Take Your Son To Work Day

My friend, Mordoqueo, who works in the shop, has family who live in Santa Maria de Jesus near him.  They are desperately in need of a safer home.  Jude and I went on a pre-home visit yesterday to visit the family.  Hopefully they'll have a new home by the end of 2016.  If you would like to raise funds to sponsor a home, please let us know!  

Staying Active

The girls and I have been trying to stay active by running together.  This weekend we participated in a race in the coffee farm, Finca La Azotea.  We support La Azotea by purchasing their coffee (best around!) and taking guests to visit the farm when they visit us.

The girls ran a 5K with their friend, Lizbet, and I ran the 21K with my friend, Nancy.

Here are some pictures:

MINI FUNDRAISER:

If you would like to purchase coffee from La Azotea, we will gladly bring one pound bags to NC with us.  Send $10 for every one pound bag to PayPal address:  townsend164@bellsouth.net.  Let us know if you want whole bean or ground.   For friends not in the NC area, please add a flat fee of $5 (per order, not per bag) if you need us to ship it to you.  

THANKS!

Thanksgiving 2015

As I mentioned in our last post, we had two teams down for Thanksgiving week.  This year the IDC ministry decided to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal for the teams.  I had such a good time working with my friends, Bill and Kaye, and all four of our daughters preparing for the big meal.  Three turkeys, one ham, 30 pounds of potatoes, endless yams, two HUGE pans of homemade dressing, 10 pumpkin pies, 60 yummy pecan pies, cranberry chutney, 16 pounds of green beans and endless banana pudding for 60+ people.  What a joy it was to spend our Thanksgiving holiday with new friends.  

Super Teams!

It warms my heart when people from the US take a vacation week to come down to Guatemala to work.  Volunteering to work the week of Thanksgiving, just blows my mind.  I love everything about Thanksgiving.  Being reminded to give thanks to our Creator for all that He is just humbles me.  It also humbles me when a person leaves the comforts of their home and their family to spend the week of Thanksgiving building homes.  FIVE homes to be exact.  Two teams came down the week of Thanksgiving and built FIVE homes, in addition to working at Campos de Suenos Feeding Center.  These individuals ROCK.  I had the gift of getting to know them this week.  My family made friends that we will know for life.  

Here are some pictures taken from Thanksgiving week:

Climbing up the hill with all the house supplies.  Often the vans can't park near the house so they have to make a trek carrying the materials.

Such a great, hard working team!

Ava Mae and Annabelle joined one of the teams throughout the week.  They were able to assist with two house builds, in addition to climbing Pacaya with the group.

Another awesome family received a home!  Love the after pictures!

Our daughters made a new friend.  What a treat it was for our girls to hang out with her all week.  They now have a new pen pal and they're already begging her to come back soon!

  

As I mentioned earlier, these two teams were super!  They worked extremely hard and we give thanks to God for their generosity and lovingkindness.  

Fuego...The Show Off!

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Volcan Fuego, approximately 20 miles from us, has been extremely active lately.  We have had the privilege to watch it from our rooftop.  It's absolutely beautiful with lava flowing down the mountain side.

Three nights ago, with Joseph sleeping soundly in bed and the other kids dressed in their jammies, we packed them up in the car and drove 10 miles closer to get a better view.  We gave the kids a mini candy cane and told them to pretend we were looking at Christmas lights.  They agreed it was even better than a light show and we sat on the rooftop of the car and watched the Fuego in awe.

Sadly, we rarely take time to stop and be silent and just wonder at His mighty creation.  Watching Fuego reminded us all of God's huge power.  Worthy is He.  Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth!"

My ipod doesn't take very good pictures so I stole these from two friends.  Photo credit goes to Michael Watkins and Joaquin Aragon.

Penny Family Visit

What a blessing it was to spend a full week with my friend, Erica, and her family.  During the day, the Penny family worked super hard and at night, we reminisced and laughed for hours.  What a fun week to spend time in fellowship with dear friends from the states.

Walking around the beautiful city of Antigua!

The girls had so much fun visiting with Charlie and Andrew.

Rick and Andrew packing supplies for the home build.

Time to build!

Such hard workers!  

Erica and Rick enjoyed spending time with the family.  Marta, Jose, Cesar and Maria were thankful for all the gifts the Penny family brought, and especially for their new home!

Campos de Suenos Feeding Center

Climbing Pacaya!

Unfortunately the day was cloudy but regardless, it is always an amazing climb and beautiful view.  

Kids were tired every night!

In just three weeks we will see the Penny family again when we go back to the US for a visit.  My heart is full knowing we have such special sisters and brothers in Christ who support us, encourage us, and love us.   We are looking forward to seeing friends and family later this month.  Thank you, Rick, Erica, Charlie and Andrew for the special visit! 

Forgive Us!

I know it's been a full month since we have blogged.  Honestly, we have been busier than ever before. Kids are out of school, Jack has been finishing up the year strong with pre and post home visits and we have had awesome teams visiting from the US!

We have a lot to tell so I hope to blog a few times this week.  Stay tuned!

ALSO...

We will be back in the states December 21 through January 26.  We would love to come and talk to your small group, church or Sunday School class.  Let us know if you are interested!

Love you all and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!