Lastrapes Legacy

Partner Profile - Bob and Barbara Seals

2011-06-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mr. Bob, Mrs. Barbara and their family are one of the few families from Grace Community Bible Church that have seen me (Jerry) grow up into the person I am today. I have spent time with their oldest kids in youth group, youth camp trips and college ministry. It has been a journey of faith for us all and it is amazing to see how God has worked in my life as a result of the work He has done in theirs. We are so very excited to have Mr. Bob and Mrs. Barbara partnering with us and investing in Guatemala and I am grateful to have them in my life and have always enjoyed time spent with them.

Partner Profile-Phil and Sharon DeVrou

2011-04-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Phil and Sharon DeVrou

I (Jerry) have known the DeVrou’s for quite some time now as we attended church together at Grace Community Bible-my home church. The DeVrou’s have provided much needed encouragement over the past few years of raising support, giving encouraging words as well as tips on better communication. We could not do this without the love and support of people like Mr. Phil and Mrs. Sharon. It is funny because when I first met them they were friends with my parents but now after having grown up I consider them friends and wonderful friends they are. We are so grateful to have them on our team financially but more importantly prayerfully.

Bob and Liz O'Brien

2011-01-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

I(Jerry)have known Bob and Mrs. Liz (I have called them that for as long as I can remember) for somewhere between 25-30 years. They both have been an integral part of my life that began when my family started attending a little church that met in a converted trailer house- Grace Community Bible Church. I can remember the births of both of their daughters and helping mom babysit for their oldest; as well as Bob telling me they were having another baby, a boy! He and I were working together at that time. Now they are young grandparents and still very influential in my life, especially now as a parent—although I do let my kids chew gum! Bob and I have spent many hours either playing golf, serving in AWANA and when we worked together. It is very encouraging to have Bob and Mrs. Liz counted as partners in ministry and we look forward to many years of sharing each others lives.

Partner Profile - Finley and Becky Jones

2010-10-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

My first memories of Mr Finley and Mrs Becky were growing up at Lake Charles Bible Church. I remember Mrs Becky singing specials on Sunday mornings and Mr Finley teaching Sunday School. I loved the class he taught the College & Career on the book of Hebrews. I am so thankful for the influence they had on my life. It is a great privelege to have them partner with us.

Partner Profile - Duke and Betty Landry

2010-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

Duke and Betty “Nanny” Landry are my (Jerry) cousins on my mother’s side. I call Betty, “Nanny” because she is my god-mother and some of you know that is the ONLY thing I will call her! I used to call Duke-Uncle Duke which thoroughly confused anyone who knew Nanny and I were cousins!
Duke and Betty attend my home church, Grace Community Bible Church, in Denham Springs, La. It was at this church that I grew up and had the opportunity to be under some godly people. It was on a mission trip to Romania that I took with Duke and Nanny that helped me understand the importance missions played in the lives of teenagers and its importance in the life of a church.
I can remember being on the airplane and being so distraught with the thought of leaving my mission field that I actually contemplated getting off the airplane and staying in Romania to be a missionary! I thought I could sell all my stuff back home and live in Romania. Nanny, being aware of my feelings, walked back to my seat and told me that she understood how I felt but that if I didn’t come home on that plane my mom would kill both of us! Of course I laughed and understood what I needed to do and am incredibly thankful I did. It was not long after I arrived back home that I was given the email address to one future Mrs. Gerald Lastrapes.
I do have many people to thank for helping me understand the importance of missions and Duke and Nanny are some of those people!

Partner Profile - Danny and Daphne Foote

2010-07-05T20:36:00.001-07:00

Danny and Daphne are long time friends of ours from Southeastern Bible College. About 4 yrs ago Danny called Jerry and asked him to start praying about Guatemala and 6 weeks later we were in Guatemala for the 1st time! Danny and Daphne are currently serving in Santiago, Guatemala in the areas of non-formal education and translation; working on the Old Testament for the Tzutujil people. They have been very encouraging to us as we follow God's leading on our own path to Guatemala. We can not wait to be serving the Mayan pastors in the highlands of Guatemala with them.

Day 17

2010-06-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

What a great week we have had! We have been in Bham staying with the Roche's. We have felt completely comfortable here and have enjoyed ourselves immensly. We had lunch with good friends headed to Guatemala. We had lots of fun swimming almost everyday! Maddy and Cole really enjoyed that, both are getting much braver in the water. A few things happened towards the end of the week that were pretty discouraging however it didnt last long. The real action came on Sunday morning.
Our time to speak at Hardin's Chapel Bible Church got changed from the morning service to the Sunday School hour. We got up and headed out with time to spare. As we exited I20 at Pell City our brakes completely went out. Jerry was pushing the pedal to the floor and NOTHING. We were coming up to the stop sign and red light at the bottom of the off ramp. Jerry said, "I cant stop". So I said, "well then go for it". We went right thru the red light back onto the interstate on ramp. We gradually coasted to a stop on the side of the road. We called the church to let them know we wouldnt be making it to Sunday School. (bummer) GOD IS GOOD! We have Allstate insurance and roadside assistance with a free tow so a tow truck was on its way in no time and towed our car to a local shop. Roger Kendrick left the church and came to pick us up and told us we could use his car as long and as we needed it. We get to church and Bro Doug tells Jerry to speak at the beginning of Sunday morning service. After church a guy walks up to Jerry and says he is a mechanic and he would like to meet Jerry at our car to look at it and see if he can fix it. We go to dinner at the Ford's, we have a great lunch with the Fords and Roses. Bro Doug takes Jerry to meet Tim at the car. Tim looks at the car and says he can fix it. He fixes the vehicle in an hour and a half and we are on our way - free of charge!
We came home and I cooked Shrimp Gumbo for the Roches and we had a wonderful evening together!
After 10 o'clock we climbed the stairs and began packing to head out to Omaha tomorrow.
I'm exhausted! What a day! :)

Day 6 of 56

2010-06-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Stuck in the middle of Nowhereland, Kansas. Apparently there was a terrible wreck with 2 Mac trucks and we werent far behind it. We were at a complete stand still for 2 hrs. The scenery was pretty though.

Our day of travel...

Oklahoma Welcome Center- you can tell we are still at the beginning of this trip!
Oklahoma
Nowhereland, Kansas
after the 2 hr wait the kiddos were exhausted :)

Day 3 of 56

2010-06-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Okay so the GPS is soooo worth it! We would never have been able to navigate DFW without it, well or at least without a nervous breakdown. :) It brought to see some dear friends and family!

the Bannis's

the Chapman's

and COUSINS!!!!!

Day 2 of 56

2010-06-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

We are off...on a partner building trip around the mid-west! We are praying the Lord uses us in amazing ways this summer. We are also praying for the Lord to introduce us to the partners He has already prepared for us to help us reach the people of Guatemala.

Here are a few frivilous things I have already learned on this trip...

1- it doesnt take long in a car before the kids make hats out of travel pillows

2- totillas travel much better than bread

3- due to #2 nutella and banana quesadillas are yummy!

BTW- GPS - 0 Sarah- 1 1/2

Partner Profile- Nathan and Monie Ingram

2010-06-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Nathan was my youth pastor the summer before my Senior year. It was during this summer that the Lord got my attention and called me to Bible College. God really used Nathan and Camp Pearl (where Monie was a counselor) to impact my life that summer. I remember him teaching us about Calvanism and Armenianism – I don’t know that I understood any of it at the time.  In the years since we have reconnected with the Ingrams. A couple years ago we were running from a hurricane and they became our “hurrication location”. We have loved getting to know them again and their precious girls.

