Thursday Thoughts - Child Grace

I am always amazed by the trust and grace that children find to cope with things in their lives. I watch them closely and learn from them much in the way I should be as an adult.

For example, last night I explained to Jade and Adrian that I am going to be leaving for the coming week helping John and Sara move to Canada. They were fine with it and everything looked fine. This morning though Jade realized that today is the day that I would be going and became somewhat emotional.

I explained to her that it’s only for a few days and with promises of fun outings and a meal out when I return she became quite cheerful and was able to get a positive perspective to her trial. I can’t remember how many times we have done this in the past few years.

I believe the Lord gives children special grace and understanding to trust in us as their parents as well as trust in the Lord and His plan. I know that that same grace and trust is given to me from the Lord but the older we get our lives and minds get cluttered with the complexities of our own understandings.

I hope that I can learn by my three year olds example to trust and have simple faith in my heavenly father the way she has faith in me.

“BUT Uncle Dan…”

Have you ever wondered what Uncle Dan Math does for fun??
Check out his site by clicking here.

He makes math videos.

He builds using Octa-Tetra.

And he dances in public.

Trucking to Canada

The day after crossing the border I get a call from John, my good friend who will be moving to Canada. I was glad to see they hadn’t left yet as I was hoping to see them before they headed up.

As were talking John tells me he wants to ask a favor and then asks me if I would be willing to drive to Canada with them to drive the moving truck the Lord supplied use of. After praying about it the Lord confirmed that this was something I should help them do so on Friday I will be heading up to Canada 1,800 miles (2880 km) from here.

Please keep the trip in your prayers as we will be 7 people and two vehicles going. I will try to take lots of photos and post along the way.

Family Times

So I am visiting the kids while on my visa trip, we are having a good time. Here's a few photos...the food ones are for you BabyLove!!

Jade

Adrian

Coconut Shrimp with pineapple sauce.

Grilled Chicken Wrap

Steak and Shrimp

This n' That

Okay, the past two days have been full! Every Saturday we have one of our main food pickups followed by a weekly food giveaway in a poor neighborhood close to where we live. Added to the normal distribution, we had 500 kilos of Maseca (corn flour) from one of our donors. Here is a photo of some of the kids carrying off their prize.


After that I started the long trip up to the States for a visa trip. Normally I make the 17 hr drive in one day but due to traveling alone the Lord told me to do it in two! So I spent the night in Tampico. Thanks to the home there that received me.

The Tampico Home

Since I usually do the trip in one day here is a beach I had never seen as it's always dark when I pass this spot.

The beach at the town of Boca Andrea with a population of 23...

A bus parked in the river...gotta love Mexico! Sorry it's not very clear, I took the photo while driving accross a bridge so I am surprised it's even visable.

This is a shot of my driver side mirror showing the line behind me at the US-Mexico international bridge with the Mexican flag in the background.

I arrived safely at my destination and tomorrow I see my kids. I will sleep soundly tonight.

Beating as one...

I ran across this phrase the other day and I love the concept....

".....I would want to feel your broken heart beating up against mine!"

After Thought – Home Elections

So we just had our home elections and I am now a manager…I don’t know if I like that word. I will be looking to have passion in my work so pray for me.

When chatting with one of our home members afterward he told me, “I took a look in your sock drawer and saw it was organized and I knew I should vote for you!” I really don’t know what socks have to do with management…

Thoughtful Thursday – Passion

Every so often I come across a word the really intrigues me and I have to find it’s meaning and what it really means to me and others, that word right now is “passion.”

A couple months ago I was asked by someone I was getting to know, if I thought of myself as a passionate person. I replied, “Yeah I think so.” But afterwards I was thinking about it and wondering what “passion” meant to me. I thought I knew what the meaning was, but decided to look it up in the dictionary (always a good idea if you want to know what something means) and I got many different things.

Intense emotions such as love, joy, hatred or anger,
Strong sexual desires,
Outburst of emotions such as rage, hatred or jealousy,
Intense enthusiasm for something,
Object of someone’s intense interest.

I have also been asking my friends what passion means to them and I got many of the answers above. Most associated passion with love or being in love. This happens also in different languages. In Portuguese when your “in love” with some one the word used is "apaixonado" which literally means "full of passion.”

But the most interesting thing about this word for me is what it really means, its original meaning, which is still used in its context today as well. Passion originally meant the suffering of Jesus from the last super up through the crucifixion, thus the naming of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion.

