Revive Our Hearts

I've been struggling with my Bible study lately. I've been getting up at 6:00ish to do it, but lately, I've just been so tired in the morning and no accountability to do my study. I read on another blog several months ago about someone who was doing a Bible study online called "Revive Our Hearts". It's 30 days and everyday, the study is emailed to you. I was in the middle of another study at that point, so I couldn't focus on this one as well, but I decided to go ahead and get them all emailed to me. Well, I decided last night to do this study, but I realized that I'll be starting my Bible Study Fellowship study on Sept 14, and I've heard that that study will take up a lot of time, so doing two at once probably wouldn't work. So, I didn't want to start this one and not be able to finish it. However, while looking at the emailed studies today, I noticed that not everyday was actually emailed to me. I counted them up, and I had 24 of the 30 days. I compared that to the calendar and if I started today, I would end on the morning of Sept 14. I think that was God's doing there :) So, I plan to start this today and maybe even blog how things are going...if I'm getting up in time to do it, things I've learned, just somehow to keep me accountable in doing this. The weekends are the hardest for me because that is when Nate lets me sleep in some while he gets Tristan up if needed. But, I'll do my best!

Trials and Joy with a 17 month old...

Tonight was a very stressful night. It seems when Nate is not around to help put Tristan to bed, Tristan doesn't do as well going to bed. Nate's "job" is reading bedtime stories to Tristan, and even if I try to and Nate is around, he doesn't want me, he wants his daddy. However, Nate is now going to a men's Bible study on Sunday nights at 6:30, so he leaves about 6:15. Tristan and I sat down to eat dinner right after Nate left. Once Tristan started playing with his food instead of eating, I took it away to start cleaning up. He happily got down (with my help) from his high chair, but instantly started screaming that he wanted more. I knew he wasn't hungry anymore, so I just cleaned up, the whole time Tristan is throwing a temper tantrum. He wants "juice" but all I would give him was his milk...but no, he didn't want that. Crying some more. Time to take a bath, screaming child, not going well. He screamed as I took off his diaper, and calmed down just enough to say "trash" and contently throw it away, then started the crying again. I even put bubbles in his water, which he usually loves, but this time, he didn't care and screamed in the water. So, I would take him out, and he would reach for the water and cry "bubbles!" I would put him back in and he would scream trying to get out, and once again, I would take him out only to have him scream "bubbles!" By this time, I'm just ready for him to go to bed! So, we go to his room to put on our pj's and he is crying "bubbles" the whole time. I finally get his pj's on and he calms down when I say it is time to read. Funny thing, he picks out a Precious Moments book called "Caring". It's not a very exciting book, has verses about caring on the pages. But we read that book seven times before I made him get another book! Any other book, one time was enough, but for some reason, he wanted to read that one book seven times :) Anyways, we go brush our teeth, turn out our lights and I lay him in bed, only to have him start crying and crawling out of bed. I decided since our routine was a little off without Nate here that I would rock him a while. While I rocked him, I sang some songs and he watched me intently the whole time. After a few songs, I asked "Are you ready for bed?" and he shook his head no, so I asked "Do you want me to sing some more?" and he signed "more". Can't say no to that! So, after a few more songs, I stopped to see what he would do, and he says "sing" (actually, "si..." but I understood :), so I sang some more. After a few more songs, I asked again "Is it time for night-night?" and he looked at me and said "night-night". I put him in bed, he rolled over with his pillow and closed his eyes, and I haven't heard from him since. Exhausting night, but precious boy. Oh, the trials...and joys...of having kids!

Costa Rica Trip -- Part 2

I should have finished posting about the trip a long time ago, but I didn't take many pictures of the trip, and just recently got some pictures from someone else. These pictures shows some of what happened during the actual retreat. Again, it was for missionary women in the Costa Rica area. I'll let the pictures explain:


These are two of the team members, both from Oklahoma. They both lead sessions throughout the retreat. One lead two sessions on bitterness and forgiveness, and the other lead several sessions on children ministry.


Two more of the team members. The one on the right is from my church here in Austin. She and the main leader lead one-on-one counseling sessions with the women during the afternoon free time. The younger woman on the left was another speaker. She grew up as a missionary kid in Ecuador and went back to Ecuador after college and ran a home for abandoned children for nine years. She had to return to the states for a sudden family illness and was refused back into Ecuador, so she is now in Arizona, waiting for God to show her what He has planned for her next. She shared her story during two different sessions. Not many dried eyes after her speaking.


