Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Reasons for...

...My prolonged silence. I had intended to post about our church VBS looooooooong before this
but a couple of interesting things occurred to prevent this. First I arrived home the day after VBS finished to find...(oh no!!! Not again!!!)... my camera completely destroyed by my dear little sister:(
After that I was attacked by a stomach virus and had to under go the joys and blessings of dehydration, not being able to eat any solid food and spending almost all week in bed.Passing a slow but sure recovery I under went the great privilege of having my braces installed and therefore am now suffering from a very sore mouth and not being able to bite, hence I'm once again on a soft foods diet. Of course after such an eventful week my poor nerves are quite tattered and I'm rather surprised that I'm still in one piece. Of course, it's a given that I have enjoyed a LOT of TLC from my loving family and am well on my way to being a VERY spoiled 15 year old. Well, now that you know the reasons for my inexcusable behavior in not posting I shall proceed to our VBS.

Story time

I was in the Torres class and we had such a wonderful time with all the 8 and 9 year old's.

The weather here in SC can be very interesting as you shall soon find out. 2 of my friends had come to get some supplies from our class and when they arrived it was raining cats and dogs. They didn't stay long, just long enough to grab the supplies and some candy from my treasure bag but by the time they left it wasn't raining anymore and the sun was out in all its splendor and one of my friends shouted out "there's a rainbow!!!" I ran out with my camera and was stunned by the beauty of that rainbow.I had never seen a full rainbow before and it was gorgeous!!! The picture can never do it justice.

My artistic verse. This was a lot of fun to draw and the children had a lot of fun learning their verses.
Of course, after being so well behaved all during the class all of us older kids (and the younger ones too) needed an outlet for all of our pent up energy. How do you get rid of all this energy? It's simple run out to the back field of the church and organize a soccer match. Us girls don't usually play, though sometimes we do get inspired and join in the games, but this time we all went to play. Because it is such a rare thing for us to play, I was nominated captain of Barcelona and Elizabeth was chosen captain for Real Madrid. After we flipped a gum packet ( we didn't have a coin and as gum is a very common thing amongst us it was a natural and original way of seeing who got to choose first*wink*) and divided up the teams the game began. The first night we played a 90 minute game and we won 6-5.

Jared and I, after the game.
The next evening, which was Thursday, we won 14-5 still playing 90 min. games and since then we have had a "perfect season" winning every game as far as I know. Now as you may remember it was raining cats and dogs so you might wonder how did you play in such weather conditions. Well truth be told we played in a flooded field!!!

So here is what Havi and I looked like after the games, sweaty, tired and soaking wet.
On the last day the Torres brought pizza for all of the kids of their class and bought foam sun visors to decorate.

Mrs.Torres and I

All the children
Also during the whole week of VBS our church was recording our 4th sacred CD so my daddy took me to the studio a couple of times.

David Chapman and my Bro. Camilo

The chihuahua belonged to Mr. Emory at who's studio they were recording. Now Milo has never liked Chihuahuas but Hershey loved sitting on Milo's lap. Quite a funny predicament:)
On Sunday we had a very nice Father's day with a delicious meal and the company of the best daddy in the world...

as well as my dear grandpa. I gave my daddy "What he must be... if he wants to marry my daughter" by Vodie Baucham and had the whole family laughing.
Also to finish this lengthy post this Saturday we celebrated Caleb's 19th birthday.
The USA fans.
We had some friends and family over for Mexican hot dogs and then we all watched the USA vs. Ghana soccer game. The only bad thing about his birthday is that USA lost and was therefore eliminated from the world cup. Oh well, that's life. Happy birthday Caleb!!!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

4 years ago yesterday...

... A little baby was born.
A little girl to be loved and petted,
to be cared for and cherished and yes, sometimes even spoiled.

This little girl is my dear little sister and playmate now 4 years old.

Affectionately known as "Pulga" because of her small size and
how she clings to you, Victoria Isabella Franco is a big blessing despite her size.

I love you soooo much Pulga!!! Happy birthday!!!
~So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom~
~ Psalm 90:12

Saturday, June 5, 2010

A little bit of this and that

Or rather a LOT of this and a LOT of that!!!
As some of you may know, my family and I went on vacation the last week of May.
Our vacationing spot was a beautiful retreat set deep in the Mountains of SC.

The house is called BarCraKen after the three sons (Barry, Craig and Kenneth) of the people who built it. The first owners built it as a refuge after their son Craig passed away in a car accident.
Mrs. Janet Albury bought it from them after her husband and daughter passed away in a plane accident. She used the house to start a ministry called "C. Grace at work". C. Grace after her daughter Caitlin Grace and another young lady named Christiana Grace who also died in the plane crash. She lets full time pastors and missionaries stay for a week free in the house to be able to rest.
And rest we did. We spent a delightful week
with breathtaking views...

...beautiful hikes...

...And the beauty of God's handiwork completely surrounding us.

The gang

Enjoying the cool water at Table Rock.

Me and my pulga
While we were there we celebrated my 15th birthday
(which means the 2nd anniversary of this blog!!!).

On Saturday, which was the last day of our vacation, we went to the wedding
of Jon Cochran and Rebekah Jenkins.

The happy couple
It was such a blessing to see how God united these 2 people and to be able to meet up with old friends again.

Me, Alicia and Amy

Rachel, Me and Lizzy
And thus our vacation came to a close. Back here at home we celebrated David' s 6th birthday
with Camilo and Jessica.

And of course Hailey bug who has recently discovered the delights of Pepsi*wink*

Happy 6th birthday David!!! Thank you for being such a joy to all of us.
And for the record, David LOVES smores!!!
And finally yesterday we went on a homeschool field trip to "Ashtabula" plantation in Pendleton, SC.

Don't you wish that you could live in a house like that?

Listening to the tour guide.

Anna, Me and Katie

Aren't these dresses just beautiful???!!!
Oh how I wish we could still dress like that today.

The bedroom.

Learning what children did as pastimes before the age of technology.

Danny(AKA=Coon) thoroughly enjoying having to dress up(NOT).
Well now you are all up to date on the happenings of my family and I hope you have a wonderful Lord's day tomorrow.