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Saturday, 05 May 2012

Blessings on my Birthday

feeling so thankful this weekend. Tomorrow is my birthday, and my absolutely amazing husband took me out on a birthday date last night. This is the first time in 7 years that I have been in the States for my birthday, and we're even in Miami! So, we went to Coconut Grove, to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and wandered into a bookstore for awhile. (Bookstores are a little treasure here in the States as they are rare in Peru, and all the books are wrapped up so you can't peruse them anyway.) Then, we went out to Kay Biscayne to the Ritz Carlton and had a drink on the beach under the FULL MOON. Our first kiss was on Key Biscayne Beach under the full moon. It was a delightful, romantic evening.

Right now, Jeremy and the girls are out shopping for me, and I am enjoying a few quiet moments in the house.

So I thought I would take this opportunity to share my-

36 Blessings on this Birthday

1. Kayla's sense of humor

2. Bella's protective kindness

3. Janna's snuggly arms wrapped tightly around my neck

4. Jeremy's incredible sensitivity to my needs

5. Jesus- my Prince of Peace

6. My adoption into the Royal line- daughter of the King of Kings

7. Freedom and relief during a period of intense trial and pain

8. my friend Raquel (in Peru)-her godly wisdom and playful spirit

9. my friend Christy- my cheerleader who loves me just the way I am

10. my sister Janna who knows me, stands with me in this lifelong adventure-through motherhood and ministry and marriage- she is my listening friend and prayer warrior

11. my friend Megan, who is incredibly insightful and encouraging (and coming to visit me in a month

12. the swimming pool in my parent's backyard that brings daily shrieks of delight and hours of fun

13. the churches and individuals that support us and pray for us; each one making a sacrifice to allow our family to be missionaries

14. our house in Peru that holds so many family memories with the park across the street

15. the beautiful park 3 blocks from my parent's house

16. my generous and compassionate parents; grace-filled, loving unconditionally, who have allowed us to burst onto the scene and live under their roof for awhile.

17. my 3 brothers and how God is maturing the character of each one- although they are my "little" brothers, I feel their protection of me, and I am so proud of them.

18. the ocean, especially at sunset

19. for the privilege of homeschooling my kids-to get to spend so much time with them and to experience so many new things with them

20. my 100% security and guarantee in Christ- nothing can ever snatch me out of His hand

21. For the coolness and quiet of the early morning; a new day dawning

22. for redemption- Christ is making all things new!

23. for Jim and Sara Ward- they have lived through the battle with us and stand beside us, wounded, yet valient, and I just love them to pieces

24. for the House of Glory moms and babies- for the ways they encourage me in my faith and the skype calls that make me feel so loved and missed

25. for the fiery trials and deep hurts of this year because they are enhancing my understanding of God's peace and faithfulness through the storms of life

26. for new possibilities on the horizon; for the hope that is rising in Jeremy and me

27. for prayer- a mighty weapon and the strength that comes from hearing others pray for me

28. the full moon and a sky full of stars

29. the creativity of children- the way they wonder and pretend; their worlds of imagination

30. a hard rain on a Sunday afternoon- cuddling up for an afternoon nap listening to the rain fall

31. memories of my childhood and growing up years; reminding me of God's faithfulness and good gifts

32. Key Biscayne- the view of the skyline, the bay, the colors of the sunset

33. snuggling with each of my girls before they fall asleep at night

34. my nieces and nephews- their enthusiasm for life

35. the legacy of faith in my extended family; many Christian marriages, covenant families

36. Another year of God's grace, protection and blessing in my life

of course, I could go on and on, but you'll just have to wait until next year

"Thank you, Jesus. I know that each one of these blessings come from you."

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

A Decade to Celebrate

January 5th, 2012 Jeremy and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary with a Jungle Adventure! It really was like a second honeymoon. Kayla, Bella and Janna stayed with our friends and teammates Jim and Sara Ward. Thanks you guys!

And we headed out at 4:15am Wed. morning.

On arriving to Iquitos, we were shuttled to the Amazon River where we took a boat to our lodge.

We had our own personal tour guide that lived in a village along the Amazon and had been leading tours for 42 years. In the afternoon, we headed out to one of the villages along the river. We got to get to know some of their culture, dances, and they way they hunt for their food. Jeremy practiced the dart gun. Its amazing how resourceful and creative these villages are.

On Thursday, January, 5th, we had another early morning as we headed deeper into the jungle by boat. We went on a canopy walk. It is canopy road bridges built into the rain forest. As you go up into the trees, the climate begins to change. Its incredible! There was not way for me to really catch the full beauty with our little camera. Now, you have to understand that we live in Lima, a big city that is a desert. It is hard to see green anywhere. So, to be in the middle of a jungle rainforest but about the exact opposite of Lima. In Lima, there are big buildings, lots of traffic noise, people everywhere. In the jungle, there are big trees, a huge blue sky, and lots of jungle animal noises. And I could just not get over how much GREEN, the incredible variety of plants and animals. It was awesome! In the afternoon, we were led through the jungle to a medicine man. He told us all about the medicines in the jungle that are made with the plants. There was this incredible medicine called dragons blood that is used for mosquito bites. It takes the itch away immediately. We had to buy a little of that. As we were with the medicine man, we realized that exactly at that time 10 years ago, we were saying our vows at Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables, FL. We just couldn't miss the photo op.-renewing our vows in the middle of the jungle in the medicine man's straw hut. We have come so far.... or have we?

