32 Blessings

There are many more than 32 ways that I have been so graciously blessed by God, but I thought I would come up with that many to symbolize each year of my life so far! In no particular order:

God has blessed me by...

1. pointing me to Psalm 90:14 - Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love that I may sing for joy and be glad all my days...

2. waking me this morning with two little angels bursting in my room to wish me a happy birthday and give genuine hugs full of love (ok, so I was already awake, but hadn't officially gotten up yet!)

3. putting His hand on little baby Daniel last night, who went to sleep easily, didn't fuss and fidget or wake all night long until needing to nurse at 4am (that was eight hours of sleep for him!)...he also kept sleeping in the morning when I got up to take a shower - thank you Lord! - usually he wakes and cries as soon as I get up, but not today - truly a gift from God

4. placing me in a God-fearing family with wonderful parents who raised me to strive to serve and honor Him

5. balloons on a chair outside when I opened the dining room curtains this morning! - thank you, Lord, for a sweet father

6. giving me taste buds to enjoy wonderful foods and desserts (especially today)!

7. letting me have my sister as a sister...wow....I can't even come up with the right words...I think words as wonderful just don't exist

8. giving me thoughtful and fun friends to have lunch with me today and another to visit me later! Thank you, Lord, for thoughtful and kind friends!

9. providing me with a house...yes, it's teensy, but it's a roof and a floor and walls, and many people in this world don't have those things

10. providing me with food...I have never, ever been hungry for lack of food (or ability to acquire some food!)

11. fuzzy socks and house slippers

12. the invention of an automatic coffee maker

13. a healthy baby boy who is learning to giggle and laugh and scream (happy or otherwise)

14. giving me a childhood in the Philippines...making me part of who I am

15. mango, mangostein, guava, and bilingbing trees to climb and eat from

16. a group of Christian friends in high school...certainly not to be taken for granted!

17. giving me a best friend who I love dearly even tho I don't say so very often...she lets me blow off steam and doesn't think any less of me (I think!)

18. giving me a house with carpet...what a relief not to sweep and mop every day anymore (for now!)

19. hot water in the faucet...such a blessing!

20. sparing my husband, baby daughter, and all our possessions when a mudslide crashed through our backyard in the middle of the night

21. keeping me from temptations of drugs and alcohol...thank you, Lord, for keeping me from those things by your grace

22. third and final birthing a baby with an epidural! Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, that I am in a country where that was possible!

23. a four year old who loves to jump and dance

24. a six year old who tells me to sit down and she'll do all the work

25. providing me with a mother who is a bazillion times better of a mother than I could ever hope to be

26. a God-serving husband who thrives in serving others

27. roses and lilies and 'tunies and daffodils out my window (true, some have lost the flower by now)

28. being a few feet away from some dolphins, snorkeling around tropical fish, eating fresh fish (not a cute little tropical one) fried in coconut oil, sharing it all with my bestest friend and sister...that was a perfect day, wasn't it?!

29. exposing me to life as a pastor's wife in Honduras...tough, full of trials, but equally full of blessing...so rich!

30. cable internet...AMEN, anyone?!

31. health...a true blessing indeed

32. His measureless love! Indescribable, incomprehensible!

God sent me a sack lunch

So last week it was my turn to volunteer a shift at the community services program in which we participate as a family. It's kind of like a grocery co-op place where the "store" is maintained by volunteer help and monthly fees for overhead costs. Volunteer days are bit challenging, because my shifts usually go over the lunch hour, I have the two younger kiddos with me, do a quick grocery shop, and go straight to pick up my kindergartener from school at 2:50pm. Consequently, Micky D's is usually the default menu in the car as I rush from one place to another. Sad to say, I tire of Micky D's. So on my volunteer day I said in my head, "I sure wish there were some other option for lunch in the car besides McDonald's!" (mind you, we had already had PBJ's on the way to the program at 10:30a.m.) As I'm shopping in the program's warehouse, I walk by the refrigerator cases. One of the exciting things about this place is that you never know what they'll have - it's always a mystery! And on that day, with my anti-McD's taste buds, what did I find in the refrigerator case but a tray of....sack lunches from a local catering service! There had never been sack lunches there before! And there they were, right in front of me...and I could almost detect a golden glow around each sack. :) WOW! "Thank you, God!" I said out loud! And I chuckled to myself as I grabbed a bag of turkey on wheat with chips, a cookie, napkins, and a little package of mayo and a little package of mustard. That sandwich never tasted better! In fact, it was rather...heavenly! :)

