in the little and the great, He is so faithful...so good...so wonderful!

To end, a few pictures of course! :)
Here's some of the children getting ready to go back home after our evening service Sunday...they had so much fun making their hats :)

I love them all so much!


And here's a few pictures from our last few days of vacation....

All of us getting ready to say good bye to Aunt Julee and Uncle Elias after spending time with them in that beautiful resort! :)

Daniel and I were laughing on the way home how on that trip we slept in a resort, an American hotel, a Mexican hotel, a mobile home, Uncle Phillip's floor, and even in the van one night. :) On our first night up the peninsula, we got to where we planned to stay about 1:30 am, but nobody was there at the hotel office to tend to us. It was too late to travel further as the next hotel was 4 hours further north. Since Daniel has to drive, I insisted he stretch out in the trailer and since the children were all asleep already, I covered them up with their blankets, laid my seat back and we woke up ready to travel!)

Playing Uno at Brother Chava's house

Visiting Brother Lalo's grave...we still miss him so much. Makes us thankful all the more for the Blessed Hope we have through Christ Jesus our Lord! Someday soon we'll all be together again.

And for the time now, we are burdened more and more for those who still have no hope.

Eating a meal with one of the families from Brother Chava's church

This little girl was only 15 days old! Look at all that hair! The Mexican's say how beautiful our children are...theirs are just absolutely precious!

Brother Amar invited us to eat at his fish taco shop...

Yum!!

Wonderful meal...sweet fellowship with our Brother!

Thank you, Lord....for everything!

I Thess. 5:18

More fun :)

When we were first planning taking the children to the zoo, my sister and her husband invited us to stay with them at what she said was a really nice hotel. They had gotten a room...well, it's really like a little apartment...2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, and living room.

She told me there was lots to do and the children would have fun.

Yes, that they did! We felt very spoiled!

Here's a few pictures from yesterday...

We had an entire pool all to ourselves!

They had a little pool for the little ones :-)

My sister Julee, me, and my Aunt Claudia.

Aunt Claudia and Uncle Ron had to leave early because my Grandpa got put into the hospital yesterday. :( Praying he'll feel better soon.

Abigail's pretty smile :)

Josiah shooting some baskets

Playing golf with Uncle Elias

Playing in the sand box

Thank you Uncle Elias and Aunt Julee!

What a blessing to spend time with those we love!

We start heading back down south today. And as much as I have enjoyed carpet floors, paved roads, and pop tarts, I miss home and those whom our hearts have grown to love so much! Our cell phone alarm went off at 5:30 am this morning (not sure why?? :) ), and while I planned on sleeping in a bit, I wasn't really tired. And as I spent time with the Lord this morning, I prayed for our church there in Mexico. And how thankful I am to know God hears our praeyrs. How thankful I am that He cares for us!

Zoo Day!

Thanking the Lord for a wonderful, fun filled day!

A few pictures before I head to bed :)