Daniel found this at the store the other day. It's "watta" brand drinking water. It's just pure water, "but with style," it says. I guess the designer water movement has reached Guatemala!

I enjoy making delicious food for my family to eat, but I especially like breakfast! About twice a week we have pancakes and eggs. Here is my standard recipe for Pancakes:

Sift together:
2 c flour (I use half whole-wheat)
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar

Then add:
2 c milk
6 Tbsp oil
2 eggs

Once mixed, spoon onto hot greased griddle. Brown on both sides.

This recipe makes enough for my family of eight, so if you don't feed that many, you can freeze the leftovers to enjoy another time! When I made them last, I spied two ripe bananas lying on the counter, begging to be used. So I peeled and mashed them, and added them and some chopped walnuts to the pancake batter. I lowered the heat on the griddle just a bit, so the pancakes would cook through the middle. They were delicious!

Well, it has been another busy day with our six children. I got a bit stressed today, and it seemed it was one thing after another. I mean, I even had to bust out my chocolate stash. (Don't you have one of those?) It was the straw that broke the camel's back when I had just told (re-reminded) the children not to throw things in the house, when *SMACK* a flying dishrag got intercepted from its intended target - by my forehead.

When the dust had settled a few minutes later, I was able to sit down and collect my thoughts. The Mother's Topical Bible did not have anything under "Yelling" or "Losing Your Cool", but I did find this in my good old KJV:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind...Doth not behave itself unseemly...is not easily provoked...Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth." (from I Corinthians 13)

Ouch, ouch, and OUCH! I do love my children very much, but if I get provoked to yell in anger, I am not showing it.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:31,32)

Thank God that He offers us forgiveness through His Son Jesus! As believers who benefit from this amazing grace, we must take this grace and spread it generously upon those around us. It is unseemly to be stingy with what has been graciously and richly bestowed.

I know I displease my Father at times, and I am so glad He doesn't blow up at me! (I bet He doesn't even need a chocolate stash.)

Lord, I want to learn to love my children the way You love Yours! Make me more like You.

When we moved out here to San Juan, the cost of electricity for us tripled! So we replaced our electrical appliances with gas... except we didn't find a clothes dryer right away. We have some very nice clotheslines in the back yard, and took advantage of the free "dryer" :o)



Hanging laundry has become my favorite chore; it's peaceful, the clean laundry smells so nice out in the sunshine, and I get to warm up a bit outdoors. (A cinderblock house is pretty cold in the morning!) But the hours of sunshine we get per day are getting fewer all the time, and it's becoming a challenge, getting all the clothes dry by the time the sky clouds up or the sun sinks too low.

Sooo, Daniel has set me all up for the rainy season. This is the dryer the Lord has blessed us with! It runs on LP (liquid petroleum) gas and very little electricity.



While I still hang most of the laundry out on the clothesline, it's so nice to have something to fall back on during these rainy days. Thank You, Lord! And thank you, Sweetie, for finding it, hauling it home, and setting it up!

This is some of the velvety-nosed cuteness that's frolicking about the yard these days. We have three black dachshund pups and a bronze. They're just about edible!

Daniel and Pastor Oto are breaking ground for gardens at their house and ours. I hope to plant some onions, lettuce, broccoli, and other goodies tomorrow! Joseph brought his dump truck, to help out.

Baby Joel fell asleep in the chair, and his little toes looked so edible I just had to take this picture. Can you blame me?

If you were to attend a birthday, graduation, or other party here, you would likely be served a pache like this, along with a cup of sweet coffee or tea. They are traditionally made of potatoes, but the rice ones seem to be more popular now. In the center is a piece of chicken or beef in sauce, a strip of sweet red pepper, and a prune. This is all wrapped up in a banana leaf and steamed until it sets. Looks humble, I know, but it tastes delicious! And if you get stuck without a napkin, the stiff slice of bread on the side can serve as one. ;o)

I read an article that said there was a recent study conducted by the Parents Television Council (PTC) entitled The Rap on Rap. I quote...

[The study] examined music videos on BET and MTV during afternoon and early evening hours, when many children are at home after school....PTC found more than 1,300 instances of offensive content in a mere 14 hours of programming in March, primarily in the form of sexually-charged images, explicit language, violence, drug use and sales, and other illegal activity...."Being in the trenches fighting for better indecency enforcement and cable choice on behalf of millions of American families, we thought we'd seen it all," (PTC president) Winter lamented, "but even we were taken aback by what we found in the music video programs on MTV and BET that are targeted directly at impressionable children."

I have two questions: 1) Why should we be "taken aback" when ungodly people put out ungodly programming? and 2) Since when are BET and MTV channels supposed to be viewed by children at any hour? I appreciate people such as the PTC who try to stand for what is right, but I suppose my theory would leave them without a cause. My theory is this: Children who do not watch television at all will not be exposed to the sex, drugs and violence broadcast there.

Television has little or nothing good to offer Christian families. Why do Christians continue to keep (and actually PAY for) this conduit to pipe filth into their living rooms? The Christian home should be a refuge from the noise and influence of the world. I think Christians should reconsider whether the TV is really necessary, and weigh it against the negative influences it has in their homes. If we were all honest with ourselves, the TV would go out the door.

