We took a walk a few days ago, and had fun snapping some photos outside with the children.


My lovely young maidens are becoming lovely young ladies!


Little ones grow SO quickly, and it's not long before the seasons change...


...and your little boy is suddenly looking like a young man.


And your little girl is leaving behind her babyish ways.


Savour them while they are little! Every word they say, every kiss, every hug...


..Every impish grin. ;o)

I love it all!

THERE'S our sweet boy!


It's so hard for this mama to believe that two years have already passed since our littlest man was born. Joel adds so much fun to our family!

TWO things I love about him:

1) His eagerness to learn about the world around him.

2) The way he snuggles, even if he is stingy about kisses. (Working on that. :oD)


We took this video of Joel several weeks ago.. Every mama thinks her baby is a genius!



Joel's name means "The LORD is God", and it is our prayer that Jehovah will be his God and his Lord all the days of his life!

Happy birthday, little man! We love you so!

Our "baby" girl turned five years old! She was our first child born in Guatemala. She wanted to share her cake at church, so we waited until Sunday night for that. So on the morning of her actual day, we had birthday pancakes with homemade butter and cinnamon syrup.


Then on the Lord's Day we sang to her, thanking God for her life and praying His blessings upon her. Wish I had a photo of everybody who was there!


Her cake says, "Johanna is (five) years old."


Later at home, we all had some gifts to show her our love. This is a hand-stitched doll quilt her big sister made! Isn't that sweet?

These are five things I love about our Johanna Joy:

1) Her energy, spunk, and easy affection! (Oops, that's three, not one.)

2) Her funny little ways that make me laugh, such as "needing" three washcloths for her bath. One for her face, one for her bum, and one for her feet. Funny!

3) Her love for all things pretty and feminine. Such a girly-girl!

4) Her willingness to serve. She is always offering her help to others!

5) Her godly goals in life. She wants to be a good mommy more than anything!

I love you, Johanna Joy! You truly are a joy to us all. :o)

A certain group of Baptist ladies recently were discussing the yummy phenomenon of Fried Apples. I had never made them before, and one of them said (essentially), "Oh, you just melt some butter in a hot skillet, throw in some sliced and pared apples (preferably tart) with a little sugar, and fry them until they're soft."

That sounded easy enough. Someone else had mentioned how good they are on top of French toast. Hmm, crispy-tender, buttery French toast with warm cinnamony-gooey apples over the top... My pregger-brain latched on to that thought, so that's what we did for breakfast the next morning!


Here's how I made Fried Apples:

Peel, core and slice 7 or 8 tart apples (for a skillet-full, or you can half the recipe). Melt 3 to 4 Tbsp butter in a hot skillet, then add the apples, stirring to coat. Sprinkle brown sugar over the apples (to taste) with a dash of salt, and fry until they soften and start to brown and caramelize.


They should make a nice brown juice as they cook. Stir in some cinnamon, and serve warm.

...Your French toast will thank you! :o)

Yesterday the whole family went to town to do the weekly shopping and other errands. It's always fun to be in Xela, since we usually get to eat out somewhere and take all the children into the stores. (Boy, do we draw attention when all eight of us are together! :o)

Some of the children were needing some clothing, so we decided to stop in a few paca tiendas to see what they had. Pacas are huge bundles of used clothing that are brought down from the U.S., so what a paca tienda is, essentially, is a good ol', hometown THRIFT STORE!

I {heart} thrift stores.

The Lord allowed us to find some really nice clothes! I found two skirts, one for each of my big girls, and a long slip for my longest girl,two dressy pants for my growing boy, as well as a nice pair of black jeans. (The dark brown pants below are very nice corduroy. Always in season, here in the mountains!)


We also happened across that double-breasted sport coat (above), which fits Joseph perfectly, and is machine-washable. Also picked up some really nice Dockers for my hubby. (not pictured)


I paid about $15 for all of it. Thank you, Lord, for thrift stores!

While the Pillsbury dough boy is pretty cute, he doesn't even compare to this little kitchen helper.


Anytime I make anything that involves dough (tortillas, in this case), and J.B. knows about it, he's right there, climbing up to the table and asking, "May I help?" He loves to mix and knead, make balls and flatten the dough.

Granted, he's really not that much help yet, but he is learning to work, and is eager to help. I don't want to squelch his desire to help out!


...Besides, how could I say no thanks to these big, brown eyes?


He's my little dough boy.

Jessica (10) and Jillian (8) handstitched these lovely napkins for our table. Aren't they sweet?


The girls have been sewing for a couple years now, and we encourage such a useful hobby. Think how many paper napkins we won't have to buy (and then send to the landfill)!


These match the apples in my kitchen, and look very nice on our table.

Yesterday we celebrated John Benjamin's birthday with a family party.




He was excited about eating a "wormy" cake!




His big sisters helped me make the cake. These little guys were fun...




J.B.'s big present...


Three things that I love about my little man:

1) He plays sweetly with his siblings, especially baby brother.

2) He loves to sing hymns. (And it's so cute to hear him sing in Spanish!)

3) He is so very cuddly! (I know this might not last forever. *sigh* )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY! I'm so glad God gave you to us!

My children got ahold of this pelt from an axis deer Daniel shot...


"It's warm under all this fur!"


This "deer" was docile enough to be riden.


The littlest got in on the fun, too.


"It's so soft..."



If the reader happens to be an animal rights activist, don't worry. The deer did not suffer. God gave it to Daniel, and provided us with deer meat for several months. And see? Not even the pelt went to waste!

We are in the midst of Escuelitas Biblicas (VBS) this week, and are we having a great time! My girls and I made ten puppets to use in San Juan and also for VBS in La Esperanza next week. Here are some of them in action:




(That is Hno. Oto, pastor of the church.)

Daniel and I are teaching the 9- to 11-year-olds, and we have a group of fifty or so.

Giving the Bible lesson:

Teaching the memory verse:

Children eager to learn:

Puppeteers:

Puppets resting:

...I think by the end of the last day, we're going to look a lot like the puppets in that last pic! But all the work is so rewarding and exciting, and we are glad to be able to do it.

There were some really nice turkeys at the store in Xela. They were a bit expensive (about $3.00/lb) but it was worth it, since the alternative is to butcher and clean one myself! (I've done chickens before, and would prefer to never have to do that again. Another story.)

We got a big one, since we're having a few other families over to our house on Thanksgiving Day. Here's Big Tom [before]:


He looks intimidating to me. He weighs more than my toddler. At least he won't struggle much!

We're not going to stuff this year. I read that stuffing makes the turkey come out dry, so I'm making dressing in a crockpot instead. Today we're baking pies and doing prep work for Big Tom. Here's one of my faithful kitchen assistants, toting her baby brother:

Joel finds kitchen duty soooo boring! ;o)

The girls are really getting in on the pie-making action.





These are special flour-salt-and-cream-of-tartar mini pies. (i.e. PLAY DOUGH)

I personally prefer my pie crusts with a leetle less salt, so I'd better get to it.

Is it possible? One whole year ago...

This little guy joined our family.

See how he's grown!

(Notice the curl in his hair? We took care of that today...)

There's the Birthday Boy!

We had little party with just us and the pastor and family.

Daniel grilled some burgers and hotdogs, and of course there was CAKE!

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday Baby Joel, Happy birthday to you!"

Hello, what's this?

Where have you been all my life?

More cake.

Still eating cake.

Looks like he's starting to feel the effects of cake.

Okay, enough of that. Let's move on to the next event... the Haircut!





No more baby look. Happy birthday, Big Boy!