Partner Profile - Bradley and Amy Loewer

2010-05-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

We got to know the Loewers at Lake Charles Bible Church about 5 years ago. Bradley and Amy have been a huge blessing to our family over the past year. When we started homeschooling Amy invited me to be a part of the homeschool co-op at LCBC, she was a great encouragment to this new homeschooling mom. We are so thankful for Bradley's medical widsom and willingness to help us here and once we are in Guatemala. Most of all we have been so encouraged by their commitment to missions. The Lord is truly faithful to provide us with godly friends!

Partner Profie- Iowa First Baptist Church

2010-04-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Our home church, our sending church and our vision for ministry in Guatemala! We came to Iowa First Baptist 4 yrs ago right around the time we went to Guatemala for the first time. We came back from that trip knowing God wanted us to be involved in Guatemala in some way and felt like the local church was the ticket. After conversations with our pastor Dee Spears we all agreed this was the avenue and one year later Iowa First Baptist sent a team to the foreign mission field for the first time in the church's history. We came back from that trip feeling like God was leading us to move and minister in Guatemala full-time. We truly wanted to take the vision of our church to IMPACT Iowa and IMPACT a community in Guatemala. Through the sacrificial financial support and at times overwhelming encouragement of fellow members we are well on our way to IMPACTing an international community for Jesus Christ. What a blessing to share all that God will do in the lives of Guatemalans and our lives as well with such a wonderful church family.

Partner Profile-Gary and Claudette Guerin (Mom and Dad)

2010-03-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

Gary and Claudette are my (Jerry) parents. I have them to thank for helping foster my love of missions as my mom was a team member of my home church’s first international mission trip and my dad having taken many mission trips to work on youth camps in Alaska. Presently they live in Northern Washington and our time together is not nearly as often as we would like, although we cannot wait for them to visit us in Guatemala. We could not do this without their support and prayers.

Partner Profile-Pat and Kathie Morgan

2010-02-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

(Mom and Dad)

This picture says it all! Mom and Dad live for their family! They love their grandchildren and love having everyone together as often as possible. It is going to be so hard to leave them when we move but we are certain they will be making some trips down to Guatemala. They have been on 2 trips with us and even led the rest of the group down to meet us on our last trip. We are so glad they enjoy Guatemala! We are so blessed to have them as parents and so thankful they support us.

Here is what we have been up to...

2010-01-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy with school lately.

Maddy was not enjoying reading at all, neither was I for that matter, so I began doing some research. We purchased Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read 1st grade on the reccomendation of a friend. At dinner tonight Maddy actually said she LOVES reading now! What a night and day difference in a matter of a couple weeks. We are having so much more fun with school in general since we made the change in reading cirriculum. YAY!!!!

We have also been learning all about penguins. The kids are both so interested in all kinds of animals. We read the book The Emperor's Egg and watched a Nature special on Emperor Penguins. We also made a "bulletin board" on the laundry room door with some info we have learned about penguins and we each designed our own penguin.

This week we researched different types of penguins and drew life-size models on the wall in the hallway. Maddy learned that Emperor Penguins are almost as tall as she is, at about 44 inches tall and Macaroni Penguins are up to Coleman's chest, at about 33 inches tall.

Coleman even made Peter Penguin with pattern blocks.

We are about to read Mr Poppers Penguins to wrap up our penguin unit.

So, this is a little bit of what we have been up to as well as making friends with new neighbors and playing lots of board games as a family! So...FUN,FUN,FUN!

Partner Profile - Green Oak Bible Church

2010-01-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

I spent one week every summer from 2nd grade to 12th grade at a place called Camp Pearl. This is where some of the most amazing weeks of my life happened. One of the memories I have from those times is watching chalk drawings in chapel. We were always so excited to find out that Bro Jerry Long was at our week of camp because we got to watch him draw. He does some of the most beautiful drawings and there are always hidden surprises at the end with black lights and images of Jesus in the background.

Bro Jerry is now the pastor of Green Oak Bible Church in Kinder, Louisiana and still doing chalk drawings. We have been so blessed to have Green Oak partner with us after the first visit we had with them. We were excited to be invited to their annual Christmas Dinner as well as have Jerry give a short devotional. Everytime we visit we leave encouraged and thankful for a group of believers who love the Lord and love us.

Maddy-girl is 7!

2009-12-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! Maddy is 7! She is a very bright little lady. She LOVES homeschooling, her favorite thing is doing Science experiments! She never meets a stranger. She really enjoys all the church visiting we do; she almost always leaves with a new friend! We are having her "special recipe" tacos and queso for her birthday dinner. She is very girly and wanted a Fairy Princess birthday party. Here are some pics from her party.

Snow in Louisiana...

2009-12-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

two years in a row!!!! This is certainly a record. We had fun with it! Here are some pics.

Partner Profile- Miss Cathy

2009-11-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

I first met Miss C over 20 years ago when she was my junior high P.E. teacher. We got reaquainted about 4 years ago at church. We were planning a mission trip to work at Centinnial Camp near Panajachel, Guatemala and Miss Cathy was on our team. She has a HUGE heart and enjoys hard work. Shopping in Guatemala is a unique experience and poor Miss Cathy just couldnt say no to any of the girls following her around begging her to buy from them. She ended up with so many blankets I dont know if she ever found enough people to give them to. The team did mostly manual labor on that first trip but everyone said it was extremely rewarding.

Miss Cathy also went on our second mission trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. She was a blessing to have on this trip as we worked in a school in a nearby village. She was able to lead P.E. time with over 300 Mayan children in 3 days.

Beside her work in Guatemala, Miss Cathy has become dear to us and our children. Thank You Miss Cathy for becoming our first 'official' partner in our journey to Guatemala and thank you for your love and prayers.

God said, "Let there be land".

2009-10-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

In school Maddy is beginning to read her Bible Reader. This is a book filled with Bible stories she can read beginning with Creation in Genesis. She LOVES this book. I was having trouble with her not wanting to read. She would say it was too hard, until we began reading in her Bible Reader. She LOVES reading her Bible stories! She always wants to read 2-3 days ahead. I am so excited for her and very relieved. Anyway, today we read about Day 3 of creation. God created land and plants and fruit with seeds. So we cut into some fruit and veggies and counted seeds. Both kids loved this activity. They put on their "detective gloves" and went to work dissecting an apple, a persimmon, a bell pepper and a mini pumpkin. We even made a chart to see how many seeds were in each fruit/veggie. The kids then had fun tasting each food. Have I said how much I enjoy homeschooling lately? Well... I DO!

Along the way...

2009-10-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

As we travel to churches seeking our partners in ministry we are able to hang out with good friends. We had one such weekend this past weekend. We had a great time of relaxation and encouragment. The Lord is so good to provide those weekends right when we need them.

Maddy is a little older than the boys but they all got along so well. They stayed upstairs and played with NO fighting :) They truly enjoyed their time together which allowed us adults to truly enjoy our time together. Stacey and I were even able to escape and do a little shopping in Old Town Spring (absolutely adoreable town).

Here are a few pics of our fun time.

Thanks guys!!!!

Indescribable

2009-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

I dont know if any of you have seen the DVD of Louie Giglio's Indescriblable talk during a Passion conference but it is AWESOME. He talks about the expanse of the universe and the amazing, indescribable God who created it all. It is incredible to me that the God who created the universe confined Himself to a lowly human body just to die on the cross for me. I have heard this a hundred times but for some reason hearing it a different way amazed me. We showed the DVD to our youth at church and discussed it in small groups. I LOVE watching God work in the lives of high schoolers. I LOVE IT! Anyway, if you get the chance watch it, it is great! Here is the link to part 3 of 5 of the message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCR-mvzCNs
Psalms 19 - so thankful I memorized this chapter at Camp Pearl one year as a counselor :)
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skys proclaim the works of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech nor is there language where their voice is not heard...."

