Spring Break: Educational Fun

We also planned some educational fun over spring break. We had been wanting to do special things with the kids and have some fun as a family, and we thought it would be a good idea for them to learn new things on their break from school. This was our first time visiting the Frontier Culture Museum.

As you walk around the land, the museum has reproductions of farms and tells the story of early immigrants and their American descendts.

You could tour inside each farm or house to see how life was back then


At this farm we got to see baby sheep!


They were only 1 day old!!


All this farm land to run and get out all that energy!


The kids were laughing at the "pots" under the beds. Angel said he'd get me one since I usually wake up 3-4 times a night to use the bathroom and our bathroom is downstairs!


Peering in the well. My nephew said he forgot his pennies to make a wish...


Then I told him that this was not a "wishing well" but really used to draw water.


Angel claims he could easily survive frontier life. He says it really reminds him of life in Mexico.


Caleb and Eston checking out the weaving wheel.


Clogs:


My sister-in-law sporting some classy wodden clogs:




Grammy and Alisia on this old American farm porch.


What a fun trip.


Did I mention how refreshing family time is?!

Spring Break: Water Park Fun

I want to finnish posting some pictures since I'm way behind in that area! We had a great Spring Break and stayed busy. Angel and I saved some vacation days to enjoy some of the time off with the kids. I'll tell ya, family time is so refreshing!

We planned a "fun day" at a local indoor water park. It was our first time going we had a great time. But we were definitely tired out by the end of the day! We had all day passes, but for future reference, 1/2 a day would have been much cheaper and just as good. The kids were go-go-go ALL day! And with that chlorine in the water, we were beat!

As soon as we got there, Alisia wasted no time and started hitting the slides. By the end of the day, she had went on every single slide! She convinced Papi to go on every single one too! He said next time, he may just let her invite a friend. haha....

Caleb was eager to hit the slides too! But he was more cautious though! He started on the small slide, and worked his way up to the bigger ones!

Papi and Alisia were buddies for most of the day.

And I had fun hanging out with my little man.

There are so many slides at this park!

Can't wait to go again when they have the outside section open!

Getting ready to head home

Easter Festives

Easter Sunrise Service
We took a pic outside to prove that we did actually get up at sunrise. It was such a blessing that everyone woke up in a good mood to be at church by 6am and we weren't even running late!

After the service, we enjoy a traditionl "Mexican style" breakfast with the congregation.

Angel really looks forward to this because he gets to enjoy all of his favorites at once that I haven't learned to make yet!

After we napped some on Easter afternoon, we enjoyed a traditional "American-style" dinner with my family. We have enjoyed finding a balance to our family celebration to bring in both cultures.

Once again, at this special time of year, I am thankful that I am able to celebrate Christ's Resurrection with my family! I'm so thankful for the heritage passed on to be from my parents and grandparents, that I can now pass down to my own children.

One thing we didn't do this Easter was go to an egg-hunt or paint Easter eggs. I didn't really miss it and I don't think the kids really noticed either. It was nice to be able to celebrate Jesus and reflect on His Amazing Love for us, his children.

"...Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
John 1:29

Easter Reflections

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

I'm the type of person who clings to the cross when I need it. There is something so comforting knowing that he knows every tear and every heartache. But, when things are going well and problems are minimal, I know God is there and I am thankful, but I am less likely to cling. My prayer is that I can be drawn to God daily, in all things.

Well, God has been answering my prayer. But not quite how I expected. Lately, God has been reminding me daily of my sin. And it doesn't feel good. I fail. I strive so hard to meet everyone else needs, and I fail. In my sin of pleasing everyone else, I loose sight of what God did for me. But over Easter weekend, I was reminded that this is necessary for me to cling to the cross. I need to be reminded of my failure. I can't be the perfect mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend. I need to be reminded daily that He sent His son to die on the cross for my sin. I need to be reminded that I can't do it alone and by myself. I need God's strength. I need Him. In weakness and in strength, I need him. In all things I need Him.

