a Break

We are headed to Santiago to get the kid's passports.
I have been so busy today, I didn't get to post like I wanted.
Please pray that we will be able to get the paperwork done!

Wonderful blessings to you all!

Our experiment, days 4 and 5

My alloted 10 minutes on the computer are way to short!

I can totally understand why people were so happy to get rid of their cookstoves and cook with gas! Both of my grandmothers cooked and still cook with electricity! i'll go into this more, but when this is over and I can type more.

Ronnie has adjusted to diminshed computer play time. For him, that has been the only real change. For Eileen and me, well, all our work has been multiplied. Neil had to go into the city twice.....on the bus. Going on the bus isn't bad at all, its just that once you get there, you're on foot for the rest of the day. Makes me appreciate our car, and the fact the we have the money for gas and tolls.

Today, Saturday is our last day. Amen! I want to use my stove again. Sunday I'll try to write a few closing thoughts.

Days 2, 3

I missed posting yesterday. I had no time.

We are becoming accustomed to shorter showers and less electricity. We have brought our electrical use from 9.5 kwh to 5.5 kwhs, which is less than we hoped for, but less all the same.


We finished off the lentils, and I made chicken and dumplings with whole wheat flour. They turned out pretty good. I am hoping that the kids will get used to whole wheat and multigrain as opposed to pure white.

We also discovered that its easier to have one light on than to use candles. Also less mess.

We'll be glad when this is over, but I know that we'll never be the same.

Day 1

Yesterday we all had computer withdrawal symptoms! We worked hard at keeping lights off and not buying anything. We have been reading the electricity meter. we figure that we use about 9.5 Kilowatt hours per day. We were hòping to get that down to 5 but we only got down about 3.5. We were dissapointed. Interestingly, our gas tanks have no gauges, so we don't know how much we are saving there. I have beem cooking on the cookstove, no gas and no microwave. Showers are timed at 3 minutes. We had lentil stew for dinner and will have leftover lentils tomorrow. The good thing is that we like lentils! I made 3 loaves of multigrain bread yesterday. They are delish.

We will do this until Saturday. I hope that we will make some good habits that will hold over for good. We'll see.

Got to go, times uo again!

An experiment

This week we are doing a family experiment. We are honoring those who went through the great Depression, and learning to appreciate what we have by going through an extremely frugal week. My internet time is limited to 10 minutes, so I won't be able to blod much about it until later.
We are limiting electricity, water, gas and food. I mean, we have plenty of food, but there will be no extras. All my cooking will be on the wood stove, and most of the clothes drying will be on a rack in front of the fire.

It will be interesting to see just how low we can go. We take so much for granted. I am hoping that will change.

Time's up!

Getting fit update

Well, its been 4 weeks now of working out, 2-3 times a week. I am loving exercise TV because there is so much free content. Yesterday we did a cardio-slimdown, which is just challenging enough to keep me from getting bored. Today we did Leslie Sansone's 2 mile walk. Great! Easy moves, yet plenty challenging. So far, we switch between the cardio slimdown, the 2 mile walk, and a ballet workout. I like doing the ballet one because Eileen and I aren't particularly graceful, and I am hoping this will help. Soon we will start WeighDown again. I want to get the exercise thing down before I start the eating thing.

I have been thinking about the spiritual aspect of exercising. I know that the Bible says that bodily exercise profiteth little, but the truth is that bringing the flesh under control is always a good thing. It really depends on your outlook and reason for exercising.

One more thing. I cannot exercise in the evening. Two nights ago we did, and I was awake for hours. Precious sleep hours lost!

Tracts do work

Michele wrote this post about sharing the Gospel. She talked about how that tracts do work.
This last week we saw the truth about this as well. Four weeks ago, a family began visiting our church. The have a 4 month old baby girl with severe heart defects. This family are neighbors to Pati and Fabian, members of our church who had invited Carlos and Josselin. But when Carlos and Josselin walked into the door, Pati was surprised to see them. Apparently, they had not accepted their invitation. This past Sunday, Carlos invited Neil over. He told him about their little baby's problems. Neil asked them how they decided to come to our church. He said that Fabian had invited them, but they had ignored the invitation. Then later, they wanted to go to church, any church. One of them had one of our tracts with our address and services hours. They thought "Why not this one?" And so they came. I think that they were just as surprised to see Pati and Fabian, as they had been to see Carlos and Josselin.

Carlos says that he is saved, but Josselin recieved Christ Sunday night. We are so pleased. Please pray for their sweet baby, Carla.

She's nine months old!

The camera loves you, Baby!




I have had no end of things to blog about, but not one peaceful minute. Even now, there's work to be done and Vanessa is fussing. But if I wait, I won't blog at all! Poor Vanessa's gums are bothering her greatly. She is still waking every two-to-three hours every night. My Goodness! I hate it. I've tried to try everything, but can't get Dh on the cry-it-out bandwagon, and I'm afraid anything less will not work. Obviously....she's nine months old and wakes like a newborn.

DH turned 40 this year in July. We celebrate Apollo 11 every year, since that's where they got DH's name. This year was a biggie. We followed a recreated lunar landing for about three days.
Of course, in Spanish, they call it a "mooning" since they say you can't "land" on the moon. I don't even try to explain why we don't call it a "mooning"!

We celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary last week. It was a bit subdued due to the fact that Neil was busy at a fellowship meeting during the three days prior, and due to the fact that Vanessa is too small to be left behind for any decent kind of anniversary celebration.

Got to go, Vanessa's fussing has turned to full-scale crying!

Do you read Boomama?

