Well the kitchen is officially done!!! WHOOHOO!!! Where is the dance smiley?? I am posting some pics so you can see what a wonderful job was done. We are so pleased with the results and I love the colors! (Even if my sister does feel like she is at Steak -n- Shake!) LOL So here is the official tour.................

More Shower Pics.....

As you can see our theme colors were orange and green. As I have blogged before, we are not doing so hot financially right now. I only say that to testify to you how great our God is! We were offered a bunch of decorations................only one problem, they were lilac! The Bride-to-be is the sweetest most cooperative thing you ever will meet. She is the third of 4 sisters! She knows all about hand me downs. When we talked about the $$ and what had been offered her attitude was so sweet and she so gratefully accepted whatever folks could do. We just couldn't go and get what I wanted to make it a lovely "peas and carrots" shower. (Her favorite colors are green and orange.) So I approached her Mom and asked if we could go and look at crate paper. I asked my husband if he could give me anything to help with the shower. Now usually when having something like this it is not uncommon to spend R$100 - R$200 on the decorations. Well, my MAN gave me R$40 and said that would have to do. We got to the decoration store and wouldn't you know it they had the exact shades of everything we wanted! We figured how much of everything we would need and would you believe it came to R$66!! Well, you remember that the MAN gave me R$40? I FOUND R$10 in my purse!! And the Mother of the Bride was able to kick in the R$16. So there you have it! God gave us the desires of our hearts and we didn't spend an arm and a leg to get it!

Here are some more pics of Edileusa with her sisters and Mother.






And here is one UNINVITED guest!














My Husband assures me that she came through the window above the sink in the Seminary and NOT from the drain! I will believe, I will believe...................

Dear Son, James V, killed it and burned it just for the thrill!

Getting in the Groove.....

It has been a while since I last posted. James asked me to teach a class this semester at the Seminary. I have been busy studying the Women of the Old Testament! He provided me with a syllabus that has 18 women to study and would like for me to complete it in two months! That will be a challenge, but I am always up for a good challenge.

The older girls are doing great in school! We are using Saxon Math this year as it was provided for us at a very low cost. They are also taking two courses with the Seminary students. I will be able to use these hours on their high school transcripts. James started rolling slowly in the Math dept. but he will gather some steam as he goes. He prefers to work with Dad outside during the daylight hours! But what boy doesn't?? Jesse and Bea are in need of material! They have almost finished what I have left for them and will be stuck with reading and flashcards until some extra $$ comes in to make an order.

We had a lovely wedding shower here last Saturday. Edileusa and her man got quite a haul! I was so pleased with all the nice things they received. I will try to post some pics of the decor. The girls did a great job decorating! Bea made her famous "Peanut Butter Pan Bars" and Emily and Katherine did Chocolate Chip cookies and Banana Nut Bread, respectively. The sister of the Bride made mini pizzas and her Mom brought apple cake! So we had quite a spread for an afternoon shower.

Here are some pics.

Learning to be a better Helpmeet

God is trying to teach me something. We are in a construction mess, having school, nightly seminary classes, training a pastoral candidate, and trying to keep our house. Those of you who know me, know that my husband has jokingly accused me of trying to keep a "Good Housekeeping" home. Meaning that I want the house to look like the front cover of a magazine at all times. He is right. I DO want my house to be beautiful all the time. But with all of my responsibilities, that is impossible UNLESS I delegate. At first, this was easy. I explained exactly what I wanted done and how and in what time frame.
Then something happened. I was expecting too much in too short of a time and getting very irritated if it wasn't done! We are still trying to "find" every one's strengths and weaknesses as far as chores go. Now, I believe that everyone should know how to do everything. But I also want housekeeping to be enjoyable. It is FUN keeping the things your husband provides for you in the best way you can! So we are trying different routines and chore lists to find THE ONE that will click.
As far as God teaching me? He is allowing more and more "little things" to come into our lives. Kind of like one of the gypsies we see on the street corner juggling. He starts out with two sticks of fire and then his partner tosses him another from the sidelines. Just when you think he can't possibly handle anymore, he gets another! Quite a sight to behold and very entertaining while we are waiting for the light to change so we can rush about our busy day. The point to all of this is simple. God will not call me to do (or be) more than I can handle! He loves me more than anyone on this earth and has MY BEST INTEREST at heart. What a wonderful Savior we have! I love to sit and contemplate this love. It gives me chills. He knows me better than I know myself and can see the end of the path.
Please continue to pray for us. This construction could go on for another year! It is so slow because of our finances. The power of the dollar has fallen and we are struggling to keep our heads above water. But here again, God knows all of this doesn't He?? And He only has OUR best interest in mind.
Have a blessed day!
Lisa

