New Blog!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have started a new blog. It is going to be all about our adoption! Yes, that's right! If the Lord allows us to, we will be adopting a little girl from China. We are sooo excited! I decided to create a new blog that will just be about our adoption journey.

You can click on the following title Spirit of Adoption to read all about it. I will also have a link to the new blog here on our family blog, which I intend to keep, that you can always find under My Other Blogs.

We really covet your prayers as we begin this process!!

A Very Merry Christmas!

We wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. The Lord has been good to us this year, in spite of some hard times, He has remained faithful and daily gives us the strength, as we need it, to move forward. He is our blessed hope and the reason that we can truly find joy and hope in this season and every day.

I leave you with one of my favorite cartoons of this season and a reminder of what Christmas is really all about. Merry Christmas everyone!!

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BFF'S

We just spent a few days last week with our good friends the Starks and before heading out, I snapped a picture of the 4 kids together. When I got home I remembered an old picture I took a couple years ago of all of them and thought I would share the two pics. They are the cutest kids and great friends, too! I hope that they will continue to be great friends for years to come.

Me thinks Aaron is one lucky kid!!

October 2007 Gijon, Spain



September 2009 Granada, Spain




BTW Matt and Pilar....thanks for letting us crash in your house for a few days. We had a great time!!!

They're Here!

My parents arrived in Madrid on April 1st. That's right...on April Fool's Day, but it's no joke!! Aaron's phrase all day Wednesday was..."I can't believe they're really here!"

Here is Aaron, at 7am, Wednesday morning as we drove off to the airport to pick them up. He was excited, to say the least!



They arrived at 8am and we were there, anxiously awaiting their arrival!



We have spent the last few days getting things set up for my parents. Those of you who have moved oversees understand all the setup that is involved when you first arrive in the country! I am so glad that we are here to help them, since having someone there to help when you arrive it wonderful! When we arrived in Spain, our friends the Starks helped us out so much. Thanks again guys!!

Thankfully, things have gone very smoothly so far. We even found an apartment today that we all just fell in love with! After looking at our last apartment for the day, we ran to the grocery store and discovered they had lobster on sale!! So, we just HAD to take advantage of the very rare sale and treated ourselves to a wonderful, seafood meal!





I thank the Lord for the opportunity that He has given us to team up with my family in starting a work here in Madrid. Here is one last picture of Aaron with "Meena". Now we are just waiting for my sister who arrives next Saturday. Yaaaay!!!

My Little Missionary

I just want to brag a little on my son and praise the Lord for what He is doing in his heart.

Last week after school, he said, "Mommy, today I was talking with some of my friends in school about God and my friend Pau told me that he didn't believe in God. He said that he believes in reincarnation (these kids are 6!). Then my other friend, Alejandro said that he believed in God but when I was explaining to him about trusting in Jesus as your Saviour to go to Heaven, he said he didn't understand. And my other friend Juanjo said that his Daddy believed in God."

At this point I gave him a big hug and told him I was so proud of him for telling his friends about Jesus. I told him we would have to pray that the Lord would work in their hearts. A few moments later he said, "I thought I had to wait until I was bigger to tell others about Jesus, because I was too scared, but I did it!!"


The picture above is of Aaron with his friend Pau. Please pray for his mother, Maribel, as the Lord is allowing me to build a friendship with her. The other day she invited me over for a cup of coffee and when she asked about why we had come to Spain, I had a chance to explain a little of why we are here. Please pray that this door of friendship would stay open, so that I would continue to have more opportunities to share Christ with her.


Here is a picture of Aaron with his teacher, Marta (in the pink sweater holding Aaron's hand) and his friend Juanjo

Then a couple of days ago he came home from school and told me about a conversation he had with his teacher at school...

Aaron: Do you know who created the trees and the animals?

Marta (his teacher): Well, they are just reproduced themselves. No one created them.

Aaron: I know who created everything.

Marta: oh yeah? Who?

Aaron: God did!! A long time ago He created everything! It says so in the Bible!

At this point, Aaron told me, "Mommy, she acted like she really didn't believe me! I think she believes in evolution! I told him that she probably does and then Aaron said, "Yeah well, you can't make a monkey out of me!!" jeje Then he told me that he was sad that his teacher didn't believe in God.

I am so grateful that he has a tender heart for the Lord and a desire to tell others about Him. I pray that he never loses that desire, but that it will only grow.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....

So far this winter, Madrid has surprised us with snow! Much more than usual. It's been fun, because it doesn't usually last very long, so we have yet to get tired of it! Last Sunday morning, it started snowing on our way to church and this is what it looked like when we arrived at church. Let is snow, let is snow, let is snow!!!

True Peace

This is a conversation I had with Aaron a few days ago when I picked him up from school:

"Mommy, we celebrated the day of peace today at school"

"Oh yeah? What did you do?"

"We just sang some songs and made a wall of peace out of boxes and my teacher talked about peace, but guess what?"

"What, buddy?"

"I told my friends that peace doesn't exist"

"You did? Well, peace does exist, but not..."

"I know, Mommy, I told them that the only way they can have peace is by trusting in Jesus as their Savior."