We all know why Jesus suffered so much, because of His intense love for us and his desire to break Satan’s hold over us and give us eternal life with Him in Heaven. An so I think that’s how passion started to mean other things associated with intense feelings and emotions.

But to really experience passion to it’s full, there would need to be the element of love, desire, intensity and enthusiasm, along side the feelings of suffering. Is it really suffering though if we do it in Christ’s name? Is that why love so often hurts? I think its part of it.

So to answer my friends question more thoroughly, as to if I am a passionate person. Yes! – I do believe I am. I have had a life filled with love, desires, enthusiasm and intensity…along with the times of loss, suffering and disappointments. All of these make up my life which I live with PASSION!

Freedom Spot

From time to time I like to add new links to blogs I find interesting, maybe you will also.

Esther Wild Wind is a family musician, singer and songwriter. She’s got a good blog, Freedom Spot, with her poetry and downloads of her demos and songs. Often her poems and songs are deep and intriguing full of lessons about life and her love for the Lord. From her writings you can tell that she has a lot to give and is willing to do so. Check those out you might like them!

Movie Across the Miles

When you’re single and there are not many people around rest days can get redundant and uneventful. Awhile back I posted (click here) about having word time with someone on the other side of the world and how it was a cool and different experience.
While chatting with a friend in Brazil yesterday we discovered we were both going to be on rest day today and were talking about how doing things alone can get boring, so we struck on the idea of watching a movie together. So we decided on a movie neither of us had seen and we each downloaded it and agreed to watch it at the same time. We did just that…it was fun as we each enjoyed the movie and were able to comment via chat about it as we were watching it. So I was able to break my chains of watching something on my own on rest days.

HB2Y Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!! I really love you and am praying for you. May this year be a great one for you! I wanted to post a photo of you but I don’t have any…want to send me one? So I am posting a photo of something synonymous with you!


I know there are so many people whose lives you touched, so many mothers and fathers that love you, so many children you helped bring into the world. I am proud to have someone so loved and remembered in such a way as my mother. Thanks for all you taught me and for the life you provided for me. It was such a wonderful life and because of that it is a lifestyle I now try to provide for my children. You are one of God’s greats!!

HB2Y Jason

Jason, I love you man! You are one of the coolest guys I know! Bro, I have been where you’re at and I have walked the road you’re walking so I know for a fact the Lord has great and wonderful things in store for you this year. The road is not always easy but the things we go through make us stronger. I look forward to seeing you on my upcoming trip and we’ll go out and have a victory celebration. You are in my daily prayers!

Anyone reading this if you know Jason please leave him a comment, hey even if you don’t know him you can leave one.

Trading Faces

Jade can WINK! Yeah baby!

Thoughtful Thursdays – Carrots

I am sure a lot of you have either gone to markets before or cook sometimes in your homes; well you’ve probably seen an ageing carrot how it gets kind of soft and wobbly. I don’t mean when it actually has mushy spots, but more the whole carrot starts to …What is the right word to describe that? Limp, droop, sag, flaccid??? Oh, nevermind….

Click Here

HB2Y Rossi

Rossi and Justin

Happy Birthday Rossi!! Big Hugs!

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . You become 21.

Even the words sound like a ceremony. . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling.

What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50

And your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90's, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HB2Y Nyx

Happy Birthday Nikki,
I am thankful for the friendship the Lord has given us. I am thankful to see you still fighting and getting stronger all the time. You are an encouragement to me and I am thankful for your advice and council in my writing. I am praying for you to have an amazing new year with your hearts desires being fulfilled. Big Hugs!

Party Post

(Click on colored names to visit their blogs)

I want to thank, Ali, Rafe, Kathy, Adrian, Jade, Nyx, Joy, Esther , Jenny and Linda for the birthday cards and emails! (Update on May 16th, Thank you Esther Wilding, Tina E. and Joy who sent cards but that got lost in cyber space. And thank you Olive for your card, I love belated cards!)

Thanks to Ali, Cel, Rosita and Vicky for the Birthday Posts and the cool slide show!

Thanks Dust and Mex City Home for the gift.

Thank you Suzi for the prophecy…You have a beautiful gift there!

Special thanks to my home, I love you guys, for the few days off for my birthday so I could travel to DF and Cuernavaca. It was an awesome birthday gift.