Top 5 reasons we LOVE Guatemala...

2009-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Check out Jerry's last few blogs to find out the top 5 reasons he loves Guatemala!
http://www.lastrapesfullcount.blogspot.com/ I couldnt agree more!

Bears, Bears, Everywhere...

2009-09-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

We just got these adoreable counting bears to use for Math and the kids LOVE them. Cole just wanted to make a rainbow with all the colors. Maddy is even able to use them a little. The most important thing is they have made Math fun for all 3 of us! Yay!

Our new website

2009-09-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

We now have a blog all about our journey to Guatemala! Check it out for updates on support levels, FAQ's, current newsletters and slideshows. Thank you guys so much for all your encouragement and prayer during this time of support raising and partner building! :)
http://lastrapeslegacyguatemala.blogspot.com

Cole's Percy Birthday

2009-08-23T12:48:00.001-07:00

My little man is 4! He is getting so big. He LOVES trains and cars! Percy is his favorite Thomas friend. He is still a major snuggler. His sister is his best friend. He says the funniest things and cracks us all up. He has the most contagious laugh. He HATES pizza and spagetti, but LOVES fishsticks and cantelope! He is our Coleman Moore.

Our 1st day of school

2009-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great 1st day of school. I was unsure until the end because the whole morning Maddy kept telling me all the things her teacher used to do and all the fun she had in Kindergarten. But, at the end of our lessons she said, "I liked that mom, I wish I was homeschooled every year". Whew..I can relax and smile now. Coleman did well, his attention span is VERY short. He made it thru Bible (which is first) then said, "we done now". It was definitely interesting trying to keep him occupied while working with Maddy. I am sure we will find our groove as the days go on. Here are a couple pics from this morning. I will post a video later.

My serious learner.

My silly man.

The alligator we made out of Pattern Blocks. Maddy said he looks like he is comming up out of the water and you see his mouth, tongue, eyes and tail. She also thought the allligator needed a butterfly friend. She is so creative.

Summer

2009-08-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post at least one blog about summer since school is about to start. :) We had a fun summer that of course flew by. We started summer off with Jerry going to Guatemala for a week and the kids and I stayed home. He had a great trip and experienced some Guatemala politics that interfered with his schedule. We did suprisingly well at home with only 1 night spent at mom's. During that week we spoke at a boyscout meeting, the boys were very interested in Guatemala. Maddy did an excellent job dressing up in a traje and helping throw candy into the crowd at question time.

We were missionaries for 2 VBS's in June. Our home church, IFBC raised over $300 to go toward our outgoing account. It was great fun doing mission time for our friends. Indian Bible church was the other VBS we attended. They made up the BEST cheer for us. Maddy and Coleman had a great time participating in their class and meeting new friends.

In July we were missionaries for a week at Camp Pearl. This is always a highlight every summer. We always meet new friends and reconnect with many old ones. We also visited a few churches throughout the summer.

In the midst of all the traveling and speaking we had lots of fun together just being a family! The kids are growing so much and each new phase brings new ways of enjoying them. So, here are some pics of family fun time.

Cole and his cousin Rylan.

Our picnic indoors because it was 100 degrees outdoors.

Growing Triops.

Eating cereal with chopsticks.

Daddy and Coleman putting together the biggest Dinosaur puzzle known to man.

Artwork by Coleman.

Our "daycation" to the planetarium in Baton Rouge.

Happy Summer!

Last Days of School

2009-06-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

So I am a little late in posting this but I thought Nanny and PaPa would enjoy these pics. :)
Maddy didnt have an actual graduation ceremony from Kindergarten but they did have an Awards Day. She received the award for "Best Comprehension" in her class as well as "I am good at Math" and "Outstanding School Behavior". She absolutely LOVED her teacher this year, Mrs. Miguez. She enjoyed school so much that on the last 3 days when the teachers werent even "technically" taking roll, Maddy INSISTED on going to school. She was one of 5 students in her class on the last full day! Here are a few pics of the last few days of school.

Mrs Miguez

Awards Day

Cole enjoys playing with Maddy's classmates

Girlfriends

Cole Jammin'

2009-05-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

We have another musician in the family! He is a little more "hard core" than Maddy :)

Pre-Mothers Day

2009-05-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

I just had the best pre-Mother's Day breakfast in bed! The TV was turned to Rachel Ray 30 min meals and I was informed to stay in bed then I was surrounded by toys (polly pockets, miniature houses, my little ponies, and cars) to play with during the commercial breaks. I was also brought 2 different stuffed animals wrapped in blankets as "gifts" to watch TV with me and "keep me company". :) Then began the breakfast...first was a glass of orange juice stirred so much it had foam on top, an apple on a mini tea plate, a HUGE soup mug of hot chocolate with chocolate chips and marshamallows, all topped off with a cinnamon roll! What a SWEET breakfast! Oh the joys (and tummy aches) of being a mom! Wonderful!

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

This year Easter was special for us because while making Ressurection rolls, Maddy asked if she could ask Jesus to come into her life! We have had this "ongoing" disscusion for the past few months or so, she would begin asking questions then get distracted and say she wasnt ready yet. The other night she began asking questions while we were making rolls and she said I am ready to ask Jesus in my heart now. Afterward she was so excited she kept trying to help Coleman do the same, when I walked in on them he was trying to unzip his pj's so Jesus could go in his heart and Maddy was saying, "I didnt have to do that, He is just in there." Kids are amazing!!!

An Update...

2009-04-07T11:33:00.001-07:00

on our travels. We have been BUSY speaking at churches, it seems we have been away more than at our home church lately. We have every Sunday booked til the end of May except Easter, Mother's Day and 1 random Sunday. We are however having a blast catching up with old friends and making many new ones.

One of the churches we went to was Henderson Bible Church where we were able to hang out with the Soileaus and Wrights. I have known them forever it seems and our kids got to know each other last year at Camp Pearl so we all had a great time fellowshipping and enjoying Mrs Patti's yummy roast and lima beans!

We have also visited Dry Creek Bible Church where the Burchard's are pastoring. (for those of you who know Sam and Tammy- please be praying for Sam's younger brother who was severely wounded in Iraq) We had great fun learning about "whop biscuits". (these are the kind in a can that you "whop" on the cabinet to open) Maddy had a wonderful time getting to know Vika, while Cole and Sophie got into some sour cream(sorry I didnt get a pic of that). :)

here is a pic of all the kids (Burchards and Lastrapes)...

Lastly, we visited Grace Community Bible Church in Baton Rouge, where Jerry grew up. It was great being able to be in his "home church" and seeing so many old faces. We were very touched by the interest and support shown to us there. We spent one night with his grandparents and the other with his cousin and her husband. Nanny and Duke have been very influential in Jerry's life when it comes to missions so it was lots of fun for us to be able to share with them what God is doing in our lives. It was a great weekend.

the kids with Frannie (PawPaw was off working on the fire) :)

Maddy playing with Wiki Sticks(which are awesome-btw) with her new friend Kathryn

Jerry and I with Duke and Nanny

Internship!!

2009-03-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in what we are doing as far as Guatemala right now you need to check out Jerry's blog at http://www.lastrapesfullcount.blogspot.com/ Scroll down until you find the blog titled INTERNSHIP. He will fill you in on some neat opportunities that are coming our way.

Wow...Long time, No post!