"You are right! What did they say?"

"They just kind of looked at me and then kept playing. They didn't really care."

"Well, I'm proud of you for telling them the truth and you know you planted a little seed of truth in their hearts today! Just keep praying for them, ok?"

"Ok, mommy"


Dear Lord, please give me the courage to plant seeds of truth in the lives of those around me, even if they don't seem to care!

Back from vacation...

I have lots of pictures to post of our trip to Granada and Christmas. Now that we are back from vacation, it's amazing how quickly things get busy! We are thankful for the great time we had with our good friends the Starks. We really missed our family this year, but we still enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and are thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with! Here is a picture from our trip to the Alhambra. There are many more to come!!

In the Nick of Time...

We finally had some time to take some family pictures for our Christmas cards. Nothing like leaving it to the last possible moment, I know! But the cards are being sent, and now I can breath a sigh of relief!

So here they are, along with our official Merry Christmas wishes to each one of you!

We thank the Lord for His many blessings this year and for our salvation that was made possible by a Saviour who came to earth as a baby so long ago. He is the real reason for our hope, joy and peace this season and all year long!

Happiness is...

...a box full of Christmas candy that just arrived from home....along with a bundle of wrapped presents that are now under the tree. Thanks Mom!!

Our Thanksgiving!

I know I am kind of late in getting these pictures up, but I just recently had these sent to me, so...better late than never, I say!!

We did not have any family to spend Thanksgiving with this year, but the Lord allowed us to spend the day with some very dear missionary friends here in Madrid. I have known these families since I was a little girl and it is so neat that they are once again a part of my life, as well as Jeff and Aaron's. They are all such a blessing and encouragement to us. We truly have much to be thankful for!


Our table setting with not all the food on the table... There was sooo much food!!


Mommy, is it time to eat yet?!


Waters, Williams, Andrews, Lovedays


Us!


Very yummy pie!


This couple is very special to us. She was my piano teacher years ago! We are now helping out in their church for a little while and learning so much.

My Baby is 6?!!!

Today is Aaron's Birthday and his excitement for turning 6 is well, exciting and all, but how in the world is my baby 6?! I can't believe how quickly each year seems to fly by.
It's like you blink and you go from this....

To this...
Maybe I should just stop blinking all together....

Early Christmas gifts!

We received a box in the mail yesterday from my Mom, filled with all sorts of goodies for Aaron's B-day and some things we had ordered. It was like an early mini Christmas! My Mom even included some extras we hadn't asked for like...canned pumpkin for making a pumkin pie at Christmas, brownie mix, and all sorts of chocolate, some nerds...can you feel the sugar rush? What I am most excited about is The Love Dare book that she sent as well. I can't wait to dig in and read it. I will let you know what I think when I'm done! Thanks, Mom...I love you!!!

Cereal Box Turkeys!

Aaron and I worked on the cutest cereal box turkeys last night and had a blast, too!! I got the idea from Megan at Plum Pudding. I ended up covering a glass jar that I had with decorative paper and some ribbon. Then I poured some sea salt into the jar and stuck our turkeys in the jar. Now we have a fun, new centerpiece for our Thanksgiving meal. Go give it a try......

Catching Up With a Long Lost Friend!

I was able to spend a few hours this afternoon with someone I hadn't seen in almost 15 years! Araceli was one of my best friends growing up here in Spain and we had lost touch after we both got married. One of these days I will dig through my pile of old photos and put up a before and after of the two of us. I'm sure it will be quite humorous, what with the curly, puffy bangs that we used to have and all..haha. I am just thankful that after such a long time, we were able to see each other again and this time, with much flatter, straighter bangs! haha

Our Lobster Feast!

Jeff and I were out this morning and just happen to walk by a stand with fresh seafood and wouldn't you know it, they had...Lobster..ON SALE!!
We couldn't resist,..we're weak, so we brought two of those guys home with us and sat down to a wonderful seafood feast. But not before having a little fun with them first! haha



Yummy! Check out the size of this one!


Hey there!


So, you wanna mess with me, do ya?


We're eating what for lunch? aaah! (jeje..Aaron actually loves them, too!)

Today we spent the afternoon with some friends from church, Romy and Miguel. Aaron and their daughter, Romina, were doing so much laughing, that I thought I would see what they were up to and caught some pictures of them having fun! Here is my son "the clown" and Romina's huge Pooh Bear!

Here is Aaron and a friend from school that we met while playing in the park. Aaron's school has such a variety of nationalities ranging from south americans to muslims. Oh, and spaniards, too! haha. Seriously, in our city, it almost feels sometimes like there are more foreigners than Spaniards. It's true that Spain has become the second country in the world next to the U.S. with the most immigrants! What an opportunity the Lord has given us to reach both Spain and people from all over the world!

I thought I would share this latest attempt at a family picture. Aaron kept making funny faces, so this is the best one we got. We did have a few laughs between takes, though and that is what making memories is all about! I am so thankful for the family that God has given me. I am extremely blessed!

This is definitely the cutest kid of all!! I'm not bias or anything! = )