Our Little Brownies

Happy Birthday Lily! And other November pics.

2011-11-23T15:09:00.011-08:00

My beautiful girl is 9!

Pool party with friends.

After getting her face dunked in the cake.

Everyone had a great time swimming.

Lily iced and decorated her cake by herself.

So happy with her present from Mommy & Daddy (our old laptop).

My pretty girl on her birthday.

Gianni brought baby Gabe over for a visit and the kids loved holding him. He's such a cutie!

Justin trying so hard to be gentle.

He enjoyed holding his little cousin but would confidently answer "No thank you!" when asked if he wanted a baby brother, heh. He loves being the center of attention.

All on her own! I'm such a proud mother.

First bits of snow. He was trying to catch the flakes with his tongue.

Being cooped up inside makes us go a little crazy.

This pic wasn't posed. I walked into the living room and there they were, just chillaxin'.

He was convinced that his 'snow jacket' made him invisible when out in the snow and then he'd jump up and say "super-prize!" (his version of 'surprise'). It was very funny.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-01T10:23:00.010-07:00

Fun at Davison Orchards.

Isn't that a beautiful view?

I'm back!

2011-10-31T11:42:00.012-07:00

Did you miss me?
Hopefully I'll be posting more pics of the kids up here for you to see.
Happy Harvest Carnival everyone!!

Digging up our garden was a lot of fun.

The boys.

The ladies.

I love Justin's scrunched up smile in this one.

Helping daddy paint the room.

For over a month Justin had asked if he could dress up as "Piderman" for the Harvest Carnival, but when we went to buy his costume he saw that Ben had picked out items for a knight and he just HAD to be like his older brother.

"Oh no, the picnic table is on fire!"

Decorating Christmas cookies

2010-12-19T19:48:00.008-08:00

Making the colored icing.

It was such a great activity; it kept them busy for over an hour.

Eating the sprinkles was his favorite part.

Pooh loved it!

The finished cookies.

They took little plates of cookies to their teachers on the last day of school.

School Christmas concert

2010-12-19T14:23:00.004-08:00

Photos from the kids school Christmas concert:

Lily sang 3 songs with her class and had a speaking part in the play.

One of their songs was a rap and she took it very seriously.

Lining up to take a bow at the end.

Ben made this for us with his teacher. Isn't it beautiful?
He also sang a song with his class at the school concert. I don't have any photos of it but I posted videos of both of them singing on FB.

Decorating the tree

2010-12-12T10:33:00.009-08:00

Daddy putting up the lights with the kids.

He was very focused on getting the decorations up.

Concentrating...

It has to be perfect!

A little preview of our Christmas family photo shoot with Ruth.

He's too handsome!

Such a cuddle bug!

Bens' pretend yawn.

December pics

2010-12-09T09:38:00.007-08:00

I've given this blogging thing some thought as it was getting hard to keep up with up, and I've decided (after reading some sweet notes from friends asking me to update) that I won't close this down for now but instead will post photos as they come and not worry so much about separating them into categories, etc. Hopefully this will make it easier, and I hope to keep putting photos on FB so you can see them there as well.

Okay, here's the first December batch:

Making snow angels.

They were being silly and traded their clothes. That's why Ben is wearing Lilys' coat and Lily is wearing Bens' snow pants.

Danielle calls this our "Danny DeVito" Snowman, heh.

Picking our Christmas tree.

More Christmas baking.

Justin LOVES helping!

They tasted better than they look, heh.

Chris made some awesome Bacon & Eggers so I had to put up the pic.

Pooh bear discovered his pockets the other day and walked around for about half an hour with his hand in his pocket. It was so cute, it looked like he was posing.

Ensenada - At the rock beach

2010-09-30T12:59:00.004-07:00

My cool boys showing off their poses.

We call this the 'peek-a-boo' photo.
There were hundreds of hermit crabs on that beach and the kids loved watching them.

My mommy & me.

Cutesy boy!

Chris was showing Justin one of the many hermit crabs we found on that beach. I love the focused look on his face.

X Country Race 2

2010-09-30T12:40:00.003-07:00

Lily completed her 2nd race! This time the course was just under 2 km long and they had to run up a hill. She placed 36th out of 64 3rd grade runners. Daddy was able to come watch her run this time and she was very happy about that.

Ensenada - Pool Fun

2010-09-28T13:01:00.005-07:00

Daddy found a baby lizard by the pool.

I'm pretty much the coolest mom out there!

I just want to squeeze that belly!

Sisters!

X Country Race

2010-09-24T12:04:00.003-07:00

We interrupt our Summer posts to bring you news of Lily's race! She signed up with the Cross Country team at school but only had a few days to train before the first race, which was held on Wednesday.
She was very nervous about running but she did so well! The course was 1.4 km long and she ran with over 50 other 2nd and 3rd graders. She placed 39th! She said she got a painful stitch on her side, but I was so proud of her for completing it.
There will be 3 more races in the next few weeks and she's going to try to make it into the first 36 runners as they get special ribbons with their number on it. Here are some pics:

Finishing the race and getting her participation ribbon.

She told me that she was encouraged to try it out because Tory had run a marathon and gotten a trophy, so THANKS Tory!

Go Lily!

Summer - Boat ride in Ensenada

2010-09-21T13:28:00.006-07:00

With my Dad, Mom & Grandma.

It was so nice that they were feeling well enough for us to all go out together.

Just the coolest sisters ever.

"Get it off of me! I don't like it!"

Mom & Grandma.

Christian the happy baby.

Dad & Laury.

This pretty much sums up their relationship, heh. JK!

Watching the seals.

Mom & Ben.

Lily & Sheila.

They had so much fun playing together.

The cousins... of love.

Summer - At the beach in Ensenada, Mexico

2010-09-21T13:05:00.004-07:00

I love how tiny he looks in this pic.
Jumping for joy, haha!

Riding horses with their cousins.

"Look Mom! No hands!"

Old enough to make 'cool' signs with her hands.

Summer - VBS Camp

2010-09-21T12:07:00.007-07:00

We're back! We had a wonderful summer and we took thousands of pictures that we now want to share with you.
As you know, my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in July and they really wanted all their kids to go visit them, so the Lord worked it out for us to spend a month with them. We were able to work out the details of our stay with Danny & Irene so that our visit would be a complete surprise for my parents. I'll never forget the look on my mom's face as we all burst into their bedroom first thing in the morning!
Anyway, we had so much fun all together. I'll be doing lots of 'summer' posts but I will try to let the pics speak for themselves. This first post is of the first weeks of summer, before our trip to Mexico.

We spent a week with Mark & Amanda in Sorrento. Their place is beautiful and the neighbors have horses, which Justin loves! It's funny, when Ben was Justy's age his favorite animal was also a horse.

Enjoying the hammock.

Picking cherries.

I had never seen so much fruit on a tree.

The kids all helped to pick and pit the cherries and then Daddy made delicious cherry pie!

Trying to get them to pose.

Check out the background. It's so beautiful!

While in Sorrento the kids attended a week-long Bible camp. The theme was Egypt and they learned all about creation vs. evolution, how the body is made, etc. It was a really good program and it was free!

Every day they made different crafts that went along with the verse they learned. They were super excited about wearing the flip-flops they made.

Back home helping Daddy harvest the veggies from the garden they planted.

The first 'fruits' of their labor.

The garden has been producing so much that we're not able to eat it all!

Justy's handsome summer haircut.

My favorite "C's" in life are...

2010-07-20T17:15:00.001-07:00

Coffee!

Chocolate!

And Chris!!

I love you Honey!
Thank you for being wonderful!

Felices Bodas de Plata Papa y Mama!

2010-07-17T21:34:00.002-07:00

Los quiero mucho!

Espero que sean felices, coman perdices y que el Senor les de muchos anos mas a Su servicio.

Today is my sweet Mommy & Daddy's 25th wedding anniversary. Long live love! And that's all I have to say.

The turtle and the ice cream

2010-07-08T13:36:00.006-07:00

Bear with me on this post. I know it's a lot of the same pic but he's just SOOOOOOO darling!

"You want some?"

"Here you go!"

Canada Day Picnic!

2010-07-08T13:09:00.005-07:00

Te celebrate Canada Day (on July 1st) we went to a park that is by the river, appropriately named 'Riverside Park' heh, and had a picnic. It was a bit cold but there was a fair set up with lots of food booths, a stage where different bands played music and performed and some games for the kids. Then in the evening, we all sat by the river and watched a beautiful display of fireworks.

