Painting and Praying

We are getting closer to making our house a home.  I've been busy painting a few things and a few walls.  We've also been busy getting back into the swing of things at church. Shannon preached last Sunday and did a baby dedication.  He will be preaching tomorrow as well.  We both need to take some time to study more Spanish, it's amazing how much you forget.  We've both had a lot of laughs when we say the wrong thing or can't think of the right word.

The kids are all registered for school and will be starting Monday.  They both will be taking Spanish 4, in the same class, at the same time.  They are both ready to begin the year and get it behind them.  They've changed the calendar here to match up more with the Ecuadorian schools and they won't get out of school until the END of June.  We're thinking Ethan won't graduate until June 29th, which is Shannon's birthday.  We're not sure about that date but that's what it looks like on the calendar.  They also changed the grading scale, it's now the same as in the states.  That was a huge relief.

 Here are a couple of things that I've redone.  We had these pieces the last time we lived here and I wanted to redo them but I just never got around to it.

This is the before.

And this is the after.  It looks blue but it's grey.

Before.

After.

And this is my favorite part of our apartment.  We love this little yard. 

We built our first fire in our fireplace.  It was awesome.  I've always wanted a fireplace, that worked.  We had one last time but it didn't work.  It was like a teaser.  It's nice to have a fire on cold nights, which is almost every night.  We do have a gas heater that we use when we don't build a fire.  We've only built one fire because we don't really have a lot of wood.  We've got to find someone that sells it.

Shannon doing a baby/children dedication last Sunday.

Shannon preaching for the first time since being back in the country.  I'm gonna say that he's one brave soul because of the loss of Spanish vocabulary.  He did a great job and the church is very forgiving of his (our) Spanish.

We have a couple of ladies coming from Arkansas next week to stay with us for a week.  They are going to help do a few things in the house and do a little ministry.  They are here to scout out a missions trip for the WM's of Arkansas that will be coming next summer.  We're really excited about having them and working with them.  I'll go ahead and tell you who's coming because I know all you Arkansas AG church goers are wanting to know.  It's Angelia Carpenter and Jackie Underhill.  Be praying that they have a safe trip here and have a great week while they are here.