Back again. well, the new year has rolled on in (for a while now). there’s been quite  bit going on, as usual. Karen is more and more preggers every day so running around in the city is starting to become a bit more taxing but, carrying on!

speekin’ of preggers, this seems like a good place for her progress photos. Here’s the baby that is soon to come. we have less than 1 month left to go now and this, i think, is the latest photo we have of the baby. he finally moved enough to show more of his face in this one.  time has really gone by fast. Karen would really appreciate prayer for an easy and natural birth as well!

thank God, we get the opportunity to collaborate with a church in the city that does the distribution for the Samaritan’s Purse program.  if y’all don’t know, gifts come from all over the USA and are distributed to more needing areas. i’m really glad to know that some of these programs actually function. so if anyone is involved with this charity, be assured you are successful in truly blessing the youth, as well as their parents. anyhoo, Karen and a few others were on stage talking to the children and leading in songs/games. the rest of the students, and some congregation, were walking the floor to make sure everything was calm (them older kids get rowdy…). all in all, a great blessing and evangelistic opportunity. our Sunday youth group has certainly grown because of it. 

Hard at work. Manuel (dude in red) is a real handy student from Guadalajara and he’s helping to take charge of this little construction project here. were digging out 2 huge pits in the floor before we brick them up and top them with cement. these will end up being “drains” for the restaurant and students bathrooms. with the restaurant growing (slowly but surely) there are many things to add and care for. so the restaurant becomes a great opportunity in that it helps to organize students and provide them with team and work skills for when they eventually head on back to their homes/ ministries. 

Finally, with our soon to be growing family, we’ve decided to build our house off of the church property so we can have a bit of a more quite space, as well as just something that is our own. i bought a piece of land before i got married and moved here and we’re really excited to get it all sorted out. the good thing about it is, it’s on one of the highest points in the village, so we can see the ocean on one side and the river on the other. bad news is, there are no machines that can successfully reach the top of the mountain. and so the photo you see is of many of the male students… mudents? helping me raise all the dirt and rock we need to construct, bucket by bucket. it was a long day and there is still much to be done. Lord willing, it’ll all be sorted out and built within the next few months. and we will have plenty of room for the baby and our pets to run around. and i big tree too! i hope to build a swing and tree house and live my childhood dreams vicariously through Emilio ha.

there’s always more going on but, for the sake of brevity, adios!