Visiting the Philippine booth and trying on their traditional hats.

The smallest Filipino of them all!

Climb to the top and then slide down!

In this game they strapped a bungy cord to your back and you had to try to pull against it and make it to the end of that passageway before it pulled you back.

The 'Sticky Wall' was great! They put you in a suit of Velcro and you could jump onto the wall, which would hold you there. Ben loved it! I even saw some adults trying it out.

He didn't jump all that high, heh.

Just a random pic of Chris with Danielle and Ruth.

End of school!

2010-07-08T12:12:00.007-07:00

June 29th was the last day of school for the kids. The Kindergarten class had a little graduation ceremony that the parents were invited to and it was the cutest thing. Here are the pics:

They made their own caps and received a little certificate.

With Mrs. Jorgensen, his kindergarten teacher, who is one of the best teachers I've ever known. We will really miss her!

Lining up to sing for the parents. They sang 4 songs and it was beautiful.

Trying to get a pic of us together. (I was holding Cadence and Justin on my lap so this was the best I could do, heh.)

The only way to keep him quiet throughout the ceremony was to let him play with Ben's cap.

They're growing up so fast!

I got their first report cards and they're doing so well! They're both above the expected level for their grades and Ben is at a 2nd grade level in Reading Comprehension & Science! Lily's class had a month of swimming lessons in which she did very well and they also went on regular visits to a nice gym downtown where they practiced gymnastics.

They both really look forward to field trips and so far they've visited a farm, a lake, a Dental Center and have gone to a concert.

They've also made quite a few friends and we're entering the world of playdates, parties and sleepovers. Fun!

I'm so happy that the Lord worked it out for them to attend this school and we're all learning a lot through it. We're so happy that summer is here now!

Ben's 6th Birthday!

2010-07-06T23:13:00.011-07:00

Ben-benino is 6 years old! He was looking forward to his party for so long, it was super cute! The theme, of course, was dinosaurs! He asked us if he could invite some of his friends from kindergarten and he drew the invitations himself, check them out:

I thought they were sooo cute! I think 2 of those are supposed to be velociraptors (his new favourite dinosaur) and he was very specific about which dinosaur was for which child.

I will let the photos tell you the rest of it:

All the Canadian Uncles and Aunties got Ben this awesome bike and the gear for it! There were also lots of cool dinosaurs, a Nerf gun, water gun & another of his favorites: bakugan warriors (or whatever they're called). Also txs Grandma for the nice clothes!

Originally Ben had asked for a repeat of the cake he had for his 4th birthday: a volcano with dinos around it. However, at the very end he changed his mind and asked for a 'flood with the dinos drowning in it'. Chris very graciously made him a mix of both. On the upper left corner you can even see a wave coming in. It was so cute!

Blowing out the candles.

Note: All the good photos were taken by Ruth, with her awesome skills and great camera.

We also made these muffins to go with the cake. They were supposed to be dinosaur nests with the eggs in them. (We wanted to buy these little speckled chocolate eggs that would've looked great but they only sell them around Easter.) Ben loved them!

My big, beautiful, birthday Benny-boy!

With his cousins & friends from school.

A highlight of the party was that we started it with a water-balloon fight! Chris & Nico joined in and the kids had a blast!

As soon as the fight was over the weather got a little chilly and we had to take the party inside but it was fun while it lasted.

Even the 'older kids' had fun with the baby toys, heh.

Traditional birthday family photo.

Justin's checkup

2010-06-29T20:21:00.004-07:00

Thank you so much for praying for Justin!

Last friday we drove to Kelowna for another checkup and got some very good news. Justin's heart seems to be recovering very well and he's also growing and gaining the apropriate weight for his age.

A new cardiologist saw him this time and he mentioned to us that he hadn't seen Justin's previous echos but that judging from this last one his heart function is not so bad. We have been increasing the dose on his medication every week as the smaller doses weren't bringing his heart rate down as low as he needed (this was also monitored by a pediatrician weekly) but the cardiologist told us that his heart has recovered so much that he may not need such a large quantity of medication. Of course this was wonderful news for us!

We will be keeping him on this same amount of meds for 3 months (but we don't have to increase them, praise the Lord!) just to make sure he doesn't take a turn for the worse. In September he'll be seeing the cardiologists again and we might be able to begin weaning him off the meds altogether. Please keep that in your prayers!

Because Justin's heart has recovered a bit, they were able to see that some of the muscle is malformed and they believe he was born with this problem. It's impossible to tell how much this will affect the overall function of his heart but it doesn't seem to be a very serious problem.

My beautiful, big-hearted baby boy!

New rain boots! Yay!

Hiding in the closet and then popping out is his favorite new game.

Father's Day!

2010-06-22T10:58:00.006-07:00

The kids made us some very cute presents at school for Father's Day & Mother's Day. Take a look:

This is Lily's to me:

Isn't it cute?

This is what Ben gave me. He planted it himself.
It came in this cutesy bag that he decorated with a Pteradon. I loved it!
Lily's note to Chris on Father's Day.

And a keychain that she made.

Ben mixed spices to make steak rub for him.

They're so cute!

Pics from May

2010-06-18T21:02:00.005-07:00

Grandma bought fun new outdoor toys. Thank you Grandma!

Visiting the petting zoo...

The turkey was funny; the kids would scream and it would answer back every time.

My cutesy brownies.

Cadence dressing up as...
Cadencia!!

(Heh heh)

Just kidding! Here is the handsome boy on his first birthday.

Vancouver Aquarium!

2010-06-17T13:46:00.005-07:00

Two days after first arriving in Canada we visited the Vancouver Aquarium. The Lord supplied it completely for free! We didn't stay long as we arrived close to closing time but it was very enjoyable and I'd recommend it if you're visiting Vancouver.

Lily blends right in to the poster.

The jellyfish were a favorite.

Shark!!!!

Ice Fishing!

2010-06-17T13:16:00.005-07:00

Back in February we went ice fishing. I never got around to posting the pics so here they are.

This was before Justin's hospital ordeal so he still has the lump on the side of his face, poor baby!

Fun on the sled.

I tried it for a whole 5 minutes and decided it's not really for me; waaaay too cold! But then again, we already knew that, didn't we? Oh the sacrifices we make for our children (and husbands) to have fun, heh!

Hot dogs around the fire.

The kids loved riding behind the quad.

The frozen lake was very beautiful. Walking on it was kind of freaky though as you can hear these rumbles and see cracks everywhere. All in all it was a fun day!

Valentine's Day!

2010-06-17T13:05:00.003-07:00

More catch-up posts! I wanted to put up these pages that Lily and Ben wrote to Jesus on Valentine's Day because they're so very cute!

This is Ben's.

And here is Lily's.
I love them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!

2010-05-23T10:45:00.002-07:00

Mark, I wanted to thank you for being an awesome brother and friend to me these past 6 years. You have helped me through positively some of the biggest battles I have ever faced and have been there whenever I needed someone to talk to.

You have been a great example to many of holding on and keeping the faith even through the toughest of times and I dare say that last year was probably one of the toughest for you yet, but you still held on and kept fighting... and you still found the time to style your hair, ha!

I admire the way that you constanly have witnessing on your mind and love to tell others about Jesus. You have always been a sample to me of an instant witness and a true missionary.

You really have a vision to reach out to people and draw them closer to God and teach them to have their own personal link with Him, and it is this drive that I have see in you that has inspired Me to do the same.

You are an awesome dad to your little ones, an excellent husband to Gia, un buen Mexicano, a good Jack of all trades and a great handyman. The list can go on and on because you are one talented individual, but all in all I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and thank you for the years of friendship! I hope to be able to work with you again in the future, or at least to live close enough to you so that we can hang out...and .. so I can kick your butt in some sport that I am better at than you (that'll be the day right?)

I hope this year is your best year yet Mark! May God bless you for all that you do for Him and others!

Chris

All you need is a cape, ha!

Pics from April

2010-05-20T10:37:00.011-07:00

Here is a hodge-podge of pics that I haven't posted yet from April:

We went to Nikki's birthday party and all the boys wore the matching outfits Grandma got them. Txs Grandma! (Getting them to sit together long enough to take this pic was quite the feat!)

