Happy B-Day [Party], DJM!

We had fun developing the “Construction Worker” theme this year!

“Cousins!”

We grilled out in the back yard...

Gotta stop to snack on olives between bites of cake! J

And we enjoyed the time with friends and family – from as far away as northern Canada this year! J

DJM is a very blessed boy!

We love our “Little Engineer” more than words could possibly say!

And we thank our Loving Shepherd for entrusting him to us! ♥

B-Day Season!

We’ve celebrated “birthday season” in our little family – for as long as I can remember (and maybe even since our founding in 1999). Whatever the case, our tradition has worked well so far. Furthermore, October has been doubly “birthday season” because we have two birthdays almost back to back at the end of the month. (DJM was, in fact, “due” on JM’s birthday!)

This year (not surprisingly) wasn’t any less busy than last. In fact, at the very last minute, several unexpected adventures came up which trumped our (birthday drive) celebration plans for JM. So, “birthday season” actually became an even better idea than ever for us...

We “celebrated” JM’s birthday (on the actual date) with pasta frola – one of his favorite Uruguayan desserts.

But I still owe him his favorite (made from scratch!) chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!

And DJ took a bakery cake (one of my favorites!) to school on his actual birthday.

We sent a camera, so they would take pictures.

And we went out that evening for our favorite ice-cream!

Stay tuned for pictures from DJ’s birthday party just this past Saturday...

Blessings!

We’ve been blessed in extra special ways by our most recent visitors!

Gina shared her testimony at a multi-church ladies’ meeting, hosted by Templo Calvario here in Montevideo.

Jerry and Gina “remodeled” the hallways (downstairs and up) as well as the main stairwell and our master bedroom! In the words of E and DJ: “This is a different place now!”

We heartily agree! It is a different place!

We thoroughly enjoyed a very competitive soccer game on Tuesday night – probably the most competitive I’ve ever attended! The stadium was packed! (If you followed the events of this year’s Copa America, you’ll understand the background.)

These “extras” didn’t stay empty for long...

¡Viva URUGUAY!

We won 3 to 0!

We’re very thankful for these friends and their time with us.

And we’re going to miss them!

Creative Writing!

During the 2014 World Cup, DJ learned numbers (including double digits) from his favorite Celeste jerseys! Sometime since the beginning of this year, he also (somehow!) learned (from games and from watching his sister, we’re guessing) to write the whole alphabet (at least in capital letters).

Now he loves to write out words, letter by painstaking letter, that others spell out for him. And he’ll stick to it until he fills in all the blanks – for instance, on Sunday School papers at church (designed for elementary-aged students)! But he writes some of the letters backward (for example, the “J”) and also starts many of the letters from the bottom. (Should I be concerned about that at this point?)

He likes to write numbers

– forward and backward –

partly to prove that he can!

During half days at K-4, pre-reading skills are taught (for Spanish) and objectives include recognizing and writing the letters in his name and the numbers 1 to 10. Because English is much more challenging (to read and write) than Spanish is, however, I’ve wanted him to learn to read English first. So, several months ago, we started basic reading lessons, using “Reading Eggs” (an online interactive program). We’re only on Lesson 20 out of 120 or so.

It’s been a lot of fun for us to watch DJ take the knowledge he is acquiring and run with it! He’s been trying to write words for a while now, but just yesterday he wrote his first creative sentence:

And I understood!

A note for educator friends:

“Reading Eggs” seems to be structured in similar fashion to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which I used for a bit with E when she was five and a half (before we changed K-5 plans after extended travel to Uruguay that year).

¡Feliz Cumple! ♥

Deseándole un Muy Feliz Cumple a Juan Marcos, mi mejor amigo...

Estoy agradecida hoy, más que nunca, a nuestro Salvador por traerme a tu vida, enseñándome así más y más de Cristo al verlo a EL en tu vivir cada día.

¡Feliz Cumple! ¡Vamos por más! ♥

¡En el Estadio Centenario!

Comparto siete segundos del público disfrutando ¡en el Estadio Centenario en Montevideo, Uruguay!

“¡Despenalicemos la Maternidad!”

[Argumentado por Juan Marcos]

Hace tres años despenalizaron la “Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo”, engañoso eufemismo que ignora lo obvio:

Una “interrupción” que nunca se podrá reanudar no es “interrupción” sino “terminación”.

Nuestra premisa (la cual creemos que se apoya por la Biblia, por el sentido común y por un vistazo a una imagen de ecografía) es que un embarazo consiste no en tejido extra (¡Echale otro vistazo a esa imagen!) sino en una nueva vida. Así que la terminación del embarazo es la terminación de una vida. Y eso para nosotros se llama “muerte”.

El lunes me uniré a ciudadanos y residentes del Uruguay quienes creemos que una madre no debe ser penalizada por la engañosa y destructiva teología de una cultura que dice que el aborto es una solución a un embarazo complicado. No estaré comunicando mi apoyo por ningún partido político. Ni estaré protestando en contra del gobierno. Tampoco represento a nadie sino a mí mismo y mi familia, como personas que vivimos en, trabajamos en, y amamos esta ciudad, este país y su pueblo. Estamos comunicando nuestra convicción que la vida dentro del útero es de gran valor y que la terminación de esa vida tiene consecuencias terribles—especialmente para la madre (y también para el padre) a menudo desesperados y desorientados.

por Eli (en 2010), copiado por Dani (en 2015)

Aunque nos reunimos como ciudadanos—no como grupo de cristianos ni aun como grupo de teístas—sin embargo les recuerdo que los cristianos (pecadores que hemos sido salvados por la gracia de Dios por medio de la fe en Jesús, su Hijo), si bien somos definidos y dados vida eterna por medio del Evangelio, se nos describe con precisión como gente que hacemos bien. Jesús anduvo haciendo bien (Hechos 10:38). Nuestro Padre da su sol y su lluvia a todos (Mateo 5:43-48). Los cristianos somos un pueblo que intentamos ayudar a nuestros prójimos, a nuestros vecinos. Somos personas quienes a veces nos encontramos en situaciones en las que tenemos que defender y proteger a un vecino. Una madre en busca de una solución a una crisis es mi vecina, es mi prójima. No quiero que ella sea destruida por la falsa esperanza que le dice que este aborto le va a ayudar.

Es esto lo que estoy tratando de comunicar. Espero que muchos se unirán a mí.