I have a Savior who died for me. I am not condemned to punishment, because Jesus paid it for me. His blood covers all my sins. Praise God!

Unsettled

I sit here struggling with how to express what is on my heart. Almost exactly one year ago, God reaffirmed in our heart the calling to pursue long term mission work. Last year, we spent a lot of time in prayer and seeking God what this would look like.

We pursued it. We walked through the doors as they were opened. We prayed. We doubted. But God re-confirmed. We kept walking. The doors closed.

But God keeps working. We found out toward the end of last year that we couldn't just pick up and start raising support for a number of different reasons. We started to doubt if that was really what God was calling us to do as a family. But God keeps reaffirming our call to serve him in the mission field as a family. We still feel a strong calling that one day, we will be working with families and church-building somewhere in Mexico. I won't go into all the details for now, but obviously we are not there yet. We have been feeling unsettled. We haven't really made sense of all this yet, but we know that God is calling us as a family to serve him. We know that His word commands it regardless of where you are living. To glorify him in your life daily and point others to Christ.

God keeps opening doors. Last fall, God brought us to another family that are at a smiliar place in their life. They know that God is calling their family to missions, but are not sure how that will play out. We started a home group together "Families with a Mission." It's not super structured, but our goal is to bring our families together as we seek God's will in Missions. We've had reflections from John Piper's book "Let the Nations Be Glad."

Well, from there, we talked about putting together a summer group to serve together as families. We ran it past the church to get their support, and started praying about where God would have our families go to serve Him. Dalton, Georgia is little smaller than Harrisonburg with a very diverse community and a growing Spanish-speaking population. The church we connected with there has a Hispanic outreach program and offers service projects to community members. With the support from our church, we started making plans to go. This will be the first trip our chuch is sponsoring for families to serve as families.

Then we found out we were pregnant. The baby will be about 6 weeks old, depending on the birthday. After six weeks, it is usually "safe" to go back to work, being there are no health problems. We feel that God is leading and these are the first steps in learning to serve as a family. We are going, instead of waiting till the time is right. When will that be?

Please pray for our family. As the time draws nearer, I am more anxious to go. Anxious as in nervous, serving with a newborn, and anxious as in excited, to see how God will work. Pray for how God will use this trip to prepare us for our future and how he is calling us.

"How Beautiful on the Mountain are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God Reigns."

Isaiah 52:7

Not for Me!

Take a look at these beautiful flowers sitting on our kitchen table! Oh, but they're not for me. Nope, they were for my dear sweet Alisia. From the man in her life.



Alisia just had an end of the year spring concert for the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir she is participating in. This choir isn't just a fun little kid's choir. It goes in to basic music theory and is a very big deal. She's worked very hard, and had a great concert on Saturday and Sunday. Angel wanted to make sure he had these ready for when her concert was over. Her dad is THE man in her life....and that's how it should be.

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him"
Psalm 103:13

Post Worthy

In case you missed it, or in case you don't read Spanish...I wanted to share this sweet comment on my last post from my hubby....

Angel said...
hey amor quiero que sepas que asi no medejes dormir por las noches yo sienpre te amare en las buenas y en las malas tu amorito por sienpre, grasias por darme los nenes mas bellos del mundo y por el que biene . te amo

Hey Love I want you to know that even though you don't let me sleep at night I will always love you in the good and the bad your love for ever, thankyou for giving me the most beautiful children in the world and the one that is coming. I love you.

Pregnancy Confessions

I have so many questions in my mind as the due date draws nearer. We made it over the half way point and are beginning the third trimester. Officially I'm at 26 weeks!

When people ask me how I'm feeling, I usually don't even think about it and just respond "great!" I really have been feeling great which has been such a blessing! I can feel him throughout the day and he sure is one active little guy (and nope, no name as of yet).

When people ask my husband how the pregnancy is going, his response is quite different than mine. He basically tells the truth, from his angle of course. He says he's not sleeping well at nights, he has been having weird cravings, and he has to deal with a moody wife.