Justin loved Nikki's skateboard.

Sunday picnic by a lake.

We had a couple of days of warmer weather which we REALLY enjoyed.

This is their "fort". It has provided hours of fun playtime. Ben is still in his pirate/dinosaur phase so we've had lots of pirate battles on this fort.

Grandma brought him this cute outfit from the Philippines.

Going out for Dinner to celebrate Kris' (Rose's fiancee) birthday.

My little 'group'.

Taking up all of my bed.

We gave Justin a haircut. Doesn't he look cute? These pics were taken right after he got it so his head still looks a little white, heh. It's evened out now.

He LOVES dandelions and has learned how to blow the little seeds away. He still gets confused and tries to 'blow away' just about every flower though.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-12T23:09:00.008-07:00

I know this is late, but I just had to let everyone know how I feel about a very special mommy in my life!

I am so proud to be married to one of the best moms in the world, and that is my Naty! I honestly don't know what I would do without you honey. You are so amazing!

Every day, you work so hard to make our breakfast's and lunches and walk the kids to school and then you clean up and take care of Justin and other little ones and on and on the list goes.

You do all of this without complaint and then you tell me after supper to relax and that you'll clean the kitchen because I have been "working so hard" all day. I am amazed that you have the strengh to stand up at the end of the day after all you've done!

Your tireless labors of love amaze me Nat! You are an amazing mom and you deserve a mountain of praise for all that you do to make my and others lives easier! I love you so much Nat! You truly are one of Gods greats!

All you mommies out there are tops! Your work never ends and still you don't complain but just keep right on going till one job is done and another begins! You are bold at all the right times and meek at the right times, strong at the right times and weak at the right times. You know how to change to fill every need and you bring balance to our otherwise hectic lives. I salute each mother out there! All of you who give your lives daily to your children and husbands and everyone else, I salute you! You Rock!! May God bless you all!

Here is a list of some Amazing Mommies in my life.
(These names are in no particular order)

Naty (You are perfect and so exceptionally beautiful and I love you!!)
Mom, aka, Elvira Brown, aka Grace (Thank you for bringing me into this world and for teaching me about Jesus at such a young age. Thank you for all the sacrifices you made throughout your life to give us kids a better life! and lastly, thank you for never forgetting my birthday, ha! You are the bestest mommy I ever had!
Susana (Gracias por el regalo de tu hija y por todos tus oraciones y consejo, Y consuelo durante esos ultimos 8 anos! Eres una mama tremenda y estoy feliz de la vida que eres mi Suegra! Mil gracias Susana, eres muy cool!!)
Irene (You have been such a sweet friend and sister in law! Thank you for all the talks and advice you've given me and the prophecies you've gotten for me and the prayers you've prayed for me! You are a wonder mom!)
Carolina (I admire you so much for your fighting spirit and how you never give up even when the going gets really tough! You are an amazing mom!)
Rose (I am so proud of you! You are an awesome, giving, caring, loving mommy and a totally sweet, protective little sister! Thank you for the talks and encouragement! You are such a wise one!)
Ruth (I am so proud of you! You struck out on your own and started your own business and made an exact replica of you when you were a baby! Yup, Shia is definitely your clone, except that I think she got a double portion of your temper in the slice! Thank you for all that you've done for us, Ruth! You are so giving and unasuming, and you are a very cool mom! ... especially for the unique way you taught Shia how to crawl, ha!)
Clara (You drive!! Need I say more? I would have bet my life that you would never learn to drive and you just smacked me in the head with your drivers license! Good for you! I miss you Clara, especially your beautiful voice!!! You are an awesome mommy and I know that Julie adores you as do we all!
Stephanie (I have never seen such a tough mommy in all my life! When we were on that 12 hour trip, you didn't get sick or bothered even once, even though it was so rough and you were 7 months pregnant! I was amazed! You are a trooper mom and you made a super cute little nephew! I can't wait to see little Aaron again!)
Nadia (You are an awesome mom to so many little ones! When are you going to have one of your own? We miss you!! Sniff!)
Aunty Joyce (You are a role model mom! I would give anything to spend some more time with you and uncle Gabe and have an amazing Bible Study! I miss you so very much!)
Liza (My sweet cousin! I love you so much Liza! It was awesome to spend as much time as we did with you and Jon! I wish we were living closer to you so we could visit you more often! You are one of the most amazing moms I have ever met!)
Joanna (Marks mom) (I have always admired you Joanna! You are one of the most patient and loving moms I've ever met and I am so happy that I was able to live with you for as long as we did! I know that Nat feels the same way!)
Marianne (I love you so much! Thank you for having faith in me and for your tireless prayers! You are a top mom in my book!)
Mama Maria, the humble Queen (I love you so much Mama! I so enjoyed talking with you when you visited the CTC! I saw clearly that you are a mom to so many and probably your greatest example to me was the way that you prayed for each person the Lord placed on your heart as if they were your own child. That really stuck with me! You are the most annointed mommy I have ever met and I love you!

There are so many other moms that I would like to highlight but it is getting late and I am extremely tired, so I will say this: To all the moms I know all over the world, I admire each of one of you and love you all very much! God bless!

- Chris

Chris is 30!

2010-05-07T13:13:00.003-07:00

Yup, he's really that old! And to make sure he was aware that he's getting old Lily made this card for him:

Ha ha! I loved it!

I know I'm a bit late in posting for his birthday but better late than never. To celebrate, Chris and I first went for dinner to an awesome, all-you-can-eat, chinese buffet. I've never cared much for chinese food but man! I'd never tried it like they make it here! It was SOOO good! Of course, I have no moderation so I ate so much that I got sick, heh, but we both had a really good time.

The next day Chris' family and friends got together at Ruth's house for a potluck, some jammin' and a poker game (Chris' newest favorite pastime). He got some harmonicas for his birthday so he was able to try them out and acompany the guys on the guitars. Pictures follow.

Chris thought it would be funny to greet his friends wearing this...

Our unsuccesful attempt at a family birthday photo.

Grandpa and Grandma gave Chris this delicious, peanut butter and chocolate flavored ice cream cake.

Posing like Kronk.

The kids started to go bonkers in the house so we found the perfect solution.

This is the only photo I got of their musical session.

I just had to add this photo because he's so cute! He found this little car and was pushing himself all around in it; he even makes the sound with his lips!

The poker game continued back at our house and went on till the wee hours of the morning. Chris won the first game for which I was very happy.

All in all, it was a good day and I think Chris enjoyed it!

At the Abuelos house

2010-04-24T13:10:00.006-07:00

The last of our Acapulco pics. Enjoying our time with the Abuelos.

The salty air had damaged their fridge so Chris helped them fix it. Of course, Justy wanted to help Daddy.

With the Abuela.

Censored!

Pool fun!

He's just too handsome!

Fishing!

2010-04-23T10:57:00.004-07:00

We saw a man fishing at the beach and the kids were very interested in it so Chris borrowed a net and learned to cast right there.

He caught 7 fish on the first cast.

He also caught this cute little baby manta-ray. We let it go right away.

In all we caught 21 fish.

And fried them for dinner.

At the beach with family

2010-04-23T10:34:00.004-07:00

More pics of Acapulco and the time spent with family:

Chris went surfing with Lauri.

The oldest and the youngest.

Awww! Danny & Irene with tiny but huge Christian.

Clara, we missed you... again!

The boys.

Trying to be cool. Sorry Lauri, you'll never make it.

Happy cousins.

At the beach!

2010-04-21T13:05:00.016-07:00

I promised to post photos of our vacation in January, so here is the first batch:

Justy's first time feeling the sand and ocean. (We went to Acapulco when he was 10 days old but he didn't get to enjoy the beach that time, heh.)

Lily drew this on the sand all by herself; I thought she did pretty good.

Wiped out after a long day of fun in the sun!

I love my babies!

The happy Brown family!

Photos from Justin's 1st birthday

2010-04-21T13:05:00.005-07:00

I know it's been a couple of months but things have only just started to settle down and we have the laptop back -yay!- so I can catch up on posting older pics.

Birthday dinner.

Nikki & Ben helped Daddy put the finishing touches on the cake.

The finished product.

Happy family.

Justin is pretty grumpy in all the photos cuz around that time he still had the swollen gland on his face.

