The Mom Life

"Thank you for everything, seriously. I am grateful to you for what you do. It is a great act of grace on your part. God bless you, friend."  That is the message of thanks one of our guys wrote a friend of mine this week for buying his school supplies.  The message of it goes for all our supporters though, because they are the reason we're able to help Edson with school supplies. Edson, a son in the faith to Seth Because of you we're able to provide love and a sense of family to kids that don't have that at home. They are able to see a healthy and happy marriage founded on Christ.  They receive hugs and hear the words, "I love you," when no one else in their life tells them this. We dream of moving to the Chiquicollo community, beginning a youth and children's outreach, and planting a house church. We dream of making a bigger impact, not just in their lives but in the lives of the people around them as well. A rainy day in Chiquicollo ...

Its been a year of firsts for our family, and Christmas in Bolivia is our most recent.  We decided to celebrate a little bit early with our normal traditions, so that we could extend it to our "weekend kids" without taking away from their time with family.  I am so glad we did...it was so much fun showing them what our Christmas is like and showering them with love and gifts (thanks to so many kind friends, family, and strangers!). We wanted to do a lot for these guys because 1. We love them. and 2. They don't do anything special for Christmas (as in no presents, traditions, etc.).  But, our budget is already tight, so we knew we couldn't do it ourselves.  So, the past few months, as friends asked, we started getting glimpses of what we could do.  A friend sent a ton of great little stocking stuffer type things (toothbrushes, toothpastes, shampoos, tissues, deodorant, lotion, playing cards, etc.) and I was really excited to have that.  They were collec...

We spend a lot of time thinking about our stuff.  Paying off our stuff, repairing our stuff, watching our kids break our stuff, updating our stuff.  Stuff takes a lot of our time and energy, thoughts and finances.  We get proud of our stuff, and want to show it off on Facebook.  Its an important part of life.   When our family moved to Bolivia, we started all over with stuff, only coming here with what we could fit in 10 suitcases and 5 carry ons.  So, pretty much clothes, a few blankets, and kitchen ware.  Like any good American, we started buying more stuff.  A blender, TV, stereo, beds, couches, a rug, table and chairs, fridge, and microwave, and so on.  I was excited about all the "new stuff" ten months ago, but now with three kids (one I half-jokingly call "the destroyer") and teens in our home all the time, our stuff is no longer like new.  Some of it has been thrown away after being broken beyond repair. Lola actually broke...