This is the founder of Pure Joy International and our main speaker on the trip. She is really a gifted speaker. Her story is very interesting, because she applied with the IMB two different times. However, both times when they asked her where her "people group" were located, she replied that they are all over the world, not truly understanding what that meant. Both times, the IMB refused her because she didn't have a "country" or "people group". She then realized that her "people group" were the missionary women located all over the world, and she's been traveling ever since to various countries ministering to missionary women.


During praise and worship time. The younger woman lives in the jungle ministering to the people there. She said that it had been a really long time to be able to praise and worship in her native tongue...and even see anyone other than the natives there.


Another praise and worship time. The woman with the long hair and glasses is 10 weeks pregnant...and has three grown children in their 20's! I couldn't believe it -- she is 47! Doesn't she look good?!


During craft time that was held after the night sessions. They really enjoyed these times. We also had lots of chocolate laid out on tables for them during this time. We brought TONS of chocolate...and it was all gone before the last day. True women for you!


More craft time!


We also had prayer time with the missionaries. The older woman on the left was such an inspiration to all of us. She and her husband has been living and ministering in Costa Rica for over 50 years now. She now takes care of him due to his Alzheimer's. Her whole family, children and grandchildren, all live in the same city as her and her husband. They even all gather together for lunch every Sunday, and she makes sure they speak English while together :) Such an amazing woman!

I hope that helps you understand a little more of my trip. It really was an amazing trip, and it was such a blessing to be able to minister to all the women there!

Part 1 of Costa Rica Trip

July 9-17, I was able to help with a retreat in Costa Rica just for missionaries from the area to come. As I post about the retreat, I'll explain more about what we did. The team was formed through an organization called Pure Joy International. At this time, they do about three retreats all over the world a year, but they hope to expand it to where there are several retreats going at one time. You can learn more at www.purejoyinternational.org.

Since we were there for 10 days, I figured it would be easier to break the days up into different posts. I'll let the pictures help explain what we did the first few days.


This was our team. There were four (including myself) from Austin, TX; four from Conway, Arkansas; three from Tulsa, Oklahoma; and one from Arizona. This was the first time for most of us to meet each other. This is when we were at the airport on our way to Costa Rica. By the way, because it is a women's retreat, the team is usually all females. However, one of the team members' husband joined us to do media and help create a promotional video.


We were located in San Jose, Costa Rica -- the capital. This was taken from the hotel window.


We took a day trip to sightsee and have time to learn about each other. Our first stop was to a volcano. On the way, we saw several interesting and beautiful sights. Do you have any idea what is under all these tarps? Ferns! Just like the ones you see people have on their patios or in weddings. Interesting, huh?!


A picture of the coffee bean fields.


Can't remember what kind of crop this was...maybe more coffee beans...


We got up to the volcano area and had the joy of being in 60 degree weather! It was wonderful! But glad we brought our jackets :) By time we got up to the top to see inside the volcano, it was so foggy, this is what we saw...pure white. The tour guide said it was a 50/50 chance we would see anything.


The team decided to go on to the lake area to see if they had any better luck there. By this time, little jr. was sitting on my bladder and it started raining, so I decided to go back and stay put until they came back instead of slipping on the wet rocks on the way down. However, this is what they saw when they got up there.


And this is what they saw when they got back to the volcano sight -- beautiful, huh?! Sad I missed it, but oh well! What I get for being pregnant! :)


Our next stop was at a coffee bean farm. We were able to learn all about how coffee beans were grown and the process of making coffee. Of course, at the end, you can buy real Costa Rican coffee...which everyone did (even I)...even though it was quite expensive! Can't leave CR without some real coffee though!


Picture of some coffee beans. The process to make coffee is a really long and complicated process! Quite impressive!

Stay tuned to more :)

A (really late) 15 month update!

Tristan turned 15 months on June 5, so this is a really late update, but I figured better late than never, huh?! Tristan went to his 15 month check-up to find out that he had his first ear infections :( Today is June 27 and we're STILL taking meds for these ear infections. Hopefully this will be the last round! He DID NOT like being poked and prodded, getting weighed, measured, etc... He weighed 22.1 lbs (17%) and was 32 1/2 inches long (87%). The kid can't stay still enough to gain weight! In three months, he gained one pound, but the doctor wasn't worried. He's just active!

