All about May

We have had a chock full weekend and I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures.

Friday= The first swimming/getting wet spree of the summer.

Enjoying the sprinkler.

Even Shiloh joined in the fun.
Saturday=A mother-daughter tea at church.

Franky sent mother the roses all the way from NJ!!!
She was thrilled!!!

Enjoying delicious food and fellowship with friends and family.
Saturday afternoon= Taking fun, normal and crazy pictures with Friends.

Lizzie, Esp and Bess

It may not be very ladylike to climb trees, but boy did we have fun.

Thinking and talking.

Springtime bliss = Swinging with a friend.

Pictures on the swing set.

Best friends

After taking soooo many pictures we just had to lie down and rest.
Sunday=Mother's day and church.

Violeta

Me, Damaris, Elizabeth and Esperanza

Me and my handsome cousin, Cristian

Me, myself and I

The children love having a swing set in their back yard.

Sunny days, big smiles, spring joys.

Havi, after I did her hair.

For mother's day we invited Abuela and Pablo for lunch.

Mother and Abuela, opening their gifts.

Victoria was thrilled that I had curled her hair.

Auntie Victoria holding Hailey bug.

She did not want a picture.

Abuela, Aunt Chelin and Uncle Gonzalo

Now for mother's day I would like to share a poem that My mother wrote and that has been a great blessing to me.

~ Someday~

Someday I shall have
A house, oh so clean
Where all is in order
And my soul rests at ease

I shan't have to follow after
Picking up the dolls
Little toys and clothing
Legos, shoes and balls

There won't be so much noise
I'll read a book at peace
Without a single interruption
In concentration complete

I shall sleep the whole night through
Without a single one to call me
To complain of some pain
Or to climb in to my bed

I will not have to look
Under the little beds
And withe trembling, see
To what the Ants may lead

Someday I shall not have
My clothes all wrinkled an mussed
Because they climbed upon me
And made over me such a fuss

I will not be able to hear
The sound of little feet
Coming for the third time
To give me a loving kiss

O Lord hold back the time!!!
And help me to appreciate
The souls You've given me
To treasure and to love

I do not want comfort
If they are not with me
They are my gift, my inheritance
My company, my song

Thank you Father for my home
With it's joyous noise
For my wrinkled clothing
For my children oh dear Lord!
~Lizet Franco~
Happy Mother's Day!!!

The delights of May

Warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies.
Cool, refreshing milk.
Beautiful roses.
These are a few of my favorite things.

Do you have any favorite things about May?

Cute things

Sometimes we go through life in such a hurry that we miss out on all the cute things that God sends to us daily.

My beautiful "Pulga"
( which means "little flea" in English.
I'm not sure why we started calling her that but she likes it .)

My reading companion

ummm Cheesecake!!!

Ashley and Victoria

David

Trying to tune Caleb's guitar

I hope you all take time to look for all the cute things that
God has sent to us today.

The joy of the cross

I just want to share a couple of sermons that my father has preached concerning the resurrection of Christ.

The joy of the cross
Hebrews 12:1-2

Christ went to the cross with...
1.) The joy of glorifying God the father
2.) The joy of finishing the greatest work in the history of humanity
3.) The joy of saving us

Why I believe the apostles concerning the resurrection of Christ
1 Corinthians 15:1-8, John 20:25

1.) I believe what the apostles say concerning the resurrection of Christ because they were eye witnesses.
2.)" " because of the many infallible proofs that we find in the scriptures
a) The appearance of Christ
b) The empty tomb
c) The change in the disciples
d) The change in worship
e) The advancement of the church
3.)" " because these men were willing to give their lives for believing in the resurrection of Christ
Matthew=Was made a martyr in Ethiopia, By the sword
Mark=Killed in Alexandria, Egypt, dragged by horses around the city till he died
Luke=Hanged in Greece
John=boiled alive in a cauldron of oil in Rome. He was the only Apostle that died of old age
Peter=Crucified upside down on a cross in the form of an X
Bartholomew=Whipped till he died in Asia
Thomas=Pierced through in India
Judas=A brother of Jesus, shot with arrows
Barnabas=Stoned in Salonika
Paul=Tortured and finally decapitated be Nero
All these apostles gave their lives for preaching
"We have seen the Lord!"

Rejoice for He is Risen!!!

Happy birthday one and all

In a large family it seems that there is always a birthday that one has to prepare for.

This past week we celebrated the birthdays of my dear brother Camilo, and my grandfather known amongst us as Abuelo.

So, happy birthday Milo

And happy birthday Abuelo

And happy birthday one and all.

The great adventure

My Father was in Panama last week and thus the stage was set for (drum roll)

"The great adventure."
One of the many stories of my life.
Written by Bethany Franco

My mother had long detested the very badly installed linoleum that graced our kitchen floor.
With 6 active children running in and out it had begun to show signs of wear and use and
it was beginning to be such an eye sore that my dear mother was becoming quite desperate.
At long last my parents decided it was time to change the floor and began preparing and ordering materials.
Well my father had to attend a conference in Panama and whilst he was away my mother decided to begin the task of demolishing our poor, old floor. As my siblings rather love destroying things this was accomplished relatively quickly.

My mother ordered some white and blue industrial tile (I'm afraid that is what one needs in such a high traffic area as our kitchen;))
and as soon as my father returned the work began.

After moving everything from the kitchen to the living room (I'll let you imagine what THAT was like) and our crew started. We have been blessed to have people at our church who are experts at every type of job imaginable and Fernando and Nacho are no exception. With their help the floor was completely laid down in 5 hours.

Early the next morning we began scraping off ALL excess glue and cleaning each and every tile (by hand) and generally preparing everything for the wax finish.

While everything was out my father took advantage and painted everything as well.
After countless coats of wax and many hours later we had finally finished the project. Everything was in its place and it was all sparkling clean. Now my mother can sit back and enjoy her beautiful floor.

The end.

Living in a winter wonderland

This past week we went to Sprucepine, NC for a conference
and the very day we got there it snowed 6 inches. For us South Carolinians that is a TON of snow!!! Of course one can't resist plowing in to all that snow so after the services we all headed out for an amazing afternoon of snowball fight fun.

Havi and Nate

Having a blast

Havi, Eli and me
We took Danny and Benji Vasquez with us to help with the music and it was a blessing to have them with us.

Playing for the services
When we arrived to the Huendo's house their yard was beautiful, BUT this is how we left it...

...completely destroyed by 7 sets of eager hands. We had a friendly boys-against-girls feud during the days that we were there so you can just imagine the amount of snowballs that were hurled across this battlefield. We made snow men, had snowball and pillow fights galore and had a wonderful time.
Wednesday was Jared's 8th birthday so after the morning service the Huendos took us even higher up the mountain to go sledding and snowboarding.

Happy birthday Jared!!!

Getting ready for another run.

Enjoying everything to the fullest.

Me

No pictures please

After the services we would all go and get ready for bed, however while the children waited for the restroom Danny gave them all a science class.

The 11:30 pm science class with Prof. Danny

The dialogue while studying "The encyclopedia of animals"
Danny: This is a possum
Victoria: That's you
Danny: Well this is you( pointing to a skunk)
Victoria: No I said that's you
Danny: No that's you.
That is what they said the whole time.

Victoria shooting poor Danny
(I guess he must have called her something awful*wink*)

Benji and Jo
Well I thank the Lord for the opportunity He gave us to serve Him there in Sprucepine
and for the wonderful time we spent with the Huendos.
Also I uploaded a couple of videos onto my Vimeo page of the conference so please head over there and see them.