(at this point in blogging, I couldn't upload any more pictures for some reason. So you will have to go to my Facebook to see the rest of the pictures. -Sorry about that.)

On Friday, we went pirana fishing, of course. Doesn't everyone go pirana fishing on their 10th anniversary? Jeremy caught a few that we were able to eat for lunch. He even has the jaw to save as a souvenir. In the afternoon, we got to see all kinds of jungle animals, snakes, monkeys, toucans, etc. The 9 foot anaconda crawling past me was probably the scariest part. And definitely the most hilarious part was the sloth. I wish you could all see the video. I'll try to post it if I can. Sloths move like turtles with fur on. They are so funny.

Saturday morning, we stayed back at the lodge and had the pool all to ourselves. Apparently, we picked the low season as all the visitors came for Christmas and begin coming again in February. It was perfect, like our very own lodge. We headed back on the boat, bus, plane, and taxi ride to get back home to our daughters around 10pm. We had so much fun thinking back on the past 10 years, so many adventures, so many memories. I thank the Lord for the absolutely incredible husband that He gave to me. I can't wait to see where we end up at our next big anniversary

Saturday, 12 February 2011

Disney World

We got to spend 4 days at Fort Wilderness in a cabin with my parents. It was amazing! So much to see, so much to do, so much fun! I loved the adrenalin rush as I got onto Space Mountain, seeing my 3 girls jump up and down with excitement to see "real, live princesses", watching my mom scared to death of the roller coasters and my dad carrying baby Janna all over the park just because he wanted to. I loved the creativity, the excellence of every ride and every show, the sensory overload as we flew over London in the Peter Pan Ride and went "Under the Sea" during "The Little Mermaid" Show. The boat rides and white water rafting rides, every moment packed with unforgettable memories, the fireworks show over the princess castle, and the new invention of the Fast Pass. We hardly waited in any lines! I loved staying on site and that we got to take a ferryboat back to our cabin each night. I loved family dinners and that we packed all our food in each day.

We spent 2 days at the Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Animal Kingdom and 1 day at Hollywood Studios.

I was surprised that Kayla LOVED all the roller coasters. I was screaming my head off the whole time, and she would just giggle.

I always have trouble getting the captions with the pictures. Some of them you can probably figure out if you have been to Disney recently.

the Mt. Everest ride at Animal Kingdom

white water rafting ride- can you find Jeremy, Kayla, Bella and

on the safari ride

the fireworks at Magic Kingdom were impressive!

We arrived at Disney on Bella's 5th birthday. She got to wear a special pin, and this little band sang Happy Birthday to her.

on the boat ferry from our cabin to the Magic Kingdom

It was a little rainy our last day at Hollywood Studios.

But we got to see Beauty and the Beast and a fun Pixar parade with front row seats!

at Hollywood Studios

Honey, I shrunk the kids playground

If you see us on the blog, but not on facebook, if you check out my facebook page, you can see pictures from Christmas, New Year's and Janna's 2nd Birthday. Soon, I'll put pics up from Bella's birthday parties.

Monday, 13 December 2010

Thanksgiving and SNOW!!

Just catching up on a few more pictures from our travels. We were at Ridge Haven for Thanksgiving for a family reunion with my mom's side of the family.

hiking to a waterfall- and all the grandkids together.

along the way, we got to spend time with Kate and Charity, two of my college friends in Raleigh, NC

Then, we headed to Michigan to celebrate Jeremy's granddad's 90th birthday. And Kayla, Bella and Janna got to see SNOW for the first time.

Airplane fun...

These decorating pictures got stuck in here. We got to decorate my parent's tree this year, and it was so fun to see ornaments of when I was in Kindergarten and tell all the family stories to our kids.

Grandma and Grandpa Mac

The snow was not the right temperature for "packing", so we just made lots of snowballs, and Kayla's first snow man.

We got to hand out with some cousins too. The Frens Family.

I'm having trouble with the order of the pictures. The girls and I went shopping with my mom, "grammy", and had to go on the carousel.

They were a little tired.

The girls had been up since 4am in this picture.
Charlettesville, VA for a Peru Reunion-- such sweet friends!!!

While in Chattanooga for a missions conference, we got to go up to Covenant with Doyle and Kendra and their 2 boys. And I got to see Kim, another one of our wonderful friends from college.

In Atlanta, we stopped at Michelle and Heston's for lunch. The girls had a great time playing withtheir kids.

Then, we were in Birmingham meeting some new friends

And some cousins in Sumter, SC

We love the time we are getting to spend with family this year. We really enjoyed some fall activities.-the pumpkin patch, Aunt Joy's famous caramel party, hanging out with grandma and Poppy, fishing and petting horses at Aunt Angie's house, carving pumpkins and a Fall Festival at Old Cutler Church