Remember Michael in your prayers today. He is traveling with some other men to one of our H.I.M. churches in northern Guatemala to preach a youth revival. They will be driving through some of the more unstable parts of Guatemala. I'm sure they would appreciate prayers for their safety.

Michael preaches three different times on Saturday, and then once on Sunday morning before making the 5-6 hour trip back home.

And hopefully, I'll have pictures to share from his trip when they get back. I reminded him a couple of times where the camera was located and to pretty please take some pictures...so we'll see!! =) Actually, I don't have much hope...but there's always a first for everything!!

[ Just a Glimpse ]

Personally, we utilize neither of these options. We use The Berkey Light water filtering system. This allows us to have/get water at any time of the day without going anywhere, or having to spend money buying it. What a blessing it has been to us!! We highly recommend it (especially for missionaries)! Oh, and it's good tasting water, too!

Easter

He Is Risen!

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!!!

And, I like what this gospel song has to say...

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone!

Because I know who holds the future -

And life is worth the living, just because He lives!

(William & Gloria Gaither, 1971)

So thankful that Jesus died on the cross to pardon our sins, BUT, what a blessed hope we have in the resurrection! So simple, yet, so intricately complex. It made our future a little brighter, and our load a little lighter. May we never lose the awesomeness of what the whole entire Easter story represents. For you see, it was the greatest event in history! May we teach our children the true, Biblical story instead of glamorizing the holiday with commercial goodies. I'm not saying that easter baskets, plastic eggs, and candy are wrong, but generation after generation are passing through the corridors of time, and they're losing the true meaning of most everything that's taught in the Bible. Might that we, be faithful!

Ok, so now that I'm stepping down off that soapbox, let me tell you a little about what we did for Easter. =)

I can't say that we did anything too extraordinary this year, but leading up to Easter, we talked to the boys quite a bit about the true meaning of Easter and read them different books. Easter Sunday morning, we tried to dress up a little more than normal (tradition, you know). Our church service in form was pretty "regular" (due to the hubby and me not thinking ahead), but after Michael preached a good message, a new family came forward to pray! And that's very exciting!!

And let me just insert in here, that Easter in Mexico is quite different. With the large Catholic influence, Palm Sunday and Good Friday are somewhat celebrated (with rituals and partying) and Resurrection Sunday kind of gets overlooked. Nothing special. And really, there's no commercialization of Easter either. So, now let me tell you that we have two different men in our church who lead the services before Michael preaches. So instead of singing "Up From The Grave He Arose" or "Crown Him With Many Crowns", we sang "Revive Us Again" and "A New Touch of Fire." Great songs, but not very Easter oriented! When Michael got up, we introduced "He Lives" and "Because He Lives." How exciting to explain why we want/should celebrate Easter in a BIG way!

Anyway, after service, we shared a meal together and then I passed out Peanut Butter Easter Eggs. They all seemed to really enjoy them (and of course, I forgot to take a picture).

Due to eating a Mexican lunch yesterday, we waited until tonight to enjoy a traditional ham and mashed potato meal!

Kyle and Taylor enjoying Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

So that's basically it (at least for this year)! What does your family do for Easter to make it special?

[ Just a Glimpse ]

Today's weekly post is actually an explanation of how our water system works here in our house.

We live in a secure community that has it's own water system that is run separate from the rest of the city.

Our fraccionamiento has it's own water tower...

(and I think it has a bigger, and newer one as well)

Then the water is distributed to all the houses here, at various times throughout the day, and it collects in each person's own underground cistern. Ours is in our backyard.

From there, it runs through a pump...

...that pushes it up to our water tank on top of our house.

And from there, we have gravity fed - running water!

Now to get to our tank, you kind of need to climb up this ladder...

...of which after climbing a few rungs, I decided it wouldn't be a smart idea to try and climb up the whole way with a camera around my neck (actually, it would probably be dangerous, especially in a long skirt!) =) So, I just climbed up a regular ladder in our study, and took the picture out a small window.

***************

Actually, in regards to our water situation, we are thankful! Our fracc. has been having issues with their water tanks and system (having lots of sand get in them, and needing to do repairs...). We've seen many of our neighbors having water trucks come in and deliver gallons of water, but we had no idea why. We thought we were missing something... And indeed we were! For whatever reason, others have not been able to get water in their cisterns, but so far, our little system has been working properly and we have all the water we need. Our pastor neighbor and friend said the other day, "Wow, the Lord's been providing for you." And indeed He has!

PTL

We are Praising The Lord for helping Michael to get his FM-2 Visa!

What this Means: Previously, we had only 6 month tourist visas. This visa required us (and our truck and trailer) to leave the country for a few days - every six months! That's a great option if you live only a few hours from the border, but since we're 30 hours or so from the border...it's not something we wanted to do that often! Plus, there's more expense involved.

With this FM-2, we do NOT have to leave the country to renew our visas! They do cost money, and they will need renewed once a year, but we can do it all in-country. And after five years, if we meet all the requirements, we are eligible to obtain a permanent resident visa which would allow us to come and go at will.

Somewhere along the line, Michael was able to meet and then do all of our paperwork with the regional director at the immigration office. I'm sure this helped to speed up the process, because we were told it could take a couple of months, but he was able to get his "immigrant" card in just three days!!!

Now the only thing that remains, is to apply for this same status for me and the kids!

[ Just a Glimpse ]

March 2011 Photos

I finally got my "March 2011" photo album uploaded to facebook. (And for the few, faithful blog followers, there are a couple new shots that haven't been shown here on the blog mixed in with some you've already seen...)

Celebrating Parker's 1st Birthday

Here's the Birthday Boy!

Last night after service, our church people here in Tapachula surprised us by having cake and "refrescos" (soda) to celebrate Parker's birthday!

As per tradition, Parker got a little help from his friends as he took a bite from the cake without using his hands...

...but then he couldn't resist to use his hands and try some more!

And then a few days later, we celebrated at home by letting him eat his own birthday cake!

What a mess...but he enjoyed every bite!!!

Parker - A Year in Review

So hard to believe that Parker turns 1 yr. old today! We're so thankful that God chose to bless our lives with this little guy! He's added joy to our home and it's so fun to watch as he learns new things. He also has quite the personality - and we can't wait to see what God has in store for his future! We love you, buddy!! Happy Birthday!!!

We still haven't decided for sure how we're going to celebrate...but I'm off to at least bake a cake!! Hopefully I'll have more pictures to post tomorrow.

[ Just a Glimpse ]

Marriage Seminar and More