Noodles!

I'm not sure where Miguel got this pasta machine, but he brought it home one day. It sat on the shelf for a long time before I finally decided that I might as well put it to work making noodles rather than gathering dust! Probably wasn't such a good idea, though, because now we don't want to go back to eating store-bought pasta after tasting the yummy goodness of fresh, home made pasta!

Gracia loves to help!

Fettuccine is our favorite kind of noodle for
everything from tuna-noodle
salad to spaghetti.

Gracia takes her job very seriously! She fluffs the pasta
just like Mom does...

The machine turned out to be
really easy to use (we won't talk about the clean-up);
makes it fun for the kids to help.

Jojo's New Haircut

We have typically liked our boys to have long hair...some boys just look good with longish styles of hair! Although Jojo's hair was a bit skimpy when he was a baby, it's grown out more and more every year.

Jojo at around one and half...

Christmas 2009

So imagine my surprise when Miguel brought Jojo back from his hair cut a couple of days ago looking like this! I mean, it's like "Who are you and what did you do with my Jojo?!" lol I have to admit, however, he does look a lot more grown up!

First Publication

This afternoon Miguel went to pick up the first printing of some publications he helped to design for the representation department! Several hundred copies of two different postcard and book mark designs with information about our training institutes here in Mexico are ready for distribution. It’s exciting to see the end results of many hours of work on the computer designing these materials!

Proud of his work!

A couple of design samples...they did a great job!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I just found out that today is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day! I had no idea that there was such a day! But anyway, this is very cool because I already had these pictures on the line-up for a cute post. :) Jkaile discovered The Very Hungry Caterpillar a few weeks ago and loved it. This is his favorite page.

He always points out that the "patapita" has an "owie".

Little Children and Jesus

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." ¹⁵When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

This morning, Jkaile woke up after everyone else had gone to school. I 'caught' him praying over his breakfast.

Jkaile loves to pray!

Monterrey

This last weekend, Miguel and Micah caught a ride to Monterrey with our friend Alfonso. Alfonso is the director of the Awana program at our church and was attending a training seminar on Saturday. As well as attending the Awana training with Alfonso, Miguel met with a couple of contacts for the representation department. It's always exciting to meet those who want to partner with our organization to promote and support mission work!

On Sunday, Alfonso and his two boys took Miguel and Micah to a museum called Kidzania. Kidzania is like a miniature city where kids can 'work' at businesses such as gas stations, banks, newspaper or television office, Walmart, the fire department, etc. The kids are paid for their work with a 'check', which they then 'cash' at one of the banks. Micah had a blast! Here's a short video of his time in Monterrey. I made it on www.animoto.com which sets your pictures to the rhythm of the music!

Modeling Grace

For the umpteenth time that day, I heard the wailing begin.

With a sigh, I dried off my hands and headed towards the bedroom...dreading having to sort out what I thought for certain would be yet another sibling conflict. Something we've been having a LOT of lately!

Instead, the wailing child had merely bonked his chin on closet while getting dressed for bed.

My first response, I am ashamed to say, was to judge. If he hadn't been hopping around and being silly, he probably wouldn't have hurt himself in the first place.

Ouch.

Why can't I just merely comfort and console?! I winced as I realized that I often do not model grace for my children. Not only do they suffer because of my lack of compassion, but I have to ask myself whether this lack of grace be influencing some of the dynamics behind the recent surge in sibling rivalry?

Definitely something to think about.

I don't know why I struggle to receive and give grace...I suppose I could begin tracing back to my childhood and point to all the factors that might have influenced me, but honestly, the fact is that I do struggle with it. I think it would be much more helpful to just accept that truth and focus my energy on learning more about grace from this point on.

I was excited to see this post from Simple Mom in my inbox this morning. Maybe a good place to start (or return to) is by learning how to heap grace on myself. If I am not receiving or working out the grace in my own life, then I obviously won't be heaping it on my family, either! And oh, how we all need heaps of grace!

I typically struggle with knowing how to take care of myself...it was, in fact, one of the biggest factors in our having to leave Venezuela when we did. Years of not heaping grace on myself, not recognizing my limits, and not taking care of myself set me up for a spectacular crash that I'm still recovering from.