2009-03-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

I didnt realize just how long it has been since I posted anything. It seems I enjoyed my little hiatus from the computer when it was gone. We have had it back for a few weeks now and I still dont get on it as much as I used to. We have also rearranged our bedroom and living room which put our desk and computer in our bedroom making it harder to stay on the computer.
Anyway, we have been busy! We have been speaking at churches sharing our future ministry in Guatemala and we have several more churches lined up in the coming weeks. We have really enjoyed making new friends and even reconnecting with old ones. It never fails to amaze us just how much we are enjoying this representation process. The kids are doing well with the schedule, each week they ask if we are going to "our" church or a "new" church. They accept whichever one and seem to have fun no matter what. Although, I must say Coleman does give a big "yeah" when we say we are going to our church! :)
We are also in full swing with fundraisers for missions at church. This year they have graciously decided to give all the proceeds to our outgoing fund at CAM to help get us to Guatemala. The $ ususally goes toward the summer mission trip which they have decided to postpone til we are on the field. It is very encouraging to work with our Missions Team and see their interest and support. The cool thing is they even view these fundraisers as ways to IMPACT our community of Iowa. What a blessing Iowa First Baptist has been in our lives!
I have even been slacking on picture taking lately...sorry. I will have to get back in the swing of things and post pictures of our travels!
Here are a few random pics of the past couple months.

doing science experiments with daddy!

Maddy lost all 4 front teeth!!!

Coleman was finally able to hang out with Boys!!! They all discovered they had on undershirts, their top shirts came off right away!

Finally, Mads was able to hang out with one of her best buds she doesnt get to see often.

Our computer broke!

2009-01-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

Our computer died yesterday! Oh no, what am I going to do all day long?? Get things done I am guessing! :) Anyway, we have to send it off to get fixed and due to the ice storms in the rest of the country it will take 6-8 weeks to get back! The silver lining is that it is free! Warranties are GREAT! I am just glad we actually got one this time. So, I will be gone for a while :( I will catch up in a few weeks!

Jerry's little sister...

2009-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

had a baby girl!!! She is adoreable!! I wish we could be there with them so we could love her and kiss her and squeeze those chubby little cheeks!
Here is Olivia Grace Knudsen

Do you ever feel like your stuck...

2009-01-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

in a sitcom re-run?!?!
Well, I do, especially today.
Here's how my day went..
Get up, get Maddy up, she whines about not wanting to go to school, "Well, honey you have to go to school, only 2 more days til Saturday!"
Get Coleman up, he cries because he is not ready to get up. Get all of us in the car, drive through carpool circle and Maddy starts crying again, "my foot hurts", me, "what?" The teacher on duty has to help her out of the car so she will go. I circle around the school and stake-out the Kindergarten building til I see her go inside her classroom. (when I questioned her about it this afternoon she tells me, "I got over it")
Cole and I go walking, I get sick - why? Who knows. We go home, chill out for a little while, start laundry, vacuuum, watch Gilmore Girls, fold laundry, take meat out for dinner, etc...
2:30 - leave for carpool, pick Maddy up, go to the bank and post office, then home.
Snack time for the kids, finish up laundry, start homework with Maddy, Cole pitches a fit because I turn the TV off and ask him to color at the table (we do this everyday) and yet he still pitches a fit!
Walk in the living room to straighten up and find tortilla chips smashed into my just cleaned carpet...ahhh...Cole has come out of his room and is mighty quiet so I go check on him..he is up to his elbow in toilet water! He has his play sponge and says, "I tlean toilet mom" Wash him up, wipe down the toilet.
Pull the last of the laundry out and see that there is STILL a stain on Maddy's school stockings so once again I spray on stain stick and set them aside.
Finally go back to helping Maddy with homework. We always have tears at some point during homework - is Kindergarten really supposed to be this hard?!?!
Now, revacuuming the carpet, starting dinner and finish helping Maddy with her practice quiz.
Go to bed, get up and start over again.
(maybe that stain will come out of Maddy's stockings tomorrow!)

Dont get me wrong there are parts of this day that were precious like Coleman cuddling on my lap and kissing my cheek while I type this and the joy on Maddy's face when she finally gets all her spalding words correct and finally the sweet email from Jerry right in the middle of my day!!!!

Ok, now for some serious snow!

2009-01-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas in Redding, CA with Jerry's family! We had a great time! It was nice to get away together and not have any real responsibilities and spend time with family we havent been with in a while. We enjoyed several days of hanging out and on the last day we went up to Mt Shasta and enjoyed the SNOW!!!

I cant believe...

2008-12-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Maddy is 6! She started school this year, got tall, and just lost her 1st tooth! She is getting so big. She is a very neat little girl! She LOVES everyone and never meets a stranger! She makes new friends every place we go. She is also very into China. She told me that her baby was going to come from China one day and that God wanted her to live in China to tell people about God. She then tells me that she doesnt want to forget, to which I reply, "If God wants you to live there, He will not let you forget." So, what kind of birthday party does my 6 year old want? None other than a Chinese party, of course! So, I did my best..we played a chop stick game and chase the dragon's tail game and had sparkle candles on her cake. It was fun and different, just like her! I think we may have a little missionary on our hands..that is exciting and scarry at the same time. She notices everything Chinese and wants to learn all about it. What a cool thing to watch God work in the heart of your child at such a young age.
So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my very special Maddy Poo!, may God use you in wonderful ways!!

A LOUISIANA SNOWMAN

2008-12-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

I got a phone call at 6:10am which usually freaks me out when the phone rings and it is still dark outside, but it was my mom not saying hello just telling me to wake Maddy up because it was snowing outside! So, I wake my poor little daughter up and shuffle her outside! FUN!!! It was enough to make a little snowman on our car! We had a great time and then had to go to school because we have no more weather days (thanks hurricanes) so back inside for hot chocolate and oatmeal then bundling up like the kid on A Christmas Story! Here are some pics of our fun morning!
(and yes those are Louisiana pecans as eyes!)

Jesus lives in Birmingham...Who knew!?!

2008-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

We recently received a card in the mail from Jesus addressed from Birmingham, AL. We were very suprised and thankful for the gift inside. Only the Lord knew that was the exact amount our rent just went up this month. We, no I was discouraged (Jerry tends to have more faith than me - I must learn from him), here we are trying to pay off debt and reduce bills and rent goes up and our first new payment is at Christmas time. But, the Lord was faithful to provide. So, if you were "Jesus" this year...THANK YOU from the Lastrapes family for allowing the Lord to use you to bless us! You were not only a source of financial encouragement but a reminder to me to have faith in my Heavenly Father who has called us according to His purpose and all things are in His control not mine or my landlords!
FYI - it was not used on LSU paraphernalia! :)

Coleman is potty trained!!!!

2008-12-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

After giving up and waiting til he was completely ready, he potty trained in about 3 days!!!! I highly recommend waiting til they are 3 or almost 3. It worked with both mine and I have almost no clean up of messes! :) I am proud of my little man! Of course I have to post a pic. Since he insists on going himself this is the way he accomplishes this.

New Background

2008-11-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Aahaa!!! Now I feel like this page is mine, this background makes me happy! It's the little things, right?!?

Guatemalan/Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup

2008-11-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

I thought since it is getting to be cold and flu season it would be a good time to post a yummy chicken soup recipe. This is one of our favorites and has some healing ingredients as well, garlic (natural antibiotic), lime juice and green pepper (Vit C) and chicken broth (just feels good on a sore throat). Hope you all enjoy!

