Sonidos Serranos

Sonidos Serranos: Sounds of the Sierras...
Reflecting some of my family's interests: God's wonderful creation (especially mountains and hills!), music, and language...

Psalm 121:1-2 (NASB)

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

28 April 2015

“These words are trustworthy and true!”

[John] saw…
A new heaven and a new earth.

And then he heard something wonderful.
A loud voice came from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them,
and they will be his people…


He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning
nor crying nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away…

I am making all things new…

Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

...

John awoke from his vision.

John smiled. John knew.

All God’s promises,
all the things Jesus had told him years ago,
were true!

...

He had seen the very good ending
waiting for everyone who follows Jesus as God’s king.

God’s forever people
will one day live
in God’s forever place
under God’s forever rule.

Can you believe it?

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  


19 April 2015

“¡Confortaos . . . con estas palabras!”

Hace un año, una hermana muy querida de la Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha en Pando partió a la Presencia de nuestro Salvador...

Cuando recibimos la noticia, Juan Marcos escribió:
Esta mañana nuestra querida hermana dejó sus sufrimientos para servir, adorar y gozarse en Jesús para siempre.

El día siguiente, al compartir el dolor y las lágrimas de su familia, escribí:
Esta mañana, en el cementerio, yo no tenía palabras...
Pero Dios sí tiene palabras – palabras verdaderas de esperanza y de consuelo: 
No queremos, hermanos, que ignoréis acerca de los que duermen, para que no os entristezcáis como lo hacen los demás que no tienen esperanza.
Porque si creemos que Jesús murió y resucitó, así también Dios traerá con El a los que durmieron en Jesús.
Por lo cual os decimos esto por la palabra del Señor: que nosotros los que estemos vivos y que permanezcamos hasta la venida del Señor, no precederemos a los que durmieron.
Pues el Señor mismo descenderá del cielo con voz de mando, con voz de arcángel y con la trompeta de Dios, y los muertos en Cristo se levantarán primero.
Entonces nosotros, los que estemos vivos y que permanezcamos, seremos arrebatados juntamente con ellos en las nubes al encuentro del Señor en el aire, y así estaremos con el Señor siempre.
Por tanto, confortaos unos a otros con estas palabras.
~I Tesalonicenses 4
Fue un Viernes Santo que la enterraron a Nelli. Recordábamos que también fue un Viernes Santo, hacía tres años, que nos despedíamos de nuestro querido Jona...


Y el año pasado, el 20 de abril caía justo en el Domingo de Resurrección...

Hoy seguimos meditando en esta gran verdad:
Jesús dijo: “Yo soy la resurrección y la vida; el que cree en mí, aunque muera, vivirá, y todo el que vive y cree en mí, no morirá jamás. ¿Crees esto?
~Juan 11
¡Sí, Señor Jesús! Por tu gracia, creemos...

17 April 2015

Recent Comments & Conversations!

I’ve been collecting “comments” and “conversations” for the last month and a half. As I reread them, I smile or even laugh right out loud!


We’re especially loving the ways our Little Man experiments with words these days. (And I remember a Little Lady making us laugh when she was about this age.)

On the second day of school we asked our Little Man:

“Did you make any new friends at school today?”

“No, but I made a new teacher.”


That same afternoon the observant Little Mechanic informed me:

“The air container [his expression for air conditioner] at my school looks just like ours  but it has a pipe that comes in from outside and another one inside that comes down the wall into a bucket, and water comes out of it…”


When the Little Mechanic gets frustrated because his latest MegaBloks creation isn’t fitting together correctly (sometimes due to miscalculations on his part as designer), he exclaims:

“This isn’t telling me the truth!”


At lunch one day in late March, JM and I were discussing the adjectival use of past participles in Spanish (and specifically estoy aburrido vs soy aburrido).

In the course of the conversation we also mentioned “estoy confiado” and a few other similar examples.

DJ was trying to glean what he could from that conversation (and obviously didn’t quite follow everything that was said) – as evidenced by his comment that evening when he quietly confided to me:

“Daddy said something silly today; he said: Estoy jugado but it’s really Estoy jugando.

No wonder he comes home from school exhausted!


While trying to get him settled a few nights later, he said to me: “Sometimes I can’t think… But my mind is always talking.”

Yep! We can see that!

The night before he had asked me to explain the digestive system:

“When food goes down the goozle pipe, is the stomach shaped like ‘U’? Because otherwise the food wouldn’t all fit…”


And just yesterday, I overheard the following conversation:

E: “Name five things that you do in the evening.”

DJ: “That’s too hard!”

E: “No, it’s not! You walk and you talk…”

DJ (excitedly interrupting): “And I pick my nose! And I use the potty! And I pull up my clothes after using the potty!”

I’d love to hear what all gets said
while making brick-powder-based paint...

Never a dull moment around here!

16 April 2015

¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

In keeping with our family tradition, we’re in the middle of “birthday season” right now. In the afternoon, my Little People threw a “surprise party” for me, including a candy hunt, reading time, and (sweet!) gifts.


Since both JM and I had college classes in the evening, we celebrated with our FEBU Family.



¡No hay nada como la torta de cumple uruguaya!

Mis estudiantes favoritos...

Ayudando con la velita de cumple...

I’d rather not spend too much time thinking about how quickly time passes; I’d rather not count candles on a cake! The longer I live, however, the more I realize that the trials of this life help me appreciate the value of pausing to celebrate this life. And birthdays certainly serve as a reminder that this life is only a vapor.

So at the beginning of another year of life, I’m meditating on Psalm 90, praying as Moses did:
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

14 April 2015

We ♥ you, Edi Cavani!

¡GRANDE el jugador favorito de mi Elizabeth!

Llevó una bandera con su foto cuando fuimos
a verlo al Estadio Centenario en noviembre...

FOX Deportes nombra a Edinson Cavani (quien marcó dos de los cuatro goles que llevaron al PSG a la victoria en La Coupe de la Ligue) entre “Los Ocho Mejores de Europa”.

El comentarista dice, entre otras cosas:

“Hay que ver que dan de comer en Salto porque es tierra de goleadores...” J




“Realmente un hombre tremendo, sincero, uruguayo; es tierra mítica, un poco. Es increíble las cosas que genera Uruguay en el mundo del fútbol: un país tan pequeño con tanta mística, tanta nostalgia, tantos títulos, tantos logros, tantos buenos jugadores...”

08 April 2015

Thoughts (from four years ago)

I’m reposting from JM’s fb status four years ago:
“Blood, gasps, DNC’s, sobs, empty chairs... The snake didn’t tell me when he offered the fruit. Remember this the next time idolatry looks so good.”

Today, I’m more thankful than ever for The Rescuer!
He will save His people from their sins...”

05 April 2015

Easter (and Autumn!) Thoughts

Jesus said:
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11)

In Montevideo the trees lining many streets are changing to autumn’s yellow and brown. And in the surrounding department of Canelones, many fields are filled with pampas grass in full beige-colored tassel.

If the colors of North American spring remind us of the new life of resurrection, then the darker shades of Southern Cone autumn remind us of the effects of sin on the earth and of our need for Christ’s rising.

HT: JMS


Bright pink is another shade of our autumn
with the silk floss kapok trees still in bloom.



He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

02 April 2015

“Happy Birthday, Dear Abu!”

Happy Birthday, Dear Abu!

Happy Birthday to YOU!