...How's that for indecency enforcement?

It was brought to my attention by a kind reader that I have posted pictures of my boys lately, but nothing of the girls. To remedy this, we went outside for a quick photo shoot. Here I am with my sweet girls!

Like hashbrowns? You should try sweet potato hashbrowns! Here are some pointers:

Pour enough oil (we use olive or canola) into a skillet to cover the bottom about 1/4 inch. Heat skillet to med/high heat. Shred only about two sweet potatoes at a time, and put them directly into the skillet. Toss immediately to coat with oil, as they tend to oxidize quickly. Pat down and allow to fry until the bottom side browns, then turn. Once both sides are brown, remove the hashbrowns from the oil and allow to drain. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. So yummy!

Speaking of cooking, my three daughters offer these handy tips when cooking in the kitchen:

Jessica (9 yrs) says, "Make sure you start with a clean counter, and put things away as soon as you are done."

Jillian (7 yrs) says, "Do not start cooking something, and then go take a nap."

Johanna (3 yrs) says, "Do NOT cook supper with DIRT."

Here's a close-up of our strawberry plants that grow along the front of the house. They have some sweet little blossoms on them right now, and many itsy-bitsy strawberries! When I saw this little visitor crawling on the leaves, I had to snap a picture of it.

I tried to sneak a pic of Joel Daniel as he awoke from his nap, but he was ready for me! The camera strap is irresistible.

Jesus, or Oprah?

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the video .

Oprah says: "One of the mistakes human beings make is believing that there is only one way....There couldn't possibly be just one way [to God]."

Jesus says: "I am THE WAY, the truth, and the life: NO MAN cometh unto the Father, but by ME."

Oprah believes: "My mind is part of God's. I am very holy."

God says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." and that we are "all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

Oprah believes: "My salvation comes from me."

God says: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH

One viewer asked Oprah how she reconciles these "new" teachings with her Christian beliefs. The truth is, these teachings CAN NOT be reconciled with the teachings of Jesus. You have to make a choice between the two. Consider this warning:

"There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them...And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." II Peter 2:1,2

Make no mistake, folks. There is only one way to Heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. We are all sinners that must be washed by the blood of Jesus in order to come clean before God. Human love, kindness, intelligence, benevolence, will never be enough to earn a place in Heaven; we must come to God admitting our helpless, sinful state, repenting (turning from) our sins, and accepting the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf upon the cross!

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31

I gave all of my guys haircuts today. (Well, at least the three that had enough hair to cut!) They are lookin' good! :o)

The season is changing here, and the skies are starting to cloud up in the afternoons. The rainy season does not officially begin until May, but we've had sporadic sprinkles here and there since late March. One woman told me these little rains in the beginning are "for the planters". I guess it cools them off as they labor into the warmer afternoon hours!

One of the neighbor boys came by this afternoon, asking to borrow a bike to run to the store up the road. He has asked to borrow the bike before, and I was faced with a dilemma then that had vaguely been in the back of my mind. I had to decide - do I loan things to the neighbor children? If I do, they will surely be back again and again, perhaps bringing more friends with them each time. Things might wear out or get broken, or "lost"... I found a passage of Scripture that removed all doubts for me. "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." (Matthew 5:42)

When he brought the bike back, I had some colorful tracts for him to take back to his mama. I hope she can read Spanish!

We had a good send-off for Hno. Eddy today, and many of the people prayed with him and had some words of encouragement. He has been a tremendous help to Pastor Oto and has carried much of the church's music program. He will certainly be missed! Early tomorrow morning, after their regular 5 a.m. prayer meeting, Daniel and a brother from the church are going to drive him to the border. Please pray for them as they travel, and especially for this single young man as he goes to the mission field of Honduras.

This is an exciting event, because here is a young church, planted by a missionary, organized, and carrying out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) on its own. Here is a work that has completed the circle; it is doing what every normal church should do - reaching out to the world outside of itself! Praise the Lord! This is the desire of every church-planting missionary.

The church in San Juan is excited to be sending out their first missionary! His name is Eddy Poz, and he has been serving in the church for six years or so. On Monday Daniel and another brother will be driving him down to Honduras, which is where he feels the Lord is calling him to work.

...Meanwhile, we are working on recording some good music with Hno. Eddy before he goes. He plays wonderful guitar, and I am contributing some [mediocre] Irish pennywhistle. It's a rather exciting project, and I hope to be able to share these recordings with some of you soon!

...So happy to be together again! :o) Thank you, Lord!

Has anyone ever pulled an April Fool's Day prank on you? I hope not. But if they have, you can take comfort in this: being fooled by a prank does not make you a fool, really. Who does God call a fool?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

To despise wisdom and instruction is to have a low opinion of it. Many times Christians seek the wisdom of the world before they ever seek wisdom from the Lord. I hope this is not you! Worldly counsel will lead you down the path of error. It will never help you raise your children right. It will not bring you peace nor lasting happiness. It will not show you how to prepare for the day you will stand before God to give an account for your life.

Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly..."

Many times the ungodly counselor tells you to "do your own thing," or "follow your heart/instincts". If it feels right, it must be right! Right? Ummm...

Proverbs 12:15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise."

Hearken unto the counsel of the Lord, and you will be no fool!