Some info about the past three months!

- Sleeps from 7:00 to anytime between 6:45-8:00, although 8:00 is very rare (but Mom sure likes it!). Takes one nap in the afternoon, usually 2 hours, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer.
- Pretty much running now :) He also does very well with steps, even being able to step down off a curb without falling. He LOVES ramps for some reason -- just goes up and down, up and down.
- His favorite thing to do outside is play in the splash pads, which is just different water fountains shooting out of the ground. There is a small one close by that we go to more often, but the BIG ONE is so much fun but much further away.
- Some of his favorite foods now are cottage cheese, plain yogurt, eggs (especially frittatas with salsa), pasta with tomato sauce, tomatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon, strawberries, and, of course, bananas. But cottage cheese is probably his all-time fav!
- He LOVES books and having us read to him. However, if we get past the first few pages, we are doing good! His attention span isn't the greatest... I've had to hide some of his books because I got SO TIRED of reading them and got some new books from the library.
- He is developing a love of cars, trucks, tractors, etc... A true boy!
- Teaching him sign has been useful at times and really frustrating at times. He seems to get a lot of signs confused or will all of a sudden use one sign for EVERYTHING. "Milk" right now is also for "fish", "water", and some other things that I still haven't figured out :)
- He HAS TO BE entertained. He is NOT a boy who can entertain himself very long. He seems to enjoy other children, so I'm hoping having a brother will really help out some day!
- He still doesn't talk a lot -- "ba" for his beloved pillow (not sure why), pee pee :), nononono, go-go-go, and some other words he sounds like he's trying to say...but he understands wonderfully!
- He's a mess, definitely, but he's a funny boy! Enjoy the pictures!

Splash Park Fun!

On these hot summer days, we almost always have to find something to do outdoors in the morning, so the rest of the day, we can spend inside away from the heat. This Saturday, we decided to try out the new splash pad about 25 minutes from our house. Kind of further than we like to go, just for a couple of hours, but we had to try out this new place. Plus, admission was $1 a person, so we thought it would probably be worth it. And boy, was it worth it! Tristan LOVED it! It was a very neat splash pad, with lots of water fountains, a large sand pit, and a water slide just big enough for Tristan and Dad to go down together. We so wish this place was closer to us! It sure would help beat this heat! Here are some pictures of Tristan enjoying his time there.

Pure Joy

I have been blessed with the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Costa Rica this July with an organization called Pure Joy International. This trip's focus isn't the normal focus of mission trips that you think of -- and I'm SO excited about it's focus. It isn't construction or VBS or medical or even evangelism as we think of it...even though all those wonderful things...but it's strictly on lifting up our missionary women. Pure Joy International (purejoyinternational.com -- take a look if interested in learning more!) has one and only one focus -- reaching out to women that have left their home country and are serving Christ around the world. We, a team of twelve from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Arizona, will be setting up a retreat for fifty missionary women who reside in different parts of Costa Rica. We will have praise and worship, speaking, craft time, exercise time (zumba!), and, most important, one-on-one counseling with two licensed counselors. Being a former missionary woman, I know how important it is to receive counseling. It is so nice just to talk with someone regarding the struggles of language learning, culture barriers, home sickness, marital problems, etc... Each team member has a specific job -- one doing craft and zumba, two being speakers, one media person, two counselors, etc. I have been chosen to be the team devotional leader -- giving devos to the team every day. Scary! I'm not a speaker, but hopefully God has a reason for choosing me to do this!

As with any mission trip, I've had to raise my own money to go, which although I'm not fully funded yet, I'm sure the rest of my funds will come in, which has been a great blessing so far! It is intentional also for the fifty missionary women that have been invited to this retreat would also be funded by various donations of people wanting to help and support. The retreat starts July 12 and so far, only half of the missionary women have been fully funded. I know that God will fully provide -- because that is just the way He works! If anyone would be willing to donate some money towards some of these missionary women, it would truly be a generous and wonderful gift. Just go to the website and you will find all the information there!

I'm excited to be able to go and minister to women that are serving us overseas by sharing God's love in various ways. I'll be leaving my baby boy for 10 days, but I know he'll be having tons of fun with grandparents! Be sure to look up the website! www.purejoyinternational.com