We are addicted to ceramic dust! This is the kitchen mid-way. We are almost finished in there....PRAISE THE LORD!!!
This was taken in the late winter/early spring. The MAN calling......post more tomorrow!

Facebook

We discovered the world of facebook last night! The www is truly an amazing discovery. Where will I ever find the time to keep up with all of this?!?! The girls are joining today and are excited about that. We are working on scheduling time for everyone on the computer. We have two at the moment so it is okay............ We need a cyber cafe!

I printed off the rest of the NGJ coloring sheets, YAY!! The Sunday School children (as well as my own) love those pictures to color every Sunday. We are working on the translation so we will have it in Portuguese.

Incidentally, I saw that there are new herb lessons available also. I am going to get those printed off a.s.a.p. as well. They are so helpful and informative. We even use them as part of our "curriculum" for school.

We have a terrible time with dust! I am learning how to keep our house more dust free. (A great difficultly when we have no rain for 4-5 months!) I just recently learned that Eucalyptus oil gets rid of dust mites! Here are the three steps: Add a generous amount to your washer with your regular laundry soap when you wash the bedding, spray a mixture of eucalyptus oil and water on your pillows and let dry in the sun, and wipe the matresses down with the same mixture on a towel. Watch out dust mites, here I come! We are going to put this to practice Monday! No more sneezing! ( I hope) We will let you know the outcome in a couple of days.

Kaira saved my post tonight! I could not for the life of me figure out how to get it out of the draft file.......... THANK YOU, Kaira! I have been so blessed by my cyber friends. Can't wait to meet some/all of you on furlough.

Have a blessed night!
Lisa

Favorites

These are some of my favorites. Favorite room in the house and favorite kids.

Well, I finally figured out how to let you all comment and I got a play list up! This whole blogging thing takes some time and commitment!! I am not sure how often I will be able to update. But we are going to give it a shot.

My niece got married Friday! The first grandchild's wedding and all that....... I THOUGHT I was doing okay not being able to be there BUT, when I called to see if everyone was getting there safely and to pass our congrats along....... I started crying! Not expected at all. I wasn't necessarily sad, just chatting along with my Mom and all of a sudden I couldn't talk. She said, "Are you still there?" It just hit me all at once, I guess. It was a beautiful wedding and I will be getting pics soon. We are not planning on taking a furlough for another year. So maybe I will have another great niece or nephew to meet! We will have our first on the MAN's side this Oct. How exciting the birth of a new baby is!

The lasagna last night was WONDERFUL! We decided to do it again because the In-laws were craving Italian and were disappointed to have missed it! We didn't call and invite them because Grandma (mil) had told us they were cleansing. So, we got to have Italian two nights in a row. YUM!

Whiterock is inspiring me to cleanse! I am keeping up on her progress on her blog. Awesome job WR!

Have a great day all! Post more later.
Lisa

Well we finally got it up and running! This is just a test post to see how this is going to take off.
We are in the middle of construction! Again! I think we are addicted to ceramic dust. As soon as I figure out how, I will post pics of the process. We have some before and during that are good. We are finished with just one room out of all the many projects that we have started...........
On another note, we made a killer lasagna last night! The MAN had two helpings! It was such a hit we are doing it again tonight. I like it when a meal turns out just right. So gratifying. Well, for now I am going to close and see how this goes.
Have a great night!
Lisa