A Look at Beth's Day

We had a great time celebrating my Elisabeth's birthday 2 weeks ago, but I never did get around to posting it! So, I thought I would share a few fun pics. We started our day off in the wonderful place we stayed in at Hope Children's Home. We started our day as we do for all of our birthdays....with presents! It sure is different buying for a teenager! We bought her her favorite Bath and Body scent gift set. She loves Coconut-Lime Verbena. We also got her a game for her Nintendo DS. Her brothers and sisters bought her some hair stuff and the game of Life. (they love that game!)

Then, that evening, we surprised her with a girls night out at Iguana Mia. She loves Mexican food! She was excited to see lots of family surprising her at the restaurant.

At Iguana Mia you get your meal for free on your birthday. Yay for free!

But, the catch is...that you have to wear this huge sombrero while they sing to you. My Bethy was a good sport!

I think our whole family had fun passing around the birthday hat!

Then, we went back to Mom and Dad's for cake! Denise bought her the fruit cake from Publix. So Delicious!!!

(Notice Chloe getting ready for the blowing out the candles part)

(I think she is trying her hardest not to blow out Beth's candles!)

Happy Birthday, to my Elisabeth! I'm so glad you were able to celebrate the day with some of our family!

How We Travel

When we were on deputation, before language school, we traveled in our Motor Home. Ahh! I loved motor home life! Now, as we're back on the road for a bit again, it's a little different. Our van is our motor home! We've actually got the packing-repacking-and repacking again stuff down to a science. As we unpacked our stuff this morning (we just arrived back at Patrick's Mom's house after a Mission's conference in Bradenton) we accomplished so much in record time! We have a pretty good routine down as we travel to our meetings. Sometimes I drive...or I guess I should say rarely. Patrick prefers to be the "pilot" on most of our trips. I'm thankful for my hubby that is very safe and protective of us while we drive. He's an excellent driver, but he gets us there in a good time too. Usually this is his time to sit and think, or it's mine and his time to talk. I didn't get a picture of Josh, but this is usually his time to do school, and then when he's done he usually listens to a sermon that he's downloaded onto his MP3 player. We usually try to leave during Silas and Callie's naptime. They sleep very well in the van. Do you like the new "Paper Towel Pillow"? We accidently packed Silas's pillow. :o(

Sweet, content Callie Grace sleeps well, too.

Elisabeth usually does school, but the minute she's done she'll be reading her latest book.

Brenna is supposed to do school while we drive, but she gets sooo sleepy! So, this is always her power nap time!

As for me, I have a variety of things I do while we drive. IF I have a full tummy I read or do a craft (I get carsick if I'm the least bit hungry!) Or I sing a-long with Patrick, or we dream together, or I tend to fall asleep a little like my Brenna does!

So, that's what we've been up to lately. Lots of on the road time. I love being busy! Being on the road means that we've had meetings! Yay!

Now It's 6

If you remember my post a few weeks back, I was asking everyone to pray for 9 more churches to take us on for support. Thank you for praying! We now need 6! Yipee!

We see the Lord working for us and we should be on the field in 4-6 weeks. We haven't bought our tickets yet, we're asking the Lord to show us the right time for us to go. It will be soon, though! (Can you tell that I'm excited by all of the !!!) We have two official, scheduled meetings left. Please pray with us for 6 more churches to take us on for monthly support. I'm thankful for the excitement and desire the Lord has given to our family. There's nothing like being in the Lord's Will!

My New Snack

On our way to a Missions Conference Patrick started to get a little sleepy while driving. Well, I'm supposed to be the one to keep him awake, but the problem was that I was a little drowsy myself. So, what better answer than to stop and get a snack! Patrick came out with a Diet Coke (Love my Diet Cokes!) and this new-to-me snack...Nature Valley Nut Clusters. They were soooo yummy! They had a touch of sweetness to them and lots of good crunchy nuts and oats. I know everyone loves a new delicious snack, so I thought I'd share!

Loved it!

Is it Time for Cookies?

I have been home this morning from church, with another illness in our family. Ugh! Missions Conference-sick, Missions Conference-sick....do you see a pattern? This morning Silas and Callie still have their really gross, thick, yellow, runny nose. A little gross? Sorry. So, I stayed home with them from church. Praise the Lord everyone else was well enough to go. Even though we go through a roll of toilet paper, or box of tissues very regularly wiping their sweet little noses, they actually feel quite well. Silas has just as much energy as ever. So, I decided I would have Sunday School with him during Callie's morning nap. I laid her down, then took Silas to sit on the couch with me. I told him in a really excited voice, "Silas, we're going to have Sunday School and sing songs and read the Bible!" His face lit up and he said, "Church! Cookies!" Oh dear. I guess that's the mind of a 2 year old!

We have an exciting announcement!

So, how many of you thought I was going to announce another Gimenez on the way? :o) Ha!
We've found and rented a house! Yay!We are so excited about this house! It's within our budget! Super yay! It's a two bedroom home, so squeezing 5 kiddos in one bedroom may be a little challenging, but we've come up with some creative ideas. The kids are excited to create their own space. We're planning on getting two sets of bunk beds and a portable crib. The bedroom is about 11'5" x 10'5". Which is actually one of the bigger bedrooms we've seen. The kitchen is also large with lots of cabinets. I love that it has a huge porch! I can see us eating breakfast out there and maybe a hammock too!
It is on a busy road, but it is surrounded by a small cement wall. We're thrilled to be able to have a small yard which seems to be pretty rare in St. Barths. Josh can't wait to put up a basketball hoop, since our driveway is also cement.
We're so excited to see God's hand working for us. He provided this place for us! How neat!
Pray for us as we need to decide exactly when to leave (we begin paying rent April 1st). We also are praying for the Lord to provide for a few of our needs before we leave.
Don't ya just love our place!