Pastor Man

This is our beloved pastor, accompanied by a friend of ours on the harmonica. Now you see why we love our church so much! What a blast! :) (Of course there are many reasons why we love our church, not just how fun the pastor and the people are...)

God's grace alone will sustain us!

This is what I wrote today in an email to a friend, so I'll just cut and paste here to make it easier! :)

This next month (May) will be super hard for all of us. Jose just (today) took on a FOURTH job!! He’s teaching Spanish at the Christian high school, as always, and doing the janitor job at night, as before, and now soccer has started, so he’s reffing soccer games on Saturdays, like before (fall and spring seasons, this is his third year) and today he took on a carpentry job weekday mornings. This will be so hard!! It means we’ll only see him for 1.5 hrs every day. I’ve been going to English service at our church alone w/ the 3 kids b/c Jose’s too tired to go (he preaches for Spanish service), and now I will have kid duty 100%. God will give us grace and we will make it through. Only He knows how!!

So this means that in June, God willing, Jose will not renew his teaching contract, he will quit his night job (no more health insurance), and he will apply to Multnomah Seminary to start in the fall for his MDiv! So this next month will be PAINFUL but it means the road to seminary, and no more working at night, which will both be amazing and wonderful things. Also it means he will be able to dedicate time and efforts to the Spanish ministry at church weekday evenings (visiting people, doing a Bible study, etc.). Something that he desperately would love to do (and it needs to be done!). So here we go!

Thank you for your prayers.

Baby Update

As you can imagine, it's hard to keep up the blog these days! I can remember when there were so many things I could think of to write about...and then I quickly realized that your blog can not be your diary...which of course greatly limits the things you can actually say in such a public forum! :) So for now, until I am greatly inspired (and I'm guessing that's not going to happen in a sleep-deprived brain) I'll have to use this as just a quick baby update for friends and family.

Thankfully baby Daniel is doing better at night...his issue is still the skill of falling asleep. I used to be able to relate to that. For some reason, I don't have a problem falling asleep these days. Once he falls asleep, he stays mostly asleep but for needing to nurse about every 3 hours. Day time is another issue. He seems to be on an every-other-day schedule for nap success. Today is an off day. It's not much fun. But there is tomorrow to hope for! Meanwhile, his smiles and now his "talking" are enough of a delight to make up for it all. Here are some recent pictures...

And one of many attempts to get his "talking" on camera...

And here's his big sister Bella serenading his dinner...

Daniel in Action

Life as a Zombie

Well it's been eight days and there hasn't been much sleeping going on around here! :) Well, there's been sleeping, but it hasn't been by me, and it hasn't been at night either. We've been adjusting to the first week of having our beloved baby boy home with us. He's beautiful and amazing and so far pretty well-behaved. He only cries when he's getting a diaper change (which sometimes makes me cry too, as I see our bedspread showered with pee, and the bedding is quite bulky and not so fun to wash), is very hungry, or getting a bath. His big sisters adore him and want to do everything for him. I think nights may be getting better, though it's too soon to tell. Here are some recent pictures:



Hey, I may be a zombie severely lacking in sleep, but I can still have fun! Note the Auntie Anne's pretzel in my mouth. Life is so much better with a pretzel (and a sister to share it with, of course!).

Baby and his Auntie.

Eight days old...