Yup! These two are related!

All the Canadian cousins together!

He loved Grandma's present.

Easter egg hunt!

2010-04-06T11:08:00.007-07:00

On Easter Sunday we went to Sorrento to visit some friends who'd invited us to attend their church service and join their Easter egg hunt & hot dog picnic at the park. The kids loved Sunday school and all the activities. Here are some pics of the hunt:

With the Easter bunny. He held out his basket for Ben to take a chocolate egg and Ben happily took the whole basket, heh.

All set to start!

They found lots of little eggs and got some big ones too that they traded in for big chocolate bunnies (which we're turning into chocolate chip muffins, ha!). Justin found 5 little eggs and was so excited! He kept saying "A ball!" He was too interested in the shiny egg to pose for the pic.

First little taste.

In it all goes!

That evening we had a wonderful Easter dinner with our friends and their family. There was so much good food and another egg hunt for the kids! We had a great time and came home with lots of chocolate.

PJ and crazy hair day!

2010-04-06T10:51:00.004-07:00

On April 1st the kids had crazy hair and pyjama day at school. They loved it!

Lily's crazy hair.

And crazy face!

At first Ben didn't want to have crazy hair, but later on Rose convinced him and styled his hair in the cutest mohawk. Didn't get a pic though.

The kindergarten class also celebrated their Easter party on that day and everyone was supposed to bring a snack so of course we brought...

MUFFINS! Tiny carrot muffins.

April fools day

2010-04-05T13:08:00.004-07:00

This...
...was the first April fools prank I've ever done on Chris. And I got him! Ha ha! It was awesome, he totally believed me and we even sat down and discussed whether we wanted a girl or a boy, what names we liked, etc.
Not until he started playing his own pranks on his family did he realize that maybe he'd been pranked first, and he laughed so hard to think that he'd fallen for it.

Note: I am not implying that getting pregnant would be a bad thing. It would just be highly unlikely as I'm still nursing Justin.

New high chair

2010-03-31T22:03:00.004-07:00

Justy has been slowly starting to eat solids again (he'd quit altogether and has only been nursing since the whole hospital ordeal). He was doing so good sitting on a stool like a big boy that the Lord supplied a beautiful new highchair that also folds out into a toddler chair and table, and we only paid a tenth of the usual price for it. PTL!

Another little Justy update: We took him to Vernon last week and he had a visit with the cardio team from Vancouver. His heart is recovering very slowly, but even though the tests don't show much sign of improvement, his behavior is very good; he's alert, happy, developing at a normal rate, etc. and the Drs. really take that into consideration, so that's encouraging. The dose on his meds has been upped and he's taking some new ones as well so please pray with us that we'll see significant improvement soon. A very nice pediatrician here in Kamloops is taking over Justin's case and will be checking him weekly.
And that's all for tonight! I miss you all!

Sun Peaks

2010-03-21T15:02:00.005-07:00

Last Sunday we went up to Sun Peaks (a ski resort) so the kids could play in the snow before it melts. We all had a blast! We made a snowman, slid down the slopes on sleds, threw plenty of snowballs, the boys went snowboarding and believe it or not I actually enjoyed it!

I still haven't figured out how to post videos but here are some pics:

Making a snow angel...

...and hating it!

"Oh look! A giant ball!" (For those who haven't seen him recently: "ball" or "a ball" are his favorite words and he uses them for just about everything.)

Chris and Nico enjoyed snowboarding so much that today they went again on a 'guys only' trip up.

First day of school

2010-03-18T16:47:00.003-07:00

Lily and Ben started school today! They both were very excited about it and did very well. I'm so proud of them.

The school is very nice and only a little over a km away from the house, so I'll be getting good exercise walking there and back 6 times a day to drop them off and pick them up. I'm expecting to have nicely toned legs by the summer, heh.

In other news, we took Justin to a pediatrician for a checkup this week and things are looking good. His heart is still pretty large but that's to be expected as the healing process takes quite a bit of time. Next week we're going to a city close by so the same cardio team that worked on him at the hospital can check him. Please continue to pray for his complete healing and recovery.

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent notes of encouragement and who have been praying! It's wonderful to have friends like you!

I'll leave you with a pic of Justin and his cousin Cadence:

Snow!

2010-03-12T16:09:00.009-08:00

This morning we had the first snowfall since arriving in Canada. It didn't last long, but the kids had so much fun! I was surprised that it would snow in March, but apparently that's pretty common here, yikes! Pictures:

Catching snowflakes with their tongues.

We had to yank Nico out of bed to come and get some pictures with us.

Flight to Canada

2010-03-11T16:09:00.002-08:00

I have a lot of photos of the past month, so I'll be making some 'catch-up' posts. Here are the photos of our flight to Canada:

On the bus from Cuernavaca to Mexico City. They're so good at pretending to get along, heh.

Danny and Irene came to help us with our luggage and see us off. It was so nice to see them again before we left.

Yes!

2010-03-11T15:43:00.003-08:00

Thank you all so much for your prayers! This morning we got news that the government medical insurance will cover Justin's huge hospital bill! It's such a miracle and direct answer to prayer, and we wanted to share the good news with you!

Hope you have as wonderful a day as we're having! xxx

Hospital Pics

2010-03-10T15:01:00.011-08:00

We are so happy to be home! Thank you all for your prayers for Justy. He's due for a checkup on Monday so we'll keep you informed on his progress. Here are a few pics of our stay at the hospital (something is up with blogger and I can't organize them so they're mixed up):

His scar is healing up quite nicely.

Last day of our stay at the Hospital; he's so happy to not be attatched to any more wires.

At the ICU they put his sock in a 'biohazard' bag, which we thought was funny.

He wouldn't sit still for the cardiogram till Chris pulled out the camera and he started posing for pics. It was so cute!

He looks so small here.

Snuggling with Daddy after the first surgery.

Right before the first surgery, the lump is still there.

PS. Because Justin is a Canadian citizen the Hospital is giving us a real good rate, only about a third of the real cost. However it is still way more than we can afford so please continue to pray for a miracle of supply for us. We know the Lord is going to do it!

Victory!!

2010-02-27T16:30:00.005-08:00

We have wonderful news to share with you! The Lord is SO good to us!

As you know, Justin was having some trouble with his blood clotting too fast in the artery where they inserted the catheter. Thankfully, that is all worked out and Justin is fine and very happy. We were moved backed to the recovery ward yesterday (which means he is stable) and were told that we might be able to leave by the end of next week as they wanted to monitor his condition a bit more. This was encouraging news as we had originally been told that we could be here for up to 6 weeks.

But this morning as the cardiologist checked Justin he said "Why are we even keeping them here? This boy is perfectly fine!" So, we are leaving the hospital now. It's such a miracle!

We were told that Justin sat so still during the cardiogram that morning that they were able to get the pictures they needed in 3 minutes whereas it normally takes them 30 min. He's such a good boy!

We're going to stay in Vancouver till Monday as they want Justin's original cardiologist to check him once more before we move back to Kamloops (there are no cardiology specialists there), and after that we're free to go home!

This is such an answer to prayer and we wanted to thank you all so much for the part you have played in this miracle. The Lord has also led us to some wonderful people here, and we've had a chance to pray with people, encourage them and witness. We really see this whole situation working together for good!

Justin has one more week of antibiotics and a month of diuretics and other medication for his heart, and from there we'll see how he's progressing. The aortic coarctation (the narrow part of his aorta) has been fixed but there is a chance that the damage to his heart may be permanent. The cardiologist told us that Justin's heart is presently the size of a 10 year old's heart and it usually takes months for it to heal. Please continue to pray with us that the medication Justy is taking will work well and that his heart will heal completely and not be permanently weakened in any way. Justy will be having monthly checkups so we'll be able to see the progress.

We love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragment! You're wonderful and now we can all praise the Lord together for this great victory!!

