~Trying to touch lives...one life at a time.~

~On the Sunday after the Colombian wedding we had Juan Martin and 2 of his children over for a Special Christmas dinner and to give them some Christmas gifts we had for them. Our table all ready for guests.~~I served baked pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, broc./cauliflower salad, corn, and iced tea. We had a nice meal and visit together.

~Here we are eating our meal...sorry the picture turned out so dark.~

~Juan Martin had just had a birthday so we gave him a nice writing pen, and a good Holiness book, and a 2009 calendar that I had had made up with pics of his family with our family.~
~Felipe opening his gifts. A neat Holiness book on raising a godly family (so he'll know what to look for in a wife =), and to inspire him to want to raise his future family for Jesus. He is like my Phillip and LOVES good Holiness books. We also got he and his sisters a 2009 desk calendar with pics of their family and ours in it.~
~Paula didn't really have a warm coat and was always borrowing one of Kimberly's coats, so Kimberly suggested that we buy her a coat for Christmas. We found her a nice black coat with fur around the hood, and she seems to really like it. We also sent home a gift for Paula's sister Karen and their mother.~

~In Colombia this "Natilla" is very common at Christmas time. It's like a pudding. I made these for our dessert. The one on the left is coconut and the one on the right is caramel.~
~Juan Martin made me this cute little Christmas tree candle holder...that he made out of wood. I'm not for sure how he did it, but he told me that he also used a decorated paper napkin for the front somehow. I was very happy with this cute gift.~
~And here it is all lit up.~
~Juan Martin also made us this cute little "window". (It is hanging on the white decorated tile in my kitchen...so that is what is showing through the window.) He put our name at the top and even made the cute little curtain. This is to hang our keys on, and has a place to put our bills that need paid in between the wall and the window. He has a little clay pot of flowers he wants to bring and glue on too. Very cute and creative.~
As you know we Christians are in a battle. As these lines of a song says:
"It's a battlefield brother, not a recreation room...it's a fight and not a game."

This past week Phillip and I were facing a HUGE battle...and so we decided that we would bind together and PRAY HARD that God would answer prayer! One morning while Phillip was having his devotions, He felt like God gave him this promise for Colombia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
St. John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Needless to say that was VERY ENCOURAGING to Phillip and I...and we can see how God is already working in the situation that we are praying about. Thank you for your prayers...the devil does NOT like us trying to touch souls for JESUS, and often tries to discourage us and our Colombian Christian friends.

~A Colombian Wedding~

Having Christmas and then 2 children's birthdays in January, I'm just now getting to post about a wedding that we helped a young couple in one of our churches to have on Saturday, December 20th, 2008. They, as is common here, had lived together for some time and have a baby together. Phillip urged them to get married, and told them that we would help them pay for a wedding. Jimmy and Farly graciously let them/us use their church for the wedding, and decorated it very nicely as their gift to them. The bride had always wanted a December wedding, and God helped it to be a beautiful wedding and the couple is happy to be married now. I hope that you enjoy these pics.
~Kimberly got to do the bride's hair.~
~Making the refreshments before the wedding. Our family paid for the refreshments and wedding cake as part of our gift to the bride and groom.~
~The groom. About 2 hours before the wedding, the bride told us that the groom was still trying to find a suit to borrow to wear to the wedding. We were all surprised when he showed up looking very nice in a suit and wearing an orange tie...God coordinated that, for Jimmy and Farly had decided last minute to decorate the church with the color orange. =)~
~The wedding cake. (Phillip did all the shopping for the cake, the topper, (he got white not knowing that the bakery would decide to use off-white icing =), the Wedding Bible, and the other refreshments...he did a lot to help this couple have a happy pretty wedding. =)~

~A cute little sign that Jimmy and Edgar made to put up in front of the church.~
~Sarah has ALWAYS wanted to be a flower girl in someone's wedding...but due to being on the mission field, she never had been, and we didn't know if she ever would be...but God gave her the desire of her heart and she made a pretty little flower girl.~
~Wasn't Noah the cutest little Bible bearer. =) As timid as he is...I was glad that he did it.~
~While waiting outside the church for the bride to arrive, a man needed help pushing a truck, so the groom, Jimmy and a couple more men got put to work.~ =)
~Joanna kept Elijah for me, and rocked him to sleep.~
~Outside the church waiting for the bride to arrive. It is very common here for the bride to be at LEAST one hour late! This time, the bride, her mother-in-law, baby and sister-in-law were in a taxi, and the taxi got lost and let them out some ways from the church. Jimmy jumped into his car and went and found them and brought them to the church. =)~
~The lost bride finally arrived...right on time (for Colombia)...she was only AN HOUR LATE!~ =)
~Here it is a custom for some girls to hold ribbons and the flower girl (Sarah) cut the ribbons for the bride to walk through.~
~Sarah and Noah with the bride and groom. On Sunday morning before church...One week before the wedding, the bride told us that she was having a hard time finding a dress to rent for they were about $75.00 and that was too expensive for her to afford. I prayed about it during church, and after church a visitor told her of a lady she knew that rented out a dress, shoes, pillow and flower basket...and the bride was able to rent it all for about $15.00. Praise the Lord! The bride and groom looked very nice.~
~Phillip and I led a few hymns about Godly homes at the beginning of the wedding.~
~I thought that Kimberly did a good job with the bride's hair.~ =)
~The bride and groom's baby girl~
~Phillip had the privilege of marrying them.~
~Look who was tearing off some of the pretty flowers...uh oh! =)~
~With the white Bible that Phillip was able to find for their wedding.~
~Phillip and I with the bride and groom.~
~Jimmy and Farly with the married couple~
~Kimberly caught the bouquet...but let's hope that it's a few more years before she decides to get married. =)~Could you please join us in praying for Cesar and Rocio that God would help them to serve him and have a Happy CHRISTIAN HOME?! Thank you!