GUATEMALAN/MEXICAN CHICKEN AND RICE SOUP
1 med onion, diced
1 lg carrot, diced
1/2 pablano or bell pepper
1 T oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 c cilantro, choppped
1 chayote squash, cubed
2 c cooked chicken, shredded
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1-2 T jalapeno, seeded (optional)
1 t cumin
8 c chicken broth
juice of 1 lime
1 1/2c cooked rice
1 avocado, sliced
tortilla strips

Season raw chicken with Ortega's taco seasoning, boil. Strain and reserve broth. Shred chicken and set aside. Saute onion, carrot, green pepper, garlic, squash and tomato. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil and redue heat, simmer 20 min. Stir in chicken, lime juice and cilantro. Add cooked rice as desired. Serve with sliced avocado and tortilla strips on top.

Party at the Patch 08

2008-10-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

Can I just say, I Love our church!!!! Our former pastor started a vision at our church to IMPACT Iowa. He is no longer there but the church carries on that theme. Every year we do a pumplin patch as a fund raiser of some sort, last year it was for the Guatemala trip and this year it was for the Childrens Ministry. We have made excellent money in the past but this year we got a rotten patch of pumkins. No pun intended - these pumkins literally rotted faster than anything I have ever seen. the fund raiser only produced 1/3 of what we made last year. However in the midst of all the discouragement and rotting pumpkins a wise man in our church said, we need to remember all the people that are being introduced to Jesus through the patch. How true! Our church really wants to IMPACT our town thru everything we do and the pumpkin patch is no different. Everyone who comes to the patch gets to interact with someone from our church (what a perfect opportunity)! The culmination of the patch is "Party at the Patch" done as a Halloween alternative. During the

party there is free food, face painting and games. The games all have a biblical theme and story to go along. It was so cool seeing kids who would never come in to our church sitting there listening to David and Goliath then sling shotting marshmallows at our "giant" (a deacon in our church).

AWESOME! Some kids came for the free hot dogs, most came for the free candy but all left with the Gospel and a positive interaction with Iowa First Baptist. I love "practical ministry"! I am so excited and thankful that the Lord saw fit to "drag" us to IFBC! What a great IMPACT we are able to make in our community for Jesus!

ok, so one more pic...I couldnt not put a pic of the kiddos all dressed up before the patch

2nd Place

2008-10-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

Maddy and Rosa received 2nd place in the pumpkin contest! She was so excited! Where is Rosa now...right in the middle of my kitchen table! There she will stay til she is good and moldy. :) Hopefully that will happen sooner than later. he he he

Meet "Rosa"

2008-10-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

the pig! We dont carve pumpkins like the average person. Maddy has a pumpkin decorating/carving contest at school so she decided she wanted to make a pig since that meant she would be able to paint it PINK. So, here is the process...

Cole painting his pumpkin

Meet "Rosa" the pig!!!

Cole keeps walking by her and petting her (how much fun is a pig pumpkin?!?)

Big "3"

2008-09-25T09:58:00.001-07:00

I have been so lapse in my blogging that I forgot to blog about my little man turning 3! He has grown up so much the past couple of months - he is no longer my little baby but a full blown little boy! He even picked out his own birthday theme...Scooby Doo! He loves Scooby Doo so much that we sing Scooby Doo songs without even realizing it because it is constantly on the TV. Anyway, here are a few pics from his party!

Even though it was a Scooby Doo bday he still got lots of CARS stuff which he LOVES

Sissy playing with his remote control McQueen

His super cool Dino from Nanny and Papa

BTW- I have not forgotten about being tagged for the parenting advice blog...I am working on it! :)

Awake for almost 24hrs

2008-09-12T08:54:00.001-07:00

We are in Bham once again. We left home last night and arrived in Bham about 5:15 this morning. My record for staying awake since having kids! :) We had a pretty uneventful trip - which was nice. We are expecting a lot worse weather at home this time then last. This is such a BIG hurricane and we are on the "dirty" side of the storm this time. They are comparing it to Rita (which I did not ever want to relive) however this time the eye will not hit as close to home as before so that is good for us but not for others. Please pray for some friends and my family that stayed home. This storm is going to be no picnic as they are predicting 75 mile an hour winds in my hometown and tornado and flood warnings.
BTW... I have stayed up for 24hrs before..one time right after we got married we stayed the night with our friends the Pendeltons and they did their best to keep me up for 24hrs. We stayed up and watched movies and played games and ate snacks - lots of fun!
These are things memories are made of...hurricanes and friends!!!
Here are some pics from our last hurricane trip.

On the road again...

lots of fun with the Wii at the Ingrams

of course Maddy made good friends

meeting Eva Garcia

haning out with the Reeds

lots of laffy taffy to keep us entertained on our trip

some of the scenes we saw on the drive home

notice the tree top missing? now look closely at the roof...

OK, Ike is NOT listening!!!!

2008-09-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Looking like dejavu.

Ike, Ike go away, come back NEVER!!!!

2008-09-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

What is the deal?!?! We are back from Gustov and there was no real damage in our area - for which we are thankful! However, it still disrupts things to evacuate and sit in traffic from everyone else in Southern Lousisiana evacuating and come home to the unpacking and dewrinkling everything fom being packed in suitcases for a week. Putting the house back in order after securing everything and putting special things on top shelves in closets and no groceries in the stores because even they shipped everything off. Not to mention the toll it takes on one's budget. Dont get me wrong, I am very thankful we did not have the widespread destruction of Rita. Also, we are overwhelming appreciative to the friends who so willing housed us during our stay away from home. I am not usually this pessimistic but enough is enough. So, if you would, please pray that Ike stays away or that my attitude changes and I find the silver lining in all this. :) (I am always up for change)

Dodging Gustov

2008-08-31T13:19:00.001-07:00

We once again are under mandatory evacution from SW La. We have gone to Birmingham! I am so thankful that we have such wonderful friends who allow us to stay with them. I am sad for all those who are driving aimlessly looking for an available hotel. Please be praying for my neighbors Ashley and Marshall, when we left Sat they still didnt know where they were going, they were "just going to drive", they have an 18mo old and a 4 mo old!
If you are in Bham we would love to see you, email me at strapes2@hotmail.com!

School Days

2008-08-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Maddy has started Kindergarten! She LOVES it! Her only disappointment was coming home the first day not knowing how to read. I guess she thought they would learn everything in one day! :) I am the one who has had a hard time. She has been in school a week now and I am just blogging about it because I have finally stopped crying everday I drop her off. It took everything in me not to break down and boo hoo when I walked her to her classroom the first day. Once I left the room another mom came and put her arm around me and said, "looks like mom is taking this harder than daughter". Boy, she was right. We went home that first morning and Coleman and I both cried til we fell asleep on the couch. We really should have planned something for that day, oh well. She is in school and loving it and Cole and I are adjusting to the schedule and spending lots of fun time together. I dont get as much done around the house as before when they had each other to play with but I do get lots of time playing cars and Hungry Hippos. I mean how can you resist, "Pay me mom, peas!" Here are some pics of her first week.

her first day!!!

first homework assignment

she insisted on wearing these boots, she loves her school uniforms

afternoon snack
(Cole had to have a Friday shirt just like sissy!)

O Camp Pearl...