Successful procedure PTL! (some prayer needed)

2010-02-26T00:27:00.003-08:00

Justin had his procedure today and it was a total success, Praise the Lord! The doctors opted to use a baloon catheter to stretch the narrow section of his Aorta, instead of heart surgery which was much more risky seeing as his heart is so weak. He is in the ICU now with Nat recovering. Justin was having some trouble tonight with blood clotting in his femeral arteries where they did the Cath procedure so they are giving him some anticoagulant drugs and blood thinners to break up the clots and prevent further clotting. Please pray that Justins circulation to his lower extremities normalizes and that the entry points on both femeral arteries do not clot! Thanks for all of your prayers!! We can't do this without them!! We love you all! God bless

I am a neurotic clean-freak

2010-02-25T15:28:00.007-08:00

We just heard that Justins procedure went really well PTL, but we are waiting to see him so I thought I would share something that is on the funnier side to show you all that it isn't doom and gloom here. Justin has been quite a funny guy lately and has been loving the attention that everyone has been giving him. He is such a performer and really cracks people up with his antics and wins them over with his charming smile and bubbly laugh.

Justin hasn't been keeping solid food down since he's been taking the medication to help him with his heart condition. He still loves food though and the other day he got plate of honey-garlic chicken and scalloped potatoes for dinner and he wanted every bit of it! I cut it up into itty bitty pieces and he gobbled it down till he couldn't fit any more in. I was so happy that he ate it all without spitting any back up and I started cleaning up and washing his dishes while Nat held him. That is when disaster struck!

He threw up a bunch of itty bitty pieces of honey-garlic chicken covered in slime on Nat's pants as she was sitting there and of course I calmly freaked out and helped her to clean it up. While she was changing and I was washing my hands, Justin decided to throw up a little bit more on the sheets and blankets of his bed, so I panicked and looked for some sort of container to catch it in. Nat came out with clean clothes on and started to clear off the bed sheets when Justin tossed the vomit container behind the bed and promptly started throwing up some more on the pillow and matress! Nat was catching it in her hands and I was just about in tears frantically trying to get him his vomit cup. He ended up soiling everything in the room before completely emptying his stomach of the yummy dinner he ate and the room smelled awful! All of you who know me well, must know what was going through my mind. Nat was having a great time watching me clean up the bed and floor with papertowels and soap.

The nurse came in to check on us and wasn't shocked at all, as if she had seen this scene more than twice a day. She motioned toward a container of special wipes and told me that I could use those to disinfect the matress. She casually mentioned that they smell awful but effectively kill all kinds of bacteria as well as TB! Eureka! Nat told me that she saw my eyes light up like Christmas day as I grabbed a handful of wipes and in a frenzy attempted to clean the matress and every other possible surface of the bed. Nat told me that the nurse was watching me amusedly while I was in my cleaning hysteria and in the end she told me "um.. I think it is clean now". I just smiled at her and of course kept right on cleaning. Even hospital staff have to stop me from cleaning! She finally started making the bed and slowly pried me away from it.

Thinking about it now, it must've looked kinda funny to the nurse to see a panicked dad cleaning like a neurotic house mom! Many thanks to my mother for passing on those genes to me! Just kidding. Anyways, thank God those situations don't happen every day! Justin of course was very pleased with the mess he created and was watching me the whole time I was cleaning with a smug grin on his face!

Funny thing is, he doesn't even like honey-garlic chicken. I think it was planned....

Good News!

2010-02-24T14:27:00.004-08:00

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all of your prayers for Justin! Well, we received some good news this morning from the Cardiologist team. They discovered after checking the pictures from his Angiagram yesterday that he has a problem with his Aorta where there is a tiny section that goes from the normal 6mm diameter of the vessel to 2mm and then back to 6mm where the blood is forced through. Other than that, his heart is in perfect shape! PTL!
His heart is working much harder on the left side to push that blood to his lower body so that is why he has the Dilated Cardiomyopathy condition.
The root of the problem is called coarctation of aorta and the good news is that it is treatable through surgery and other means.
The cardiologists haven't told us what they have decided to do in regards to the condition yet, but we will know later today. Justin is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at around 1:00 pm and will have to fast again before hand. Pls pray for wisdom in the doctors decision and that the Lord will guide every movement of the procedure.
Justin is doing awesome, he is happy as can be and is loving all the attention! I would love to post pics of him, but we can't at the moment. He is still just as boisterous as always, if not more so because of the extra fanfare and half hour visits by nurses and doctors.
We really feel that he is being upheld by all of your prayers, so keep them coming! Nat and I are doing good too, kinda going bonkers from the isolation, but at least we can leave the room one at a time from time to time. PTL!
The hospital here is amazing and the staff is unbelievably helpful and sweet! They are all heroes in my books!
The Lord is also doing huge miracles on our behalf in regards to the situation with Justins health care. As many of you may know, he is not yet covered by MSP and the ensuing bill for his stay here may be a crushing 70,000 CAN or more! The Lord is in control though and we received word yesterday from one of the many good samaritans that is going to bat for us that it appears that MSP will be able to cover all medical costs from Feb 4th on! What a miracle!!! We haven't received a final, but we are rejoicing already anyways!

Things to pray for:

That Justin will not react badly to the third session of sedatives and that the doctors will choose the perfect solution to fix the problem.

Against any complication or heavy bleeding so he won't have to get any blood transfusions.

For a speedy recovery after the surgery and that he won't have to take medications for the rest of his life!

Against Set and especially Sphinx who I am pretty sure are behind this problem! I am sure that there are plenty of keys out there to claim against those two!

Thanks again for all of your prayers!!

I am so thankful to the Lord that He helped the cardiologists find the cause of his heart condition, because quite often, they never find out what caused it and in this case, they are quite sure that his heart will return to normal size after his aorta is repaired! The Lord can do it!!

We love you all and miss you so much!

DCM

2010-02-23T13:37:00.004-08:00

Justin's condition has been diagnosed as pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy. The Drs. don't know what may have caused it as there are lots of probabilities and they've been honest and told us we may never find out.

They're running more tests to rule some things out and see if he has any other treatable problems. Justin is on antibiotics to help his body fight off the infection that brought us here in the first place, and several medications to help strengthen his heart. Please pray that his body can accept the medications well as the sooner he does, the sooner we can go home.

One of the side effects of the antibiotics is diarrhea, and Justin also has a cold so please keep those minor problems in your prayers as well. A good thing is that the issue with there being fluid in his lungs has cleared up nicely, PTL!

Out of ICU!

2010-02-22T13:03:00.003-08:00

Hi there! I wanted to post an update on Justin's situation as I don't know if all of you have been receiving the news I've been sending my family and home. First of all, we want to thank everyone for their prayers, notes of encouragement and the P&Ps you've received for us. They are a huge support to us!

To sum things up, the surgery went well, PTL, and the incision is healing very nicely. The Infectious Disease department has run a bunch of tests to determine what could have caused the lump on Justin's neck and so far all we know is that the infection itself was one of the most common in children (very encouraging as there was a possibility of it being Chagas or other more rare diseases) and they are presently treating it with both IV and oral antibiotics.

The morning after the surgery (Friday) Justin's breathing was very shallow and he had a fever, so they ran some tests and the Xray of his chest showed that his heart was very large and that he had fluid in his lungs. We were sent down to the ICU and spent the next 24 hours there while they ran a host of tests. Poor Justin had to be sedated as there was so much that needed to be done and Drs. from 4 different departments were working on him but thankfully we were told that he needed twice as much sedation as other toddlers which is a good sign as it means his body is strong and he was fighting off the sedatives. The Drs. are looking for the cause of the enlarged heart and trying to see if there is a conection between the lump on the neck and the large heart.

So far there doesn't seem to be a connection but we may never know the exact cause. We now have been transferred from the ICU to the Pediatric Ward which is a huge improvement, PTL. They are treating his heart with some medication and he is responding well to it. Justin has been very happy and active throughout this whole time so that's also a very good sign. We have a minimum of a week to 10 days here while they monitor his progress, run more tests to rule out other causes and wait for the results. Tomorrow (Tuesday) they may do a procedure on him to get pictures of his heart valves internally so please pray specifically that all goes well with that. It will be the 3rd time he's had to be put to sleep in less than a week.

Chris and I are very encouraged by all the Lord is doing for us. Of course being here isn't easy but we feel very supported by your prayers. We've been meeting some very nice people and have had a chance to talk to them about our faith. The Lord did a miracle and assigned the only Christian social worker in the Hospital to our case and he has really been going above and beyond to help us solve the bill which will come to a pretty overwhelming number. Please keep this in your prayers as the social workers here have succeeded in eliminating hospital bills in situations like ours. A very sweet Christian nurse is also on the day shift and we've spent quite a bit of time with her discussing Divine healing, the power of prayer and praise and reading a bit of the book Megashift with her.