Now I can tell you about the trip.
On the night of the 10th (my birthday) I set out with others from Veracruz to drive to Mexico City (DF) about half way there the transmission went out! TTL we found a safe place to leave the van and caught a ride to the next biggest city with a family home in it which was an hour away.
Thanks to the Puebla home for putting us up so graciously and hospitably with no notice. It was great to have that home unexpectedly added to the list of homes I was going to visit.
I spent the morning there fellowshipping with the home then headed to DF to the ND home where they put me up for two nights and hosted my birthday party. The party turned out better then I could have hoped for with close friends and very informal, just a few games, snacks and drinks, with everyone fellowshipping and telling stories.

The Drinks

The Snacks

The Cheesecake

The Yawn at 2:00am

Then it’s off to Cuernavaca for a day to visit with all my friends in the home there. Recently some folks I lived with 5 years ago in Europe moved here so it was a lot of fun to see them all again.

2007 Birthday Prayer

Lord, I ask that you take my life this year in your hands, that you use it to the desire that you have for it, that I may only do Thy Will.

If a smile brightens my day, I pray I can send it back to the world and by doing so brighten the day of another.
I pray that when laughter finds itself as my companion that I may in turn bring laughter to those around me.
That when joy walks by my side I may be a vessel to reflect Your joy!
That when love embraces me, I pray that I will not fear to love back with sacrificial and unconditional love.
I pray when life greets me with the breath of passion, that I find the zeal to live it responsibly.
I pray when pain walks beside me as my teacher, that You be my opiate to help me grow and heal.
That with tears I cry, my eyes will be cleansed so that I can with crystal clarity see more obviously the path on which You guide me.

Dia de la Madre

Feliz Dia de la Madre! Happy Mothers day!

In Mexico Mothers Day is the 10th of May...in the US it's the second Sunday of each May, this year falling on the 13th. I am posting today in honor of the mothers I live with and I know my mom and the mother of my children won't mind.

I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination...but I had a go at writing something in honor of mother's everywhere! Hope you like it.

Mothers are wonderment's of God’s love
Offensively preparing me for the battles in the field
This child you bore will in time life prove
Holding course as breaking's teach me to yield
Eventually, what’s left is a life filled with beauty
Resonant with songs in my heart eternally sung
‘ twixt the prevailing wonder and sense of duty
Sacrifice, to me, is a word on silence hung
Dear as life may be, there is something dearer,
A truth unfading as to the end of life I get nearer,
Yet it was, that kept me, the prayers of my Mother.

Phil and Angelina

Just a shout out for Phil and Angelina, they have a new improved website. It was fun going through all the photos in the gallery, I even found some in the “Friends” section of me (C-mas 2005) that I had never seen before. Thanks for passing on the link Phil, which I have added to my links list on my sidebar. Big Hugs!

A Childs Concept of Time…

Jessica (6) on a recent trip to Europe!

Six months before I rejoined in this home I came for a visit around Christmas of 2005 and Jessica (having then just turned 5) was all sweet and friendly and was very insistent on marrying me when she grew up.

Well the other day while taking care of the kids I heard Jessica telling one of the kids she was “going to marry so-and-so!” I interjected, “Jessica, I thought you were going to marry me.” “You’re too old for me!” she replied. “You’ll grow up, and then I won't be too old.” I said. She replied, “By then you’ll be dead!”

Wolf Studios

Babylove sent me the link to the Wolf Studios site. Maybe you all have seen it before...but it was new for me. Some cool music videos are there for downloading...check it out by clicking on the logo above!

My First Birthday Card in 2007

This is the first birthday card I got this year...it was done by the talented Nyx Martinez! It is of Jade as my fairy angel. Jade is the light of my life! I couldn't have thought of a more suitable subject for my birthday if I had tried. Thank you Nyx!

And below is the photo of Jade that she based it on!

Dia Del Nino…

…or “Children’s Day” was the 30th of April. Here in México having a day celebrating children is just as big as Mothers Day and Fathers Day. For our Children’s Day we did a clown show in the local hospital with out Dr. Payaso program. We had local companies sponsor a gift package for the children. Each package included books, a CD card, an Activated mag and a small gift. Here are some photos from that event.

Hana, Stef and Danny with the packages!

Cephas with one of the children

Hana with one of the children!

Mel with one of the children!

Stef making balloons!

Mel and Stef