~Up-side-down apple pecan pie and some pics~

~Delicious up-side-down apple pecan pie~
OK, I was on someone's blog and saw that she had made an up-side-down apple pecan pie. I had never heard of one before...so I googled it and found the recipe. I made it last night...and here is what Phillip and I think about it. It is one of the most delicious desserts that we have ever eaten. Phillip thinks my original apple pie is the BEST, so he wants me to keep making that apple pie recipe, but loves this recipe too. It's a keeper! It sort of tastes like "Cinnabuns." Enjoy~

~UP-SIDE-DOWN APPLE PECAN PIE~
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1/3 cup margarine, melted and a 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
* 6 cups Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a 9 inch deep-dish pie pan, combine pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and margarine; spread into a single layer. Roll out dough, and place bottom crust over pecan mixture.
3. In a large bowl, combine apples, sugar, and flour. Pour into crust in pan. Top with second crust. Fold edges of crust over, and flute to seal edges. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
4. Place pan on foil or cookie sheet during baking to guard against spillage. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender.
5. Cool pie in pan for 5 minutes. Place serving plate over pie, and flip to invert, being careful not to come in contact with molten sugar. If some of the nuts stick to the pan, remove them with a knife, and place on pie. Allow to cool for 1 hour.
~ENJOY~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Some pics!
~When I pull out the camera this is what Elijah does...he CHEEZESSSSS. =)~
~Look Gram, I can sit up by myself now. (I probably could've earlier, but Mommy was too scared that I'd fall on this HARD floor and kill myself.=)~
~A couple weeks ago I was having a sad week and my sweetheart surprised me with these beautiful roses. (A dozen roses for $4.00...not too bad, huh?! =)
~I love Elijah in this outfit that the Pilmores got him.~
~Sweet Elijah.~
~A Sarah quote~
We were having family devotions and Phillip read Prov. 3:11 "My Son despise not the chastening of the Lord..." He then asked Kimberly and Sarah if the Lord chastens us? And they both responded, "Yes." Then he said, "What does it mean to Chasten us?" To which Sarah piped up and said, "It means he tries to CATCH US!" We cracked up for we could just see in our minds eye him trying to catch us. She had no clue what the word meant, just thought he was meaning "CHASING". Life is never dull with children. =)

~An update...and...Want some more carrots, Elijah?~

An update on our house situation. We had thought of trying to find another house to rent, but we like this house, the area, etc. and the houses that we have looked at, don't even compare to this house...so I think we will stay here, and just fix the problems that this house has. It appears that the water leak is our hot water tank. It is being repaired and so for the next 5 days we have only COLD WATER!!! But, thank the Lord, it appears that it's not the pipes underneath the house, so they might not have to tear out the dinning room, living room, bathroom, and hallway floor like we thought that they would have to. PRAISE THE LORD! Now, we have a few other major problems, one of them being some electrical problems which could cause a fire. Please help us pray that God will keep us safe, until they can get those fixed too. Thank you for your prayers, they mean a lot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~We tried to feed Elijah some cooked carrots...as you can tell by these pictures, he wasn't very impressed. =) ~

~Phillip was laughing so hard as he videoed this that the video was very shaky.~

~Sunday night Elijah started crawling...shortly thereafter he started pulling up...and now...~
~He stands up too. Now he gets into EVERYTHING...so I've started calling him "WHYJAH...Now we say, "Whyjah...WHYD'YA do that?" =)~

~Elijah trying out Noah's little 3 wheeler.~
~There aren't such things as thrift stores here. However, we did hear of a couple stores that sold some used/some new baby things, so we went to check them out. They were pretty expensive, but they had this Colombian type high chair for cheap...because most people want the new American type things, and not this wooden high chair. This is exactly what we were wanting, so we praise the Lord for helping us to find it. =)
~Elijah is learning...as soon as we pick up the camera now...he starts cheezin'!~
~Elijah likes his new high chair...he likes to be up on our level and eat with the family.~
Please help us pray that Elijah won't kill himself on this VERY HARD floor. With my other babies I have had carpet...but with him...when he pulls up, he isn't very secure yet, and if he falls, he could hurt himself really badly on this HARD FLOOR! We try to follow him around and put a blanket behind him to help "break the fall", but as you know, as a Homeschooling Mommy, missionary/pastor's wife, etc. I just cannot follow him around all the time! =)