The funny thing is, though, while I remember those years with sorrow over my lack of grace, my children remember those same years with fondness as they focus on the good times. The special times we shared as a family and the fun things we did together...I'm so glad that grace is smoothing out the wrinkles in our family history.

I took the stress assessment test, by the way, and got a score of 220 which means..."Take care of yourself now. You have borderline high stress. Your chance of accident or illness related to your stress within two years is moderate." I guess that means I need to go heap some grace on myself today.

Marriage Links

I am feeling like crud today...I picked up the cold that's been going around the house and even though I'm using Zicam, it has made me feel pretty bad. So I'm taking it easy again today and trying not to think about the laundry or other chores that need to be done. Hey, it's Friday, might as well live it up! :)

Anyway, I thought I'd post about some of the marriage resources that I have been enjoying these days. Simple Marriage not only has great posts with frank discussions about marriage and relationships, but they have some good links, too. I have subscribed to the blog so I get the posts sent to my email, making it easy to read the posts I am most interested in.

Today I noticed a link to a resource called One Extraordinary Marriage. One Extraordinary Marriage also has a blog here. This blog post about priorities caught my eye because that's basically what I have to do every once in a while to get 'back on track'...confront my selfishness, recognize all that my husband does, and reorder my priorities. I noticed that One Extraordinary Marriage also has pod casts about marriage and other resources...I look forward to reading more!

And speaking of selfishness, another marriage resource that Miguel and I have recently enjoyed is this marriage conference on DVD that one of my sisters sent me. Boy, does Paul David Tripp ever hit you right between the eyes about the real issue in marriage being ME and MY desire to rule my own little kingdom instead of letting God ascend the throne of my life. The website is here and blog here. This ministry also has free audio programs in their Media Center. I'm not sure how much this DVD marriage conference costs, but it is well worth the money spent! It is set up in short 25 minute segments for small groups.


Love2Romance, also a link I found in Simple Marriage, is a site I've found quite intriguing. Geared towards women, it has a really cute and attractive website...here's a blurb from this site: Love2Romance helps you to keep your man Emotionally Connected through our unique romantic gifts, romantic ideas, and romantic cards. With our site you will have access to marriage advice from the leading experts and from everyday women. Our products provide the "fun" in the FUNdamentals of a good marriage!

And finally, Marriage Missions, International is a "Christian marriage website seeking to help those who are married and those preparing for marriage to be PRO-ACTIVE in helping to save marriage from divorce and to enrich it by offering INSPIRATIONAL, skill-building information which REFLECTS the HEART of CHRIST." One thing I really like about this website is that you can sign up for their marriage message newsletters, short messages that are delivered right to your inbox weekly. I have found that the topics covered in the marriage messages often address issues I might be dealing with at that time! It's a God thing. :) Anyway, lots of great articles and links over there.

Words of Encouragement

Picture taken in the Mexican Sierra Madre by Katie Moore

It's good how God brings different words of encouragement my way when I need it...I was
reminded of II Peter 1:3-10 after asking God to bless me with a fresh view of His promises the other day...

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed of his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What stands out to me in these verses...

1. I have everything I already need for life and godliness
2. God has given me very great and precious promises so that I can participate in the divine nature!
   
3. God has laid out a clear plan to avoid being ineffective and unproductive in my knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
   
4. Forgetting that I have been cleansed of past sins is a bad thing
5. I do so look forward to a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Check out these posts over at My Place of Peace and Unveiling Radiance for some good reads today!

Luscious Lemon Squares

Every Wednesday, I make some sort of a dessert to send with Miguel to the small group we lead in our church. The kids and I can't always go because it makes for late night during the school year, but I do try to send a sweet something every week anyway. To my kids' delight, I usually try to make enough to keep some at home, too.

Yesterday, I was browsing through my Betty Crocker cookbook and decided to make Lemon Squares. I haven't made them in a long time and this was a new recipe for me. But wow! They turned out delicious and the recipe is fairly simple. So here you go.

Lemon Squares

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. grated lemon peel, if desired
2 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, margarine, and powdered sugar. Press in ungreased square pan, 8 x 8 x 2 or 9 x 9 x 2 inches, building up 1/2-inch edges. Bake 20 minutes. Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Pour over hot crust. Bake until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center, about 25 minutes; cool. Cut into about 1 1/2-inch squares.

For Lemon-Coconut Squares: Stir 1/2 cup flaked coconut into egg mixture.