I have finally put some new pictures into the gallery!  So if you have given up on looking at it, look again.  The pictures reminded me of a few things I haven’t told you about.

Waaay back in September we did a really fun thing for Giovanni and Carolina.  They were getting ready to move into their new house on the church property, but they didn’t have a pretty yard, and Carolina loves her yard.  So, one Saturday while they were away at a gospel meeting a group from church got together and planted, planted, planted!  It took us all day, but we got ground cover put in, lots of flowers planted, and even moved a few trees. 

 

Saturday morning I went and stole all of Carolina’s potted plants out of her house’s tiny porch and we planted them all.  I was hoping that she would get home so late that she wouldn’t notice.  She said she cooked and cleaned up and then realized something was missing.  She asked Cruz (who had helped me take the plants and plant them in the new yard) what happened to them and Cruz just skirted answering.  So the next morning she was even more excited about her new yard seeing all of her plants.  She told me she was just trying to figure out why anyone would break into her yard just to steal her plants!

 

 

I forgot to tell you about our sixflags trip. We got to the states on Friday, and Saturday we were able to enjoy a fun day at Sixflags with my sister and brother-in-law.  We had a great time and I had forgotten just how big the rides are!  I think we all decided that the Texas Giant got a lot rougher than it used to be (or we got older, but that couldn’t be it!).  We actually lost our car keys on the Giant.  They fell out of David’s pocket during the ride, but we didn’t notice until we were walking out of the park.  They were for my parents car, so I called and my dad told me they were his only set of keys.  Yikes!  While we were waiting for my dad to come (I felt like a teenager) David and Chris ran to the lost and found thinking they would let them know about the keys and wait for a call the next day.  Fortunately someone had found them in the seat of the ride and turned them in and there they were.  It seems lots of people loose things on the Giant (they had a big basket of keys and another of cell phones), and the two people in line before David both lost things on it.  We got a hold of my dad before he left the house and let him know we found the keys.  He cracked me up when he said “I thought you would.” and then after a brief pause “No, I really didn’t.”  What are the chances!?!

Well, we just got back from our trip to the states.  We had a wonderful visit and got to see lots of people in Edmond we hadn’t seen in two years.  I got my first pedicure, David got to go to an OU game and see them win, and we got a lot of work done.  Some how, even with all the work we got done, we came home with even more!  I have a list of 22 things to do, and that doesn’t even include cleaning the house which decided to grow lots of mold in the 10 days we were gone.  We are also having a plague of knats, and even though I swept yesterday and David swept this morning, my floor is still covered with tiny bugs.  Yuck.  But it’s still good to be home!  Everyone said that it rained the entire time we were gone, and I think we will always take trips to the states in October from now on.  Miss the rain here and get great weather in the states.

This trip was a work trip, and we were able to meet with our missions team at Edmond and make some important decisions I’ll share with you later.  I just wanted to mention how great it is to have such a wonderful, committed team like we have at Edmond, that are willing to take time out of their busy days to meet and work with us.  We see clearly how greatly God is blessing us and taking care of us!

It was also great to see so many friends and their kids who are huge now!  I was excited that so many remember me.  I can’t remember how many times I felt a little one hugging on my leg.  Gotta love that.

I also saw God’s blessing during David’s jail trip.  Israel and Maria were with me from the morning until 11:00 that night giving me support and encouragment.  Giovanni stayed with me until 5:00, with his blood sugar up to 200 until he just couldn’t physically make it any more.  Rosa’s sister (a lawyer) drove up from Managua to help and also stayed until 5.  I can’t even list all of the members who were at the jail to visit David and make sure everything was ok.  I couldn’t ask for better friends.  When the accident happened I walked the short distance to the church to get Giovanni for help and just walking past Carolina already came out asking what was wrong.  It is great to have friends who know me so well and are able to read our thoughts and provide just what we need, be it a hug, a supportive shoulder, etc.

I think our most interesting story since my last blog (a long time ago, I know), is that David is now a international criminal.  Not really, don’t panic.  Here’s the story.  One Sunday on the way to church David was making a left-hand turn into the church drive and a motorcycle decided to pass, hit the front side of the truck, and slid into a young woman waiting for the bus.  This broke the girl’s leg.  Well, here they have a wonderful law that if you get into an accident where someone is “gravely” injured they hold both parties for 48 hours to determine guilt.  Unless all the parties involved work out a legal deal.  So off David goes to the cell.  And NOT with the other detained traffic troubles, but with all the REAL criminals - those convicted and waiting sentencing, etc.  And I’m trying to make this deal, but the girl with the broken leg had to be transferred to Managua (at least an hour away) and we can’t get ahold of her husband.  Finally at about 9:00 I get together with the husband of the girl and the wife of the motorcycle and we work something out.  The commissioner said he would let them out if we got everything together, but then he said that it was to late in the evening and they couldn’t do it until the next day.  So David was stuck there until about 10 the next morning.  At first his cellmates were a little aggressive (saying “That’s a nice shirt (David’s in his church clothes), are you going to give me that shirt”), but once David explained who he was and what had happened they were very nice.  Later in the evening they asked him to talk about the Bible, so he gave them his lesson on temptation and he was amazed they were all quiet and respectful for 20 min. while he talked.  In the end they even asked David if he wanted them to beat up the motorcycle guy for him.  He politely declined.  =)