Just a few minutes here before supper is ready so will try to chat with you all a bit. Last weekend we had a wonderful 2 days just being a family. On Friday forenoon we went to San Diego and didn't come back until Sat. afternoon. We went to the Maritime Museum and saw a lot of interesting ships and many things such related. My favorite was the old ship with glorious sails and loaded with so much character. We took a 45 min ride around San Diego Bay, saw a whale & dolphins and just simply relaxed! After we were finished there we went to our reserved motel and ordered pizza in for supper and again just had a wonderful time together. Saturday, after sleeping in and not leaving until check-out time, we went to do some shopping for the home and then headed on back. We were refreshed and ready to be back to join our family here again.

On Sunday Lillian came to hang out with us here and it's been great to have her here. It's also been so good to have Keith, Ruth and Kenlin here! They came on Tues. Vicki, we miss you!

Each day now there have been more people arriving as it gets closer to the time for the Bible School that is here in the area next week. On Mon. & Tues. we cleaned this whole compound from top to bottom, inside & out in preparation for the company. The children were all so helpful and we accomplished a tremendous amount of work in those 2 days.

Ruth & Lillian are making a pizza supper for us tonight and it's almost time to go so I best run.

This is the new schoolhouse in progress.

God's best to you all!

Good afternoon to all! We've had a busy week again. Actually, I can't think of any week that hasn't been busy. :) We're all feeling better again after our bout with the flu. It made its round thru the home here and hopefully out the door again! Gina & I were enough better again to sew some the last few days, which was a treat. We made new curtains for our apartment to replace the tired ones that were here. We both made a dress for Tania too. Seems she grows so fast and was quite low on wearable dresses.
This week Tania started to wave hi when someone waves to her. She tries to 'pat-a-cake' too but needs to coordinate a bit better on that yet. Lots of fun she is!

The big event of the week here was the day the goat had 4 kids! Uh, Huh.. FOUR! And, no, she didn't live. The poor mama labored so hard and after help from the farmers here she delivered, but, alas, it had been too much. The boys get to bottle feed the little ones and so far they are all living!

We also rejoice with Greivins that they found a house to rent. It's been a trial for them to search and wait for a house, yet not be able to secure anything so this is a real answer to their prayers. The house they found is not real far from the home here. He plans to help here a lot with the outside work to lighten the load for Lorne.

Remember the place called 'sad town' where we went caroling at Christmas time? Early Friday morning the authorities with their machine guns knocked on the people's doors and told them they have only a short time to get their things and they are destroying all the "houses" there. Those who tried to resist they took to prison. Sure enough soon the backhoes and dump trucks went to work and destroyed the whole area! They've been saying they're going to do this but the people never believed it was true. Some people have lived their for more than 10 yrs yet had no choice but to walk away. They were told there is a place up the side of a mountain at the edge of town where they can go, but this place is a 40 min. walk from town... no water... rocks on a hillside with no structure at all. Some people went to find family and some did go up the mountainside. Gordon's went out with some food and tarps, etc to see what they could help and the people had a form of a camp there and are trying to survive. How can there be such cruelty? The drunks moved on down the street to who knows where, but the people with children are the ones trying to find some shelter and a place for their children. The one father was one who resisted and was promptly taken to prison leaving his wife and children to watch their house be destroyed and try to find what to do next. Please pray for the people that they could turn to God in their despair.

A blessed week to you all!

"For I know the plans I have for you," saith the Lord...

Praise God! He has our plans so carefully edited and we can rest in that knowledge!

This last week was a week of mixed emotions for us. The first of last week several Mom's were to the DIF office that is responsible for Tania and the lady there asked if they know of anyone here that would want to adopt Tania. They, of course, replied that they indeed do know some such people to which the lady replied that we should come talk with her. So the next day we went to her office and she was very friendly and explained to us the situation here in MX. There are no international adoptions at this time but if we are living here we can apply to adopt her. We were already in the process of working to get our residency papers and as soon as we have them they will be happy to move ahead with the process of adoption. On one hand we can't help but feel great excitement, yet we very well remember the pain and disappointment of rejection last year so we daily commit these plans to the Lord. He knows our desires, our hopes, our dreams, our love for this little one. He knows what's best for us and our lives. He loves Tania more than we do so we give her to Him. Pray with us, please.

Last weekend 4 more fellows from MN came to join the work crews here. So right now we have 11 workers here for the schoolhouse project. That is making a great difference on the building. Today they were putting metal on the roof which makes it look like a real building, not just a shell.

Yesterday we sadly took James & Deb to San Diego for their trip home. They were just such a part of us here and we will miss them so much! Thanks to both of you for all you did for us and for your encouragement to all of us!

We've been having a lot of stomach issues around here lately and this morning it hit Regina, Nevin & I all at once. Not a good plan in this house! Nevin wasn't totally down, but Gina and I were pretty much out of commission for the day. I finally decided this afternoon that at least it's one way for me to get some much needed rest. Just a rotten way to do it!

And for all you in the north, I'm sure you'd love to hear that we've had 80 and 90 degree weather the last few days with the sun so warm that they needed to drink extra liquids to keep hydrated while working outside. Yesterday the boys went to the swimming hole too. Uh, Huh it's nice! Doors and windows open... Come and visit us!