2008-07-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

you are my world, if only for a little while. I think of you, you make me happy, I reflect and then I smile..."
Anyone who has ever been to Camp Pearl can tell you that you go once and it becomes a part of you. The Lord does amazing things at camp! I went to Camp Pearl every summer from 3rd - 12th grade,(I felt the Lord calling me to Bible College my Sr yr at camp) I was a camp counselor one summer in college, my husband was a summer server after we were married and we just had the privelege of spending the week as camp missionaries. What a neat opportunity for us. We had "mission time" every afternoon after lunch. I was able to speak to about 30 third & fourth graders everyday. It was so fun to see how interested some of the kids were about missions and Guatemala. They asked great questions and loved playing with the Guatemalan toys. We made "wordless book" bracelets with them so they had a tool to be missionaries when they went back home. They were excited to have made the same thing we made with the kids in San Pedro. Jerry was able to share a little about our future ministry on Wed and Fri nights. It was humbling for us to be a tiny part of such a wonderful ministry that week. Camp Pearl focuses on making sure each camper is presented with the gospel on several occasions. Each Summer Server (camp counselor) is required to spend "one on one" time with each of their campers to make sure they clearly understand salvation. The result...30 something campers accepted Christ just the week we were there, over 80 people throughout the summer (including some of the parents during family night). What a wonderful ministry!!!
Camp Pearl is lots of fun in the midst of this, we sing songs in chapel

and Fozzy the Bear (puppet) visited us every night in chapel. The kids LOVED that, especially Coleman.

There were also afternoon games and fun and a Missions Carnival one afternoon. The campers are allowed to purchase tickets at a quarter a piece and spend them at different games and activities with all the proceeds going to missions. Maddy loved this, she painted stained glass flip flops, she dug in a swimming pool full of sand for a prize and she got a ring "tattoo" (which is not coming off no matter how hard we scrub).

Maddy made lots of new friends, as usual and Coleman stuck close to me but had fun also. What a wonderful week!!!

Some funnies

2008-07-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

You know your child had been to Guatemala if...she walks into the "motel" at Camp Pearl and says, "Whoa, mamma this is nice..look they have a bathtub".

You know your child is an MK if when you pull up to a place where you will spend more than 1 night, she asks, "Mamma, can I call this our new home"?

My goodness how our life has changed seemingly over night. We have had one BUSY summer and it is not over. We are having a lot of fun and meeting lots of new friends! Hopefully we will see you all on our travels!
Please be praying for us as Jerry and Maddy begin school in the fall. I am not too excited about this but I know it is what she needs right now. She will be home-schooled soon enough!
Here is a glimpse of what we have been doing in our spare time...

Guatemala 08

2008-07-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

We really appreciated all the prayers and encouragement for my family and our trip to Guatemala. My grandmother did pass away on Wed June 25, the second day we were in Guatemala. My parents were able to attend the funeral on Friday and make their scheduled flight and lead the team down to meet us. Please continue to pray for my grandpa (Earnest Morgan) as he will grieve my grandma for some time. Our trip was wonderful!!!! We had a great time with the Foote's the first week. It was good for us to see "real life" for them in Antigua. It was exciting to see that this is totally do-able! The kids had a great time together playing literally from sun up to way after sun down. The guys has many "manly chats" outside on the patio for hours on end! I was able to live along side Daph and learn how to wash dishes without hot water and a dishwasher :P and shop at market for fruits and veggies. It certainly takes longer just to accomplish daily tasks in Guat but it is a lot of fun. On Saturday the team came down to meet us and we headed out to the lake. We began our time with a day of walking around Santiago and attending Alfa y Omega Sunday evening. What a great time of worship we had at that church despite the language barrier. Our group was most impressed with the singing and prayer time. The kiddos had a blast in children's church. On Monday - Wednesday we woke up and caught a boat across the lake to San Pedro to do VBS at a local church/school. We had story time, craft time and game time. The team did an excellent job! The guys were really touched once again with the need for further education for many of the pastors and elders in the area. They spent lots of time talking out a game plan for our futures. Daph and I also learned of a couple ministry opportunities we are excited about. We finished off our trip with a day in Antigua at a cute little hotel. We made it home without incident! Praise the Lord! We had a great time and it certainly made us want to hurry up and get there. However, we know it is all in the Lord's timing and we trust his plan is perfect. Thanks again for all your prayers and support! We are still looking for partners both in churches and individuals, let us know if you or someone you know is interested in sharing in the ministry with us. Also please contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing or email list for quarterly updates.

Prayer Request

2008-06-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

We leave for Guatemala tomorrow for 11 days. Please pray the Lord would continue to prepare our hearts and the hearts of those we will be ministering to, also please pray for health and safety for the entire group (the rest of the group will be meeting us in Guatemala on Sat). As well as this, my grandmother had a stroke a few days ago and is not expected to make it much longer. My dad has assured me that we should continue with our plans as normal. My tummy is already messed up with all that is going on and we arent even in Guat yet. :) Please pray for my parents as they decide whether to follow thru with their plans as well since they are a huge part of what we are doing next week. Thank you so much for your prayers for the Morgan family especially Ernest Morgan.
We will post again after the 4th!

Time for a recipe

2008-06-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

I love when Karen posts recipes so I thought I would post one of my own.
I tend to buy meat by what is on sale at my local grocery store so I usually end up with lots of one kind of meat at a time and I need variety! So here is a recipe my family loves, the recipe calls for cube steak but I use anything from slices of roast to venison from my freezer.

Swiss Steak

3 lbs cube steak/round steak
3 T flour (seasoned with Tony's and oregano)
1 med onion, sliced
2 c beef bouillion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint mushrooms
3 T oil
1 lg can tomatoes, strained

Dredge steak in seasoned flour. Heat oil in skillet and brown steaks in batches, then place in casserole dish. Saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in oil for 3 min, til mushrooms are letting out juice. Add tomatoes and beef stock and cook a min or so longer. Pour veggie mixture over steaks and cover (make a tent with aluminum foil) Bake at 350 degrees for 2 hrs.
Serve over mashed potatoes or rice or we have even had this served over egg noodle pasta at an italian resturant.

I always feel like Rachel Ray when I cook this meal :)
Let me know how you like it and post some recipes of your own.

Here's the video

2008-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Dance..Dance...Dance...

2008-05-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Maddy took dance classes this past year and had her recital a couple weeks ago. She did a great job! She really enjoyed taking ballet, tap and tumbling, however ballet was her favorite by far! Here are some pics from her recital. I will post a video when my computer decides to cooperate.

Our new addition....PAL

2008-05-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

We were given the cutest little rascal of a puppy by one of Jerry's students. He is part pug and part terrier. He is adoreable! We named him after Authur's dog Pal because he sleeps with his little tongue sticking out just like the tv Pal.

Maddy loves singing to Pal and Coleman enjoys having someone smaller than him to manhandle. :)

It's always an adventure!

2008-04-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here's one for you Rach...
For those of you who dont know we have one toilet for 4 people (one of which is potty training). Well, the other day it got clogged and was out of commission for 24hrs! Thankfully we spent most of the day at the church working so we were able to use their facilities. But, when we got home yesterday afternoon I knew I had to do something! I tried plunging and pouring half a bottle of drano down it and NOTHING. It would drain but it took hours! When Jerry came home he graciously took over. After working on it for a while he ended up having to remove the toilet to try and unclog it from the bottom. A little while later I hear, "Oh, uh..uh.." I summon the courage to peer around the door and see..a BANANNA PEEL! I was on my way to talk to Maddy about it when Coleman walks in the bathroom and says, "Nanna, mine!" Then he looked right at me and said, "you, mom" (when means I love you in Colemanese) and he pulled my face to his and kissed me! Now, how in the world am I supposed to discipline that?!? I did eventually talk to him about not flushing ANYTHING down the toilet. I am just thankful to have a working toilet again and a husband who worked maintenance long enough to learn some plumbing skills!

the culprit

Crafty Things

2008-04-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

I just opened a "shop" on etsy.com. It is a site for all things handmade! I thought some of you would really enjoy this and be able to use it for yourself. They have all sorts of things on there; jewelry, hair accessories, buttons, handmade beads, greeting cards, etc. I love it!!! My shop name is PolkaDotsandPearls. Stop by the site and let me know if you create a shop of your own!