Of course we do have bouts of discouragement, but we do believe that the Lord is working this whole situation for good. It's really a miracle that this happened when it did and we were able to catch the problem with Justin's heart before it became too severe. We were told that if you catch a heart problem before you actually see symptoms of it, the chances of it healing are much higher.

We still have a ways to go, but we're seeing improvement every day so we're very thankful for that. We probably will have several more tests to do so please pray that Justin takes well to them. He has very small veins so every time they have to test him it's a bit of a stressful procedure and just getting an IV in takes 4 to 5 tries.

We love you so much and can't tell you just how thankful we are for your prayers and encouragement.

Practicing extreme praise...

2010-02-18T13:23:00.008-08:00

We just got back from taking Justin to a specialist. (We had the appointment with the sweet lady Dr. who prescribed more homeopathic medication for him but also said that if we didn't see improvements in 2 days we should take him to a specialist. The remedies didn't work as we'd hoped but thank the Lord, He supplied a free visit with the specialist this morning.)

It seems we need to take Justin to the hospital so they can drain the gland. The hospital here in Kamloops is having some problems with their operating room, so we have to take him to the Children's Hospital in Vancouver, which is 4 hours away. I also won't be able to breastfeed him for 4 hours before the surgery so please pray that Justin will handle that ok as he hasn't been eating anything solid. DV, they'll have the surgery this evening and possibly keep him in the hospital for a few days on antibiotics.

As you can imagine, this is a big trial for me as I hate having to spend any time at all in a hospital, especially with a child this young, so prayers for strength and encouragement for me are highly appreciated! I'm trying to stay positive and count my blessings through this whole experience.

We love you and are so thankful that you're all fighting with us in prayer! It's a relief to know we're not alone.

Update on Justin

2010-02-12T22:27:00.003-08:00

Thank you so much for fighting with us in prayer for Justin's health. After a very frustrating week of calling everyone we knew and trying to get medical help for Justin to no avail, the Lord has done a miracle.

We were just about ready to give in and take Justin to the hospital and somehow pay the HUGE bill but decided to pray and ask the Lord about it one more time. Chris' sister Rose was with us and she remembered a Homeopathic Dr. she knew. We stopped by his office and he was out but Chris began explaining who we were and our problem to the receptionist. He was pretty desperate and said "I'm just looking for someone who will help us." To his surprise, the girl said "I'll help you!" It turns out that she's a Dr. and had just stepped out to answer the phone as the receptionist was already gone. She really liked our work in Mexico, told us to give Justin a homeopathic remedy over the weekend and bring him in on Monday for a checkup.

We're so thankful to the Lord for sending this angel to help us. As Rose said "You guys look like you're at the end of the tunnel, so the light is about to shine through!" PTL!

Please continue to pray that the swelling goes down over the weekend and that Justin will be completely healed. We love you! xxx

Please pray for Justin.

2010-02-08T16:27:00.003-08:00

Hello! I've got so many pics to post but we've been a bit busy. I'm just writing a short post to let you all know how the tutle is doing.

As you know, his salivary gland is very swollen (it may have a stone plugging it). We took him in for a checkup and have been giving him an antibiotic. However, we're almost finished with the antibiotic round and the swelling hasn't gone down. Our options seem to be to take him in to the ER for them to pump more antibiotics into him with an IV drip or get surgery to drain the gland.

Besides being very unpleasant for Justin, we don't have the funds to cover a hospital bill for this procedure (which could come to several thousand dollars), so we wanted to ask you to please join us in prayer for Justin. We know the Lord can do a miracle and heal him!

We're also trying to find a good specialist who will give us a discount or agree to help us free of charge. We'd appreciate your support in prayer for this too!

Thank you so much! We love you!

Canada!

2010-02-02T17:16:00.003-08:00

We're here! We had a very good trip (all things considered) and are enjoying our first few days in cold Canada. Well, it's cold to us (4 degrees) but here it is considered mild weather for this time of year.

When we arrived here we spent the night at a Hotel and they treated us SO well. All the staff signed handmade cards for us welcoming us back to Canada, they gave us an extra room with a crib free of charge so we'd be more confortable and sent us toys and snacks for the kids. The Lord really took good care of us!

Then we spent the weekend with Chris' family in Vancouver and the Lord supplied free tickets to the Aquarium! It was very interesting and of course, Ben LOVED it! (Once again, I can't get to the pics, but will post them as soon as I can.)

Now, we're in Kamloops, Chris' hometown, getting settled in and beggining our paperwork. Chris' family is so wonderful and taking such good care of us. The kids got to meet and play with their baby cousins and are very happy. We don't have any snow yet but I took them down to the shore of a frozen river that runs behind the house and they were so happy to play on it.

Ok, that ends my update. I love you all back home! Justin still has a swollen gland (we think it might be from his teething as he cut new 2 teeth on the trip) and Chris has a cold so please keep them in your prayers! Lots of love to you all!

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!!!!

2010-01-22T22:45:00.005-08:00

I just found your super sweet anniversary note honey and I wanted everyone to know just how much I love you!

You have been a constant support to me this last year through thick and thin and have always stood by me even though I was pretty difficult to live with at times.

You have been an example to me of how parents should be with their children and I have been trying to "be more like you" in that sense, except when they are being REALLY naughty. ha!

I am so proud of the way you have been embracing the new changes that are going on in our lives and the way you adjusted to having a third little darling to care for!

The way you can take care of the kids and get everything done and extra on top has always baffled me and I must say that I really admire you for that.... and kinda envy you for it too!

I tried it today when I was with the kiddos by myself and for some reason I could barely get lunch and dinner ready and feed them, much less take care of the myriad of other things that needed to get done. Wow! I was baffled! "How can she do everything so well while taking care of the kids and I can't!?" Ha! It must be the true mothers anointing!

To make myself feel better, I just thought, "well, I can still make a dresser, and design a dress and dress a turkey better than Nat can!" Hmmm.... come to think of it, it actually didn't really make me feel much better about myself, because lately I have been noticing that you are starting to take over in some of my departments, such as the cooking, laundry and pretty soon you will be making clothes for the kids and driving and who knows, maybe you'll even start building furniture for us too! The sky seems to be the limit with you and that is another reason why I love you so much!

I am so looking forward to this next year with you Nat! I have fallen in love with you all over again and I know that the tough times we have experienced in the 8 years we have been together have only served to make our marriage stronger (after we learned what we had to learn) and have made us a pretty tightly knit team! You are an amazing wife!!

You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me Nat and I am proud to be married to you! My hope and prayer for this next year together is that we will grow stronger together spiritually and hone our parenting skills and that we will not lose the vision for the mission that Jesus has put us on this earth for, to be a bold witness and a sample to others of his love! I am most richly blessed to be your husband! Thank you!

Sincerely yours
Chris

PS. You take my breath away! xoxoxoxo

Today marks one year of blogging!

2010-01-22T21:27:00.001-08:00

Yay!

We're back!

2010-01-17T18:52:00.003-08:00

From a week of vacation in Acapulco! It was wonderful! We relaxed at the beach and spent time with my family, well... most of my family that is. Dave, Clara & Nico were missed!

Unfortunately the SD card with all the pics on it is having issues and Chris is away at the moment, so I'll have to wait till he gets back to help me fix it before I can post some pics.

Speaking of Chris, he's presently in the States selling our car and taking care of some business. He'll be heading back on Tuesday so please pray for safe travel for him. Txs!

10 days till we leave! It's exciting!

I'll leave you with some adorable pics of Justin...

The toothless wonder...

2010-01-04T16:27:00.006-08:00

...is 11 months old today! He's such a big boy! He's starting to stand on his own, loves walking holding on to your hands and has developed a nasty temper, but I love him!

In other news, we're going to Acapulco!! Yay! The kids are so excited. Danny, Irene and the cousins are already there and we'll meet them on Wednesday. It's so wonderful of the Lord to supply the funds for us to go visit family before we leave for Canada. We'll probably spend 5 days there.

We're also starting the purging/packing process and there's a lot to do so keep us in your prayers.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T21:49:00.003-08:00

May it be filled with blessings... of love!

Christmas celebration!

2009-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos taken on Christmas day:

Justy's first Christmas!

They really enjoyed the present opening.