Happy 13th Birthday Elisabeth!

On Monday, my sweet Elisabeth turned 13. I now have two teenagers in the house! Wow! My teenagers are only 13 and 14, but I can tell you that all the terrible talk about having to live with teenagers isn't true! I'm so blessed to have the two of mine! Elisabeth is such a blessing to me. She's my right-hand girl, always ready to help me with the two babies, getting dinner on the table, and our endless packing rituals.

She still loves to read and does very well in her schoolwork. She's also becoming an excellent cook! I love love love her Potato Chip Cookies!

I'm so thankful for my Elisabeth! She's so thoughtful and caring. I love you, my girl!

Great Conference in Tampa

I haven't blogged for a week because we've been at a great conference in Tampa! It was such a good week. The dear people of Southside Baptist Church truly spoiled us! We stayed at Hope Children's Home and they have such beautiful property. They said for us to enjoy the grounds and play on the playgrounds and with all of the bicycles. The kiddos had such a great time!

The church provided for every single one of our needs. Dinner every night was very delicious. On Friday they took us to Lowery Park Zoo. It was such a great park! Then, they celebrated my dear Beth's birthday a little early and had cupcakes, a balloon, and a card with some cash! How thoughtful!

Thank you, Southside Baptist Church! It was a great Conference!

Happy 10 Months~Callie Grace!

Saturday my Callie Grace turned 10 months old! My pretty little girls is doing more and more, and isn't quite so teeny tiny anymore. Her cheeks are still nice and plump, but the rest of her is starting to catch up, too.

She loves to play peek-a-boo

And, of course, this is the age for endless teething and chewing on everything in sight. She does a much better job than any Hoover could ever do which is actually a pretty gross talent! She now has five cutesy teeth with #6 ready to appear anyday.

She makes all sorts of sounds and she really seems to think she is talking, I just wish I could figure out what language! She's also picked up screaming at the top of her lungs. She doesn't do this because she's upset, because she's got on her biggest smile. I think she just likes to hear her voice and to have everyone look at her. Can you tell she's the youngest? :o)

She's still such a sweet, content baby. She's ready to start walking anyday and loves to clap and smile at her family.

I love you, my Callie Grace! Happy 10 months!

He's blogging again!

I know I talk about my family some....okay, maybe all the time! :o) But, I just had to tell you that my son, Joshua, is wanting to start posting on his blog again. He has a real heart to write about things that teenagers are facing today. His last post on listening to your kids is so very good! So much truth in it! I love when he said, "If you don't take time to listen to your kids questions when they're young, they won't take time to listen to your answers when they're older" So good and so true!
So, when you get a chance, take a peek at my son's blog, I think you'll receive a blessing!

Such a good helper!

Not a whole lot to post about this week. We've been hit with a good round of the stomach flu since we came back from Florida's East Coast Monday. It seems like we get sick every two weeks now with some sort of bug. You can count on it, if my family plans a big family get together, we'll be sick! Not fun when you're wanting to enjoy as many family get togethers as possible! We're anxious to also keep on the road and visit/revisit as many churches as possible. It's exciting seeing the Lord open up doors for us. Please pray for us that we will be wise in this next month. There are so many decisions to make and we want to have the mind of Christ. We want to wait for His perfect timing in our decisions, but we're ready, too!

So, I thought I would post some cute pics of my dear Silas being my sweet helper. He is doing sooo much right now! His vocabulary has grown so much and he is such a copy cat!

Date Night Challenge

A couple of weeks ago my sister, Taylin, issued a challenge on her blog. I posted about it, and said that "I'm in!" So, it was off to my closet to figure out what I could use. I actually found two things!

Challenge #1

My favorite shirt to wear when I was pregnant was a cute gray and black Liz Lang top from Target. I still had it folded in the top of the closet. Since I'm definitely not "with child", I decided I needed to do something to make this a top I can wear now.
First, I cut off the bottom to make it a not-so-maternity length.
Then, I did several darts from the bottom up to the top. I took up some on the sides, and made two pleats at the top.

I like how it turned out! Very cute and I think I'll get more wear out of it this way.

Challenge #2

I decided to redo the shirt that I bought to wear in my parents rehearsal. It's very cute, but it was much more flattering on my sisters than it was on me. Plus, I needed to make it a bit more island friendly. ( I hate to sweat!)
So, first I chopped off some of the bottom to put it at a little more flattering of a length.

Then, I chopped off the sleeves. On the bottom and the sleeves I used a decorative stitching. ( I sure do love my sewing machine!)

Then, it was off for a date. Well, it wasn't exactly a date, like out to dinner type date, but Patrick and I spent some time running to a couple of stores together. I love my time with my man, and we still laugh and have fun together. I love it!

Great idea, Tay! Now, I'm ready to go through my closet and see what else I can redo!!

HHMMMMM....I think it worked!