Daring Greatly!!!

2008-04-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

So for some reason, well actually because I watched Night at the Museum, I have been really motivated to read up on some history, which is not a big stretch for me- I love history. I looked on our library’s website for some books about our 26th President of these United States: Theodore Roosevelt. Now I am not a fast reader, at all, I always read for comprehension and will reread things if necessary so why I checked out two books is beyond me but anyway, the book I am reading now is called Lion in the White House. At this point in my reading I am thinking that based on the scientific reasoning Roosevelt applied to life that his Christianity was limited to Sunday in church but on the page after the dedication I read a quote:

“It is not the critic who counts…The credit belongs to the man
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who
at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

These words seemed to ring out to me as we continue down the path of becoming missionaries to Guatemala. We are in the trenches before the trenches and honestly these seem to be the hardest but they are the most rewarding…seeing individual people respond to what God has laid on our heats is amazing, to see them excited and actually desire to come down to Guatemala is only something God has done. Now while the above mentioned quote gives “credit…to the man in the arena” we all know that God alone can receive the credit, even while our faces are “marred by dust and sweat and blood” we still give God the glory because He alone gave us the heart to serve another culture and as I Timothy 1:5 states: “The aim of our charge is love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Even in the midst of slow representation we still believe that God has, is and will provide the financial, prayer and emotional needs that we have as we make this journey. This year in our high school baseball season we made a very slow start winning only 2 games out of 9, and we only lost two seniors. We were also district 5-1A champs last year. I am not stating this for gloating reasons (there is a point); I am stating this because last night we won our district title again and currently are 7-0 in our district with two games remaining. We took the failures of the past games and learned from them and have been on a 7 game winning streak that I believe will, through the power of God who has given us the talent to coach, play and cheer, end when we win the State 1A championship. Our young men, whose faces are marred with dust and sweat and blood, know the great enthusiasms and the failures. We too know that same feeling in our representation process and we believe that only through God will we leave the state for a new title: Missionary!
The last line of that quote brings it all home, while I do not believe we will fail we are daring greatly! We are going against the grain of all that American culture has taught us as products of the 80's, 90's. We love where God is taking us and we cannot wait, but we must; we are scheduled by the only Being who can speak an entire universe into existence and while we are currently marred with blood, sweat and tears, they are simple reminders that God is still working on us, with us, through us and for us!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today.....

2008-03-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

"Christ the Lord is Risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens and earth reply, Alleluia!"

Charles Wesley

I love our little church but we just dont sing hymns enough. I sometimes miss them and this is one that I love. The Lord has been so good to bring this song to my mind this past week and I woke up this morning singing it! How wonderful!
We have enjoyed this Easter season. I found these cool things called Resurection Eggs. They tell the Easter story in 12 eggs. The kids love them. For some reason we just havent gotten in to the whole Easter Bunny thing. We do Easter baskets and egg hunts but other than that my kids are pretty unfamiliar with the bunny part. Maddy actually asked me this morning if the Easter Beagle brought the baskets or if mom and dad did? I thought that was hilarious! Anyway, we do have our Easter traditions consisting of dying eggs and making Resurection Rolls. Here are some pics of the past weekend! We hope you all have a lovely day!

Coleman can talk....

2008-03-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

well, in Colemanese that is! I just thought I would post some cute sayings we love so much. :)

mom...wook...me... (when he was oh so proud of himself for writing all over the wall over his bed)-thank goodness for Mr Clean Magic Erasers!

gu gu beer beer (Franklin and Little Bear)

ta da (anytime he does something great)

woohoo (followed by the cutest dance with arms in the air - anytime he gets what he wants)

I doed it (anytime he is trying to do anything)

He loves Cars and can sing almost every word to every song on the movie (we have the soundtrack as well) :)

He went to the dentist for the first time yesterday! He and Maddy both had appointments so I let Maddy go first since she was a "seasoned veteren" so Cole could see how it was done. She did wonderful and declared that she wanted to be a dentist when she grew up! When it was Coleman's turn the dentist asked if I wanted to sit in the chair and hold him and Cole shooed me away and climbed in the chair himself and said "meself". Sure enough he sat by himself and had his exam like a big boy! I was kicking myself for not having the foresight to bring the camera!

Isnt life as a mom grand!?!?!?

"rockin star"

2008-02-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here is the video from the previous post - Enjoy!

February...Where did you go???

2008-02-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Wow- this month flew by! I started working on our Valentine's Day fundraiser at church back in January, that kept me extremely busy. It went well and we made almost $1400 to go toward our church's Guatemala trip this summer. Then we had our first speaking engagment at a church to begin building our prayer and support team for Guatemala. Jerry did an excellent job speaking, the kids did really well in a new environment (that was a big answer to prayer). We met some really sweet people and hope to continue to develop those relationships. Then Jerry got really sick and was out of work for a week! Now Maddy has a double ear infection. She is hopefully on the mend after a Dr visit yesterday.

February wasnt all busy work and sickness and no play however. Some fun things we did this past month were discovering Polly Pockets! Coleman even loves this since we have a couple of boy figures. :) We have spent many afternoons playing with these tiny dolls. We also made a "rockin star" video of Maddy. Since I got a guitar she has been enjoying singing and creating her own music. We also had a fun park day with friends and Coleman is learning to do some chores. :)

We head into March with a full schedule. We have 2 more speaking engagments in local churches and Jerry has several baseball tournaments so...fun and busy here we come!

(I will post the "Rockin Star" video when I figure out how to)

Coleman learning to fold towels and

the finished product...

i love butterflies

2008-02-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

ok so you are probably thinking that Sarah has written this flowery conversation she had with Maddy about butterflies. this is the furthest from it, i have a friend who is about to embark on his first ever super official full time frame sermon! this is the awesome thing about ministry, we sometimes get to study a passage of Scripture and tell others what it has meant to us and how we think that it can help them in their lives. i love studying Scripture, i love doing word studies and trying to figure out the exact mental framework the writter is in when he is writing! which leads me to butterflies, they are these unseen friends that arrive about two days before i give a presentation, sermon or even morning devotion at school. i have just disregareded them as nervous jitters, or anything else that will at some point let me feel that i am in control of things, but i have gotten rather close to my butterflies and they always tell me the same thing, "you dont have it all together, you have not arrived!" AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!! i love walking up to the podium or at least at our church on to a blank stage with nothing to hide behind but Jesus and His Word! i love walking up there and knowing i may have typed out all my notes and practiced it in the bathroom before my shower, in the shower and in bed at least a couple more times and knowing that i dont have it all together! it is an amazing feeling to have those butterflies swarm bigger and bigger in my stomach until that point comes when, for some reason my legs are moving and the front of the church is getting closer and i turn and there are all these bright shining faces ready to listen to what God has put on my heart and then the butterflies are gone; with no fanfare, with no ticker tape or anything, they are gone and i am left with my notes and the passage and the most important thing, The Holy Spirit. i recently spoke at a morning service and my little stomach friends were there to cheer me on and i loved it! my prayer for my friend is that he appreciate those butterflies as reminders that we are given an awesome opportunity to share God's Word and not to take it lightly but come crawling humbly into the place He would have us speak.
I LOVE BUTTERFLIES!!!!