Chris made Ben an awesome red Indian dress-up set with a tomahawk, bow, arrows & quiver and a headdress. He loved it and has worn it every day.

Showing off her MP3 player.

After the gift opening we had an awesome brunch with omelets, bacon, hash-browns, biscuits, muffins, cinnamon rolls, crepes and all the trimmings.

Then we were off to visit Danny & Irene in Mexico city who made an incredible Christmas dinner for us. We had Arrachera steak, ham & cheese empanadas and clerico. It was SO delicious! The kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins and we all had a great time!

2 different kinds of clerico.

Chris made the 'tapas' (empanada dough) from scratch and they were SO good!

Cristian, such a smiley baby!

Crashed out after so much good food, fun a fellowship!

We hope you enjoyed a good Christmas too! We love you!

Cute kids

2009-12-19T10:14:00.008-08:00

Mom to kids: "What would you like to be when you grow up?"

Lily: "I want to be a professional painter and a missionary."

Ben: "I'm going to be a scientist that studies animals because I just LOVE animals. Then I could feed chocolate magnets to the crocodiles; they would like them because they're chocolate and the magnets would draw them to me."

Huh?

*****

Mom, reading the story of David Livingstone: "Then David Livingstone said to the chief 'I have a message from God for you'. (To the kids:) Do you know what that message was?"

Lily: "Yes! It was: Do not lie, do not cheat! Wash your hands before you eat!"

Go Veggie Tales!

*****

Ben: "Mom, you know what I would do if the Antichrist threw me into the lions den? Well, if the lions were tame I'd just take a big stick and feed them steak so they don't eat me. And if they're NOT tame I'd quickly go, dress up like a cave-man, grab my club and my pet mammoth and tell my mammoth to trample the lions. That way I'd be safe."

Sounds like a great plan!

*****

Ben to Mom: "Mom, you are so beautiful! Even on those days when you try to look beautiful but it doesn't really work out... I still think you're beautiful!"

No comment.

Christmas parties

2009-12-17T13:41:00.005-08:00

On the 15th and the 17th we held our Christmas parties for friends and supporters. Thank you so much for your prayers, they were a success! About 40 people showed up to each one and enjoyed the snacks, kids' Christmas show, piñatas, a gift exchange and fun fellowship.

God bless the kitchen crew (Maria, Olympia, Linda, Cristina and Chris) who made over 600 flautas (fried tacos) and different snacks. Chris made his delicious spinach dip which I think everyone should try at some point in their lives.

One of our snack tables.

The gift exchange was also a lot of fun as apparently it's pretty common here in Mexico. We attached the name of an animal on 2 gifts, so you first had to find the other person in the room whose gift had the same animal tag as you. Of course the way to find that person was by making the sound your animal made (i.e. if you had dog, then you barked your way around the room, etc.) With 40 people doing it all at the same time, it made for quite a few laughs.

Here are some pics:

Taking a shot at the piñata.

The next 2 pics are only included cuz they made me laugh. I think they show Ben's true colors, heh.

The turtle!

2009-12-11T12:16:00.007-08:00

He has a cough and a cold. Please pray he gets better soon! (Thank you Agnes for the cute outfit!)

On a side note, our Christmas event at the youth jail went very well! Thank you for your prayers for it! The Lord did so many miracles to help it flow smoothly and supplied a gift package of toiletries for each of the 95 inmates and a nice chicken meal with dessert. We organized sports and gave away soccer balls, and the kids performed their Christmas show for them. God bless Chris and Daniel who organized it all.

Chris & Lily after the kids' show.

Daniel, Chris, Leo & Nadia with some of the gift packages.

Lily's birthday celebration

2009-12-09T10:51:00.006-08:00

We had Lily and Sheila's birthday party 2 weeks after their birthdays so that her cousins could come. Daddy made a beautiful 3 tiered cake (in Lily's present favorite color) and her cousins gave her a bunny as a present!!! Lily is SO happy with Fluffy and she's been taking good care of her. I wanted to post pics of it but Irene made a beautiful post on her blog so if you want to take a peek, head on over there.

I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season!

Indian night!

2009-11-24T17:33:00.003-08:00

Sleeping in their cozy teepee.

Halloween/Pirate Party!!

2009-11-18T19:39:00.005-08:00

Daddy was away at the Cervantino Festival but we had a great time anyway. Everyone dressed up as pirates, we had a treasure hunt and Julie baked a wonderful treasure chest cake.

One of the kids even made a hook for Ben's hand.

PS. Our laptop crashed with a bunch of pics on it so please pray we can get that fixed soon!

Happy Birthday Lily!

2009-11-16T12:06:00.002-08:00

Instead of putting together a long post for Lil we decided to take her out and spend more time with her.

She's such a smart, wonderful little girl! We love you Lily! Happy 7th Birthday!

Pumpkin carving

2009-10-30T22:39:00.005-07:00

Ben has been wanting to carve pumpkins and make jack o' lanterns since the first day of Fall, so for Family Day, Daddy got two cute little pumpkins to carve with the kids. (He got a really good deal too which was nice 'cuz they're SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!)

This was a first for the kids and me, so Daddy showed us how to carve them. Lily got really into it and was surprisingly good with the knife. (I was a little worried that she'd cut herself and mess up the pumpkin pretty bad too.) Ben thought that scooping the inside out was too gross so he handed his over to Daddy to make for him. Here are some pics:

Happy with their pumpkins.

Daddy put lights inside and I think they turned out pretty good! We have them in the bathroom as a nightlight. At first I was concerned that they would scare Ben but he loves them!

It was fun! I'd like to do this every year.

Of sea cows and such...

2009-10-23T10:31:00.003-07:00

Ben to Dad: "Daddy, did you know that there are trees that grow in water? They are called Houdini trees. There are also sea cows that live in the sea and give sea milk.......but humans don't like to drink that kind of milk, because the seam milk tastes like 'bluah!' Very Yucky!"

He's so perfectly handsome!

The other day we were reviewing spelling words and I asked Ben to spell the word 'brown'. When I came back to check on him, I found this:

"Mr. Brown man had u TV."

I thought it was so cute! He's such a smart boy!

Updates on Justin

2009-10-21T21:16:00.006-07:00

Thank you so much for keeping Justy in your prayers. He had a fever for 3 days but seems to be all better now. I'm pretty sure that he's teething and that's why he had the fever as he hasn't had any symptoms of anything else. I still don't see any teeth coming through though.

Thankfully he's sleeping well again and is pretty happy, he just hasn't regained his appetite and only wants to nurse. Anyhow, here are some pics:

I think he almost looks like he's dancing here.

He loves the top bunk and goes to play with Lily when she first wakes up.

His favorite parent time activity: dancing and clapping to songs that Daddy plays for him. (His absolute favorite is "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz.)

I love the way he sleeps just like Chris, with his arms up.

Goodnight to all!

Here's another beautiful piece Chris made for the baby...

2009-10-14T19:28:00.005-07:00

It's so perfect!

God bless him for working so hard on it. He doesn't have much time so he'd stay up late at night or use little free slots here and there to make it and I love how it's turned out.

"Mom, my doll is alive..."

2009-10-14T19:21:00.006-07:00

A new crib!

2009-10-14T18:54:00.003-07:00

Yes! My wonderfully talented husband has produced another masterpiece. See for yourself:

The finished product!

We really needed a crib for Justy and upon hearing this a good friend went out and bought us all the wood we needed. Then Chris designed and built it. I'm so happy to have it as it's not only beautiful and big (just how I like it) but it's a great playpen and is helping us get more rest at night.

In his new crib!

Just because he's so handsome...

2009-10-08T14:02:00.006-07:00

Here are some random photos of Justin to brighten your day:

He sleeps just like his Daddy, with his arms up over his head.

Just waking up and so happy to see Daddy!

He sits up so well, all by himself.

Dinosauria!

2009-10-08T13:47:00.005-07:00

Daddy took the kids to see "Dinosauria", a mechanical dinosaur display that came to Cuernavaca. They really enjoyed it though Ben was a little overwhelmed by their size, movements and loud sounds.

One very cute thing about it was that when we found out about it I told Ben that we needed to pray and ask the Lord to supply free tickets to it, and he was so serious about it. We were walking home discussing possibly going to it that afternoon and he stopped right on the sidewalk and started praying for it. I was so proud of him!