I do. When I need a really good laugh, I head over to Boomama archives.
Here is the post about her mama's stunt pillows.
Here's the one about Bojangle's Boberry biscuits
And finally, the one about the green salsa

Her devotion to Diet Coke is a subject near and dear to my heart.

Peace and quiet

Due to unusual circumstances, I am home alone with Vanessa, who is asleep. Now I can blog! Wait a minute......my minds a blank. I have absolutely nothing to blog about.

I do have an idea for a series. Sometimes I feel guilty if I spend too much time on the computer. I tell myself that it is helpful, and it inspires me to do better at many things. So.....I want to do a series about going from inspiration to application. Not just about that but actually telling and showing things that I normally would put off or not do at all, that I have done, thanks to my blogging.

Now, the first thing that I am inspired to do is to get off my franny and get the morning work done! Chao!

OK, so even missionaries need exercise!

But I haven't done any in a while. There are no Curves here, nor any ladies-only gyms. In fact there are very few gyms at all. I don't like walking here in town, because I always run into several friends and aquaintances, and its rude not to stop and talk. But if you stop, what's the point?

I have a few old videos, namely Richard Simmons (gross) and Stormie Omartian, who I love. But that video is almost 20 years old. Things have changed alot.

I bought a DVD by The Firm, but I couldn-t figure out all the moves and it was way too fast.

So finally I found what I was looking for. Free videos, for beginners. exercisetv.tv

Eileen and I have done 3 different workouts over two weeks. so far so good.

I don-t have any grand ideas about getting skinny, but fit is always good.

What I really want is a workout that exercises both the body and spirit, with uplifting music, and Scripture memory. I am this close to making my own videos. Don-t laugh. It could happen.

My budding Photographer

Eileen offered to take some photos to remember Sandra's pregnancy. They were very happy and best of all, they are going to pay her! This was her first photography job, and hopefully not her last.

Nanny.....or Mommy

I was looking for exercise videos, but I found this.

Baby Shower, part 2

Just a few shot of all the ladies there.

Baby Shower, part 1

We had a blast at the shower last night. Here is the gift table. She recieved a bunch of nice things. We also played a few shower games. Here we were given a pregnant lady to dress. My team won, but no thanks to me, I just glued the stockings and shoes on!

To eat, we had a salad bar. But, for fun, we had a salad contest. The winning salad waqs the "Bib" salad, below, to the left. My favorite was this one, the "bottle" salad.

Here was another finalist. Don't you jsut love the sculpted red pepper?

The big winner!

After the salad, we had corn chowder that I had made, and rolls. It was dee-lish!

A cake and a wedding

We are having Sandra's baby shower tonight. I, the non-crafty type decided to spread my wings outside my comfort zone with a diaper cake! I hadn't done one before, but it was easy!

Last week, we headed down to the Civil Registry to witness the marriage of Eduardo and Nancy, a new couple in our church. They have been together for over five years, but wanted to make things right before God and country. Here am I, along with Mom and Pati, who dubbed us "Charlie's Angels"

And here's the happy couple!

Weddings and babies, it just doesn't get any better than that! How are we doing Bro. Voddie?

Truth is truth...

whether you believe it or not.

I was recently reminded that not all Americans believe in my God. That is quite true. But here's what I believe. God is God whether you believe in Him or not. He is not just my God, He is THE God. He is not just a deity figure that we have chosen, out of our primitve need to "worship" something. He is the Creator, the Almighty. He has made a beautiful that we still have not managed to mess up completely. He keeps us alive. He keeps meteors from smashing into us. He even steps in sometimes and rescues us from ourselves.


No one can see gravity, but you'd be foolish to walk aff the edge of a cliff. And, what's that you are breathing? And how did it get here? And what keeps it here?

This is not to open a discussion, its just my affirmation of some of what I believe about God.
If you choose to not believe in God, that is your choice. But don't say that you weren't warned!

Looking Back, Money Managing

Michele posted some vintage videos that are quite interesting. I had seen this one a while back, and although it seems corny now, the advice is sound. To top it off, its fun to watch! It is incredible seeing how much things have changed in the past 60 years.

You think I'd be used to this by now

I know that most of you are enjoying a long, warm summer. Lucky you. Its winter here. Cold, dark, damp winter. And because we are so far south, winter is long. You think that I would be used to this by now, but I obviously am not, or it wouldn't phase me at all.

Note to self.
Wardrobe planning: Buy winter clothes.
I have a pretty evenly distributed wardrobe, but the truth is that the weather here is most definitely not evenly distributed. Its cold most of the time. Even in the dead of summer, I have to wear a sweater over my summery dresses.

Note to future missionaries. Check Accuweather before you confirm your calling!

The seasons of life

It is so important to recognize your season,and I'm not talking about your colors! (although I am a Winter)
I am thinking about the newlywed season, the new mama season, the older mama season, etc. Having a baby in the house after 10 years brings you back to the new mama season really fast. Its been over a year since I slept through the night, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But, this second time around, I realize that it is indeed just a season, and soon will be over. Vanessa turned 8 months old yesterday. She will be a toddler before I am ready for it!
The sad thing is that I see some of the first time mommies at church discouraged and tired. They don't even want to think about another baby because they are so ready to be done with this season.
It really helps to understand that seasons do end, for better or for worse. I'll be glad if I live this season to the fullest. Both the baby season and the teenager season. I am cautious but not afraid. And when its all over, there will be new seasons, the granny season and the "empty nest"season. All these seasons are beautiful in their own way. Do you know that I would hate to live in a tropical area with discernable seasons? I love the Fall. I see the stark beauty of Winter. I see the new life of Spring. I try to tolerate Summer's heat. But the truth is that you can't have one without another. They, like the seasons of our lives were given to us by a wise and loving God.