Rainy Season - Post #2

The pictures to the side here: top - it's raining again. Middle - kids coming home from SAM Academy after a day of testing.
Bottom - Lauren and Adrianna enjoying a canoe ride in the yard.

I am posting a few more clips here for you to look at. Sorry they are all choppy. I have no idea how to edit a nice video clip. Maybe that should be a goal on furlough. A new skill I should learn. I have about three more clips that complete the journey from the house to the road but I just chose a few of them. The video clip starts at home and I'm on my way into town for groceries. Once I got to town I forgot to take pictures. Sorry. But you'll get the idea of the trip out. Thankfully, that day was sunny and bright so you get a decent picture of the landscape. Hope you enjoy.

Rainy Season is Here!

Too Funny!

Judah is our bundle of mischief. Here's some of his antics.

Our cat, Braveheart, actually sat there and took the examination Judah gave him with his doctor kit. He received a blood pressure cuff around the neck and his middle, an injection with a toy drill in his heiny, an ear inspection with the flash light and a temperature reading under the "leg pit." Judah declares him healthy. I declare him insane for ever adopting us as his family!

One day I went in the bathroom to find Judah and Chloe playing in the tub! Judah said "she wanted to."



Judah wanted to be a super hero one day. Lauren, Dean and Adrianna dressed him up as "Underwear Man" and he thought it was so funny.

I was out walking our small pooch the other evening. It had been a hectic day for David. The plane that was due for a routine inspection had come in late so the inspection didn't start til about 11 am. They were well into it when David took a call for an emergency flight. A little girl had been impaled by a tree branch. We didn't know how bad the emergency was or the size of the branch but nonetheless this was an emergency. David went to his boss and asked," how late can you leave out of here and still get back before sunset?" Craig told him he would have to leave by 4:30 to be back by 5:45. David's response..."I will do everything in my power to get this plane put back together by 4:30!" Time was not on David's side but this little one needed help. We couldn't use the float plane for this location and the other land plane is in pieces.
So as I'm out walking our small little pooch, first I hear the plane coming, then I see it circling overhead for his approach to land. I shake my head in wonder that it's up there flying at all and even now tears come to my eyes. It's why we are here. One day it's a little girl with a stick broke off in her stomach, another day we are flying missionaries to their tribal work location, another day we are bringing in national pastors for training, and the list goes on and on. We are here to help. That day we made a difference in this little girl's life. How? David got the plane airworthy in order to meet the emergency.I watched the plane til it went from my view but I can still hear the planes taxi in to our hanger. I know our team of aviation guys succeeded today and David was a part of it. He's not on the front lines but his job as a mechanic today was God's perfect place for him. And it made me proud to hear Craig telling our Peruvian friends later that night how David had "whipped that plane together" so he could fly by 4:30...

I pray for this little girl. She had surgery that night. The stick was not that big in diameter but it had broken off in her abdomen. Pray for healing for her.


* This is David and Hammer, our national mechanic working on one of the planes.

Psalm 42-1-2

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

I actually wrote this a few weeks ago. I had been reading this passage for several days. It actually started out a bit further down in the chapter in verse 11, “Why are you so downcast, oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God…”

I know, I know, I’m telling myself. Why?! Why do life lessons have to be so continual!? But yesterday and today I find a mellowness in my spirit (does that make sense? mellowness? You get my drift...) and simply the question of WHEN can I go and meet with God? David had an urgency to meet with God. I need that all the time not just in the hard times. Last week was a hard time that brought my spirit down to tears and feeling desperate. I know I am called to teach my kids at this time in our lives and we are in the Lord’s will – so why is it so hard? Why do I have to fight? Where is the joy in a very joyful job that I have? I am very overwhelmed on the day to day battle of growing my kids up. I am so tired that I don’t make the time for my own relationships – especially with God. WHEN? When can I go and meet with you Lord?

7:30 teach Bible, 8:00 math, then spelling, grammar and phonics. We move onto geography and science. If we are lucky we will get to history and art. There’s always writing and penmanship and music and spanish and typing. Did I miss anything? Tuesdays and Thursdays we homeschool in town. Did I forget to pack anything? Are the kids eating well, getting enough exercise and sleep? What do I cook tonight and how much laundry is there to fold today. The dog messed on the floor and the cat needs medicine. Judah is in need of some discipline – he just hit his sister over the head with a board. The car jerks funny when I drive, so I need a reminder to mention it to David. Ahhh, the dishes weren’t cleaned up and there are ants all over the counter. We are out of bread again? I guess tomorrow is a bread baking day. And it goes on and on…When My Lord, do I meet with you?

I am struck that it is because life is so busy that it becomes even more important to make that time with God. Special, quiet, know that I am God time. So if you have read this, pray that each day I will make time, because I will never find time, just to spend with me and my God.

Birthday Time

The shopping experience in Pucallpa leaves much to be desired. When it comes to shopping for birthdays you find yourself scratching your head and wondering what in the world would they like from the Wikito. That would be the market that has every cheap gadget available. Cheap is key though. It might last the day in our house. We have been fortunate this year to have been able to shop online and have different people hand-carry gifts down for the kids. It takes planning but it's been fun. However, I didn't know I would be able to do that for each of them so I decided early on that I would do my best to make them each a fancy cake and stress the importance and fun that just spending the day with friends brings. Not that they didn't get any gifts from friends but this year I didn't want them to desire a "big party for all the gifts". We've had three parties now in the last three months and I'm glad they are over. It's a ton of work doing cakes. I wouldn't say I'm especially gifted but I tried and the outcome wasn't that bad. This last party though the cakes were literally melting away but once they were cut they got eaten pretty quick.

I'm glad for my 2010 plan for parties - I think they've sensed a certain freedom in not EXPECTING the gifts but being delighted with what they did get. And there was no lack for receiving for sure. One more party to go but I have until November to think up a good one. It just might take me that long. This mommy is partied out.

“I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble”. Helen Keller

Isn't that a great quote. My dear friend posted it on Facebook and I've had it on the brain since. My normal train of thought runs along these lines: "if only I could speak Spanish I could..." and there's a whole host of things I could do! "If only my kids went to school I could..." Again, a whole host of things could fill that time. But the "if onlys" and "what ifs" are not part of this life right now. I am called to do the humble tasks AS IF they were great and noble. And with joy. Now there's the clincher. I'm more of a melancholy personality. No excuse. With a daily dose of perspective and a moment to count all my many blessings then let the joy flow out of me. And what are my blessings?
I am a child of a King - the King of Kings.
I am forgiven.
I am loved.
I have the best family in the world - a husband who loves me and four awesome kids.
I have to privilege to teach my own kids and spend that precious time with them.

I am a busy mom of four but I long to live my life worshipping my Savior even when I'm taking care of dirty bottoms, chasing naughty dogs, teaching a new lesson or preparing a meal for a guest. "I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble." May this great quote be reflected in my life - to the glory of God.