The lighting wasn't very good inside so I'll just post a few of the better pics.

Yup! That's my son!

Girl Scouts

2009-10-02T21:26:00.006-07:00

Lily has joined a Girl Scout club nearby and really enjoys it. They meet once a week to do arts & crafts projects, play games, sing & dance together etc., and I'm hoping it'll also help Lily pick up Spanish faster.

To celebrate Independence Day all the little girls came dressed up in traditional outfits. They each brought a traditional dish and learned a bit about Mexico and the flag. Here is the craft they made:

Although it's only for girls, Lily asked her Guide if she could bring some colored paper home so Ben could make a flag too. It was so thoughtful of her! Lily's flag is on the left and Ben's on the right.

Dressed up!

Some of the little girls in her group.

He insisted on dressing up as well (he comes with me to drop her off).
Isn't he just SO handsome?

Another month...

2009-10-02T21:01:00.006-07:00

In 2 days Justin will be 8 months old. His 7th month has been quite eventful!
He's learned how to:

pull himself up into a sitting position
crawl
clap
wave
say his first word: Papa (Of course it's more like pa-pa-pa-pa, but it's still cute!)

I've got videos of it all but I still can't seem to post any videos on here, so you'll just have to trust me. He's eating regular meals now and has begun to show his temper; he'll arch his back and fuss when I take him out of his bath.

Here are some photos taken throughout the past 2 months:

Laughing at Daddy's tickles.

Cutest Egyptian boy!

Congratulations!

2009-09-24T21:08:00.003-07:00

To Danny & Irene on the arrival of Cristian David!

He's so beautiful. I had the privilege of attending his birth! It was my first time attending a birth as a spectator and I loved the experience. Irene did wonderfully and both Mommy and baby are happy and healthy. I hear he sleeps real well too!

I won't steal their thunder by posting any more details about the baby but I did want to share my joy with you at experiencing something so awesome!

Viva Mexico!

2009-09-22T14:26:00.007-07:00

This year a friend of ours invited us and another family here to spend Independence Day with him. We went to San Francisco Soyaniquilpan, a small town (population 4,000) located 40 kms. outside of Tepotzotlan. We spent the 15th and 16th with him.

We got to celebrate Independence Day the traditional way and it was a lot of fun for the kids to experience real Mexican culture this way. I'll let the pics tell the story:

Tasting the traditional Pozole.

Our friend was having a family get-together to celebrate Ind. Day, and it was cool to see how all of his relatives came dressed up in traditional outfits. They had a table with a bunch of extra sombreros, red-white-green jewelry and face paint, etc. for people who hadn't come dressed up.

Our friends' wife (left) dressed in a traditional outfit from Oaxaca and a relative (right) dressed in traditional garb from Chiapas.

The girls sang a few songs for the guests. It was cold which is why they wore their costumes over their regular clothes.

There were a lot of children there and Lily and Ben had a blast playing with them. Ben, who is usually quite shy, was very outgoing and befriended a group of older boys. He assumed they understood his English so he talked on and on, as they made an effort to understand him. (It was very cute!)

At around 11 pm we all went to the town Zocalo to see the fireworks. They were pretty amazing.

Ben enjoyed the fireworks but not the booming sounds they made.

Lily dancing on the stage at the Zocalo after the fireworks.

Our host with Justy. He loved holding him.

We spent the following day at our friends' house and had a BBQ with his relatives.

Ben trying out the electric shock machine, a traditional game to see how much electricity you can handle.

Relaxing at the hotel.

Cards

2009-09-11T18:07:00.005-07:00

The kids are always writing little notes for us. They're so cute:

I love this last one!

Bath time!

2009-09-09T16:36:00.008-07:00

Here are a few older pics of Justy bathing. He was 3 months old:

All clean & smiley!

7 months old and still LOVING his bath!

Potty Shiner!

2009-09-09T14:01:00.005-07:00

Using the potty at 6 months old. Such a shiner!

My Birthday!

2009-09-08T21:27:00.007-07:00

I know it's been awhile but I never got around to blogging about my birthday so I figure better late than never. Chris worked really hard to make it special and it really was!

My birthday was on a Saturday (a busy day for us) and half of our Home was on the road so to make up for it, Chris took me to Mexico City for an evening of music at the Pedregal Home for our friends and supporters. I'd never been to one so that was nice. I got to see KK (yay! It had been forever!) and about halfway through the music, Jerry asks for a volunteer from the audience. Of course I kept myself nicely hidden but Jerry spotted me and asked me to come up front. To my total surprise, they sang "Las Mananitas" for me and then he went on to sing "Special Lady" and "Have I told you lately that I love you". Turns out Chris had worked it out for him to sing for me ahead of time. It was so sweet! I had no idea!

Jerry made Chris and I dance in front of everyone which was rather embarrassing but so sweet!

The following Monday was our rest day and Jamie, Oliver and Cristina came to spend the day with us. We hung out by the pool together, went to get my nails done and then they took me to
"Marco Polo", a cute Italian place that Simona had told me about for dinner. It was SO sweet of them; we had a great time.

He was so good, sat in his chair without whining throughout all dinner.
I LOVE chocolate cake!

Chris wasn't able to join us for dinner as he had work to do and when we got home I found out that he had planned a surprise area party for me. I quickly got dressed and then TONS of people started showing up. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to everybody who came and got me presents and wished me a happy birthday. I had a very good one!

A few presents. Chellie got me these spider earrings which was hilarious as I can't wear earrings and HATE spiders with a passion.

I was too busy having fun to take pics of the party so I only have these two.

I was so happy that Paula showed up, she made sure I had a good time.

Another great surprise was that Dave & Stephy came with the little cousin and Danny & Irene showed up too. I was so happy as I wasn't sure Irene could make it out here cuz she's about to pop.

Anyhow, Chris worked SO hard to plan the party, stayed up till 6:00 am cleaning, then got up to make breakfast for everyone. He's so wonderful! I love you Honey! Thanks for a great birthday.

Parent time with Ben...

2009-09-02T18:04:00.004-07:00

Ben: "Mom, you made eggs for me and Dad bought me a new toothbrush! You have been so sweet to me that I'm going to make some cards for you.
You like to laugh and you laugh a lot so I'm going to make you a card with a picture of a hedgehog peeing on a man's face!
Dad only likes to laugh a little and he only laughs a little bit so he gets a card with a picture of an ant. Maybe an ant going in an anthill!"

Never a dull moment with that child!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN!!!

2009-08-23T14:48:00.005-07:00

Thank you for how you have stood by me these 7 years we’ve been together! You truly are an amazing woman and I can’t imagine a life without you!

You have brought so much to my life and have really helped to change me into a totally different, better person! I am awed by how you care so much for others and give and sacrifice to do the job of a mother and missionary!

I am so very proud of the way that you can witness to people and connect with them and explain Jesus’ love for them. I learn so much from watching you interact with people and the way you care for the children, not only our little ones, but others kids as well! You treat each one as if he or she was your own and you have eternal patience with them. (Except for when Lily has one of her episodes…. you don’t seem to have patience for her then, ha!)

The Lord and you together have taught me how to be a father and how to lovingly raise our little ones. You don’t see me doing this, but I do watch you often and learn from you as you talk to the kids, reason with them and daily “raise them up in the way they should go” and the way that you put such an emphasis on their time spent studying the word!

You say sometimes that you think that you are not a good mother! Ha!! That is the biggest joke ever! Nat, you are tops in my books! I just hope that these few words can communicate to you, just how much I love and appreciate you for all that you have done for me and for how you have sacrificed and given to the Lord these 7 years we’ve been together!

You are the perfect wife and perfect mommy! I love you so very much!! I hope you have an awesome year, my love! Happy Birthday!!!

Your extremely fortunate husband
Chris

Happy Birthday Daniel!

2009-08-18T14:18:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday to my good friend Daniel! I pray the Lord pours many blessings on you this year and that you will continue to grow and be an even greater witness for Him! I'm very happy to have you as a friend!

I'm back!

2009-08-18T14:10:00.002-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been a bit busy so I took a little break from posting. I just got back from the Youth Retreat which was very wonderful. I'll post photos from it as soon as I get them.

I've got a lot of photos of the kids piled up from the last few months that I'll be posting randomly so you can see them, and hopefully this way I'll catch up. Have a good day!