I guess some of those are things may have a little truth to them. Yes, I toss and turn at night trying to get comfortable. When I finally do get comfortable, I have to get up and pee--and our bathroom is downstairs! Then I come back up and toss and turn to get comfortable again! If he tries to snuggle up with me, I literally push him away (or as he would say elbow him). He's even ended up in Caleb's bed a few nights. Maybe he doesn't sleep well.

I'm so thankful for this man. I know I don't say it or show it enough, but I am thankful. One night he went to the store for some milk so I the baby could enjoy a midnight bowl of Lucky Charms. His cravings are usually crazier than mine. He's always been 100% NOT a McDonald's person, but he just drove through the drive through to get a McChicken? And he always has a bag of sunflower seeds to snack on.

But I really haven't been moody, have I? At least I've been thinking it's not me--it's everyone else! I get tired quickly, stressed easily, and cry over anything. Keeping up with the day to day chores wears me out! The kids have been wonderful at keeping up with their chores around the house! I get into nesting and cleaning, but get tired after a few minutes and can never finish. I usually end up calling Angel to help me finish or just leave it for the next day. A girl at work had a quartet come sing to her on Valentine's day and it made me tear up! Just reading some friend's blog updates make me tear up! Maybe I am a tad moody.

Then I have all these questions going through my mind as I anticipate this little guy's arrival.

Will it be challenging having three kids?
Will the age difference become an issue and not allow them to be close?
Can they still share rooms?
Do we have to get a bigger car?
Can our family still just "get up and go" like we do now?

What about finances?

Will I have to work full-time?

And the list of questions keeps going. With this being our third child, people have been asking us what we need. I haven't really put much thought into this and my response is usually "Oh, we don't really need anything." Then I remembered that there are a few things babies do NEED. With the other 2, so many things were lent to us and we just give it back as they outgrow it. I guess I just know that this is our 3rd child, and it has been much different than the first two times. I haven't had much free time to think about these things and I'm trusting that God will work out every detail.

I'd love to hear from any of you who have any thoughts or answers on these questions.

Daniel and The Lion's Den (Re-told)

Daniel was a woman man of prayer. Daniel was distinguished above all the King's helpers because of his excellent spirit.


Daniel was given a top job in the kingdom of Darius because he was a faithful hard worker.


This made the King's helpers jealous of Daniel.
King Darius' helpers schemed a plan against Daniel.


They tricked the king to pass a law that said no one could pray to God for 30 days or would be cast into the (scarey) lion's den.


Daniel had a habit to pray to God three times a day.
Daniel knew of the law, but he continued to pray each day as he always did because he loved God.


The King's helpers watched Daniel closely to catch him in prayer- breaking the law.


When they caught Daniel praying to God, they took him to the King.


When King Darius heard news that Daniel had broken the law, he realized that he had been tricked. His heart was greatly troubled because he loved her him.


The King had to punish Daniel and ordered that Daniel be cast into a den of (fierce, hungry) lions.


The king hoped that Daniel’s God would deliver him.
The king was so worried about Daniel that he couldn’t sleep that night.


Early the next morning, the king went to see if Daniel had been killed.

He cried out to see if Daniel was alive and Daniel answered him,
"My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me."


The king was overjoyed and had Daniel pulled out of the lions den. No injury was found on him, because he believed in God.


The King then brought the men who had accused Daniel and threw them in the den of lions, along with every member of their families.

The lions tore them to pieces before they could even hit the ground.


And Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius.

Story taken from Daniel 6

CAST:
La familia Garcia, Donna and Hal, Julianne, Maria

Alisia: Daniel

Angel: King Darius

Caleb: the fierce, hungry, scary lion

Brooke: Towns person, Stage help, photographer

Julianne: Narrator, Towns person

Maria: King's Helper

Donna: King's Helper

Hal: King's Helper

"For He is the living God,

And steadfast forever;

His kingdom is the one

which shall not be destroyed,

And His dominion shall endure to the end.

He delivers and rescues,

And He works signs and wonders

In heaven and on earth,

Who has delivered Daniel

from the power of the lions. "

Daniel 6:26-27