Change of Perspective

2008-01-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

I started this week with good intentions and way too high expectations. I was going to crack down on Maddy's homeschooling schedule and go hardcore with potty training for Cole. Mind you I am also trying to lose weight (a never ending down hill battle), pick up some conversational Spanish and learn to play guitar (I think my guitar is messed up surely I am not that inept that I cant make even one note sound recognizeable). Anyway, all this along with keeping the house presentable and cooking and grocery shopping, etc... You get the picture, an average week in the life of a stay-at-home mom.
I thought I was "stressed" out. Well, last night we rush out the door to Wed night Bible Study and while I was focused on getting home and finishing up dinner so I can feed 2 "starving" children, I was sitting chatting with a friend and I stumble upon the information that her husband is not living at home anymore. WHAM... I just hung my head and closed my eyes. Another dear friend (3 this year) that is dealing with the unfathomable. My heart literally hurts for her. I cant understand this...even today after crying on my husband's shoulder last night and receiving his reassurance, I can not comprehend what she is going through. I LOVE my life! I have NOTHING to stress over! I have a wonderful, loving husband and 2 precious children the Lord has called me to serve. I am again reminded to be more thankful for what the Lord has blessed me with. I am also compelled to pray so much more for my dear husband and all he faces day to day.
I am encouraged by the blog "thoughts from poopsi" wrote to her husband on their anniversary. What an extraordinary testimony. All of you with strong marriages please join me in praying for these dear friends whose worlds are falling apart. I wish to help them and encourage them but I dont really know how other than to pray that the Lord would be their strength and security during this time.
How quick our perspective changes...

A little bit of cuteness...

2008-01-09T09:46:00.001-08:00

Coleman has quit sleeping through the night for whatever reason. (As has been the case the past few weeks) I was awakened early this morning by a finger poke in the face and a little voice saying, "Mommy". So, I dutifully roll out of bed and walk him back to his bed which resulted in him screaming like a banshee! Well of course that wakes up Madeline. She sits quietly up in bed and says, "Mom, can I have my ear muffs - you know those things that help you not hear other people". I wasnt even aware she knew she had these things, they were mine when I was little and I kept them for her to play with. She knew exactly where they were so I got them and she put them on and fell back asleep! Hilarious! If it wouldnt have disturbed Coleman I would have taken a picture.

Christmas 2007

2008-01-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas... a little late!!! We had a wonderful Christmas. If I could use one word to describe it would be pleasant. We had Maddy's birthday a little early this year so we could slow down and enjoy our holidays. It worked! Jerry and I went on a long awaited date night. (to see August Rush - great movie) We went caroling with our church (Maddy loved this)! We were able to enjoy time with extended family and with each other. We visited family in Baton Rouge that we had not seen in a while. We spent some time with my family. We were able to share with neighbors and others in the community. We spent Christmas Day just the 4 of us at home. It was so nice to go at our own pace and begin some fun and some meaningful traditions in our home. We started the morning with Santa gifts, which were bikes, they loved them. We had a birthday breakfast for Jesus (cinnamon rolls and bacon mmm...). The kids loved blowing out the candles and singing Happy Birthday. Next, Jerry read the Christmas story from Maddy's Bible and Maddy and Cole put their little nativity set together. We had family prayer and then opened our gifts from each other and family who were unable to be here. Jerry surprised me with a guitar! I do not know how to play at all but have been wanting to learn for a while now. I really felt the Lord telling me this was going to be some part of my ministry in Guatemala. I knew we couldnt afford it so I prayed the Lord would work it out if that is what He wanted. He did and how sweet that He used my husband and at Christmastime. I was so surprised and excited I cried when I opened it. I still dont know how to play but I am going to learn! We wrapped up our day with a very late lunch (oops) :) and watching The Santa Clause 2! What a perfect gift from the Lord to our little family!
We truly hope your holidays were a blessing!
I thought I would leave you all with a Christmas slideshow...

Maddy turns 5

2007-12-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

Our little Maddy poo will be 5 on the 16th! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is getting so tall and she can ask some pretty thought provoking questions. She is an amazing little creature. One of the highlights of her year, I think she would say, is starting dance classes. She takes ballet, tap, and tumbling. She loves it! She comes home every week and shows us her new dance steps, we ooh and aah and that makes her so proud. We had her birthday party last weekend, always better to have it early this time of year. She wanted a tea party so a month or so ago I began planning this "tea party". It turned out to be quite fun and cute at that! :) Here are some pics of "her best birthday ever" (she is so dramatic)...

the girls... the boys...

yes, we even played pin the tail on the donkey

her favorite gift, of course, was a tea set!

LL Newsletter Vol I Dec 2007

2007-12-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

This is the first installment of our newsletter. We will be sending these out a few times a year, they include updates on our family, our progress on getting to the field, support info and prayer requests. To enlarge double click on the image. If you would like to receive this by mail or email please send us your physical or email address. We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

LEGACY

2007-11-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

So you may wonder why we chose to use legacy as part of the title to our blog. Let me take you back about three months to a local bookstore, as I was reading the preface to End of the Spear by Steve Saint (son of slain missionary to Ecuador Nate Saint). He ends his preface by telling his grandchildren that “this book is for you. This is the preface to your story.” I was moved by those two sentences. A legacy (by definition) is something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor from the past. Sarah and I have begun in our family what we hope is a legacy of missions and not just world missions. We, as Christians, are all called to missions of some form. I use the word “called” loosely, actually we are commanded by God Himself to spread the Gospel message, the Blessed Hope, the Truth! We have spent hours praying about this one decision that would forever change the landscape of our lives. We have seen the awesome power of living a life of service to those who were not fortunate enough to live in a country with religious freedom. So we choose to leave for our children and their children the legacy of faithfulness in Christ through missions.
We are humbled that God would ask us to be “Great Commissionaries” in Guatemala and more specifically the highland area around Lake Atitlan. We are humbled that two friends from college would pray about building a team of missionaries to train pastors and elders and consider us! Finally, we are humbled to be in a great organization with a long legacy of missions.
A legacy, although only realized when our children take what God has given us as their own and live according to what God has for them. We have met many legacies within our organization, working with people whose fathers have translated Bibles from unwritten languages into Spanish "testamentos" because of their love of people and Jesus.
We cannot wait to see how God uses us in Guatemala, we cannot wait to see the different people that God brings into our lives so that we can get to Guatemala, we cannot wait to see God do things in our lives that we thought were impossible. But, we will wait and we will seek God’s timing in everything. As when He began this process in us at the day of our salvation and more specifically the day we got that phone call asking if we would pray about becoming part of a team. Then two months later we found ourselves looking out at a lake back dropped by a group of volcanoes nearly a mile above sea level.
Pray that we will leave a legacy of faithfulness in Christ through missions for our children. Pray that we will include them in every aspect of ministering to Guatemalan nationals in such a way that they too will choose to leave the same legacy for their children. This is the beginning of their story.

Missionary Appointees

2007-11-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

We have officially become missionary appointees with CAM International to Guatemala! It has been a long process and this is just the beginning. We are very excited about this new phase of our lives. We met some incredible people at training and certainly new friends who will last a lifetime. It was a great time of learning and growth for us. We are so humbled that the Lord would have us serve in such an incredible ministry.

The kids had a wonderful time! They made great friends with some of the other candidates children. The Lord really worked things out so there were other kids their age. They also attended a children's academy at a local church. They had a lot of fun learning about Thanksgiving. They even had their own "feast"!

While in Dallas we were also able to reconnect with some "old" friends. We had a great time with the Bannis's! Xav we will certainly be thinking of you as we enjoy our turducken. :)

We are looking forward to what the Lord has in front of us! We are beginning the representation process at this point and we are excited about sharing our journey with you all!

We hope to be able to see a lot of you during our travels!